Fixing A Hole - The Beatles podcast you didn't know you needed

By 1966 John, Paul, George, and Ringo were entering the third phase of their career.    No longer playing the clubs, chasing success. No longer interested in the trappings of Beatlemannia. By 1966 developing their creativity and songwriters and musicians was where they were at. The Beatles were no longer pop stars; they were becoming serious rock musicians.   In this episode we look at this transi...

Having spent a month watching and listening to the newly remastered Beatles Anthology. In this week episode, Paul and Mark review the newly give their thoughts on how this this audio visual feast of Beatlemannia holds up 30 years after its debut. Mark had never watched the TV series, but he does own the accompanying albums. While as you would expect, Paul watched the series on TV, purchased the VH...

Hello, Fixing A Hole listener.   Yes, we're back following our extended Christmas break.   Just a short episode to wish you a happy 2026 and give you an update on the new improved format of the podcast.   Regular episodes drop from the Friday the 9th January 2026.   Many thanks for your support during 2025.   Best wishes Paul & Mark

If you watch the Beatles Let It Be film, you could be forgiven for thinking that by January 1969, The Beatles were finished. The writing was on the wall and they couldn't wait to go their separate ways. However, as always the truth is very different. 1969 is one of the most productive years in the bands history. Yes they work on solo projects, but they also collaborate on recordings for Apple arti...

Starting with the 50th anniversary of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Apple have gifted us deluxe boxed sets of the White Album, Abbey Road, Let It Be and most recently Revolver. Therefore it was assumed as 2025 marks the 60th anniversary of both Help! and Rubber Soul. That this year Beatles fan would gift one or both of these titles the super deluxe treatment. But this was not to be. Inste...

For George, it must have been a double edged sword being a member of the worlds biggest band, with two of the greatest song writers. On the one hand George the budding songwriter was finding it difficult to get his compositions included on a Beatles record. But on the other hand he had two great mentors to learn from. By 1969 he had matured into a great composer. While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Here...

In last week’s episode we took a deep dive into 1962. The final year of John, Paul, George and Ringo’s musical apprenticeship.   This week we look at the first year of the second phase of their career, 1963. In particular, we delve into their live appearances. As this was the year when they moved out of the clubs and halls and entered the world of the package tour circuit. It was also a transition...

By December 1962 John, Paul, George and Ringo had completed their apprenticeship. All the hard work they had put in slogging around the night spots of Liverpool and Hamburg had started to pay off.  The year had begun with an audition for Decca and a single released in the UK from Polydor. National radio for the BBC soon followed. While by the end of the year they had a regional TV broadcast under...

In 1966 plans were hatched to commission an animated feature based on The Beatles song, Yellow Submarine. However, with a production team which included the maker of 200 'Popeye' cartoon shorts. John, Paul, George and Ringo wanted nothing to do with it. In fact, The Beatles voices were recreated by a by an ensemble of British character actors and comedians! However, by the time the production was...

When did The Beatles creativity peak?   For me the answer is 1967.   Why 1967?   That’s what Mark and I discuss in this week episode. We look at John, Paul, George and Ringo output in this pivotal year. A year of not just new music, Penny Lane, Sgt. Pepper’s, Hello Goodbye. But also, film making an equally creative statement, Magical Mystery tour, Our World and of course the Strawberry Fields Fore...

In April 1966 The Beatles released their 12th UK single 'Paperback Writer'. A Paul composition which tells the story of a budding author who wants to get his book published. In 1968, journalist and author Hunter Davies published the first authorised biography of John, Paul, George and Ringo.  Since then the floodgates have opened and their have been an avalanche of Beatles books about many differe...

April 1971 marked the first anniversary of Paul's statement that he was leaving The Beatles. During those 12 months the music landscape had changed. The loss of The Beatles was old news. T-Rex were literary riding high in the singles chart with Ride A White Song. Rod The Mod - Rod Stewart was about to hit number one in both the singles and album charts simultaneously in the UK and USA with Maggie...

By the end of 1970, John had released 4 albums outside of The Beatles. Two Virgins, Life With The Lions and The Wedding Album were Avant Garde pieces which had more in common with Revolution 9 rather than Strawberry Fields Forever. While Live Peace in Toronto was a record of a live concert performed as the Plastic Ono Band.   Clearly Johns album output away form his band mates did not have the com...

When the Beatles contract with EMI expired in the February of 1976. EMI were free to exploit the band back catalogue....or were they? With Paul signing a new contract with EMI subsidiary Capitol. EMI were mindful not to upset one of their most lucrative assets.  Following the rerelease of all 22 UK Beatles singles, EMI and Capitol came up with a compilation of The Beatles rockier recordings. Which...

For 50 plus years Jacques Volcouve has been one of the world’s leading Beatles authorities and archivist.   From his Paris home he has written 9 books, published 2 long running fanzines and run a media press agency for all things John, Paul, George and Ringo. On top of which he also built one of the greatest Beatles record and memorabilia collections.   In this episode of Fixing A Hole, Mark and P...

By December 1973, no one could knock Paul's work ethic. It was now 3 years since he announced he was leaving The Beatles. In that time he had released 4 albums and 8 singles (in the UK). But although the albums had their moments, they were not on the same level as later Beatles albums - Sgt Pepper, White Album, Abbey Road.  Now, on the eve of recording a fifth album, his new band Wings was falling...

In last weeks episode we took an indepth dive into The Beatles record breaking appearance at Shea Stadium, New York in August 1965. This week we backtrack exactly 3 years to the August of 1962. When a film crew from a regional television magazine programme visited the Cavern in Liverpool, to film John, Paul, George and newly appointed drummer Ringo Starr, perform one of their now legendary lunchti...

60 years ago, The Beatles played the biggest concert of their career. When on 15th August 1965 they played to over 55,000 fans at New York’s Shea Stadium.   Only 2 years ago they had waved goodbye to the Cavern, the famous Liverpool city centre venue. Where playing to a few hundred fans at lunchtimes and evenings, they had grown the seeds of Beatlemania, before becoming the global phenomenon they...

By the mid-1960s, The Beatles had achieved global superstardom, but were increasingly frustrated by the limitations of touring and the expectations of their audience. "Rubber Soul," their previous album, had already hinted at a more introspective and adventurous direction, but "Revolver" would fully embrace the possibilities of studio experimentation. Released in the United Kingdom on 5 August 196...

Unlike in the USA where Capitol released Beatles singles in colourful picture sleeves. British 45's, with 2 exceptions came in Parlophone company sleeves. But unlike America where EP releases failed to ignite the imagination of teenage record buyers. UK fans were gifted 13 EP releases presented in colourful, laminated picture sleeves. Join us this week as we take a Magical Mystery Tour through The...

Between their debut single 'Love Me Do' in October 1962 and their final 45, 'Let It Be' in March 1970, The Beatles released 22 original singles.  Many of these releases featured songs that were unique to the 7" format at the time. Unlike many artists who would struggle to find a song to place on the B-side. The Beatles presented us with an embarrassment of riches, 'Rain', 'I Am The Walrus', 'Revol...

John Lennon has been quoted as saying "You haven't heard Sergeant Pepper, if you haven't heard it in mono"... and he's right. Yes, the songs are the same, but the mix is very different. Once you hear it in mono, you wont want to go back to stereo. So why did George Martin make mono and stereo mixes of the majority of Beatles recordings between Love Me Do in 1962 and the White Album in 1968? That's...

Love it or hate it, music streaming is here to stay and for younger listeners is introducing the music of The Beatles to a whole new audience.   The collectors out there who cherish their original first pressing vinyl, reel-to-reel tapes and cassettes may well be under the impression that with streaming being a non-physical music media that is stored in the cloud, the medium has nothing to offer t...

In 1964 Dave Lewis discovered music courtesy of the Dave Clark Five. But with the arrival of Thunderbirds on the television and football at the local park, music quickly new took a back seat.   Then in April 1969, The Beatles released the first new recordings from their January 1969 sessions at Twickenham and Savile Row, Get Back / Don’t Let Me Down. This would be the spark that ignited a lifelong...

In this week’s episode Paul and Mark take a peep into the world of alternate mixes.    Not those multi-format extended mixes record companies released in the 1980’s. Paul McCartney’s ‘No More Lonely Nights’ comes to mind. No, the alternate mixes of Beatles recordings which EMI inadvertently sent out to affiliated distributors across the globe.    Welcome to the world of high-hat intro’s, mysteriou...