Something About the Beatles

In the time since publishing his memoir, The Redhead on the Roof and first appearing on SATB (160), Beatles equipment manager Kevin Harrington has now become known to millions of fans by his ubiquitous presence captured on film and presented in the eight hours of Peter Jackson's Get Back. It therefore was time to bring him back to get his reaction to the film and drill down deeper on his experienc...

As part of the Fab4ConJam online fan event, I convened these two Beatles insiders to take questions and reminisce. Chris O'Dell came from Tucson, AZ (yes! home of Jo Jo AND Linda) and was pulled into the Apple Press Office by Derek Taylor. She was a rooftop attendee as well as a one-time resident of Friar Park, witnessing the daily drama of the group as it ended, along with George and Pattie's mar...

He's known to millions, in the words of Arthur C. Clarke, as “The most famous unknown actor in the world.” Richter was a mime (and a poet) during the 1960s, but also gained cinematic immortality as "Moonwatcher" in the iconic "Dawn of Man" sequence in Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. This in itself would be enough to stir our interest, but Dan was also intimately involved with John and Yok...

One of the things that's kept Beatles fans captivated was their refusal to stay still and how each album felt like a progression into new territory. That said, as you delve deeper into the structures and configurations of the band's music across their discography, there are certain tools, tricks, and ideas that they used and repurposed to great effect. In today's episode, returning guests Jack Pet...

Two master craftsmen of pop/rock, born two days apart; both possessing a good number of commonalities as well as some major diverging paths. My returning guest, journalist Glenn Greenberg (Paul McCartney at 80) and I discuss their friendship and rivalry, as well as what each learned from the other.    Here's the 1967 CBS TV special, Inside Pop: The Rock Revolution: https://youtu.be/vyiGFRj5b-k   ...

In the latest effort in a line of works presenting his side of his own history (which include Many Years From Now, Wingspan, the McCartney 3 2 1 docuseries as well as Anthology), Paul McCartney published The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present in 2021. It was in collaboration with Irish poet Paul Muldoon, an as-told-to project where he got deep into his recollections about a selection of his works, pre, d...

After shows post-Get Back with guests representing American musicians, multi-generation female fans, and the film's maker (Peter Jackson), conspicuously missing from the SATB conversation to this point has been the POV of British fans/musicians. No longer: today's guests are drawn from the UK music scene and ALL have a deep fandom for The Fabs - some have even worked with one or more.  Producer Jo...

Long on the list of my coveted guests has been singer-songwriter Sam Brown. The daughter of Joe Brown - an early UK rock legend - and Vicki Brown - an astonishingly gifted singer herself - Sam's career as an artist kicked off in 1988 with Stop!, the first of seven albums. (The first letter of the titles spell out her name - the 8th installment, titled Number 8 is due out this year.) Sam is also kn...

The conclusion of the discussion Gary Wenstrup and I had in rating individual tracks on the albums named here, as well as the 1966 Capitol release, "Yesterday"...and Today.  I think, is so overlooked, both message-wise and musical construction-wise. It's one of those songs, first of all, musically, based on piano. Not a lot of guitar, except those little stabbing, which was a 1965 sound in other p...

In which Gary Wenstrup and I return where we left off in offering our picks in ranking Bronze, Silver and Gold tracks off of The Beatles' 1965 releases, as well as a little beyond. This show represents the first hour of our conversation - part two coming next.    Loyal SATB fans: we are asking for you to take a minute to fill in this survey   https://tinyurl.com/y2y3crxm    First 50 respondents ge...

Given Beatles author and historian Erin Weber's recently announced sabbatical from Beatling these days, I wanted to share with SATB listeners the Q&A we held last year for Fab4ConJam, where she fielded questions on the Beatles' literary canon.    Authors covered included:  Lewisohn (of course) Michael Braun Peter McCabe Barry Miles Mark Hertsgaard And much more... Also revealed: her favorite Beatl...

"Every aspect of what they put out there just became so attractive to people who encountered it, whether it was in the 60s, (when) it was all new, or later generations interfacing with that material, and still being dazzled by all the aspects of it. Not just the music, but the evolving style that they had. Again, as Brian Epstein said so beautifully, he was overwhelmed by their personal charm. Eve...

A new phase SATB episode: audio with full video accompaniment! My guests are returning musician Jack Petruzzelli (Fab Faux, Joan Osborne, Patti Smith), joined by Cameron Greider (Freedy Johnston, Sean Lennon, Rufus Wainwright), who in the past year developed a series of online Beatles classes. For the latest, The Beatles and You, they are joined by musicologist Walter Everett (The Beatles As Music...

My guest today is Dr. Christine Feldman-Barrett, author of A Women's History of The Beatles - an essential new work exploring the group's story through the lens of the women they interacted with and influenced, as well as how they were received and experienced by female fandom. Christine was also once a musician herself, and listen as she describes both her journey as well as what was experienced...

In this continuation of the conversation with Debbie Gendler (1st US Beatles fan) and cartoonist/author Carol Tyler (Fab 4 Mania), Dr. Allison Bumsted and I explore the 1st generation fan's perspectives on: Supporting players in Get Back Mal Evans and Billy Preston How Get Back may influence future generations The life-changing force of The Beatles Carol's missing original albums  www.debbiegendle...

In the latest of the SATB series examining Peter Jackson's Get Back, we bring on returning guests Debbie Gendler (first in heard in 121: New York Stories); the first US Beatles fan, plus cartoonist/author Carol Tyler (first heard in 146: Fab 4 Mania). In so doing, we present a first generation fan perspective and reaction to the documentary.    My special guest co-host: Dr. Allison Bumsted, who he...

In this concluding hour of the conversation with Dennis Diken (The Smithereens), Pat Sansone (Wilco), Arion Salazar (ex-Third Eye Blind) and Luther Russell (Those Pretty Wrongs), we discuss: The Get Back film as therapy for fans (and the world)  Billy Preston Ringo and Paul observations Jamming with Heather  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our panel of Pat, Arion, Luther and Dennis continues their conversation on Peter Jackson's Get Back documentary.    Among the topics:  The rooftop performance The "Flowerpot conversation" Bass stuff The road to Abbey Road Let It Be - the film   Partial transcript of the "Flowerpot Conversation" here.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Any analysis of the Get Back documentary would be remiss in not factoring in insights gleaned from those who've followed in The Beatles' professional footsteps: working musicians. To that end, I assembled a panel of some illustrious pros who also happen to be hardcore fans. Three are returning guests; one is new to SATB:  Luther Russell: (Those Pretty Wrongs) - multi-instrumentalist Currently perf...

In which returning guest Gary Wenstrup and I continue our ranking conversation of faves, discussing A Hard Day's Night and Beatles For Sale.  Along the way, we analyze their vocals and blendings, as well as what personal experiences may inform the writing.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In which we pull away from the Get Back film for a while and converse about something completely different. Returning guest Gary Wenstrup and I conduct a conversation going through the first four Beatles albums, selecting our picks for Gold, Silver and Bronze status. Along the way we examine our criteria for what constitutes "favorite" songs, and how the criteria is fluid and evolving.   Learn mor...

In the third and final hour, Dan Rivkin (They May be Parted blog) and I explore more of the Get Back project with its director. Among the subjects discussed:    ~ Coordination between the Get Back book, the Let It Be album reissue and this film (hint: none)   ~ Directives from the Beatle heirs and Apple (hint: none)   ~ Michael Lindsay-Hogg’s original draft of Let It Be   ~ The missing Nagra audio...

Dan Rivkin (They May Be Parted blog) and I continue our conversation with director Peter Jackson about the innovation used to create the film -  some technique used to advance the story - and a number of other observations gleaned from viewing so many hours of footage, both in and outside of the final cut. The history of the Get Back project is at last coming into focus, challenging a number of pr...

Well, it's finally here. Worth the wait? Oh, we think so! But before we get into discussions on SATB about what we thought about it, we thought it would be worthwhile to discuss the making of it - the intent behind it; the goals; the challenges; the nuts-and-bolts - with someone who worked on it. To that end, a listener in New Zealand offered himself up as a guest who could offer an insight or two...

We have all made compilations of Beatles solo material, but within this large group, a smaller group has imagined taking some of this material and arranging it as The Beatles might have, had they recorded this material and issued it as "Beatles," the collective. There's actor Ethan Hawke's famous Black Album; Spencer Leigh's Finishing School, as well as any number of other efforts out there.    Th...