Yesterday and Today

It's a time of challenges and changes for the four former Beatles in the summer of 1974, with some lives on the rise, some on the mend, and some hitting rock bottom. With his new label Dark Horse Records, George Harrison sought to turn the creative page in a positive direction from the ashes of the Beatles' split, but what should have been a happy time for the launch of this new endeavor soon turn...

It's June of 1974 and Paul McCartney's Band on the Run is back at the #1 spot yet again - rocketed to the top of the Billboard Top 200 in America with each new single. While Paul credits much of the album's success to the instincts of Capitol executive Al Coury, it seemed Al's advice was equally valuable to another former Beatle at this time. Coury's next big win? Finally securing the missing tape...

With Allen Klein out of the picture and John Lennon living a bachelor lifestyle independent from Yoko Ono for the first time in nearly five years, it seemed the circumstances were at last right for the musical reunion many thought to be impossible: Lennon and McCartney together again in the studio. These loose, drug and drink-fueled jam sessions from March of 1974 (affectionately dubbed "a toot an...

It's 1974 and the coming year would once again bring new music from all four former Beatles -- along with a mix of drama and triumph in the personal lives of John, Paul, George and Ringo. The new year saw Paul McCartney riding high with his hit album Band on the Run and corresponding single Helen Wheels. This strong collection of tracks from Paul, Linda and Denny would peak and the #1 spot, before...

With Paul McCartney's new LP Band on the Run, the former Beatle with so much to prove at last redefined his talents for not only skeptical Beatle fans, but a whole new generation of listeners ready for the Wings sound. While many hailed the masterpiece as a concept album, McCartney & co were themselves unaware of any concept hidden in the record, though Wings by definition were in fact a Band...

In the waning weeks of 1973, several major turning points in the lives of each of the former Beatles would mark both new beginnings and tragic endings for different people and places in the saga of the fab four. John Lennon, separated from his wife Yoko and in the throws of a depression not seen since his Hamburg days, took to drink, drugs and rock'n'roll for comfort and solace in Los Angeles. Geo...

Welcome back to the story so far! We've covered a lot so far in the Beatle year 1973, and with the grand finale ahead of us Wayne, Paul and James take a moment to talk a little bit about the monumental events that lead us to now. This year has been yet another transformative one for each former Beatle, with successes for each and set-backs abound. Paul McCartney began the year at last on a roll wi...

It's November of 1973 and, for the first time since he was a teenager, John Lennon was a bachelor. In the wake of the John/Yoko split, an alcohol-fueled Lennon set out to drown his sorrows in drink, drugs and favorite songs from his past. Enlisting the help of longtime collaborator Phil Spector, the so-called "Oldies But Moldies" sessions began in Los Angeles which found John howling his rock and...

The fall of 1973 was a busy time for all four former Beatles, with three new albums in development and a flurry of other activities from September through November. With his new band in shambles and his back to the wall, McCartney took his latest batch of songs and his most trusted musical confidants to Lagos, Nigeria during monsoon season to craft what would become his quintessential post-Bealtes...

It’s July of 1973 and two former Beatles are at the tops of both the album and singles charts in America. As Paul’s Red Rose Speedway and Live and Let Die duked it out with George’s Living in the Material World and Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth), John Lennon is once again back in the studio working on his long-awaited solo follow-up to 1971’s Imagine LP. While Some Time In New York City may...

Nearly three years had passed since George Harrison's mammoth opus All Things Must Pass burned up the charts and cemented the quiet Beatle as one of the premiere voices of 1970's rock and roll. In the summer months of 1973, a follow-up at last arrived in the form of the ambitious, eclectic and (some would say) righteous new LP titled Living In the Material World. Once again, Harrison's hooky licks...

Hot on the heels of their successful new album Red Rose Speedway and monster worldwide hit My Love, Paul McCartney and Wings were ready to take the stage, at long last, in the United Kingdom. This would be Paul’s first such tour of his home country since 1966, the year The Beatles stopped touring. Unlike the Wings University Tour a year prior, the band was now taking the stage in planned concert e...

Paul McCartney and Wings needed a hit. With their debut LP Wild Life and subsequent scattershot singles not setting the world on fire, the band that had to learn on the run found themselves on shaky ground. Enter Red Rose Speedway - a slick, polished record with punchy pop potential and a mammoth lead-off single in the sweeping McCartney ballad My Love. While the musical merit of Macca’s latest ba...

It’s the spring of 1973 and rumors of a Fab Four reunion are reaching a fever pitch. With John, George and Ringo playing together once more in service of the forthcoming Ringo album, and with Apple at last severing ties with controversial manager Allen Klein, the stage was seemingly set for The Beatles to return. But could they? Should they? As the world pondered, Apple prepared for a slew of majo...

It’s 1973 and another major year of transformation and activity for each of the four former Beatles has begun. As Paul McCartney and his band Wings prepare for their impending UK tour, trouble strikes at home in the form of a pot bust wherein police seized several marijuana plants growing in the McCartneys’ garden. Let off with a fine much in the same way the Lennons were several years prior, Paul...

As the year 1972 draws to a close, all four former Beatles find themselves in the midst of a seachange in each of their lives both independent of each other and personally. Paul McCartney may have started off his solo career under the scrutiny of fans and critics, but the successful tours of his band Wings was beginning to change some minds about his relevance as a solo artist. With the release of...

In this special bonus edition of Yesterday & Today, we take a break from our regularly scheduled program to bring you our first-ever interview episode! This week we sit down with musician Dan Ealey, who, in 1974, spent the early weeks of summer with Paul McCartney and Wings on Junior Putnam's farm outside of Nashville Tennessee. Posing as a reporter from Melody Maker Magazine, this Beatles sup...

With the sting of critical and commercial failure for their Some Time In New York City double album still lingering in the air, John and Yoko let trepidation be damned in the name of a charitable cause to take the stage at Madison Square Garden in the waning weeks of summer 1972. The One to One benefit concert was organized on short notice by Geraldo Rivera, following his expose of the appalling t...

Paul McCartney and Wings may have had a rough time taking off, but by the summer of 1972 things were looking skyward for the band as their Wings Over Europe tour rolled on. Enthusiastic word of mouth from across Europe hailed Macca’s new band as an electric live experience, with thunderous renditions of tunes from McCartney, RAM and Wild Life, an eclectic mix of covers such as Blue Moon of Kentuck...

It’s June of 1972 and a new double album from John Lennon and Yoko Ono has arrived: Some Time In New York City. After the critical and commercial success of John’s Imagine LP the year before, the table seemed to be set for a smash-hit follow-up in this massive 4-sided package...but that success was not to be. Taking inspiration from the couple’s political activism since their arrival as permanent...

Though only living in New York City for about a year, John and Yoko had became synonymous with their adopted home by the Spring of 1972. The Nixon administration, however, had other ideas. Basing their case on John’s 1968 Cannabis conviction, the US Government set their sights on deporting the politically outspoken Lennon from the United States in advance of the 1972 Presidential Election. John’s...

The Wings University tour has drawn to a close, and Paul McCartney’s plan to start from scratch had taken shape exactly as he had hoped it would. Wings was now a tested group, with a tight set and the kind of camaraderie you can only get from dividing up pound notes in a pub along the open road. And so the band embarked again into the studio, ready to put their new sound to record on a brand new L...

Already an album deep and plus one new lead guitarist, Paul McCartney’s new band was poised for takeoff in the early months of 1972. But Wings had a ways to go before flying high, and Paul wisely resolved to break the band in on a low-stakes, unannounced English University tour to help find and focus their sound. From York to Newcastle and everywhere in-between, Paul, the Dennys, Linda and Henry l...

It’s 1972! While the dream of The Beatles may have been left behind in sixties, this new year saw with it a boom in activity from the solo careers of John, Paul, George and Ringo. John & Yoko’s new home of New York City certainly made the couple feel welcome, despite the David Frost Show exchange that had ended in a shouting match with audience members the December prior. Undeterred from their...

Welcome to the story so far! In this episode we discuss some of the key events from the winter of 1969 right up until the end of 1971, and a LOT has transpired in those two short years. Hosts Paul, James and Wayne discuss the Beatles break-up, the formation of Wings, John and Yoko’s evolution and the ascendance of George Harrison as a musical force to be reckoned with. With a lot to unpack in this...