Something About the Beatles

In recent years there has been lots of news about long-lost guitars that were once in the hands of a Beatle either being rediscovered or put up for sale, often going for hundreds of thousands of dollars if not in seven figures. Each one of these instruments has a story: when it was acquired, what …

326: Beatles (Guitars) For Sale Read More »

Touring and performing live represented a challenge to The Beatles during their years of rapid artistic growth. Being a successful recording act necessitated touring to maintain one’s status and to sell records, but when the infrastructure of the day was insufficient to support both the music they were making as well as serve the high …

325: The Beatles Playing Live (with Glenn Greenberg) Read More »

Since 2003, Ringo Starr has been producing an incredibly prolific run of releases: albums and EPs, plus live recordings. With him on this journey of multiple producers and supporting musicians has been engineer Bruce Sugar, the one constant. Bruce comes with stories and observations about working with the world’s most beloved drummer, including alongside Sir …

324: Recording with Ringo with Bruce Sugar Read More »

It may be beyond argument that the two most successful and influential pop/rock acts of the 1960s were The Beatles and Bob Dylan: one, an English ensemble from Liverpool who turned out evergreen standards and evolved seemingly without effort; the other an American from the upper midwest, initially cast as a vagabond folkie who constantly …

323: Bob Dylan and The Beatles with Jim Windolf Read More »

The cinematic treatment of the 2022 Mark Lewisohn lectures on the first year of The Beatles’ recording career has been given a terrific cinematic treatment (see it on Amazon Prime). This episode features my conversation with the film’s director, Chris Purcell, and its producer, Simon Weitzman. BOTH filmmakers have produced other Beatle-themed films, including Miss O’Dell, …

322: Evolver ’62 with Chris Purcell and Simon Weitzman Read More »

One doesn’t immediately connect The Beatles with the world of comic books but there’s plenty there. Besides musical references to Captain Marvel and “Magneto and Titanium Man,” the group themselves have been regularly represented in the pages of comic books, beginning in 1964; sometimes as plot figures. Then we also have graphic novels and latter-day …

321: Beatles Comic-Con with Glenn Greenberg and Stephen DeStefano Read More »

This month George Harrison would’ve turned 83. The “quiet Beatle” holds the record for THE most streamed Beatles song, his 1969 composition, “Here Comes The Sun,” but to the general public (and not the hardcores), he may remain in the shadow of Lennon and McCartney, despite his key contributions to songs bearing their names. Musician/podcaster …

320: “Our Guitarist George” with Sam Popkin Read More »

The Beatles’ Olympiad series of shows is nearing its end point, with Gary Wenstrup and myself assessing their final group project for Olympic honors. Where will the bronze, silver and gold land among the 17 tracks? You’ll have to tune in to find out (and discover some unexpected developments). This episode is brought to you by DistroKid and Magical Mystery Camp.

If you don’t know the name then you certainly know his work: writer/director Oliver Murray was responsible for giving us that twelve-minute making of “Now and Then” video in 2023 that got everyone up to speed (and teary) about the “last” Beatles song. In 2025, he wrote and directed the 9th episode of the re-launched Beatles Anthology documentary series, quickly followed by the short film, “Free As A Bird” – A Song Reborn. But Oliver has also directed a number of other music videos and documentaries you may have seen, among them The Quiet One (2019), Ronnie’s (2020), They All Came Out To Montreux (2023), and The Story of Band Aid (2024). I was privileged to have a talk with an insider to discuss the presenting of The Beatles’ story and the delicate balancing act between educating new fans while satisfying the old ones. This episode is brought to you by DistroKid and Magical Mystery Camp.

Returning to the show today is the RPM School trio: Walter Everett (The Beatles As Musicians book series) – Cameron Greider – Jack Petruzzelli. They run the Beatles-centric online school which will be launching the winter 2026 semester with a deep dive into The Beatles’ fifth long player, released in the summer of 1965.  In this conversation, we focus on some of the innovations, influences and production techniques representing the group’s evolving artistry as a studio band and as songwriters.  Visit rpm-school.com for details on the upcoming class and magicalmysterycamp.com for information on this year’s event in the Catskills.