Yesterday and Today

It's spring of 1979 and a new album from WINGS is ready to launch! After the continued success of their previous effort London Town, a lineup change brought Paul McCartney's band of rock'n'roll comrades back to the proverbial "beginning" once more...or to coin a phrase, Back to the Egg. Macca's columbia debut was preceded by the crowd-pleasing toe-tapper Goodnight Tonight single, which Paul curiou...

It's February of 1979 and George Harrison's follow-up LP to his 1976 effort Thirty Three & 1/3 is ready to drop! With a multi-year gestation period akin to that of the break between All Things Must Pass and Living In The Material World, this new, self-titled LP was yet another warmly-received return to form for George. Light-hearted singles fare such as Blow Away and If You Believe sat neatly...

It's 1979! The world of music had evolved considerably since the demise of the fab four as a unified entity nearly a decade prior -- with punk rock, pub rock, disco and new wave bringing with them a parade of new artists making new sounds for a new generation. Which is not to say that Beatle music was no longer relevant, but amongst each former Beatle was a sliding scale of solicitude as to whethe...

1978 was a relative year of calm in the world of the former Beatles, with its own unique mix of musical and visual appearances (to varying degrees of success and reach) and the onset of familial stability in some, but not all cases (individual former Beatle mileage may vary). On August 1st, 1978, George and Olivia welcomed into the world their brand new baby boy, Dhani - and with him a wave of pea...

As Spring to turned to Summer in 1978, Paul McCartney was back in the business of rebuilding a Wings lineup -- a process all-too-familiar to the Maccas as a matter of course every few years since the band's inception. Jimmy McCulloch and Joe English left big shoes to fill - especially after having charmed the globe during the 1976 WINGS OVER THE WORLD tour...but fill those shoes the Maccas did, wi...

It's April, 1978, and Ringo Starr has a new album, a new TV special, and a new live performance in the works. First up the release of Starr's 7th post-Beatle LP, Bad Boy - a tighter, warmer departure from the previous year's effort Ringo The 4th. With highlight cuts like Hard Times, Heart On My Sleeve and Tonight, Ringo and producer (and longtime collaborator) Vini Poncia hoped to recapture the li...

It's March of 1978, and big expectations for a follow-up to Wings' ultra-successful Wings At The Speed of Sound record are mounting. Though it had been over a year since their ultra-successful WINGS OVER THE WORLD tour, audiences poured into stores in record numbers for a new single from Paul & company -- but would their LP follow suit? The answer came in the form of a resounding "yes", and th...

What was it that people loved so much about the pre-fab four? I think it was the trousers. But while mysteries may surround the appeal of Rutland's favorite sons, there's no mystery about the appeal of Lorne Michaels' epic Monty Python collaboration and Beatles tribute known as: THE RUTLES. Of course, plans were also in the works from the actual Beatles, starting with some new, optimistic composit...

The finale of 1977 is here, and so ends a year of relative peace and reflection for John, Paul, George and Ringo. After a break-neck start to the 1970's and the pulse-pounding culmination of the 1976 Wings World Tour, the former Beatles (on the whole) took this year to take a moment...before trekking onward to the next horizon. Ringo Starr's horizons looked markedly different in the fall of 1977 a...

As summer turned to fall in the midst of 1977, the fab four legacy continued to loom large in the worlds of John, Paul George and Ringo... and indeed, the world at large. No such greater cultural compliment could be given than that of Lorne Michaels's new fab mock-umentary, The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash, which began filming on August 2nd. Dirk, Nasty, Stig and Barry's legend would last a luncht...

nd Sean's trip to Asia ushers the family from Hong Kong to Karuizawa on a sight-seeing tour that would bring the Lennons closer to their matriarch's roots, and allow John some much-appreciated anonymity in the rural countrysides of their visit. Paul and Ringo, meanwhile, where knee-deep in recording efforts - be it as performing artists, label heads or in pseudonym masquerade. First up, Paul and W...

"I've already given it up, I haven't decided where to run, though" said a smiling John Lennon surrounded by family and enjoying a day out at the circus in March of 1977. Lennon was jovial, though his words were perhaps a bit cryptic...begging the question: had John Lennon actually retired from music completely? With nearly a full two years since his last album release, fans wondering what the next...

It's 1977, and the new year bodes well for all four former Beatles. George Harrison's Thirty Three & 1/3 LP promotional tour is in full swing, and a more melodic, upbeat George proves to be a critical and commercial improvement for Harrison's career in some big ways. While discussing the record, the notion of a world tour is brought up and seemingly giving some serious consideration, albeit wi...

The Yesterday & Today podcast is excited to welcome special guest Luther Russell to the show this week to analyze, review and ruminate on a trilogy of albums 50 years in the making! It's an episode we had to title McCartney: Anatomy of A Trilogy. In 1970 the world became aware of the breakup of the Beatles when Macca's first solo album, McCartney, hit shelves accompanied by a widely publicized...

As the year 1976 draws to a close, so too closes the chapter on one of the biggest, most productive years in post-Beatles history. Wings soared with the kinds of commercial successes and audience excitement not seen since the heyday of the Beatles touring years - and John Lennon, whose immigration struggles had left him shackled to the continental United States for the better part of 5 years, foun...

Hot off the heels of his Rotogravure album release, Ringo Starr was knee-deep in a promotional blitz across Europe and Asia in the fall of 1976. Of course Ringo still made time during this flurry of interviews to send buddy John Lennon a gift for the former Beatle's 36th birthday - a gift in the form of a private erotic poetry reading by New York City porn & punk personality Cherry Vanilla. In...

As summer turned to fall in September of 1976, three of the four former Beatles found themselves in challenging situations. Ringo Starr's new LP Rotogravure was bursting with pride and ambition from its principle artist, but a lukewarm reception by critics and the public illuminated the first cracks in Starr's successful three-year hit-making streak. Never one to give up, Ringo doubled down on the...

It's the summer of 1976 and Wings are finishing their victory lap over North America with a lavish party attended by the rich & famous of Los Angeles. With two monster singles: Silly Love Songs and Let Em In, catapulting to the top of the charts on both sides of the Atlantic (well, the #2 spot in the UK), Paul McCartney and his rock n roll quintet were riding high, and enjoying the fruits of t...

As the Wings Over The Word tour continued its relentless path of success across North America in the summer of 1976, Paul McCartney’s triumphant return to pop culture relevancy remainder bogged down by the specter of Beatle past. Bill Sergeant’s multi-million dollar reunion offer added constant fuel to the rumor mill of an on-stage moment featuring John, Paul, George and Ringo – as well as a scram...

The Yesterday & Today Podcast is proud to present an all-new extended interview with Ring O'Records recording artist and former Queen bassist Doug Bogie! In the holiday season of 1975 Doug became one of the select few musicians spotlighted by Ringo Starr's newly formed label, and Doug shares with us some of the incredible stories of his close encounters of the Beatle-y kind in this week's epis...

It's May of 1976 and the Wings Over the World tour continues its unstoppable sojourn across North America - this time landing in New York City. Even as McCartney continued to define himself as a solo hitmaker and unique pop culture phenomenon outside of his past with the Beatles, fans and critics alike (and perhaps Paul himself) couldn't help but wonder if a trip to the big apple would result in a...

Wings conquer America! It's May of 1976 and Paul McCartney and Wings are making their way across North America on the latest leg of their triumphant WINGS OVER THE WORLD tour. While the stage was rumored to be set for a fab four reunion during the band's Toronto performance, John and Yoko's no-show once again derailed hopes for all four former Beatles to join forces once again - be it on or off th...

Live from New York, it's the Nerk Twins! It's the Spring of 1976 and Paul McCartney is on the verge of conquering America once again with his band Wings. Where The Beatles made history in 1964, Paul was poised to do so again, this time on his own merits and with the support of the band that many had laughed off as a forgettable side-project some four years earlier. Paul's newfound success was a lu...

With successful tours of Britain, Australia and now Europe under his belt, Paul McCartney once again stood poised to take America by storm as he had with the Beatles over a decade prior. Back in 1964, The Beatles came to America with a new hit single and album to tout...would McCartney attempt to repeat that success with Wings? The answer came at audiences in America and around the world at the sp...

It's 1976, and once again reunion rumors around the four former Beatles are reaching a fever pitch. This latest batch were inspired by full page advertisements taken out in several major US newspapers by concert promoter Bill Sargent. This zealous entertainment personality amped his original 30 million dollar offer to the former fabs to a whopping 50 MILLION - all for a 25 minute closed-circuit Be...