Something About the Beatles

By Evergreen PodcastsMusic Music Interviews Music History

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Typical duration
83 min
per episode

Based on Podcast App listening data

Something About the Beatles episodes

August 10, 2023 264: Harrison, Lennon: It's Also Complicated
As a follow-on to my last conversation with author Glenn Greenberg, we sat down to explore the Harrison-Lennon dynamic. A couple of things referenced in the show can be found below: Here's John's 1974 note to George. Here's John's 1976 Q&A. Glenn Greenberg's Making of the White Album bookazine can be found here. "I Know It's True" (end song) by Iamaphoney can be found here.

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1 hr 30 min
July 31, 2023 263: Fab 4 On Film: The Dick Lester Films with Steve Matteo
Journalist Steve Matteo has a new book out - Act Naturally: The Beatles on Film. It's an all-encompassing volume detailing and contextualizing the making of every one of their cinematic projects, including a few that didn't actually get filmed. For this first discussion, we focused on their first two, both directed for United Artists by Richard Lester and produced by Walter Shenson.

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1 hr 36 min
June 10, 2023 262: McCartney's Musicality; Post-Beatles with Luca Perasi
My guest today has recently completed the first volume of an exhaustive study of Paul's body of work in Paul McCartney: Music is Ideas 1970 - 1989. Luca Perasi is a Beatles historian who specializes in the group's bassist, post-split. He was a consultant hired by MPL for the recent 7" single box set, as well as the Italian translator for Paul's The Lyrics book. For our first discussion, we focused on the broad parameters of Paul's art, pre-Beatles through the first Wings album. Luca's book discusses every McCartney session and the music it yielded, whether released at the time or not, for a greater context into Paul's musical development. You can find out more at Luca's site, and I encourage you to follow him on Twitter (@LucaPerasi ) for daily postings featuring amazing rare photos of Paul at work.

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1 hr 16 min
May 28, 2023 261: Making All Things Must Pass with John Leckie
Hired as a tape op by EMI in February 1970, Leckie quickly found himself among rock royalty when his career began with work on Ringo's Sentimental Journey, followed quickly after with McCartney. But his major immersion with the cream of rock's musicians soon came with the All Things Must Pass project, placing him at the service of George Harrison and Phil Spector and with a team that included Ringo, Klaus Voormann, Eric Clapton, The Dominoes, Gary Brooker, Peter Frampton, Phil Collins, Gary Wright, Billy Preston and Badfinger, among others. This conversation focuses on that landmark album. Joining as co-host is author/producer Jerry Hammack (The Beatles Recording Reference Manual series), with a cameo from Luther Russell. Jerry's latest book has just been published: Home Studio Recording - The Complete Guide. John was a previous guest discussing the making of John and Yoko's respective Plastic Ono Band albums, as well as alongside his previous collaborators Derek Forbes (Simple Minds) and Ian McNabb (Icicle Works) for a conversation on Peter Jackson's Get Back film. His excellent recall of events he witnessed as well as insights as someone with some amazing career achievements (Roy Harper, Be Bop Deluxe, Pink Floyd, Wings, Radiohead, XTC, Stone Roses, and so on) to his credit make this conversation something special.

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1 hr 19 min
May 10, 2023 260: Tastemaker Tony King
Tony King was general manager of Apple US in the early 70s, but thereafter worked directly with John and Ringo, promoting their work from 1973 through 1975. Beyond that, he was a true British rock Zelig figure, partying with The Beatles the night before they flew to America for their 1964 Ed Sullivan Show debut; working with Andrew Oldham and the Stones during their "Satisfaction" heyday; thereafter for George Martin and AIR Studio, and then Apple. He also befriended Elton John (before he was) as well as tons of others. His story has just been published in "The Tastemaker: My Life with the Legends and Geniuses of Rock Music." (He's also in the May Pang doc, The Lost Weekend: A Love Story.) You can get his backstory here: https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/music/article/tony-king-interview and see him as "the Queen" in this 1973 Mind Games TV ad: https://youtu.be/lx-DNpoKfVg We covered a ton of topics, including all the aforementioned plus the AIDS tragedy and his favorite music.

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1 hr 48 min
May 02, 2023 259: Sgt. Pepper Olympiad
The series with professor/lecturer Gary Wenstrup continues as we rate tracks on each Beatles album in Olympic style: Gold - Silver - Bronze. This episode introduces a modification, adding in for consideration the singles that bookended the 1967 release: "Strawberry Fields Forever"/"Penny Lane" and "All You Need Is Love"/"Baby You're A Rich Man." Check out Gary's upcoming lectures at garywenstrup.com

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1 hr 20 min
April 08, 2023 258: May the First - The Lost Weekend with May Pang
"The Lost Weekend" was the handle John implemented (picked up by subsequent narrators) to describe the period of his separation from Yoko, during which time a romantic relationship began with his 22 year-old personal assistant, May Pang. Once the couple reconciled, May's impact on his life was swept under the rug in all sanctioned tellings, in the service of a narrative propping up the John and Yoko love story as the ultimate double fantasy: literally describing themselves as Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning incarnate. Others beg to differ and among them is May herself. Her story was told twice in book form (Loving John and Instamatic Karma) but now a new documentary film chronicles their time together on the big screen, supported by other witnesses and loads of photos, footage and writings. The Lost Weekend: A Love Story is coming to theaters, while an exhibit of May's photos has already hit the road across the US. Here's where to track the latest on May's photo exhibit and the film: https://www.maypang.com/

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1 hr 9 min
March 21, 2023 257: Questions From Listeners
I asked for your questions last summer and you responded, so here you go! Aided by Gary Wenstrup (SATB regular of Olympiad series fame), we tackle the following subjects: The "aaahs" on "A Day in the Life" The end of touring Beatles '76 Live Aid A psychological exam of John and Paul's relationship Mimi Smith's parenting The "Come Together" lawsuit George on Sgt. Pepper Where were you December 8, 1980? Myths that won't die Check out Gary Wenstrup's lectures here: http://www.garywenstrup.com Gary's December 1980 review of Double Fantasy here. Send further questions to: [email protected]

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1 hr 29 min
March 05, 2023 256: The Making of Ringo (and Goodnight Vienna) with Bill Schnee
Fifty years on, Ringo's third solo album (or first, as he counted it in 1977) remains a stunning achievement, not just for the near-Beatles reunion but also on its own musical merits. With Richard Perry in the producer's chair, an array of talent was rallied in support of the beloved ex-Beatle, resulting in something greater than the sum of its parts. At Perry's side was engineer Bill Schnee, who'd worked with him on hits by artists like Streisand, Nilsson, Carly, Leo Sayer and many others. Schnee has penned a memoir, Chairman at the Board, detailing a career that began with Three Dog Night and encompassed artists ranging from Steely Dan and Neil Diamond to Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston. Schnee has been a mixer/remixer, engineer and producer in support of the rich soundtrack of life for anyone enjoying music during the 70s and 80s and beyond. Bill was there at the right place and the right time to take full advantage of his gifts and creativity. His book is rich with stories, and in this conversation, we discuss his work with all four ex-Beatles, mostly but not entirely in support of Ringo. Check out his website - https://www.billschnee.com/ This podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Go to betterhelp.com/satb for 10% off your first month of treatment.

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1 hr 15 min
February 19, 2023 255: Peter Jackson's Get Back with Doug Sulpy and Dan Rivkin
No one on the planet knows more about the contents of The Beatles' Nagra reels than Beatle scholars Doug Sulpy (Drugs, Divorce and A Slipping Image) and Dan Rivkin (They May Be Parted blog). We convened to review the Get Back film and discuss how well it depicted the events revealed by the extant audio. Doug's works can be found at www.dougsulpy.com Dan's blog is here: https://theymaybeparted.com/

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1 hr 56 min

About Something About the Beatles

From the publisher's feed

Hosted by award-winning author Robert Rodriguez, Something About The Beatles is an intelligent but entertaining examination of The Beatles' music and career. Smart, funny and surprising - just like…