Yesterday and Today

Doesn't make a difference, don't care how far -- we can go the distance, in this pod! We're taking a break from our regularly scheduled 1983 program to offer a closer examination of the LP Old Wave, a forgotten gem in the catalog of Ringo Starr and a shining example of the heights of the Ringo/Walsh collaboration. Originally recorded as an episode of the Now Hear This podcast, in this episode we o...

It's June of 1983 and there's a new Ringo Starr album out...but for the first time since his meteoric rise to fame with his fellow fab four, this album is not available in the US market. It's the Joe Walsh-produced Old Wave LP, and as musicianship, quality and material goes it would be one of Ringo's finest efforts to date. But with Starr struggling to recapture his successes of the early and mid-...

It's 1983, and projects abound for the three former Beatles at the start of the new year. Ringo Starr was in the process of finalizing a brand new solo LP release, with the hopes that a consistent producer and collaborator (former Eagle Joe Walsh) would reverse his fortunes and allow him to once again score a hit record. While Ringo revved up, George was revving down, with the single I Really Love...

It's the finale of 1982 and this epic year in former Beatle history has one more surprise left before the new year. It's a brand new LP from George Harrison, the tongue-in-cheek, happy-go-lucky, sardonic-with-a-smile GONE TROPPO. As early clues to the new direction go, this collection is chock-full of the kinds of upbeat synth bop that would permeate the 1980's and serve George well in the years t...

It's fall of 1982, and a mix of both nostalgia collections and vital new content are a swirl in the world of the Beatles. In October Capitol Records issued both the 20th anniversary single release of Love Me Do, as well an LP titled The Beatles: 20 Greatest Hits - another in a string of successful repurposed material in Capitol's ever-growing line of Beatles collections. With The Who homaging the...

With his new album Tug Of War sitting at the top of the charts, Paul McCartney strode into the back half of 1982 with a confidence not seen in some time. Accompanied by Macca's trademark relaxed demeanor to the press, the former Beatle rose to the impossible expectations that a still-mourning world had placed upon him in the wake of John Lennon's death, and did so with some of the biggest commerci...

It's Spring 1982, and a flurry of activity abounds in the world of the former Beatles. Ringo Starr - determined to rebound from his string of musical misses - is back in the studio with producer Joe Walsh to record what he hoped would be a consistent-sounding hit record. Ringo's sessions rolled on as Capitol's The Beatles Movie Medley climbed the charts in the US...but the most exciting release of...

If 1981 was a year of reflection in the Beatle world, then the beginning of 1982 certainly continued that tradition. While work was hard underway on Paul McCartney's latest solo effort, alongside producer George Martin, an appearance on Britain's fabled Desert Island Discs program saw Macca peering down memory lane and reflecting upon his biggest musical influences. Perhaps the most touching segme...

As Summer 1981 turned to fall, the music landscape, too, underwent a major shift. In August, MTV debuted on cable television - a moment which marked a seismic shift in both television and the music industry. While the Beatles themselves helped to invent the genre through their motion picture and pre-taped performance projects in the 60s, Paul, George and Ringo would not be immune to this change in...

In the wake of John Lennon's murder, a wave of Beatles nostalgia and interest gripped the word - and nowhere was this global mourning so evident as in the worldwide top 10 single All Those Years Ago, taken from George Harrison's new LP Somewhere In England and recorded as a tribute to the slain former Beatle. The strife that had gripped the initial release of George's 9th solo studio album was lon...

It's spring 1981 and Ringo Starr is on a whirlwind press tour to promote his new film Caveman. By his side - newfound love and freshly minted bride Barbara Bach, Ringo's co-star in the film and acclaimed actress in her own right. On April 27th the couple tied the knot accompanied by friends and family, amongst them George Harrison and Paul McCartney. Paul, meanwhile, spent the spring continuing wo...

With the tragic events of the year prior fresh in everyone's minds, the year 1981 began with a whimper and a lament for the loss of John Lennon to such a senseless act of gun violence. Grief can take many forms, and in the case of John's devastated longtime friend and collaborator Paul McCartney, work would prove to be the best medicine. Plans for Wings to take to the studio were scuttled in favor...

December 8th, 1980. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's November 1980, and John & Yoko's new LP Double Fantasy is inching up the charts. Reviews were mixed to start, but no one (critic or fan alike) could deny that it was a relief to have new John Lennon material after so many years of musical silence. The album's lead-off single (Just Like) Starting Over had cracked the top 20 on both sides of the Atlantic, and the Lennons were conducting a w...

It's fall, 1980 and all four former Beatles are buzzing with musical activity. In September Ringo Starr resumed sessions on his upcoming You Can't Fight Lightning LP at Cherokee Sound Studios, laying down cuts such as "Brandy" and seeking the commercial resurgence that had alluded him for nearly 5 years. Paul McCartney, meanwhile, reconvened his band Wings for rehearsals at Kent's Finston Manor, p...

John and Yoko are back in the studio moving a mile a minute to produce not one, but TWO comeback records, after their 5 year long hiatus. The studio time was vastly different from prior recordings, as booze and drugs were limited and Sean was brought in from time to time to check in on the recordings and add to the familial atmosphere. Paul McCartney, meanwhile, continued his own recordings at Rud...

The Hit Factory, New York's oft-base of operations for some of the biggest names in recorded music, was once again brimming with the sounds of new John Lennon songs in August of 1980. With a 5 year absence separating recording sessions for Lennon, the burst of creative energy spawned earlier in the year was quickly building up into a new studio album for both John AND Yoko. From songs like Startin...

It's the summer of 1980 and a flurry of recording and activity abounds for all four former Beatles. The most surprising of which is that of John Lennon who, after having spent several years not seriously pursuing the writing of tracks for an album release, suddenly found himself with "creativity diarrhea" after a harrowing sea voyage to Bermuda. By the end of July John was on his way back to New Y...

It's summer 1980 and John Lennon is on the move. Following a holiday in South Africa, the reclusive former Beatle found himself in Bermuda, a location that would prove formative for the resurgence of musical endeavors and a major tap in the wellspring of creativity. Inspired by tales of new wave acts echoing the sounds that once solely graced the grooves of Yoko Ono solo LPs, John got to writing s...

In the wake of Paul's "Japanese Holiday", big changes were abound in the life of the McCartney family - both personal and professional. A smattering of recordings captured at Hog Hill from the year prior were about to see the light of day in the form of the second solo release from Paul McCartney since the dissolution of the Beatles: a new LP titled McCARTNEY II. This bizarre collection of electro...

It's 1980, and just twelve days into the new year (and the new decade) Paul McCartney and Wings touched down at Tokyo's Narita International Airport en route to the Japanese leg of their latest world tour. The high from their electric live set at the Concert for Kampuchea hung in the air as the band braced themselves for another roaring triumph...but a fateful stop through customs upon their arriv...

The finale of 1979 is here and with it the last major Beatle reunion rumor in John Lennon's lifetime. As Wings travel the UK on the kick-off leg to their newest World Tour, Paul McCartney & co seemed undeterred by the soft critical and commercial reception to their latest LP Back to the Egg - play-testing their live set amongst the kinds of crowds that Wings first performed in front of so many...

On October 9th, 1979, John Lennon and his son Sean celebrated their shared birthday in New York City's Tavern on the Green - an annual tradition at this point of friends and family gathering to wish father and son well. John's so-called "house husband" period was rounding the corner into a 4th consecutive year of relative musical inactivity, and the former Beatle seemed no worse the wear from his...

It's September 1979 and the former Beatle furthest from the public eye is John Lennon by a New York mile. With his wife and child by his side and the spotlight was nowhere in sight, John's compositions from throughout the so-called "house husband years" made for an impressive portfolio of scribbles, ballads, ideas and musings that were inspired by family, nature and his hot-and-cold feelings towar...

With the launch of Wings' 7th studio album Back to the Egg, Paul, Linda, Denny and their new recruits hoped to recapture the successes of their preceding record releases - especially in light of Macca's newly inked deal with Columbia Records. But mixed reviews and the absence of the radio-hit Goodnight Tonight on the LP kept Back to the Egg from reaching the kinds of heights that the band had hope...