Something About the Beatles

Beatles proteges Badfinger released six studio albums between 1970 and 1974. Two of their hits were produced by Beatles ("Come and Get It" by Paul, "Day After Day" by George) and another by The Beatles' road manager ("No Matter What" was produced by Mal Evans). But their catalog is filled with rich, tuneful pop/rock for anyone who hasn't already explored it. ALL FOUR members (Pete Ham - Tom Evans - Mike Gibbins - Joey Molland) were accomplished songwriters and since their demise, an astonishing array of releases has been pouring out, including several demo collections from Pete. Additionally, their earlier pre-Joey iteration as The Iveys has seen the commencement of five Anthology collections of demos and live material surface, including the newest, Miniskirts and Rainbows. 2024 saw the long-awaited issue of the final Badfinger album from 1974, Head First, featuring Pete, Tom and Mike with Bob Jackson. For this conversation, I spoke with Mark Strothmann, who's part of team that's been working on getting these treasures to the public, as well as curating several YouTube channels featuring music and videos of The Iveys and Badfinger. It's an overview of the ongoing labor of love keeping the group alive in the wake of Joey's passing last year. 

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316: Anthology 2025Presented here is an analysis of the current streaming version of the Beatles documentary first produced 30 years ago. This is less a discussion comparing a cut by cut A/B comparison so much as an overview of some changes that HAVE been made, and much discussion into what the intent behind the new presentation may be, who it is made for, what the strategy is (if any) behind some of the changes and where there is room to go forward in presenting the group's history. SATB welcomes two new additions to the Beatles podcasting pool: Mike Vaccaro and Jesse Pollack, who host All You Need Is Pod. You can find it on Apple podcasts and follow them on Instagram. 

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Sir Paul McCartney, 1t 63, has just completed his Got Back tour of North America. But at the 60th anniversary of Rubber Soul, it's good to look back at how that album marked a turning point in his approach to his primary instrument: the bass. Paul was an innovator, taking its use where no one in pop/rock had ever gone before.

With bass historian/musicologist Rob Collier (www.beatlesbasslines.com), we thoroughly examine HOW and WHY Paul was so exceptional, and what influenced him. Providing color commentary: veteran musician/bassist Arion Salazar (ex Fungo Mungo and Third Eye Blind).

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Thirty years after the first Anthology collection was released, several years after the Special Deluxe Edition (SDEs) series commemorating individual albums became a thing, and on the eve of an unexpected 4th Anthology series installment, we take stock. Are The Beatles (or Apple or otherwise those overseeing these re-packages) doing as good a job as they can be? There are plenty voices in the world of Beatle "authorities" that insist that we should be grateful for anything we are given - they don't owe us anything. But at SATB, we take a different position: no one is above criticism and that once upon a time, The Beatles were simultaneously the cutting edge and the gold standard in what they produced. Those days are long gone and we now find ourselves in a world where many an artist with a fraction of their following is showing how it's done. 
So in the name of hashing this out, I invited a couple of returning guests who are the world authorities on what exists in the vaults, on tape: Beatles scholars Doug Sulpy and Chip Madinger. Between the two of them, they have been going deep for years on the contents of the proverbial Beatle (and solo) vaults and are therefore in position to not only suggest where things could be done better but what kind of material is sitting around, awaiting the day the official curators deem it time to go public with these treasures. Hopefully, some of us are still around. 

You can find Doug's writings (books like Drugs, Divorce and a Slipping Image and informational newsletters) at dougsulpy.com 

Chip Madinger's works (which include Eight Arms To Hold You and Lennonology: Strange Days Indeed - A Scrapbook of Madness) can be found at lennonology.com 

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The story of Badfinger is bookended with The Iveys as prequel and the Head First album on the other end, months before the tragic suicide of Pete Ham. We explored the latter with Bob Jackson earlier this year (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/304-badfingers-head-first-with-bob-jackson/id1483392342?i=1000706620569 ) but this time it's the pre-history we examine, with Ron Griffiths, bassist and vocalist. He was recruited by Pete Ham and in turn was responsible for the addition of drummer Mike Gibbins. Tom Evans joined in 1967 and within a year, they were signed to Apple. 
Ron was there as a witness to the band's development, and interactions with Ray Davies of The Kinks, Jimi Hendrix, and The Beatles' Mal Evans, who led them to the start-up label. It was directly because of Ron that Paul offered them "Come and Get It" as what became the first Badfinger single and a worldwide smash, but Griffiths did not make the transition to Badfinger. He remains a lucid witness to their history even after being sidelined, and his connections remain to the present day and performances with Bob Jackson and the current Iveys reissue program. Tune in and hear his unique perspective on the triumphs and tragedies of this mightily talented band. Episode playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWJwXBl8_fsfzV0dB-9cLPbUZC9_Js0rD&si=Oh_KxNaVUZJn5qK9

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Back in May 2025, two hardcore Beatle historians haling from down under came on the show for an analysis of the conventional wisdom regarding Beatles instrumental credits and how, in certain instances, it was found to be lacking. They're back again, and this time we examine: 
"Long Tall Sally"

"I Don't Want To Spoil The Party" 
"Michelle"

"We Can Work It Out"
"Paperback Writer"/"Rain"

"Sgt. Pepper (reprise)"

"Piggies"

"Don't Pass Me By" 

"Not Guilty" 

Marcus Phelan and Andrew Shakespeare have been studying the recordings for decades, as fans and as musicians themselves. The sources critiqued included: 
Ian McDonald's Revolution in the Head

Mark Lewisohn's The Beatles Recording Sessions

Kevin Howlett's liner notes to The Beatles special deluxe editions

The public pronouncements of Giles Martin 

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311: Dear Beatle People with Sara Schmidt and Allison Bumsted 
Most Beatles fans are generally familiar with the story of their UK fan club, managed by Freda Kelly and depicted throughout the 2013 documentary, Good Ol' Freda. But the story of their North American fan clubs is, if anything, even more fascinating: their set-up was treated nearly as an afterthought upon the group's 1964 arrival here, and as they fumbled their way forward, hundreds of unofficial Beatles fan clubs sprang up, many of them doing a far better job of creating community and supporting the band than the official one did. (And then there were the sub-groups set up to police the other fans and protect The Beatles from their out-of-control fervor.)
Beatles historian Sara Schmidt has chronicled this heretofore untold history in her book, Dear Beatle People: The Story of The Beatles North American Fan Club. Rich with tons of ephemera, photos and correspondence, Sara brings to life the immediacy of '60s American fandom and the unsuspected drama that went along with it. She spoke with hundreds of 1st-gen fans, collecting and preserving their stories of encounters with The Beatles, as well as the stories around the regional clubs around the country that weren't just limited to "Beatles." (There were, for instance, associated clubs for Beatle wives, actor Victor Spinetti, and a Beatle sister.) 
Beatles fandom is an area of study only recently starting to get its due as an illuminating aspect of the phenomena. Joining Sara and I for the talk is rock scholar Allison Bumsted (TeenSet, Teen Fan Magazines and Rock Journalism) as we discuss the history of American Beatles fans in their efforts to put their devotion to purpose.
Be sure to also check out Sara's Beatle photo blog, https://www.meetthebeatlesforreal.com/  

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Why are we still talking about these guys? Does a band that stopped recording together over half a century ago have any relevance in the 21st century? Have we reached the bottom of the barrel yet in terms of exploring every aspect of their story?

If you answered yes and no respectively to the last two questions, press on, because in this conversation with author Sean Murphy, we dive into the continued appeal and inspiration that The Beatles gave us, as potent in 2025 as it was in the '60s.

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We are now sixty years on from the crest of The Beatles' touring years, if you figure the August 15, 1965 Shea Stadium show that kicked off their second North American tour as "the top of the mountain," as John Lennon once did. 
Therefore, who better to talk about those three intense years and shows than Chuck Gunderson, author of Some Fun Tonight: The Backstage Story of How The Beatles Rocked America? It was published in 2014 in two slipcased volumes, richly illustrated with many never-before-seen photos of The Fabs onstage, as well as behind the scenes and of period ephemera. Chuck is the expert on those shows, and in this conversation - taped live in front of an audience at the 2025 Rosemont Fest For Beatles Fans - we convened to discuss Shea, Margies Candies, the Chicago mob, segregation, and how Brian handled the demands of sailing into uncharted waters. 
Check out the book here: https://www.somefuntonight.com/ 

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This special episode is, in effect, a part two of episode 308 (The Politics of Beatles), again with Candy Leonard, as an examination of the decision made by Universal Music Group (with the tacit approval - if not agreement - of the Lennon estate) to reissue the 1972 John and Yoko album, Some Time In New York City, as a background component of the Power To The People set, showcasing the pair of One To One concerts and removing the lead off track, "Woman is the Nigger of the World" from both the parent album AND the concerts.

We discuss the possible reasoning behind this call and whether this is one statue that needed to be torn down or not.

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