Things We Said Today Beatles Radio Show

In Episode 340 of Things We Said Today, Ken Michaels, Allan Kozinn and Darren DeVivo review McCartney III Imagined, Paul McCartney’s inventive remix-covers project, devoted to reworkings of songs from his recent McCartney III. As always, we welcome your thoughts about this episode of the show or any other episode. We invite you to send your comments about this or any of our other shows to our emai...

In Episode 339 of Things We Said Today, Ken Michaels, Allan Kozinn and Darren DeVivo have an illuminating chat with Jerry Hammack, who recently published the fifth and final volume of his series, “The Beatles Recording Reference Manual.” Volume 5 covers “Let It Be” and “Abbey Road” albums, and part of the conversation centers on those albums, but we also have Jerry explain his approach to the seri...

In Episode 338 of Things We Said Today, Ken Michaels, Allan Kozinn and Darren DeVivo review Ringo Starr’s new EP, “Zoom In,” and look at the May 1, 1970 Bob Dylan session, on which George Harrison played guitar and contributed backing vocals. As always, we welcome your thoughts about this episode of the show or any other episode. We invite you to send your comments about this or any of our other s...

In Episode 337 of Things We Said Today, Ken Michaels, Allan Kozinn and Darren DeVivo speak with Dr. Robert R. Hieronimus and Laura E. Cortner, the authors of the newly published “It’s All in the Mind – Inside the Beatles’ Yellow Submarine Vol. 2.” The book, along with its predecessor, “Inside The Yellow Submarine” (2002), cover pretty much everything you want to know about the Beatles’ great anima...

For Episode 336 of Things We Said Today, Ken Michaels, Allan Kozinn and Darren DeVivo imagined that EMI, in early 1964, decided to compile an album of tracks the Beatles had been playing on the BBC over the previous year, and each provided a proposed tracklist. There were no rules, although for the purpose of the exercise, they used the two double-CD sets that EMI eventually released (rather than...

In Episode 335 of Things We Said Today, Ken Michaels, Allan Kozinn and Darren DeVivo speak with David Bedford, the author of several books on the Beatles, about his latest, “The Country of Liverpool.” A study of the popularity of country music in England, and particularly Liverpool (“Nashville of the North,” as it was known among British country fans), the book looks at the style’s appeal to Briti...

In Episode 334 of Things We Said Today, Ken Michaels, Allan Kozinn and Darren DeVivo discuss the potential reasons why the Beatles’ albums from Pepper onward still turn up on the charts, while the earlier albums do not. Along the way, we tussle (slightly) over where the line between “early” and “late” is best drawn. As always, we welcome your thoughts about this episode of the show or any other ep...

In Episode 333 of Things We Said Today, Ken Michaels, Allan Kozinn and Darren DeVivo welcome back former co-host Al Sussman, the Executive Editor of Beatlefan, for a discussion about Phil Spector, the record producer and convicted murderer, about signature sound, and his work on recordings by the Beatles, John Lennon and George Harrison. As always, we welcome your thoughts about this episode of th...

In Things We Said Today, episode 332, Ken Michaels, Allan Kozinn and Darren DeVivo offer an appreciation of John Lennon’s and Yoko Ono’s “Double Fantasy” on its 40th anniversary. (Okay, okay, we're a couple of months late -- the show was first postponed when when Darren got Covid, and then because of "McCartney III"). As always, we welcome your thoughts about this episode of the show or any other...

In Things We Said Today, episode 331, Ken Michaels, Allan Kozinn and Darren DeVivo first catch up with the flood of news that has broken over the last few weeks (we were off for a couple of weeks while Darren fought off Covid-19), and then review Paul McCartney’s latest, “McCartney III.” As always, we welcome your thoughts about this episode of the show or any other episode. We invite you to send...

In episode 330 of Things We Said Today, Ken Michaels, Allan Kozinn and Darren DeVivo celebrate the 50th Anniversary of George Harrison's [conventional] LP solo debut, the three-disc "All Things Must Pass." Think of it as a companion piece to last week's interview with Ashley Khan, about "George Harrison on George Harrison: Interviews and Encounters."  As always, we welcome your thoughts about this...

In episode 329 of Things We Said Today, Ken Michaels, Allan Kozinn and Darren DeVivo speak with Ashley Kahn about his latest book, “George Harrison on George Harrison – Interviews and Encounters,” an impressive, career-spanning compilation of interviews, speeches, statements and internet chats. As always, we welcome your thoughts about this episode of the show or any other episode. We invite you t...

In episode 328 of Things We Said Today, Ken Michaels, Allan Kozinn and Darren DeVivo have an illuminating chat with Kenneth Womack about his new book, “John Lennon 1980 – The Last Days in the Life.” As always, we welcome your thoughts about this episode of the show or any other episode. We invite you to send your comments about this or any of our other shows to our email address  thingswesaidtoday...

In episode 327 of Things We Said Today – Ken Michaels, Allan Kozinn and Darren DeVivo celebrate John Lennon’s 80th birthday (on October 9) by reflecting on how Lennon and his music influenced them. As always, we welcome your thoughts about this episode of the show or any other episode. We invite you to send your comments about this or any of our other shows to our email address  thingswesaidtodayr...

In episode 326 of Things We Said Today – the first of two collaborative podcasts with our friends at Two Legs – Tom Hunyadi and Andy Nicholes  join Ken Michaels and Darren DeVivo to discuss what we want in future archival releases from the Beatles, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. (The next episode, on Three Legs’s turf, will discuss our wants from future Paul McCartney archival relea...

In episode 325 of Things We Said Today, Ken Michaels and Darren DeVivo discuss the new Archive Collection edition of Paul’s Flaming Pie. (Allan Kozinn is taking a leave of absence to complete “McCartney Legacy – Volume One: Beyond The Beatles, 1969-73 [working title]”). As always, we welcome your thoughts about this episode of the show or any other episode. We invite you to send your comments abou...

In earlier episodes, Allan has referred to some of his experiences interviewing people in the Beatles world during his years as the New York Times’ Beatles Desk, and Ken Michaels and Darren DeVivo occasionally joked that they should devote an episode to some of these. Perhaps hearing Allan’s Albert Goldman impression in episode 323 was what did it, but in any case, this turned out to be that show....

In this episode, Ken Michaels, Allan Kozinn and Darren DeVivo speak with Dave Morrell about his new book, ‘Run-Out Groove – Inside Capitol’s 1980s Hits & Stiffs’ – the fourth volume in his memoirs of working in the record business. Dave has been a guest twice in the past, and always has interesting stories to tell. As always, we welcome your thoughts about this episode of the show or any other epi...

In this episode, Ken Michaels, Allan Kozinn and Darren DeVivo each choose their five favorite solo tracks – hits as well as deep tracks – as a tribute to the Ringster on his 80th birthday. As always, we welcome your thoughts about this episode of the show or any other episode. We invite you to send your comments about this or any of our other shows to our email address  thingswesaidtodayradioshow@...

In this episode, Ken Michaels, Allan Kozinn and Darren DeVivo speak with Chip Madinger, the co-author (with Mark Easter) of “Eight Arms to Hold You,” the indispensable guide to solo Beatles recordings up to 2000, and (with Scott Raille) the “Lennonology” series. As always, we welcome your thoughts about this episode of the show or any other episode. We invite you to send your comments about this o...

In this episode, Ken Michaels, Allan Kozinn and Darren DeVivo celebrate Ken’s 2000th Beatles show – counting radio shows and podcasts. We then each discuss our 5 least favorite Beatles (as a group) tracks, and why. Tough job with a catalogue that’s the zenith of Western Civ, and it’s fair to say we were, in some cases, surprised by each other’s selections. As always, we welcome your thoughts about...

In this episode, Ken Michaels, Allan Kozinn and Darren DeVivo are joined by Steve Matteo, the author of the excellent book ‘Let It Be,’ published in 2004 as part of the ‘33 1/3’ series on classic albums. In writing the book, Matteo had interviewed many of the people involved, from EMI engineers to the director Michael Lindsay-Hogg and some of his technical crew, and we discuss some of the insights...

In this episode, Ken Michaels, Allan Kozinn and Darren DeVivo look at Paul McCartney’s debut album, McCartney, on the 50th anniversary of its release, taking into account the circumstances under which it was made and released, what it meant to us then and how we see it now. As always, we welcome your thoughts about this episode of the show or any other episode. We invite you to send your comments...

In this episode, Ken Michaels, Allan Kozinn and Darren DeVivo commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Beatles’ breakup by looking at the first singles each of the former Beatles released, with as much arcane information about each as we could think of.  As always, we welcome your thoughts about this episode of the show or any other episode. We invite you to send your comments about this or any of...

In this episode, Ken Michaels, Allan Kozinn and Darren DeVivo discuss aspects of the Beatles’ solo careers that have disappointed them – anything from particular albums or performances, to missed opportunities. As always, we welcome your thoughts about this episode of the show or any other episode. We invite you to send your comments about this or any of our other shows to our email address  thing...