Yesterday and Today: Recent Episodes
Wayne Kaminski
The yesterday and today podcast is a fan-made, not for profit, just for fun compilation of chronological source materials as they pertain to the Beatles. This show is in no way affiliated with Apple Corps, nor any organization connected to John, Paul, George or Ringo in any way... though we do consider ourselves premiere members of the Bungalow Bill fun club. So kick back, turn off your mind, relax and download the stream...we hope you will enjoy the show.
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It's the fall of 1992 and somehow, someway, George Harrison is back on the concert stage. After so many years without live performance, the last few years of George's musical life brought the prospect of a wider world tour closer and closer, albeit this time a one-off show celebrating the music of Bob Dylan. With Ringo Starr's second All Star Band tour a rousing success the world over, and new music aplenty, the 90s seemed poised to offer the biggest excitement of post-Beatles activity yet - and the best was only to come...
It's July 1992 and Ringo Starr is touring Europe with his All Starr Band! Ringo's successful second world tour brought the band to Montreux, Berlin, Brescia and back again - bringing with it a continued barrage of warm reviews and excited fans across Europe. Plus, Paul's back in the studio breaking promises, Anthology plans take shape and more as the summer of '92 rolls on!
Summer 1992 is here and Ringo Starr is back on the road with his All Starr Band! This second installment of Ringo's successful tour formula (as evidenced in the triumphant 1989 version) includes familiar faces Joe Walsh and Nils Lofgren, plus new sounds from Todd Rundgren, Dave Edmunds, Timothy B. Schmit, Burton Cummings, Tim Cappello, and a very special guest on drums, Ringo's son Zak Starkey! From Holmdel to Kansas and onward to Liverpool and Europe, this collection of musical legends once again celebrate The Beatles and solo hits Starr is known for - plus live cuts from the new Time Takes Time album. As the All Starrs hit the road to conquer it once more, Paul McCartney's new LP was taking shape...
With Ringo Starr's new LP Time Takes Time receiving some of the most favorable reaction since Ringo's mid-70's efforts, all was well in June of 1992. SO well, in fact, that another ALL STARR BAND tour was planned and underway, this time sporting some new music from a new LP - a first for Ringo. As an all-new cast of All-Starrs set their sights on New York, Paul McCartney celebrated birthday #50 with a planned new release of his own, which he and the band continued to hone and refine...
Live, from Springfield, it's Yesterday & Today's fabulous 211th episode - 1991 pt2! Well, maybe not LIVE, exactly, but certainly from Springfield, as this episode features the first of the Beatle cameos on the iconic cartoon primetime staple The Simpsons. When Homer stumbles upon Marge's old portrait tribute to Ringo Starr, The Simpsons re-enter the art scene to dramatic results. Even more dramatic, perhaps, is the cutaway scenes featuring none other than Ringo Starr himself, who is STILL responding to his 1960's fan mail when he too stumbles upon Marge's portrait. This iconic appearance will herald many more on the show - and also coincides with another as-yet-to-be iconic appearance by a former Beatle on a different TV channel. MTV's new Unplugged series has just debuted, and Paul McCartney's live LP of the recorded performance is out in the world! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
1991 starts with a bang! Or is it a twist? The Traveling Wilburys' latest single The Wilbury Twist is the latest release from the super-group whose popularity continued well on into the new year, and signaled the continued resilience of the George Harrison comeback of the prior decade. While George and pals were twisting, Paul McCartney was back on stage with a new iteration of his touring band - this time to to kick-off the new MTV show titled Unplugged. In one of the most intimate and deep-cut-laden performances of his post-Beatles career, McCartney too was on a winning streak into 1991 - and this was only the beginning...
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It's the finale of 1990 and Paul McCartney is drawing a historic year in his solo career to a close with a new single. Taken from his new Tripping the Live Fantastic package capturing the best performances from his whirlwind 89-90 World Tour, the single All My Trials captures Macca and the band at their most soulful. A fitting, poignant end to a year that would come to define Paul for the rest of his life, and secure his legacy as the 20th century's most prolific pop prodigy. With new music from George Harrison's Traveling Wilburys still on the charts, so ends the beginning of a new decade in Beatle World. Next, it's 1991...
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The Traveling Wilburys are coming! The Traveling Wilburys are coming! Well, actually they're HERE as of October 29th, 1990 and the release of The Traveling Wilburys vol3 -- the highly anticipated follow-up to the super-group's hit debut record. Despite the shift in decade and the fallen Roy Orbison, the project begun by George Harrison had another hit on their hands with this latest release - successful in both album and singles charts alike. Cuts like Wilbury Twist, Last Night and She's My Baby offered a dose of vitality for the genre of rock'n'roll amidst a crowded marketplace of new sounds that would have been largely unrecognizable a scant decade prior. More importantly, this was new George Harrison music in the 1990s...a signal for more on the horizon? Or perhaps a last burst of excitement...
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Summer 1990 brought an increasingly unusual sight for fans in an ever-evolving post-Beatles world: the release of two new singles by two former Beatles respectively. First up was George Harrison, back in the studio with the Traveling Wilburys to release the charity single Nobody's Child. The release, in aid of Romanian orphans spearheaded by George's wife Olivia, signaled the beginning of new music from the supergroup - and the first new music from George in the new decade. Paul McCartney was next with the single release of Birthday - cut live during his smash-hit world tour and taken from the incoming album chronicling those live performances. Two new singles followed by two new albums from Paul and George as we enter fall 1990...
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It's summer 1990 and the Paul McCartney World Tour is headed toward its final stretch of shows. Using a dynamic mix of Beatles classics, solo hits, album tracks for the hardcore fans and cutting edge stage production technology, Macca's bag of tricks had wowed audiences across the planet...but the surprises weren't over yet. It was in Paul's triumphant return to Liverpool where an epic tribute to his fallen friend where the World Tour soared to even greater heights...
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As the lumpy trousers continued their march across the world in the spring of 1990, another Beatles live experience arrived on the shores of Liverpool just in time for a special anniversary. The John Lennon memorial concert on May 5th offered healthy doses of both celebration and catharsis for the home city of the former Beatle on what would have been the year of his 50th birthday. Cyndi Lauper, Hall & Oates, Lou Reed, Natalie Cole, Kylie Minogue and more took the stage before thousands of fans to deliver music and memories of the late great Johnny Ace. Elsewhere in Beatle world, another collection of all star collaborators were also making music together, but this traveling band weren't on the stage, they were in the studio...
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In the latter days of February 1990, Paul McCartney reached several key milestones on his return to the road - first up a lifetime achievement award at the 32nd annual Grammy Awards! This recognition of Macca's solo efforts in particular reached Paul at a career high, as his world tour set its sights on the second major moment of that month - a triumphant return to Japan. A decade after his infamous drug bust, The Paul McCartney World Tour successfully reached the stage of the Tokyo Dome to rock the country that had been so bitterly robbed of the final Wings tour. And while the early months of the new decade were dominated by Paul and co, another former Beatle was preparing new music as well...
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It's a new year, a new decade, and a new leg of the Paul McCartney world tour to ring in 1990! From Birmingham to Wembley, Detroit to Pittsburgh, Cincinnati to Indianapolis, Paul and the band continued their ultra-successful concert experience - wowing audiences and charming critics along the way. In fact, some critics known for their harsh takes on Macca in the past - namely Rolling Stone Magazine - were themselves caught up in the mania, with cover features aplenty praising Paul's passion for live performance and cheering the strength of the Flowers in the Dirt LP. With February fast approaching, a fourth leg stood poised to continue the stadium domination even further...
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The finale of 1989 - and of the 80s - is here! And this decade just refused to go out without a bang, as Paul McCartney's World Tour rolled up to Chicago, Montreal, Toronto and the legendary Madison Square Garden! Macca's triumphant return to MSG was the culmination of his grand return to form, embraced by the public and critics alike on the back of both Beatles nostalgia and a strong new offering Flowers in the Dirt. It was a decade that began on an incredible low for Paul - the Japan bust, the murder of John Lennon - but which ended on a career high for the solo output of the Beatle who had so much to prove following the band's split now two decades prior. Next for Paul? Bigger hills to climb in the 1990s...
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It's November 1989 and a major decade in Beatles history draws to a close...but not without a few more surprises in store. First up on the 8th, a milestone on the road to reconciliation for the former Beatles and John Lennon's estate, as The Beatles v Capitol lawsuit is finally settled (and in doing, paving the way for potential new product in years to come). Paul McCartney's momentous year continues on with the release of the new single Figure of Eight (plucked from the Flowers in the Dirt LP) and on the 23rd the second leg of his World Tour began in the US. Plus new Beatley-contributions from Eric Clapton, and a legal battle for Ringo Starr in Georgia...
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The Yesterday & Today Podcast is celebrating 200 episodes with a special all-new discussion around an exciting collection of Beatles news magazine rarities! In a segment we call WE READ THE NEWS TODAY, hosts Wayne and Paul Kaminski are joined by Take it Away co-founder and co-host Chris Mercer to read, review and examine a selection of contemporaneous Beatles news magazine sources from during and after the band's time together. From John Lennon's illuminating 1974 Crawdaddy feature, to TIME Magazine's exploration of the "new" Beatles in September of 1967, this episode offers a glimpse into the minds of journalists and critics that analyzed the Beatles story in real time at various points in the band's history and beyond. We'd like to thank Chris for joining us in this fun conversation, and a huge thanks to all of you listeners who kept this podcast going for 5+ years, hundreds of thousands of downloads, 190+ countries and 200 episodes & counting!
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It's the fall of 1989 and the Paul McCartney World Tour is officially underway! Along the way on the road with Macca were the lessons gleaned from tours past - including the notion that his band ought to be broken-in in front of friendly or otherwise European crowds before heading to the UK or North America. And so it was on September 25th that the McCartneys - along with guitarist Hamish Stuart, keyboardist Paul "Wix" Wickens guitarist Robbie McIntosh and drummer Chris Whitten - hit the stage in Oslo, Norway for a series of engagements up and down the continent for the next several months. Paul's tour was met with praise from fans and reviewers alike, and would serve as exactly the boost he needed to sustain a hefty touring schedule for the foreseeable future - as well as serving as an overall template for future tours to come. As McCartney won the hearts and minds of Europe, Ringo Starr was making a return of his own, playing the Budokan in Japan for the first time since the Beatles themselves performed there live in 1966...
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It's September 1989 and Ringo Starr is on the road! This time Ringo and his friends are on home turf - Los Angeles California - for a star-studded line-up and audience ready to rock the city of angels. But hob-nobbing with Jack Nicholson (at the height of Bat-mania no less) or parting with Tom and Roseanne is just another day in the life of a solo Beatle taking a well-earned and sober victory lap around North America. Meanwhile, George Harrison could be found not in LA but on record, guesting on Belinda Carlisle's Leave a Light On - a brand new cut from her solo LP!
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In a jam-packed August of 1989, activity abounds in Beatleworld as Paul McCartney revs up for his first North American tour in 12 years. Hitting the road with wife Linda, guitarists Robbie Mcintosh and Hamish Stewart, keyboard player Paul "Wix" Wickens and drummer Chris Whitten, Macca & co hit the stage at the Lyceum Theater in New York City to play-test the new live band before a crowd of press and select fan club members. Amongst those fan club members? The Yesterday & Today podcast's own Wayne Kaminski and wife Elizabeth, excitedly expecting baby James and ready to rock'n'roll. On the other side of the continent, Ringo Starr and the All Stars head down the west coast, from Vancouver to Northern California to Las Vegas...
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Ringo Starr is on the road! In August 1989 the All Star Band tour rolled across North America, featuring the talents of the many legendary rockers sharing the stage with Ringo...along with some special guests to boot. Chief amongst those special guests was none other than the boss himself, Bruce Sprringsteen, who joined two of his fellow E-Street Band members on stage before a crowd of star-struck fans. Ringo's comeback tour was a rousing success, but the ghosts of his past would continue to dog the former Beatle. This time in the form of a lawsuit from Chips Moman, alleging that Starr's drunken Nashville sessions were fit for public consumption. Ringo disagreed.
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It's summer of 1989 and for the first time in history not one but TWO former Beatles are on tour! And for the newly sober Ringo Starr, these live shows were a helpful reminder of his skills as an artist and his importance to the world of music -- hitting the road with an all-star band of friends and like-minded creatives for a triumphant North American leg in July. Joe Walsh, Nils Lofgren, Dr. John, Billy Preston, Rick Danko, Levon Helm, Clarence Clemons, Jim Kelter and a host of special guests and rave reviews accompanied this All-Star Band on tour, and reinvigorated a wave of Beatles nostalgia...just in time for Paul McCartney to hit the road himself...
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With Paul McCartney's newest LP Flowers in the Dirt climbing the charts and reigniting a wave of critical praise for Macca's music, Parlophone and Capitol release the second single slated from the album: This One. A rare glimpse into Paul's emotional state, the song captures a conciliatory tone of regret and longing...albeit alongside Paul's trademark deflection lurking around every corner. As the McCartneys dug in on promotion for the single, Ringo Starr had some big news of his own: his first ever concert tour! Ringo Starr and the All Star Band will pair Ringo with friends and musicians for a North American victory lap of hits, and the freshly sober Starr was ready to put rubber to the road on the idea starting later in the summer of 1989...
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The eventful Beatle year of 1989 rolls on with a brand new release, and a brand new batch of critical acclaim for Paul McCartney. Still reeling from the critical failures of his last two projects of original material, Paul's so-called comeback album at last reached shelves -- the LP Flower in the Dirt -- and it did NOT disappoint. Through Macca's musical collaboration with Elvis Costello, plus a band of fresh and like-minded musicians playing strong material, this new record reasserted Paul's position as master of his craft...a position which was slowly but definitely evolving beyond success in the moment... into a success as a legacy.
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The Yesterday & Today Podcast is proud to present an all-new extended interview with the one and only Pete Best! This summer, Pete hits the road with the Pete Best Band throughout North America, and we're here to talk to the former Beatle about his upcoming live appearances and much more. In 2008, Pete released the LP Hayman's Green, a rock'n'roll retrospective of Liverpool's music scene, the roots of the Best family and a look forward at life beyond The Beatles for one of rock's most storied figures. We'll discuss his solo music, his time with John, Paul, George and Stu, a firsthand account of 1995's Beatles Anthology and of course the one and only Casbah Coffee Club located at 8 Hayman's Green, Liverpool. We'd like to thank Pete, Roag and the entire Best family for this wonderful interview, and we hope you'll all catch Pete on tour this summer!
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It's March 1989 and a new solo album from Julian Lennon is fresh on the stands - a stylistic departure titled Mr. Jordan. This latest effort in some ways marked the end of Julian's success streak as a pop star, though the effort did still manage to chart in the US, Canada and even go top 20 in the Australian market. While John Lennon's eldest son endeavored to craft musical distance from his late father, Paul McCartney and George Harrison maintained the break-neck pace that had come to signify activity in the late 80s former Beatle world by each heading into the studio. McCartney's cover of the Gerry & the Pacemakers classic Ferry Cross the Mersey was a charity single intended to raise money for the victims and families of victims of the Hillsborough disaster in Liverpool. Harrison's new composition? A freshly penned tune with fellow Wilbury Tom Petty...
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It's 1989 and George Harrison is still riding high on the success of the debut Traveling Wilburys LP! Of all the former Beatles, Harrison's late-80s resurgence resonated with near-universal public and critical acclaim, and the momentum of successful collaboration between George and producer Jeff Lynne showed no signs of slowing down. Also on an upturn in the early weeks of the year was Ringo Starr, whose newfound sobriety triggered an abundance of activity -- from starring in the PBS children's television show Shining Time Station (as the unflappable Mr. Conductor) to a collection of recent selections dubbed Star Struck: The Best of Ringo Starr vol2. Meanwhile, the release of the LP Spike by Elvis Costello heralded the coming of newly co-written material with Paul McCartney - material destined for McCartney's own resurgence in the months to come...
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It's the end of the line for 1988, and the beginning of the epic super-group: The Traveling Wilburys! With the release of their debut LP ``Volume 1", George Harrison and friends Bob Dylan, Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty, Roy Orbison and Jim Keltner floored both modern and classic rockers alike with a signature blend of harmony, guitar, and rambler-style songcraft. Listeners of the day, curious to know if the band could live up to the heights of their strong debut single Handle With Care, were not disappointed. From the joyous noise of Heading for the Light to the often-hilarious lyrics of Dirty World, six old friends proved to the masses that age has nothing to do with good music, and that the combined talents of otherwise disparate musicians could amount to something spectacular. Of course the December 6th passing of bandmate Roy Orbison would put a damper on the otherwise happy affair - still, through the heartache and pain, the music of the Traveling Wilburys was a beacon of comfort to those who might need to hear that they were not alone anymore...
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A flurry of developments in the lives and legacies of all four former Beatles permeated October 1988, starting with the debut of the feature-length IMAGINE film chronicling the life of John Lennon, opening in movie theaters across the world. This template for future Beatles archival projects was met with warm embrace by John's fans, and was an important milestone in the preservation of film footage and audio artifacts from throughout Lennon's life. Another former Beatle in preservation mode was Ringo Starr, having finally sought help for alcoholism with his wife Barbara Bach later in the month. After decades of substance abuse Ringo has resolved to clean up, so as to evade the fates of his less fortunate and departed friends and fellow rockers. And lastly a new single, from a super-group calling themselves "the Traveling Wilburys"...
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It's the summer of 1988 and a fresh wave of "Lennon Fever" was sweeping its way across pop culture. In this case, however, not all of the attention on the late great John Lennon was positive - case in point the scathing, unapologetic, and often needlessly cruel biography called The Lives of John Lennon by author Albert Goldman. Goldman's feet were held to the fire by a furious but captivated public...glued to the drama by a media apparatus unable to look away from this trainwreck of a depiction of John's life in book form. While this circus took a toll on Yoko Ono, the Lennon clan nevertheless soldiered onward with its own various rebuttals to the Goldman narrative, and a dose of positivity as well. Not only was the forthcoming theatrical release of the Imagine documentary poised to reignite positive memories of the Beatles and of Lennon's successful solo works, but a star on the Hollywood walk of fame put to pavement a legacy that would, despite its occasional cracks, endure for generations to come.
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As the summer of 1988 heats up, a new super-group emerges from the primordial soup of rock'n'roll...they are The Traveling Wilburys. Born from a supplementary recording session in support of George Harrison's latest Cloud 9 single, George (aka Nelson Wilbury) was joined by fellow music legends Tom Petty, Jeff lynne, Bob Dylan and Roy Orbison to produce the superb track Handle With Care -- quickly deemed too good to be buried on an extended single release. Of course music and activity continued respectively for Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr at this time, but for the Yesterday & Today podcast we will linger with George for a moment, as opportunity knocks at Friar Park...
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It was a busy March in 1988, with new music, releases, conventions and interviews surrounding the world of the former Beatles. First up, a first since the Beatle days with George Harrison and Ringo Starr conducting an interview together for the television program Aspel & Company. This eventful exchange covered topics ranging from the death of John Lennon, the status of ex-Beatle relationships, lawsuits from the 70s and much more. In the new releases category, George's new single This Is Love is snatched up from the Cloud 9 LP -- and The Beatles CD leases wrap up with Past Masters (collecting singles and b-sides not yet released on the format). New recordings emerge with George Harrison's Ride Rajbun and Paul McCartney's collaboration with Johnny Cash titled New Moon Over Jamaica...plus a new song from a gathering of a special set of musicians calling themselves the Traveling Wilburys...
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It's February 1988 and the promotional tour for George Harrison's Cloud 9 album remains in full swing. The former Beatle who often seemed the most uncomfortable with press tours was now in the thick of one, this time labeled as a "come back" story which further fried the nervous system. To cope, George (along with Cloud 9 producer Jeff Lynne) showed up for the radio program Rockline a few glugs too deep, and gave host Bob Coburn one of the most candid interviews Harrison would ever produce in his lifetime. Still, despite the annoyances of a media blitz, the "come back" narrative was hard to ignore - as Cloud 9 continued to sell gangbusters with the record buying crowd and its newest single, When We Was Fab, cracking the top 25 on both sides of the Atlantic...
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It's 1988 and a busy year of activity in Beatle world kicks off with a wave of retrospection. On January 20th the band was inducted into the Rock'n'Roll hall of fame, a recognition of their achievements in music and their cultural impact upon the world. Unfortunately for them (and for, apparently, one agitated Beach Boy also in attendance), the legal squabbles dogging Paul, George and Ringo for nearly two decades crept their way onto the award stage, made manifest by an absent Paul McCartney. Some tempers flared at this highly visible snub, but cooler heads did eventually prevail, with George Harrison himself speaking fondly of Paul while accepting the award. Yoko Ono, meanwhile, stood poised to unveil the Lost Lennon Tapes radio program to the world, a treasure trove of audio artifacts from her and John Lennon's private archive, made public...
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It's the end of 1987 and George Harrison is riding the wave of a major comeback. With a new hit single in Got My Mind Set On You speeding up the charts, and a new LP - Cloud 9 - connecting with both fans and critics in equal measure, Harrison's resurgence in the latter half of the 80s was proof positive once again of that lingering Beatle magic...so pervasive even nearing 20 years since the band's split. While Paul McCartney's greatest hits LP All the Best was no resurgence of fresh material, strong sales and a slew of tv appearances to promote the new single Once Upon A Long Ago put Macca back in touring mode...an endeavor that would truly take flight in the months to come...
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On November 2nd 1987 Dark Horse Records releases Cloud 9 by George Harrison. While George himself would insist (and rightly so) that one cannot be in the midst of a "comeback" if one has been there the entire time, no one - not even George - could not deny the reinvigorated attention upon his music heralded by the LP's lead-off #1 single Got My Mind Set On You. The happy album in which this smash-hit record resided within was produced by buddy Jeff Lynne to sound (controversially to some) much like Jeff's work with the Electric Light Orchestra - energetic, grand in scope, and future-facing in its production techniques.From the nostalgic When We Was Fab to the defiant That's What it Takes, George Harrison WAS back, and at the top of his game nearly two decades after the breakup of the Beatles. Of course George would be joined on the charts shortly by a new single from Paul McCartney, and some fresh talk about the possibility of a Beatles reunion (of sorts)...
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Even 17+ years after the breakup of the Beatles, solo career competition remained alive and well in the worlds of Paul McCartney and George Harrison. In October of 1987, George's first new single from a studio album release in over 5 years - Got My Mind Set On You - was blazing up the charts and stood poised to top them. The public's embrace of this unlikely comeback foretold the success of the forthcoming Cloud 9 LP, and - as if no time at all had passed since the days of all Things Must Pass - George Harrison hit the promotional trail. Not to be outdone by his former bandmate, McCartney's All the Best greatest hits compilation hit shelves the following November, and while its single Once Upon a Long Ago failed to reach the heights of Harrison's, this mammoth set of Macca marvels was no slouch on the album charts. All this, plus a return to Suzy and the Red Stripes as fall turns to winter, 1987...
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It’s the summer of 1987, and once again a Beatle joins the Prince's Trust stage — and this time not one but TWO! First up the heretofore reclusive George Harrison, busy preparing his latest audio album and dipping his toe back into the waters of pop star life for the first time since his musical hiatus began nearly half a decade prior. Joining George to sing an all-star rendition of With A Little Help From My Friends was Ringo Starr, decidedly less busy following the crumbling Memphis sessions that caused his some substantial public embarrassment. All this and an LP of rock oldies from Paul McCartney as the heat rises on yet another momentous year in Beatles history!
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The next wave of Beatles compact discs arrived as spring turned to summer, 1987 - marking (handily) the 20th anniversary of Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Taking the theme of "It was twenty years ago today" and running with it, Apple and their distribution arms at Capitol and EMI launched an elaborate campaign that culminated in a documentary film featuring current interviews with both Paul McCartney and George Harrison. An enchanted public teeming with nostalgia (and a chance to own such an iconic release in pristine CD-quality) drove Pepper to the #1 position on billboard's top compact discs chart, and the #3 overall slot in the UK. But this was only the beginning of the fruits of this event, as both Paul and George were busy crafting new music with a similarly-attuned nostalgic bent...
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And speaking of things that are "now" and "then"...
It's 1987 and another momentous chapter in the Beatles story is unfolding at break-neck pace. As Capitol/EMI plan for the launch of the first round of Beatles CDs (heralding the arrival of fab four music on compact disc for the first time), Paul, George and Ringo were all in their respective studios preparing new music. First up, the rambling Duane Eddy - pioneering guitarist of the early rock days - is making a new album and has enlisted not one but two Beatles to play on it. McCartney's contribution was a slinky, slidey cover of the 1979 Rockestra Theme - while George Harrison )with current producer Jeff Lynne offered up more than one new composition for the guitar legend to record. In February Harrison would also find himself on stage with Lynne, backing up CCR frontman John Fogerty and joined by none-other-than Bob Dylan. Dylan ALSO happened to be working with another former Beatle at this time, joining Ringo in Memphis on sessions for Starr's new album.
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As the year 1986 draws to a close, the musical direction and legacy of the three surviving former Beatles rounds the corner on another eventful decade. With Paul McCartney still busy promoting his less-than-smash-hit LP Press to Play - Macca turns his attention to a new year that would embrace the successes of his past...and an eye toward the next phase of his career in the latter half of the decade. George Harrison, after such a long hiatus from the music business, finds himself too at a crossroads -- feeling once again ready to re-enter the studio and make new music. All this, as we enter 1987...
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As Paul McCartney's latest studio album, Press to Play, at last reached the ears of the listening public, the modest success of its top 40 lead-off single Press must have been bittersweet for its creator. After nearly two years of gestation, Paul's failure to crack the top 20 on either side of the Atlantic with the catchy earworm foreshadowed the album's lukewarm reception worldwide (as compared to prior projects, certainly) -- despite the strength of some of the album's strong musicianship and songwriting. Though a top ten showing in the UK was nothing to sneeze at, this contemporary-sounding LP fell short of resonating with modern audiences as envisioned, and a reassessment of the trajectory of Paul's career was in order. Yoko Ono, meanwhile, was busy at the bottom of the barrel with her late husband's unreleased catalog - releasing the LP Menlove Avenue by John Lennon in October (and sporting snazzy Andy Warhol cover art!)
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Oklahoma was never like this...it's summer of 1986 and a new Paul McCartney album is on sale worldwide! Press to Play - Paul's 5th solo studio album in nearly as many years - represented a man on a mission to capture the sounds of the day, forge a new songwriting partnership, and undo the negative attention his Give My Regards to Broadstreet project attracted from all the bitter critics seeking to take a former fab down a peg. Begun mere days in the aftermath of Broadstreet, this project was also one of Macca's longest-gestating studio efforts - and while the music itself exudes trademark McCartney optimism, a darkness also lay on the brim with songs that seemed - at least at the time - bitter and resentful of his critics. But the sunny "Press", released as a single in mid-July, jauntily trotted to decent position in the charts - and while the record would fall short of Paul's "comeback" aspirations, it did point the way to projects, and collaborations, to come...
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As Spring turns to summer in 1986, a flurry of activity points to an early clue to the new direction for the key players in Beatle World. Julian Lennon, fresh off the release of his sophomore LP The Secret Value of Daydreaming, embarked on his second North American tour in June. Ringo Starr's children's entertainment resume grew once more in May, with freshly re-recorded voice acting on the animated Harry Nilsson film The Point. George Harrison returned to EMI/Abbey Road studios after a 15 year absence in May to continue work on the Shanghai Surprise soundtrack. And finally, Paul McCartney returned to the stage once more in June for the Princes Trust star-studded concert - playing some classic Beatles songs for the first time in public in decades. For Paul, Ringo and George, this activity would inspire more moves and music as they enter the back half of the decade....
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George Harrison's return to the limelight was underway in the Spring of 1986, with yet another public appearance fresh off the heels of his Shanghai Surprise press tour. This time the former Beatle took to the stage for the charity concert Heartbeat '86 - and, playing alongside rock contemporaries including former Wings founding member Denny Laine, it's easy to see a relaxed Harrison having fun playing in public once more. Also in the Spring, Julian Lennon released his sophomore album The secret Value of Daydreaming - the newly-minted pop idol's follow-up to the successful 1984 outing Valotte. A host of guest stars and some truly stellar production graced Lennon's latest, which he himself admitted was more slap-dash in terms of writing than his 1984 debut. A Harrison on the rise and a Lennon at his peak in March of 1986...
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It's 1986 and the latter half of the 80s is off with a bang...but not a hitch. The set of George Harrison's latest Hand Made Film's project, Shanghai Surprise, found itself rife with unwanted press attention after a skirmish between star Sean Penn (beside girlfriend and co-star Madonna) and the paparazzi - eager for a story. George himself flew down to the filming location to quell tensions and ensure the remainder of the shoot went smoothly. Despite the drama behind the camera, Harrison was growing more accustomed to the idea of making music, developing several cuts for the movie's original soundtrack. Meanwhile Paul McCartney accepts the American Music Award of Merit, Ringo Starr drums on the protest song Sun City, and Yoko Ono begins her landmark Star Peace tour...
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The YESTERDAY & TODAY and TAKE IT AWAY podcasts are crossing over! In this special double-feature, double-interview episode, hosts Wayne Kaminski, Chris Mercer and Paul Kaminski join forces to discuss Paul McCartney historiography with special guest authors who have fresh releases on shelves now. Luca Perasi is certainly no stranger to the TAKE IT AWAY podcast -- Luca was interviewed by Chris and Ryan in 2019 to discuss his book PAUL McCARTNEY: RECORDING SESSIONS (1969-2013), which provided much of the framework for the original run of TAKE IT AWAY shows. Luca has returned to promote a brand-new book, PAUL McCARTNEY: MUSIC IS IDEAS, the first volume in a multi-part series which explores the stories behind Macca's massive catalog of solo songs from 1970-1989. Next up, returning YESTERDAY & TODAY guest Paul Salley -- author of LITTLE WING: THE JIMMY McCULLOCH STORY -- is back for the first time in 3 years to discuss the release of his definitive biography of Wings' exceptional young-gun lead guitarist. All this, plus a special announcement about the future of the TAKE IT AWAY podcast in this all-new crossover episode. We hope you will enjoy the show!
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It's the end of 1985, and in many ways the end cap on a year of realignment for the former Beatles. While the successes of the Spies Like Us single and his lauded Live Aid performance kept Paul McCartney a part of the cultural conversation, Macca's critical and commercial wounds from 1984's Broadstreet fiasco remained. Ringo Starr and George Harrison's continued musical silence left only Julian Lennon - still riding high on the success of 1984's Valotte - standing to carry the torch of Beatles-related relevance as the back half of the decade approached. Yoko Ono's Starpeace LP too faltered commercially, despite the continued goodwill John's widow enjoyed since that fateful day in 1980. Of course, the latter half of the 80s would see a number of tables turn, and further developments within the legacy of the Beatles...
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It's the fall of 1985 and new music from the three remaining former Beatles abounds! First up, in their first joint concert appearance together since the Concert for Bangladesh over a decade prior, George Harrison and Ringo Starr are once again singing together on stage -- this time in support of rockabilly legend and founding rock and roll pioneer Carl Perkins. In a new special titled Carl Perkins & Friends, the two fabs are on hand alongside other legendary talents such as Eric Clapton, Dave Edmonds and more, to pay homage to the man who inspired an entire generation. Meanwhile, on the original music front, Paul McCartney's latest single release, a film soundtrack theme titled Spies Like Us, marks Macca's first new release since the disastrous Give My Regards to Broadstreet film the previous year. And a certified hit was most certainly welcome news to Macca's weary ears...
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As summer turned to fall in 1985, the aftermath of the LIVE AID benefit concert continued to ring in the ears of the collective musical consciousness. Paul McCartney's appearance in the show, albeit minus the rumored involvement of George and Ringo, was a welcome revitalization of Macca's profile following the disastrous reception of his Give My Regards to Broadstreet film. The aforementioned George and Ringo were also no slouches at this time, with Ringo Starr lending his voice to a new era of fan - the toddler set - via his narration of the popular Thomas the Tank Engine books. George Harrison's appearance at the European Grand Prix in October was yet another step on the road back ot public life, which would kick up a notch in the weeks to come...
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It's July 13th, 1985 and a historic event is taking place on both sides of the Atlantic. It's LIVE AID, a worldwide televised live concert featuring the biggest acts in music -- united in support of Ethiopian famine relief. Organizer Bob Geldof, known as lead singer for the Boomtown Rats, organized the largest known concert fundraising effort in history - inspired in many ways by George Harrison's efforts to aid Bangladesh in 1971. And Bob's Beatle connections didn't stop with George - Geldof was able to secure Paul McCartney for the former fab's first live appearance since the dissolution of Wings in 1979...and with that the Beatle reunion rumors were reignited all over again...
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It's the spring of 1985 and Paul McCartney is hard at work recording a new album at his Hog Hill Mill studio. In a shift away from his prior work in the decade, Paul sought to recreate a "band" environment with co-writing partner Eric Stewart, drummer Jerry Marotta and guitarist Carlos Alomar - along with himself and Linda - likely as a reaction to the crumbling critical reaction to his recent projects. George Harrison, meanwhile, was tip-toeing back toward the music business himself, offering up his take on Bob Dylan's I Don't Want to Do It for the Porky's Revenge movie soundtrack. But the undeniable success of this first half of 1985 was John's son Julian, embarking on a mega-successful tour to promote his album Valotte and garnering awestruck reviews in the process...
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It's 1985, and after a whirlwind prior year the three remaining former Beatles are laying relatively low in their respective corners of the globe. Unable to accept the shortfall of his first solo cinematic debut, Paul McCartney is back in the studio - specifically his newly-minted Hog Hill Mill Studio - doing the one thing that always helps him in times of trouble: making new music. Sessions for his as-yet-untitled new LP feature co-written songs with rocker Eric Stewart and production from mid-80s producer dujour Hugh Padgham. Striking out for a contemporary sound, Macca sought to lose himself in a band environment once more - blending into a group of musicians who can generate excitement in a room...AND understand who's the boss. While Paul plonked away, Ringo Starr was himself BACK on the screen co-starring in Willie and the Poor Boys - a collection of artifacts which featured Bill Wyman's super-group project of the same name. All in all a fairly relaxed start to what would become yet another monumental year in music history...
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It's the grand finale of 1984 - a year in Beatles history full of big swings, big misses, and new beginnings for the remaining three former Beatles. Despite the musical successes of Paul's latest project, the US flop of McCartney's Give My Regards to Broadstreet film left a bitter taste in the mouth of its creator - blaming frustrated screenwriters-turned critics for its failures.The Maccas put on a happy face for the UK premiere, palling around with co-stars Ringo Starr and Barbara Bach...as well as Olivia Harrison who attended the function in her husband's stead. George was in New Zealand at the time promoting Dereck Taylor's memoir and, when asked about the film, had nice things to say. But George did more than talk - taking the stage for the first time in years to jam with Deep Purple in Sydney Australia...perhaps signaling a contemplation of a return to music after several years adrift...
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At last, after years of preparation, planning and hard work, Paul McCartney's Give My Regards to Broadstreet has arrived! First up in the release schedule is the soundtrack album, featuring new Macca tracks (including the successful No More Lonely Nights single) as well as incidental music and re-recorded Beatles tracks featured in the film. As expected, the LP performed well, hitting the coveted #1 spot in the UK and going top25 in the US market. Paul's victory lap would be cut-short by the disastrous critical reception of the film itself, which McCartney tried to downplay as elitist reviewers anxious to use their freshly sharpened knives on the beloved former Beatle...
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It's October 1984 and Paul McCartney has begun his press tour to promote the upcoming release of GIVE MY REGARDS TO BROADSTREET. Nerves were abound, as this was Macca's theatrical screenwriting debut, and initial reactions seem to be mixed at best - judged perhaps unfairly to the beloved Beatles films A Hard Days Night and Help!. With nostalgia twinkling in the eyes of fans and knives being sharpened on the part of critics, it was bold of Paul to invite a conga line of film reviewers to an interview session at the Plaza Hotel. Luckily, McCartney's music seemed to never be in question...
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So far 1984 has seen the release of two new Lennon projects, starting with the posthumous Milk & Honey LP and continuing on with the Every Man Has A Woman single & compilation album. But in October another new Lennon release arrived in the form of Julian Lennon's debut solo LP Valotte. This slickly-produced and catchy collection of songs from John's first born son was an instant success, with its title track performing well in the singles charts and the touching Too Late For Goodbyes resonating with Beatles fans and a new generation alike. Also in October the new single No More Lonely Nights bodes well for Paul McCartney's new feature film Give My Regards to Broadstreet - cracking the top 10 in both the US and UK, as well as charting successfully around the world. With a hit single going for it, and a well of goodwill on McCartney's side...what could go wrong?
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It's summer 1984, and to ring in the 4th of July The Beach Boys are playing to.record-shattering attendance in Washington D.C. - with some special guests. Emerging in support of his former 60s rivals was Ringo Starr, joining Mike, Carl, Bruce and Al to play some of the Beach Boys biggest hits - as well as a rousing rendition of Back in the USSR (written in the style of the Beach Boys by Paul back in 68). Another throwback too came in July upon the release of the Everly Brothers new LP You Make It Seem So Easy, featuring the undeniably catchy McCartney-penned On The Wings of a Nightingale. To round out the summer, a second posthumous John Lennon recording - John's vocal take on Yoko's Every Man Has A Woman - heralded an entire LP collection of Yoko Ono covers by a variety of artists from Elvis Costello to Eddie Money and many more. All this on the eve of yet another Lennon LP release, though the next on the horizon was not by JOHN...
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As winter thaws to spring in 1984, a fresh batch of singles plucked from John Lennon's posthumous Milk & Honey LP are released on Polydor Records. Stepping Out andBorrowed Time saw some diminishing returns from the previous singles and LP release, but no one could deny the cold comfort of new John Lennon music back on the charts. Producer Jack Douglas found himself victorious in the court case against Yoko Ono over payments and royalties associated with the sessions which produced those tracks - and with that ruling, the final chapter in the Double Fantasy saga drew to a close. McCartney, meanwhile, was in the process of fulfilling a childhood dream - the development of a new Rupert the Bear animated short which would feature new music and soundtrack (not to mention voice acting!) from Paul himself. Rupert and the Frog Song is now scheduled to debut in theaters, ahead of the new McCartney film on the way...
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As the press tour for the Pipes of Peace LP wound down, Paul McCartney's So Bad music video featuring Ringo Starr heralded the arrival of the forthcoming Macca movie Give My Regards To Broadstreet. But as if from a bolt from above, the other half of the Lennon/McCartney songwriting partnership was about to have one final collection of unheard new material ready to compete with his bandmate. On January 19th, Polydor Records release Milk & Honey - a posthumous LP from John Lennon assembled and curated by co-headliner Yoko Ono. This release gathered together and finished off the remaining new tracks from John's 1980 Double Fantasy sessions to act as a mirror for the aforementioned ALP and give the world the gift of new John Lennon solo material one last time. Somehow, impossibly, John Lennon and Paul McCartney were once again on the same music charts, competing for commercial superiority nearly 4 years after the brutal murder of John...
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With Paul McCartney's latest solo effort Pipes of Peace, Macca remained on track to continue his hit-making streak through to the end of 1983. Promotion for this new LP - which featured the smash-hit single Say Say Say as its lead-off track - was brisk, and while reviews weren't as kind as they had been to its predecessor Tug of War, Pipes of Peace proved to be the kind of commercial seller that was handy to have leading into the release year of Paul's solo feature film debut, Give my Regards to Broadstreet. Also before year's end was an early clue to the new direction for Ringo. While Starr's record sales continued to falter, his film and television roles seemed as robust as ever - landing the part of a gay fashion designer opposite his wife Barbara Bach in the feature Princess Daisy. But it would be a run-in with a certain blue cartoon train that would signal a new smash-hit on the horizon for Ringo heading into 1984 and beyond...
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A new solo album is on the way from Paul McCartney in the fall of 1983 - and all eyes were on the follow-up effort to his smash hit LP Tug of War the year prior. Pipes of Peace, however, was a markedly different record from it predecessor - acting in some ways as a peaceful, chipper answer to the heavy, dramatic leanings of much of the previous LP. Uncharacteristic introspection was still on the menu for Macca, with tracks like The Other Me highlighting McCartney's doubts - the kind of self-examination which had been a rarity in the former Beatle's solo catalog up to this point. Also of note the single Say Say Say alongside the enormously successful Michael Jackson - which helped bring Paul back to the top of the charts and keep his 1980s hit streak alive...
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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 offer background, commentary and track-by-track analysis of this record - from the bouncy rock of In My Car to the top shelf balladeering of As far As We Can Go and everything in between. We hope you enjoy this special crossover episode, and can't wait to welcome everyone back next time for part 3 of Yesterday & Today: 1983!
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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-70s, faith in Ringo's commercial viability was at an all-time low...reflected ultimately in his struggles to find a label to release his latest solo effort. Wonderful tracks such as In My Car, As Far As We Can Go and Be My Baby would go largely unlistened to by the record buying public, and Ringo's recording woes remained intact. With fall approaching, another solo Beatles album lay in wait on the horizon, this time with the complete opposite of commercial results...
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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-70s, faith in Ringo's commercial viability was at an all-time low...reflected ultimately in his struggles to find a label to release his latest solo effort. Wonderful tracks such as In My Car, As Far As We Can Go and Be My Baby would go largely unlistened to by the record buying public, and Ringo's recording woes remained intact. With fall approaching, another solo Beatles album lay in wait on the horizon, this time with the complete opposite of commercial results...
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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 You marking Harrison's last release before a self-proclaimed indefinite musical hiatus. As George and Ringo planned for the future, McCartney found himself again ensconced in the "now", recording a brand new music video for his smash-hit recording partnership with the biggest pop star on the planet - Michael Jackson. Macca was also hard at work filming and recording for his planned solo film Give My regards to Broadstreet - which just so happened to feature new music from both Paul and Ringo, playing together once more...
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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 to come. Tracks like Greece, Dream Away and the title track Gone Troppo are an exploration in catchy hooks, musical virtuosity and major key commercial potential. But as album projects go, this effort from Harrison was intended more as a gigantic middle finger to the music business, not promoted in any way by its creator and signaling the beginning of a long recording hiatus for George similar to that of John Lennon in the mid-seventies. 1982 gave us many things - new music, new projects, and a new tone for the decade to come...see you in 1983.
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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 Beatles during a stint at shea Stadium, alongside October's NY Metro Beatlefest hosted by Mark and Carol Lapidos, it would be easy to classify interest in John, Paul, George and Ringo as a misty-eyed recollection of years past...but despite the decades apart, the former Beatles continued to chart some of the biggest, most successful releases of their careers.. Case in point: Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson's collaborative effort The Girl Is Mine - the titanic hit for both artists that heralded the arrival of Jackson's Thriller LP and cemented Macca as one of the most successful musicians of a third consecutive decade: the 1980s...
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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 commercial success of his entire solo career to that point. George Harrison and Ringo Starr, meanwhile, found themselves back in the studio once more during these waning months of 1982 -- albeit for much different respective reasons. Ringo Starr was determined to prove his critics and nay-sayers wrong with a record that would restore his once-unbreakable commercial success. And George? George's new record had one goal: ride out that contract...
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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 Spring 1982? A new solo LP from Paul McCartney. Tug Of War saw Macca reunited with producer George Martin for an album determined to recapture the greatest corners of McCartney's genius. Gone were the experimental noodlings of McCartney II - this collection swung for the commercial fences...and succeeded. With the monster hit Ebony and Ivory leading the charge, this collection of power pop earworms and tender emotional ballads struck a chord with the record-buying public, providing some much-needed validation for the non-martyred half of the century's most successful songwriting team...
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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 segment of this unique interview was Paul's selection of the slain John Lennon's Beautiful Boy as one of the records he would take with him to the desert island -- a moment of tenderness and rare vulnerability from one half of the century's most successful songwriting partnership. Ringo Starr meanwhile was focused on the future, and how to rebound from the commercial flop that was his latest single - the McCartney-penned Private Property. After a string of musical misses, one would expect Starr to lay down his sticks and resign himself to the history books...but Ringo was not about to give up without a fight...
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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 the musical landscape. Ringo Starr especially was struggling to find his footing after several unsuccessful album projects - culminating in a strong new LP titled Stop and Smell the Roses, released on October 27th. Featuring contributions from an all-star cast of musicians and friends (including his fellow former Beatles), this record was a return to form for Starr - yet despite the lead-off single Wrack My Brain cracking the top 40, the album itself stumbled. While 1981 was, in many ways, a reaction to the events of the prior December, it was also a demarcation point for the careers of the now-three former Beatles...and an early clue to the new direction in the world of Beatles...
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 long washed away by the time its June 1st, 1981 came around, and once again Harrison found himself with a worldwide hit album on his hands. In the decade+ since the dissolution of the Beatles as a partnership, George, Paul and Ringo found themselves in uncharted waters: upholding the legacy of their childhoods with an eye on the golden years yet to come...
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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 work on his forthcoming solo LP at Air Studios London with producer and longtime friend George Martin...and it was evident from these sessions that this record would be something truly special...
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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 of recording sessions on the secluded Island of Montserrat...far away from the troubles of home and in the company of old friend and Beatles producer George Martin. As February rolled into March, Paul and George played host to many a musical friend - from the iconic Carl Perkins and Stevie Wonder, to fellow former Beatle (and now, sadly, only one of 3 living to hold the title) Ringo Starr.
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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 Overhad cracked the top 20 on both sides of the Atlantic, and the Lennons were conducting a whirlwind of interviews and publicity pieces to pound the drum of their return. While the other former Beatles settled in for the holiday season (Ringo preparing a Caribbean getaway in the Bahamas with girlfriend Barbara Bach, the McCartneys and the Harrisons back home in England), all seemed calm in the Beatle world, all seemed right...
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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, prepping tracks for a new LP themselves and eyeing a return to the tour that had been derailed at the top of the year by Paul's drug bust. Then, on November 17th, Geffen Records release John Lennon and Yoko Ono's new LPDouble Fantasy LP - the triumphant return to studio recording that fans had waited so long to hear. But were the reviews up to Lennon's expectations?
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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 Rude Studio for the next Wings LP, and George Harrison wrapped sessions for his upcoming LP Somewhere In England. But despite his nearly 20 years of experience in the recording industry, Harrison was about to encounter something he never experienced...his album was about to be rejected by the label...
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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 Starting Over and Steppin' Out to an unlikely collaboration with rock band Cheap Trick, John was back in a big way...and even more importantly: he was having FUN. With both George and Ringo also in the studio cutting tracks for their next respective albums, 1980 was turning out to be one of the most productive post-breakup periods of activity for the four former Beatles...
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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 York making plans to re-enter the studio for the first time in nearly 5 years. With inspiration at a peak for Lennon, McCartney found himself preparing songs as well...albeit with the feeling of "going through the motions" as it pertained to his band Wings. The group was still technically functional despite a solo release from Macca earlier in the year, but time was proving to run out on Paul's grand musical experiment of the 1970s. Ringo Starr, too, was hard at work on sessions for his then-titled new LP You Can't Fight Lightning, which saw contributions from the aforementioned Wings on the album's title track. With all this new music in the air, George Harrison instead took a look backward at the songs that defined his career to that point - a memoir co-written with longtime Apple Scruff Derek Taylor titled I Me Mine...
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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 songs again...and writing A LOT. A correspondence began between him and Yoko in NY, wherein the couple would write and record demos of new songs for the other to hear over the phone...and before either had realized what was happening, a new album was beginning to form. While John churned away on his first new music in 5 years, Paul McCartney was back in the studio with Wings demoing new tracks for their follow-up to the prior year's Back to the Egg LP. But with Paul McCartney solo tunes on the charts...was Wings' fate sealed?
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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 electronic sounds and melodies were -- in retrospect -- a forerunner of much of the styles that would become so prominent in popular music over the decades to come. At the time, however, reviews were mixed. Regardless of the critical reception, tracks such as Temporary Secretary, Waterfalls, Nobody Knows and Coming Up proved that once again Macca was on the precipice of the bleeding edge of musical innovation -- even over 18 years into his recording career. While Paul's latest solo release was gracing store shelves, Ringo Starr was graced with the presence of one Miss Barbara Bach, who -- on the set of their new film Caveman -- quickly turned from professional to intimate...
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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 arrival would forever alter the trajectory of all involved. Nearly half a pound of Marijuana was extracted from the McCartneys' suitcase, leading to a nine day stay in the Tokyo Narcotics Detention Center and a cancellation of the highly anticipated tour. On January 25th, a shaken McCartney was deported back to Britain, left with an enormous financial loss, a fractured band, and an uncertain path into the 1980's...
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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 years before. At the close of the year Paul, Linda, Denny, Lawrence and Steve joined an all-star line-up of rock'n'roll royalty for a benefit show to aid the refugees from war-torn Cambodia in an event called The Concert for the People of Kampuchea...and rumors of a reunion between Paul's former bandmates John, George and Ringo swiftly followed. While this latest rash of the rumor mill may have simply been another over-blown media concoction, the possibility of such a reunion was perhaps more likely here than in reunion rumors past. But alas, the fab four did not join together on stage once more, and instead audiences were wowed by performances from The Who, The Pretenders, Elvis Costello, Robert Plant and, of course a triumphant Wings touting their "rockestra" experiment before a screaming crowd of thousands. With the year 1979 reaching its end, Paul and and the band set their sights on the next leg of their tour -- Japan.
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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 time out of the spotlight. The Lennons' domestic activities in the fall of 1979 included a donation to the NYPD for the purchase of bullet proof vests, and the preparation of a will in the event some ill-fated circumstances should befall them. While John and Yoko basked in the glow of family life, Paul McCartney and his band Wings were once again basking in the glow of an adoring audience - as the Wings 1979-1980 World Tour began on November 23rd in Liverpool's Royal Theater. The sizzling set which included deep cuts (Hot As Sun), brand new material (Coming Up) and here-to-fore unheard live Beatles classics (Got To Get You Into My Life) inaugurated the band's return to the stage following their epic WINGS OVER THE WORLD tour earlier in the decade. With Paul blazing up the stage, Ringo Starr beheld a different kind of blaze - in the form of a fire that tore through his Los Angeles home. It was said that some priceless Beatles artifacts were destroyed in the fire, though the overall damage was blessedly kept to a minimum. All this, while George Harrison continued demoing tracks slated for a new LP...
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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 toward colleagues in the rock world. Songs such as Free as a Bird, Real Love and Serve Yourself rang from the walls of the Dakota... while songs from Lennon-McCartney past rang from London's "Buddy Holly Day 1979", hosted by the world's foremost Holly fan: Paul McCartney. Paul's live set for this evening consisted of tracks ranging from It's So Easy to Bo Diddley, and were an advance sneak-peak of a brand new WINGS tour on the horizon in the months and weeks to come...
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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 hoped for. Never one to back down from a perceived failure (and still receiving major awards around the world) Macca pushed even harder, releasing targeted singles from the LP and planning a new world tour that would (hopefully) echo the successes he and the previous iteration of Wings achieved in 1975 and 1976. With Paul planning big, George Harrison also found himself moving a mile-a-minute...around the racetrack in Donington. George's motor racing hobby was a welcome release from the stresses of the music industry, and Harrison indulged in the immersion into a new world apart from the self-destructive world of rock and roll...
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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 curiously omitted from the LP...much to the chagrin of the record-buying public. This remarkably contemporary-sounding new Wings album featured punk rock homages (Spin it On), MOR-ready ballads (Winter Rose/Love Awake) and vaguely new wave-inspired bouncy rockers (Getting Closer) -- all in an attempt to get a new iteration of the band off on the right foot. Well, even the best laid plans of former Beatles are subject to error, and Back to the Egg - while somewhat successful by the metrics of the day - proved to be a critical and commercial misfire from Paul & co. Regardless, Wings readied themselves for a tour to support the new sound, and eyed a bright future for their new post-shell life...
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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 next to the beautiful contemplation of a Your Love is Forever, joined by the blasts from Beatles past such as the resurrected White Album cut Not Guilty. 70's producer dujour Russ Titelman alongside co-producer George brought a cohesion to this collection not seen on the Dark Horse's solo work for some time, helping George Harrison to go top 40 around the world and peaking at a respectable #12 in the US. While new Harri-songs were burning up the radio dials, Paul McCartney was not about to be outdone. The new hit Wings single Goodnight Tonight b/w Daytime Nighttime Suffering was the opening salvo of a new WINGS formation, and a hint of things to come later in the year...
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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 whether or not following current musical trends was worth their respective while. McCartney was turning the corner on the decade with some of the biggest chart-topping successes ever seen in popular music, while the yin to his yang enjoyed something more akin to retirement. John Lennon's so-called "house husband years" were indeed in full swing, and he began 1979 with family time, farm animal purchases, and travels abroad. George Harrison, too, indulged his non-music interests in the early days of the year, flying to Rio to witness the Gran Prix and rub shoulders with the major players in his increasingly prevalent passion: auto racing. But unlike John, George was far from abandoning the world of music -- and Harrison spent some time in early February with the BBC and (of all people) Michael Jackson discussing the new sounds of the day, his Beatle past, and his new self-titled album about to drop...
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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 peace, love and inspiration for Harrison. John and Yoko too found solace in the warmth of family life, and in the fall announced a project that would document their journey in stage-musical form - The Ballad Of John and Yoko. Such a project would have been welcome to Lennon's fans, who were in their third consecutive year of John's self-proclaimed "house-husband period" - which of course offered not a single official release of new material beyond the odd contribution here or there. The critical and commercial failure of Ringo's Bad Boy LP ushered in an uncharacteristic era of quiet from Starr - whose hopes of reclaiming a hold on the top 10 dwindled more with each passing release. Paul McCartney was in no such slump, recording tracks for a new LP with his updated Wings line-up... and even assembling a super-group of rock's biggest stars for an orchestral-style rock and roll recording Macca dubbed "Rockestra". All this, and the release of a feature film centered around the Sgt.Pepper concept, as 1978 draws to a close...
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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, with the addition of scorching lead guitarist Lawrence Juber, and set-your-clock-to-it drumming courtesy of Steve Holly. Like birds flocking south for the winter, Paul, Linda, Denny, Lawrence and Steve found themselves shortly thereafter in the studio cutting tracks for yet another new Wings LP - while the vinyl was still cooling on the band's successful 1978 LP offering London Town. With Wings in the studio, Ringo Starr was busy making a last-ditch attempt to salvage the disastrous chart showing of his own latest LP Bad Boy, with a flurry of promotional activity that ultimately amounted to little. As Ringo and Paul worked away, George and John were in the midst of respective trips around the world - Harrison to Spain and Lennon to Japan...
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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 lightning in a bottle that was Ringo's self-titled 1973 effort -- but once again success proved elusive. Unlike former bandmate McCartney, whose solo work only grew in popularity since the demise of the fab four, Ringo's strong start was looking like diminishing returns by the later half of the 70's, and frustration was setting in. Ringo's self-titled TV special, released in conjunction with the Bad Boy album, was again a fun, fairly tight affair featuring co-stars such as the freshly white-hot Hollywood starlet Carrie Fischer. But like the album, Ringo's TV special came up short. Perhaps the biggest indicator of things to come from the entire project was a live concert performance filmed for the TV special - an "all star" cast if you will...
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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 the sixth album from the little (huge) band that could -- London Town -- arrived with both critical and commercial success. Though just shy of the #1 spot in the US, this softer, more relaxed collection was packed with the pastoral likes of I'm Carrying, Deliver Your Children, Girlfriend and more -- securing the McCartney domination of the mid-70s with tuneful flair. With Paul sitting pretty, former bandmate Ringo Starr worked away on his own new album (and accompanying TV special) which would feature an all-star cast and the former Beatle's first solo performance in front of a live audience...ever. Would the original "bad boy" come out on top? Stay tuned for part three of 1978 to find out...
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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 compositions from George Harrison that signaled the coming of a follow-up to his successful Thirty Three & 1/3 album. As a refreshed, upbeat George commands his problems to blow away, Ringo Starr was setting his own sights on a reversal of fortune - choosing the songs which would comprise a new record...and a new TV Special. His comeback plans were ambitious, but a determined Ringo was not going to let the underperforming Ringo The 4th LP be the end of his hit-making in the 1970's. The Lennons, meanwhile, were dealing with a different kind of determination -- a terrorist organization which had been targeting John and Yoko for some time in an elaborate extortion scheme which necessitated the involvement of the FBI. All this on the eve of a new Wings album release - heralded by another monster hit single from Paul & co.: With A Little Luck.
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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 as they had in years prior, with his Ringo the 4th record seeing a dismal critical and commercial reception that would take the wind out of the sails of most any artist on the receiving end. Of course Ringo Starr is not just any artist, and an undeterred Ringo set forth at once to record yet another new album...one that he hoped would course-correct his recent misfortune. And speaking of course-correcting...Paul McCartney. If there were any doubt that Macca's star was still shining brightly in the later half of 1977, November's Capitol/EMI Wings single release of Mull of Kintyre b/w Girl's School was enough to silence naysayers and stun audiences around the world - becoming the former Beatle's biggest hit single ever outside of his aforementioned alma matar! All this plus a new Ringo release from Polydor to close out the year that was 1977...
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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 lunchtime, and there to sit in on the feast was a host of comedy's elite: from SNL heavyweights like Bill Murray, John Belushi, Gilda Radner and Dan Aykroyd, to pythons such as Eric Idle...and of course one fourth of their inspiration, Mr. George Harrison. So enamored with the pre-fab four was George, that references to the Rutland sound and their infamous trousers would pop up in just about every interview "the quiet one" would give for years to come! While the hits of old were spoofed in masterful fashion, new hits were on the horizon as well...most notably in the new McCartney-Laine penned ode to Scotland, Mull of Kintyre. Paul's star continued its commercial climb with no sign of slowing down, but the success of his band Wings was put into jeopardy that September with Jimmy McCulloch and Joe English quit the band. With one former Beatle in damage control mode...Ringo Starr (the noisy one) forged ahead with a new LP release he hoped would undo the damage that his waning success over the last year had taken on his career. Thus the LP Ringo The 4th...a boogie-woogie beaucoup of sound that Ringo hoped would recapture his glory...but alas, it was not to be....
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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 Wings continue their Caribbean boat-side sessions for the still-untitled (but tentatively dubbed "Water Wings") sessions. Paul and Linda also put the finishing touches on some Linda McCartney originals nearly 5 years in the making - with the first official release of the "Suzy and the Red Stripes" single Seaside Woman b/w B-Side To Seaside. Ringo Starr was busy as ever recording his next LP effort, as well as music for a children's animated musical dubbed Scouse The Mouse. While activity was in no danger of slowing down for the former fabs, 1977 did seem to offer a bit of rest and reflection for John, Paul, George and Ringo in ways the quartet had never truly seen the likes of in their days under the scrutiny of the public eye...
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"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 musical move from John Lennon would be would need to wonder a little longer...though answers for McCartney's next move would be much easier to find. Following the smash success of his Wings Over the World tour, Paul and the band were quick to return to the studio to record a follow-up to 1976's similarly successful Wings At The Speed of Sound LP. But dismal, wintertime London was not exactly the perfect atmosphere for a joyous Macca victory lap. The band did attempt to decorate EMI studios to set a better mood, but (like for many a winner Wings recording past) a sojourn to an inspiring location was in order. Onward it was to the US Virgin Islands, where three boats were moored and waiting for Paul, Linda, Denny, Jimmy and Joe to set sail for their next album...
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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 with the wisdom of the lessons learned from his arduous 1974 Dark Horse tour - which ran the ex-Beatle ragged and gave the sharpened knives of the rock press somewhere to jab. George's improved fortunes were certainly a welcome omen to begin the year, but it was a joyous ending, that followed shortly after, which would truly be cause for celebration. In January of 1977, the long-awaited settlement of the contentious and exhausting legal battle between Allen Klein's ABKO and Apple Corps was at last reached, marking three years of proceedings and millions of dollars exchanged. This out-of-court agreement was another hopeful step toward the possibility of a Beatles reunion, with Allen Klein now fully out of the picture and John, Paul, George and Ringo all on good terms with one another. But if a Beatles reunion were coming, it would have to wait - because in February, Wings return to the studio to begin recording the follow-up to 1976's mega-hit Wings At The Speed of Sound LP. Would Paul and the band be satisfied with recording in the silver rain of wintery London? Wings contemplate flying south as 1977 rolls on...
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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 and (arguably) misconstrued press release - one that seemed to indicate the demise of the fab four. Whatever the intentions of said press release, the very high profile of this interview and its corresponding homespun collection of tunes would spark the beginning of Paul's solo career and set into motion a series of one-man-show efforts on behalf of McCartney in the decades to come. In 1980 McCartney II was released, a sequel that proved to be a similar demarcation of the winding down of Paul's band Wings, and yet another exercise in isolated musical experimentation. 40 years later, in the thick of a global pandemic, McCartney III emerged to complete the trilogy and once more found McCartney's introspective craftsmanship at a peak. In this episode we'll examine all three releases and explore the possible connective tissue between each installment. Luther is on hand to lend his expert opinion as a singer, songwriter and musical craftsman of his own wide acclaim - and we'd like to thank Mr. Russell for the wonderful conversation! But that's not all - we also want to hear from YOU! Which of these three albums are your favorite? Do each live up to the name?
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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, found his freedom in the form of a green card and (perhaps more importantly) long-sought vindication. Ringo's Rotogravure foretold a downturn in the career of the once-most-successful former Beatle - and George Harrison was having himself a bit of a comeback in the form of a successful new single (This Song) from his brand new LP: Thirty Three & 1/3. This fifth proper studio album from Harrison was a marked departure from the pain of Dark Horse and the uncertainty of Extra Texture - yielding a collection of bouncy, genuine and tuneful tracks that saw a happier Harrison settling into his own grooves with a confidence not seen in years. From the irresistibly catchy Crackerbox Palace, to funky stomps like It's What You Value and Woman Don't You Cry For Me - Thirty Three & 1/3 was a tour de force and most certainly a return to form. To promote the release, George became the first former fab to grace the stage of NBC's Saturday Night, performing several numbers alongside Paul Simon and even demanding Beatles reunion money from the show's creator, Lorne Michaels. As if Thirty Three & 1/3 wasn't enough Beatle content to satisfy fans, on December 10th Capitol EMI released Wings Over America, a titanic collection of live recordings from Paul's ultra-successful North American tour. 1977 is just around the corner, let the '76 hangover begin...
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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 the following weeks, another gift to Lennon - a functional green card - facilitated a solo trip to Hong Kong (John's first solitary travel experience since his pre-fame days). With John on walkabout in Asia, Paul McCartney and Wings found themselves back in the UK for the finale of their year+ long WINGS OVER THE WORLD tour - playing sold-out shows in Wembley in front of cheering crowds and glowing critics. As Paul's tour wound to a close, George Harrison's promotional tour for his forthcoming album release was just ramping up - beginning with the release of a new single: This Song. This bouncy rocker poked fun at Harrison's ongoing copyright troubles over the song My Sweet Lord, and seethes with resentment under the veneer of humor (reminiscent of "Harri-songs" past such as Piggies and Not Guilty). With stops in Boston and then New York City for a pre-taped appearance on NBC's Saturday Night, George was out to give his upcoming Thirty Three & 1/3 LP a full-court press, for a return to the successes from earlier in his solo career, and a real run at the charts...
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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 album's promotion - filming several music videos for the record's singles as well as embarking on a radio interview tour wherein the former fab talked recording, writing, and his recent engagement to fiancé Nancy Andrews. George Harrison's troubles were monetary, having lost the monumental copyright court case over his hit 1970 single My Sweet Lord and its similarities to the 1963 Chiffons hit He's So Fine. As George awaited the judge's punitive damages order, John Lennon, Yoko Ono, and baby Sean were in Massachusetts visiting with macrobiotic diet guru Michio Kushi. While the meeting went well, the Lennons were subject to increasing attention from fans and local press, eventually driving them home from their retreat. Paul McCartney's fortunes weren't quite so tumultuous - as the Wings Over the World tour entered its final leg in a stint of shows across Europe to the same roaring crowds and rave reviews that had greeted the band in North America. Stops in Austria, Italy, Germany and even Yugoslavia (becoming the first Beatle to perform from behind the "iron curtain") marked the continued success and validation of Wings, a welcome and well-earned feat for the McCartneys.
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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 their labors. Back in New York, another victory was at hand for John Lennon, who after nearly half a decade of struggle at last obtained the coveted green card that would signify the end to his immigration troubles. By September, another verdict (this time less than ideal) would be handed down in the case of George Harrison and his My Sweet Lord copyright infringement case. A New York City judge found George guilty of plagiarism, responsible for monetary restitution to the copyright holders of the song "He's So Fine", despite Harrison's recognizably sincere denial of having pinched their melody for his 1970 smash single. This landmark decision cost George quite a sum, as well as setting an important precedent for composers and song publishers for decades to come. While George and John respectively celebrated victory and mourned defeat in the New York City courts, Ringo Starr released a new LP on September 17th 1976: Rotogravure. A follow-up to his successful 1974 album Goodnight Vienna, this new collection of songs featured contributions from all four former Beatles, as well as a new producer: the acclaimed Arif Mardin. Despite the musical pedigree of the album's contributors, and Ringo's own enthusiasm, this record's underperformance would signify yet another dramatic sea change in the career trajectory of one of the most successful graduates of the fab four....
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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 scrambling Capitol Records rush-release of Got to Get You Into My Life (which promptly rocketed up the charts). Despite such speculations, Beatle reunions (of sorts) were actually in the air in these early summer months of 1976, as John Lennon found himself once again back in the studio with Ringo Starr cutting a track for Ringo’s forthcoming Rotogravure album. Ringo and producer Arif Martin were smitten to have Lennon on board, but John felt differently about the session – calling it a case of “bad vibes” and feeling taken advantage of by his friend. Whatever the case, nearly 7 years after the dissolution of the world’s biggest band, The Beatles maintained their place as a mainstay of popular culture and their relevance stood poised to outlast the time they spent together…
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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 episode! But Doug's impressive resume doesn't end with Ringo Starr - over the last 50 years Doug has been either a musician or studio wizard for rock'n'roll royalty including the Moody Blues, Wings, Mungo Jerry and many more - punctuated by his brief stint as the third bassist for then-unknown rock band Queen. Doug's own music continued on with his band R.A.F. whose two excellent albums from the early 80's stand as a testament to power pop amongst the otherwise insurmountable punk scene in Britain at the time. Ever wonder what it's like to be let into the Imagine room at Tittenhurst Park? Or what kind of tea Linda McCartney prefers? Or what Harry Nilsson was doing as defacto-receptionist in the office above a car dealership in London? Wonder no more dear listener - and lend an ear to this very special episode of Yesterday & Today!
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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 an on-stage reunion between Lennon & McCartney. After John's no-show at the Wings concert in Toronto - where George and Ringo both attended - big questions remained about the legitimate possibility of John and Paul sharing a stage with each other again. While at one time the reunion seemed a complete impossibility, the reemergence of the duo's friendship by the mid-70's cast a ray of hope that such a miracle could actually take place. Regardless, Paul and the band would enchant New Yorkers for two nights in one of the most triumphant stops of Paul's high-flying world tour...
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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 the stage. John may not have made it, but George and Ringo had a great time witnessing Macca's 2+ hour electrifying set, as did the thousands of screaming fans that echoed the enthusiasm chanted by audiences at each stop on Wings' tour thus far. From Philadelphia to Maryland to Atlanta to Boston, McCartney's victory lap stretched on and on -- and after seeing Paul on stage, the conversation began to shift from Paul's former bandmates joining him, to the enjoyment of Paul himself. While the offers for the reunion of John, Paul, George and Ringo were far from a distant memory, one thing was for certain - you'd think that people seemed to have enough of silly love songs. But we look around us and we see it isn't so. Oh no.
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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 lucky (and well-earned) twist of fate, but the fortune most surprising to Macca was perhaps the newfound friendship he enjoyed with his old bandmate and songwriting partner John Lennon. The two had rekindled a jovial relationship that most would have considered dead in the water earlier in the decade - but against all odds John and Paul found themselves on friendly footing in the spring of 1976. So friendly, in fact, that a reunion between the two on national television very nearly happened one windy April night - on NBC's hit new show Saturday Night. Lennon and McCartney sat giggling in John's Dakota apartment building as SNL's Lorne Michaels offered the former Beatles a measly sum to reunite on his program - a gag that proved nearly too tempting to resist for John and Paul. Though the pair ultimately decided not to take the trip down to Rockefeller plaza to accept the offer, many a laugh was shared, and it appearing an honest-to-goodness reunion wouldn't be too far-fetched to conceive of. But the next day, when an excited Paul showed up with a guitar in the hopes of writing songs with his friend John, the fates were less kind. April 26th, 1976 would go down in history as the last date in which John Lennon and Paul McCartney would see each other live and in person ever again...
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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 speed of sound, with the release of a new LP titled WINGS AT THE SPEED OF SOUND! This new album, released a mere few months after its successful predecessor VENUS & MARS, was recorded in the time the band would have taken to tour Japan - had the Japanese government not stopped the Wings tour from entering the country. With time on his hands and a fresh batch of tunes crafted on the road, Paul, Linda, Denny, Jimmy and Joe entered the studio to craft the most slick, radio-friendly LP of McCartney's entire post-Beatles career up to that point - complete with disco boogies, ear-worm pop jingles and a healthy dose of rock and roll for good measure. Unlike any other Wings record, WINGS AT THE SPEED OF SOUND features vocals from every member of the band, and original compositions from both Denny Laine and Jimmy McCulloch (with lyric contributions from Jimmy's writing partner Colin Allen on the hard-rocking Wino Junko). With wounds mended between he and his former colleagues, and with a 50 million dollar reunion concert offer still on the table, would the specter of The Beatles overshadow Macca's grand concert return to the USA? Or would his new #1 charting album lend a #1 charting single to seal the deal for American audiences? You know what they say...some people want to fill the world with silly love songs...
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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 Beatles reunion concert to be broadcast around the world. Each ex-Beatle may have been living their own lives and enjoying the fruits of their own individual successes at the dawn of 1976, but a 50 million offer was enough to at the very least have been discussed...even if it, too, was summarily rejected by John, Paul, George and Ringo. Sargent wasn't the only one clamoring for Beatles content at the top of 1976 -- fan-festivals such as Beatlefest reveled in Beatles nostalgia and continued to gain momentum as the the 70s progressed, pulling its guest list from a varied array of insiders and affiliates from in and around the lives of the Beatles. One such insider was Mal Evans, who himself had graced the stage of Beatlefest the year prior...but on January 5th of 1976 a series of shocking events lead to the death of Mal in an officer-involved shooting. Mal played an integral role in Beatles history, and his tragic death left an aura of sorrow and uncertainty upon the new year for Beatles fans - but it wasn't the only death to rock the lives of the Beatles in the opening months of 1976. Both Paul McCartney's and John Lennon's respective fathers died within two short weeks of each other shortly thereafter - mirroring the events of their mother's respective passings nearly 20 years prior. Lennon's unresolved schism with his father was a dark cloud that hung upon John's life, and it was with bitter irony that John and Paul both found themselves mourning a parent's passing so close in proximity to one another in the weeks that followed...
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The Beatles are a big act to follow - but with Wings, Paul McCartney set his sights on not just surviving in a post-fab world, but soaring in one. From dingy college campus shows and rainy tour bus nights, to the astronomical heights of Wings Over the World, Macca's grand experiment grew to become one of the biggest musical enterprises in the world by the end of 1976. While earlier incarnations of the band showed glimmers of their potential, it wasn't until 1974 and the addition of guitarist virtuoso Jimmy McCulloch, that the group was able to make manifest the kind of success even McCartney himself would be taken aback by. Jimmy's hard rocking sound and staggering musical ability was the perfect compliment to bandmates Paul, Linda, Denny and Joe for 3 chart-topping studio albums and a slew of hit singles. In the years since leaving Wings, followed by his tragic death shortly thereafter, Jimmy's contributions to this worldwide phenomenon were largely down-played - tinged with stories of conflict and substance abuse. But Jimmy McCulloch's full tale will at last be told in the upcoming book Little Wing: The Jimmy McCulloch Story, written by Jimmy's biographer and our guest on the show today, Mr. Paul Salley. Paul's book is a labor of love years in the making, compiling interviews with insiders, colleagues and family in an endeavor to set the record straight about Jimmy's life. On today's episode we'll chat with Paul about Jimmy's various groups, his songwriting successes and learn more about the Wings member often referred to as "the whiz kid". We'd like to thank Paul for joining us on the show today, and encourage everyone to check out his Little Wing fan page for more on Jimmy and updates on his forthcoming book. Take us down, Jimmy!
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It's the end of 1975, and this transformative year in Beatles history would in many ways set a new standard for John, Paul, George and Ringo in the latter half of the decade to follow. George Harrison's latest single, This Guitar (Can't Keep From Crying), taken from his modestly successful Extra Texture LP, would be the last single released on the original Apple label, and subsequently fail to enter the billboard hot 100 singles chart. George may have entered the 1970's as a musical force to be reckoned with, but this disappointing showing cast some doubt upon the former fab's future commercial vitality. The Beatle to beat at the end of 1975 was the previously D.O.A Paul McCartney, whose group Wings were still running singles up the charts from their Venus & Mars album in December of 1975. Blocked from the Japanese leg of their wildly successful Wings Over the World tour, Paul and Linda returned home for the holidays to work on tracks for a heretofore unplanned Venus & Mars follow-up LP. The McCartneys also made time to stop by the Dakota building in New York City to pay a visit to John & Yoko, who were busy tending to the newborn Sean Ono Lennon when Paul and Linda arrived on their doorstep singing Christmas carols. The arrival of Sean signified a seismic shift in John's personal life - as Lennon had begun clearing the decks of work-related projects since the advent of Yoko's pregnancy earlier in the year. Ringo Starr, meanwhile, may not have had an album release in 1975, but his greatest hits compilation Blast From Your Past satiated fans for content heading into the Christmas season. The changes fortified in 1975 would continue on into the new year, and 1976 was poised to be a landmark for the heights of former Beatle success...
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Paul McCartney may have been the former Beatle with the most to prove in the early days following the Beatles' breakup...but by the latter half of 1975 McCartney and his group Wings were the band to beat from his former colleagues. A slew of hit singles and 2 consecutive top albums made Wings one of the most influential and relevant sounds of the mid 1970s, with no sign of the group slowing down as they rounded the corner into 1976. While on tour in Australia, the Wings sound truly reached fruition, with new members Jimmy McCulloch and Joe English adding their own distinct flavor to McCartney & his cohorts night after night in the land down under. From Adelaide to Kingsford to Brisbane to Melbourne, Wings seemed unstoppable in their pop dominance...but it was't until their attempted entry into Japan that the band would experience their first major setback and serendipitously their next big break...
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It's the fall of 1975 and George Harrison's new LP Extra Texture is the most current musical offering from the former Beatles. For many, this album was a step in the right direction from the drug and depression-tinged Dark Horse LP from the year prior, in which the rock-bottom of George's personal life seemed to make its way to record. From the toe-tapping You (the album's first single and a top 20 hit in the US) to Smokey Robinson inspired tracks like Can't Stop Thinking about You, to the downright irreverent His Name Is 'Legs' (Ladies and Gentlemen), Extra Texture showed the world a George Harrison that was slowing inching his way back to the heights of earlier in the decade. Paul McCartney was busy eyeing new heights as well, with a massive world tour underway for his band Wings - flying high on the success of their Venus & Mars album from earlier in the year. As the band made their way halfway around the world for the Australian leg of the Wings Over The World tour, Wings found itself on the cusp of power-pop domination not seen for any former Beatle since their touring heyday. But while Paul and George had renewed commercial success on the mind, John Lennon was busy welcoming a great personal success to the world. Sean Ono Lennon was born to proud parents John & Yoko on John's 35th birthday, October 9th, 1975. This warm moment of family and new possibilities stood in stark contrast to the disarray of Lennon's so-called "lost weekend" in years prior, and signaled yet another big change for John in the years to come...
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We're celebrating 100 episodes of the Yesterday & Today Podcast! This over-sized anniversary spectacular is packed with special guests, special features, music, memories and more - and we can't wait for you all to hear it. On January 27th, 2018, the Yesterday & Today podcast went live for the first time, bringing to the internet airwaves a Beatles chronology over 20 years in the making. Now here we are, 100 episodes later, and we'd like to take this opportunity to thank our listeners with a special episode celebrating not only the life of the podcast, but the lives of the many Beatles fans who listen to our show. In this episode we'll hear from Wayne Kaminski, creator of the Yesterday & Today podcast, about how the project grew and evolved from its cassette tape beginnings in the early 90's - up through the latest remastering process you've been enjoying in each and every episode. But that's not all - we put out the call for fans of the show to submit their OWN special Beatles memories, and our lovely listeners from around the world answered that call and then some! In this special 100th episode celebration you'll hear from our wonderful audience, as well as from some very special guests - guests ranging from top Beatle podcasters to folks directly connected to the Beatle world and beyond! Our heartfelt thanks to everyone who listens to the show, and to those who contributed to our 100th episode celebration. A pleasant time is guaranteed for all!
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It's the fall of 1975, and the decade that brought so much music from the four former Beatles has reached its halfway point. It seems John, Paul, George and Ringo have each made peace with the band's demise, but big changes were still in store for their respective personal lives in the coming months. Paul McCartney was at the top of the singles and LP charts with his mega-hit Venus & Mars album and corresponding toe-tapper Listen To What The Man Said. Wings was flying so high, in fact, that the band embarked on an ambitious year-long World Tour, the first such tour from any former Beatle in a decade. As the Macca festivities kicked off in the UK, Ringo Starr was in attendance...albeit without his wife Maureen, who divorced Starr on the grounds of adultery in July. By contrast, John Lennon's once-rocky marriage to Yoko Ono was seemingly back in full swing, with the couple expecting their first child in the coming weeks. All recording for John would be halted in preparation for the baby, though Lennon's songwriting and creativity would blossom in other ways during the advent of this so-called "house-husband" period. George Harrison was finished recording as well, but not for long. On September 22nd Apple released the brand new LP Extra Texture, and its first single You was quick to make the top20. George's latest record was a step into the light from the dark and somber Dark Horse album, and Hari 's songs were at last back on track to mainstream appeal...
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It's summertime 1975 and the wave of Beatles nostalgia and reunion rumors that had persisted for several months prior is continuing to grip the world of popular music. With relations warm between John, Paul, George and Ringo -- and with Allen Klein out of the picture -- all seemed prime for the fab four to join forces once more...but short of a David Frost television tribute special, the public didn't have much tangible hope to cling to. Instead, a new phenomenon was brewing - one that had been picking up steam since the 1973 hit single My Love and continuing on into the smash success LP Band on the Run and beyond: the phenomenon known as Paul McCartney & WINGS. On May 30th, in conjunction with the chart-shaking new single Listen To What The Man Said, the new Wings LP Venus & Mars is released. For anyone who thought the aforementioned Band on the Run LP was a fluke, this new album from Paul, Linda, Denny, Jimmy and Joe soared to new heights, cementing the "Wings sound" and bringing the band to the precipice of global pop domination. The dream of the Beatles was still in the hearts of many, but few could argue with the unstoppable rock and roll machine that McCartney had spent the last 4 years building and honing. For the former Beatle who perhaps stumbled the hardest post-break-up, Macca was at last not only a solo force on his own, but a solo BRAND to be reckoned with...
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The spring of 1975 saw some of the most candid and nostalgia-laden interviews ever from each of the four former Beatles since their split over five years prior. First up on April 19th was George Harrison, talking with WNEW FM about everything from his plans for Dark Horse Records, to a brand new studio album, to his struggles with the rock music press - specifically those of the recent harsh reviews by Rolling Stone magazine. As Harrison details in the interview, Dark Horse Records was George's way of fulfilling the creative promise of the now-defunct Apple Records - which he and fellow former fab Ringo Starr had initially envisioned re-branding without the input of the reluctant Lennon and McCartney - as the emerging artist haven it was always intended to be. In lieu of a "re-envisioned" Apple Records, Ringo's new label Ring O'Records was itself still in the launch stage, similarly hoping to rekindle some of the magic that Apple had lost since the split of the band and their break with Allen Klein. John Lennon, meanwhile, continued his series of TV and radio appearances that year with an in-depth interview on Tom Snyder's Tomorrow Show, where the former Beatle spoke at length about his past, current status, and plans for the future. Similar in tone to George's WNEW talk, Lennon seemed eager to discuss the early influences of his life as a Beatle - yielding some of the most vivid recollections of those pre-fame Liverpool days ever captured on camera. Paul McCartney was making the press rounds as well, but the past was not the topic du jour for the high-flying Wings frontman. No, Macca was preparing a massive world tour and stood on the eve of the release of a brand new album, destined to be "Wings Greatest"...
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From the streets of New Orleans to the heat of Los Angeles, Paul McCartney and Wings were at last finished with Venus And Mars, the follow-up LP to the wildly successful 1973 Band On The Run album -- and it was time to celebrate! What ensued was a veritable who's who of the Los Angeles music scene partying heartily aboard the permanently-docked ocean liner The Queen Mary in Long Beach, California. Macca's staggering guest list (reminiscent of the Wings launch party 4 years prior) included such stars as Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Carole King, Marvin Gaye, The Faces, Phil Everly, The Jackson Five, Dean Martin, Tony Curtis, Cher, Derek Taylor and Mal Evans. Even former Beatle George Harrison, with girlfriend Olivia by his side, was in attendance to christen the latest Wings effort. Invited but absent from the festivities were John Lennon and Ringo Starr, who themselves had a busy schedule as the spring of 1975 slowly drew to a close. Ringo O'Records, the brand new label fronted by Starr, was in the midst of its first big promotional push. Meanwhile, John Lennon would formally take the stage for (what would turn out to be) the final show of his career -- performing a variety of songs including cuts from his new Rock And Roll record at the A Salute to Sir Lew Grade: The Master Showman televised gala. A third of the way through 1975 and John Lennon still seemed very much in the public eye, but a cancelled April 14th recording session would wind up being a telltale sign of things to come in as the decade progressed...
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It's March of 1975 and a flurry of activity is once again stirring in the world of John Lennon. Newly reunited with wife Yoko Ono and flying high off the heels of his successful Walls & Bridges and Rock And Roll LPs, the reinvigorated ex-Beatle was making preparations to enter the studio to record his next album of original material - tentatively titled Sally & Billy. The prolific John had a lot to be excited about, with new songs of his debuting that month on both David Bowie and Keith Moon's respective new LPs, as well as an extensive interview and live performance session on music haven The Old Grey Whistle Test. Absent from all of this was Paul McCartney, whose hopes for a reunion with Lennon during the New Orleans Wings recording sessions were dashed the month prior. While that meeting was not to meant be, relations remained warm between the Lennons and McCartneys - hope was indeed kept alive for a future collaboration between the two former partners. The Wings Venus & Mars sessions had since relocated to Malibu CA, where Paul and Linda again ran afoul of the law on a Marijuana possession charge when a routine traffic stop yielded a massive bag of weed found on Linda McCartney's person. While this latest altercation with the law resulted in a another slap on the wrist for the famous couple, Marijuana conviction complications would continue to complicate Wings' plans in the months to come. Meanwhile, George Harrison and his Dark Horse label pushed forward with a new single from Splinter, and Ringo Starr brought his new hit single The No No Song to NBC's Hoyt-Axton Boogie Woogie Gospel Rock and Roll Show. Over five years since the Beatles' split, John, Paul George and Ringo were all in the process of making 1975 their most prolific year yet...
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February of 1975 saw the official release of John Lennon's most laborious, expensive album project in the entirety of his solo career: Rock & Roll. This collection of oldies may have seemed like an effortless cash-grab from the recesses of John's nostalgia, but the truth, drama and love behind the project ran far deeper than any listener at the time could have expected. The concept of an oldies album dates back to 1973 and the beginning of John's initial separation from estranged wife Yoko Ono (the time period now known as his so-called "Lost Weekend"). Self-appointed "Godfather of the music business" Morris Levy was in hot pursuit of legal action against Lennon for cribbing lyrics from Chuck Berry's You Can't Catch Me (a song which Levy owned the publishing) for John's Abbey Road classic Come Together. The solution? A new album of cover songs by Lennon featuring some Levy-owned tunes and a host of other rock classics that would serve as an outlet for the pained and out-of-control former Beatle. Two years, stacks of missing tapes, gunshots in the studio and a completely separate other solo studio album later... and John's love-letter to the sound of his past was at last out in the world. Of course, this flurry of activity also coincided with John & Yoko's rekindled romantic relationship - the couple was seen together again in public for the first time that same week at the 17th annual Grammy Awards (where John and Paul Simon delivered an award). Down in New Orleans, Paul McCartney finally got the call from John cancelling plans to join the Venus & Mars sessions - and with that call, the last true possibility of a Lennon & McCartney studio reunion was dashed. But was the reunion hope truly dead? Believe it or not, Art Garfunkel may hold the answer...
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In the early weeks of 1975, the burst of productivity and music that characterized John Lennon's so-called "lost weekend" continued on in its typical, blistering pace. But the "weekend" was almost over, and while John didn't know it at the time, these last few projects at the beginning of 1975 would be among his last major works as a solo artist. First up? Pal David Bowie invites John into the studio to contribute to the Young Americans sessions. Bowie and John team up on an epic cover rendition of the Beatles classic Across the Universe, but while the pair were at it, a new song (and a new hit) emerges as well: the funky riff-jam titled simply Fame. But cranking out a hit with one of the biggest artists in the world was only the start - from there it's back in the studio to put the final touches on mixing the long-awaited Rock And Roll album, which was itself on the eve of finally being released. Started at the beginning of John's separation from Yoko Ono in 1973, it seems only fitting that the project at last see fruition as the estranged couple find their way back to one another once again. Yoko Ono was indeed back in John's life, and suddenly the scheduled recording session with Paul & Linda McCartney in New Orleans seemed less and less likely to actually happen...
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It's 1975! A new year brings a new locale and recording project for Paul McCartney and Wings, who are headed down south to celebrate Mardi Gras in New Orleans! While this newest Wings line-up continues to solidify, the band drinks in the sights and sounds of the Louisiana atmosphere, capturing moments and melodies destined for the follow-up LP to Paul's December '73 masterpiece Band On The Run. But it's more than just Wings that McCartney is looking to see take flight. An open musical invitation to old pal John Lennon on behalf of Paul in New Orleans appears to validate the ever-swirling rumors of a Beatles reunion that have ebbed and flowed since the fab foursome split 5 years prior. Wounds are now healed, friendships rekindled, and the stage appears to be set for the studio reunion of Lennon and McCartney...but another voice from the past has called for John's attention. Estranged wife Yoko Ono has recaptured John's attention as well, and the spell of the ocean child would ultimately prove more powerful than that of the McCartneys in the big easy...
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It's the end of 1974 - a year of productivity, transformation, music and the definitive ending for The Beatles partnership. After four long years of litigation, Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starr (plus a parade of their respective attorneys) put pen to paper on the document that would once and for all conclude the greatest pop music enterprise the modern world had ever seen before or since. But this ending wouldn't be without the trademark drama and heartache that marred the former Beatles' lives since their split in 1970. On December 19th, 1974, George Harrison and his Dark Horse tour took the stage for the first of three engagements at New York City's famed Madison Square Garden - and John Lennon was scheduled to appear with George to perform as a special guest. With Paul in the audience, and George and John on the stage, the old friends planned to return together to an afterparty that would see the signing of the dissolution papers completed, and conclude the Beatles partnership on a happy note. This was not to be. For reasons known only to to the man himself, John Lennon hatched an excuse, bailed on the concert and refused to sign the papers. It wouldn't be for another 10 days, with some arm-twisting by McCartney, for John Lennon to finally sign the documents that would end the project he began so many years ago. A project that carried he and his friends from scruffy lower middle-class teddy boys to the most famous, most successful musicians on the planet - leaving a mark not only on history, but on the lives of the countless millions touched by their music. And with that, both 1974, and the Beatles, were finished.
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In a year jam-packed with new music from each of the four ex-Beatles, the 3rd and final studio album from the former fabs in 1974 was the widely anticipated, tour-supported George Harrison LP Dark Horse. In the wake of the Beatles' split (a full 4+ years earlier) George found himself uniquely poised for success amongst his colleagues - with arguably the lowest expectations for solo project output, combined with the soaring heights of his first full-fledged solo studio effort All Thing Must Pass. There was a time in the early 70's when George Harrison could do no musical "wrong". But audiences were growing increasingly frustrated with the preachy nature of Harrison's music, and that (combined with his noticeably strained voice and combative songwriting fodder) lead to the mixed reaction Dark Horse wound up receiving in December of 1974. Gone were the wall-of-sound pop gems of All Things Must Pass and the sweeping cinematic landscapes of Living In the Material World - replaced instead by ballads and grooves doused in pain, substance abuse and an existential confusion that permeated the quiet Beatle's personal life at that time. To say Dark Horse is a "break-up record" would be like calling She Loves You a "toe-tapper", and after years of solo dominance over John and Paul, George was once again back on his heels in the minds of fans, critics and contemporaries alike. But speaking of John, George and Ringo - one crucial step remained in the dissolution of their once-inseparable partnership -- and before 1974 was over, the world would see that final step fulfilled...
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It's November 1974 and George Harrison's Dark Horse Tour is rolling on through the heart of North America. While George's ragged voice continued its decline on these tour stops, the fun and energy of the musicianship on stage was evident to the thousands of excited fans packing concert venues to see the former Beatle perform some of his iconic hits for the first time in years (in some cases, ever). Classics such as In My Life and While My Guitar Gently Weeps may have been crowd-pleasers, but it was the brand-new soundcheck-written, boogie-woogie jams that truly exemplified the fun that George's band was having every and every night. But Harrison wasn't the only former Beatle taking the stage in November of '74, John Lennon had himself a bet to settle with pal and Whatever Gets You Through The Night collaborator Elton John. As Elton and his band reached New York City's famed Madison Square Garden on Thanksgiving night, fans in attendance bore witness to Lennon's triumphant return to concert performance (though no one could know at the time that it would be his last in such a context). It had been over two years since John was last seen at MSG, and he and Elton's band tore through an electric three-song set including Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds, the aforementioned #1 hit single Whatever Gets You Through The Night and the McCartney-sung Beatles classic I Saw Her Standing There. One of those lucky fans in the audience that night? John's estranged wife Yoko Ono...
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Over four years had passed since the official break-up of the Beatles, and by the tail end of 1974 the world of music was changing, evolving and finding new stars to light the way. But despite these shifts in faces and trends, the Beatles' legend remained surprisingly vital, with not only a slew of successful solo material from the former fabs, but also from tributes such as the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band on the Road off-broadway musical. Though it was panned by critics, this production tapped into a public yearning for a return of the band that changed everything - and while a formal reunion was never to be, Beatle music was alive and well in the cultural zeitgeist. But nostalgia wasn't the only currency of the day, November 1974 also brought with it Ringo Starr's new album Goodnight Vienna. To follow-up the monster success of 1973's Ringo album, Starr and producer Richard Perry brought in new guest stars and new hooky material in the hopes of repeating their own critical and commercial heights the year prior. John Lennon also returned to lend his friend a helping hand on the title track, as well as lead-off single Only You (an arrangement Lennon and Harry Nilsson had been work-shopping for the ill-fated Oldies But Moldies project). From the Elton John/Bernie Taupin-penned Snookeroo to the novelty No-No Song, Goodnight Vienna was indeed another successful endeavor - though ultimately fell far short of its predecessor. And as 1974 draws to a close, there's still another solo Beatles LP ready for release...
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It's November 1974, and there's new music from all four former Beatles reaching fans around the world. First up, George Harrison's Dark Horse tour, premiering new music from his forthcoming LP release of the same name, barrels on through Oakland, Long Beach and Los Angeles California with some unfortunately mixed results. George was facing harsh critical backlash for the quality of his voice following a bout of laryngitis some weeks earlier, and these shaky vocals, combined with the Dark Horse's seemingly spiteful lyrical re-workings of some of the public's most beloved Beatles standards, cast a strange and ominous shadow on an otherwise joyous North American tour. Meanwhile, Paul and Wings were back in the studio cutting tracks for the much-anticipated follow-up to Band on the Run, while also rehearsing for a world tour tentatively scheduled to begin the following year. While Wings grappled with the forces of Venus and Mars in Abbey Road Studios, their new single Junior's Farm became yet another top 10 hit for the band and cemented once more McCartney's ever-growing stature as an artist outside his former enterprise. One more hit single from Apple Records rounds out the month, with John Lennon offering a helping hand to buddy Ringo Starr on the swooney-crooney track Only You. And believe it or not, there's a lot MORE activity in the world of the former Beatles to come in the closing weeks of this major powerhouse of a year...
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With the release of John Lennon's new #1 Walls and Bridges LP, the fall of 1974 was shaping up to be yet another season of success for the former Beatles. Its corresponding lead-off single, Whatever Gets You Through The Night was comfortably positioned atop the US singles charts as well, giving Lennon the boost of commercial approval he had been chasing for some time as a solo artist. So inspired was John, that he returned to the studio once again in October to finish the "oldies but moldies" sessions begun during his notorious "Lost Weekend" in LA. Things were looking up for Dr. Winston O'Boogie. Big things were also brewing for George Harrison, who was putting the final touches on his third solo album, the as-yet-to-be-released Dark Horse LP. This new collection of songs would be George's first since his calamitous split with wife Pattie Boyd and subsequent spiral into substance abuse and, well, "simply shady" activity. If new music wasn't enough of a pick-me-up, Harrison also embarked on an ambitions tour of the United States alongside good friends Ravi Shankar and Billy Preston - the first of the former Beatles to formally hit the road in the US since 1966. While touring on primarily new material, George's musical quest would bring him to new highs and unexpected lows as the fall of 1974 continued on...
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It's the finale of the John Lennon Radio Tour series! Over the past several episodes, we've heard some of John's favorite records, memories and new tracks from the freshly released Walls and Bridges album - all of which paint a surprisingly intimate portrait of where the former Beatle was in his life in these early weeks of fall, 1974. For this third and final installment, you'll hear Lennon relay music and memories from his early days, including some really cool stories about hanging with the Rolling Stones, the birth of "lick records" and whom from his fellow former fabs he felt closest to at that time. Plus, Wayne, James and Paul return to deliver their own final thoughts on the last 4 tracks of Walls and Bridges: Steel and Glass, Beef Jerky, Nobody Loves You (When You're Down and Out) and (James' favorite) Ya Ya. We hope you've enjoyed this deep dive into the last big Lennon project of original material for quite some time - though it's important to note that it won't be his last, and there will certainly be more music and moments to come on the Yesterday & Today podcast!
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We're back with part two of the JOHN LENNON RADIO TOUR series! In the fall of 1974, John Lennon took to the airwaves to promote his new album Walls And Bridges in a radio DJ tour that spanned multiple stations, states and songs - all of which offered a unique insight into the former Beatle's state of mind. Station 93 KHJ was the next stop on the road, and coincided with the September 26th release of the new Lennon record. In addition to the commentary on his newest tracks, John offered up some choice oldies, contemporary songs, and (perhaps most interestingly) his favorite new tracks from Paul McCartney and George Harrison. We're bringing it all to you this episode, along with the continuation of our own commentary on the Walls And Bridges LP. Moderators Paul, James and Wayne discuss the next four tracks on the record: Bless You, Scared, #9 Dream and Surprise Surprise (Sweet Bird of Paradox). So take a walk down the street through the heat-whispered trees and make sure you bring it back here next episode for the finale of the RADIO TOUR series!
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Listen to this podcast episode - it's the kick-off to the John Lennon Radio Tour! In this 3-part series we'll explore one of John's most unique and personal promotional initiatives for a new LP release, sparked by a wave of positivity and productivity during his separation from Yoko Ono. With the forthcoming release of Walls and Bridges, Lennon took to the airwaves in the fall of '74 to promote his latest album and share some unique insight into his musical taste and background. Whatever Gets You Through the Night, the lead-off single, was busy rocketing its way to the top of the charts, and EMI/Capitol felt that in lieu of concert appearances, a DJ-tour of major radio stations across the country could help push the single and its corresponding album to the #1 spot. Sadly, John Lennon would never embark on a proper concert tour in his solo years, but this station-by-station guest-DJ residency would offer just as many memorable moments and fascinating music as any audience performance could. Plus, join Wayne, Paul and James for a discussion of some of the tracks on Walls and Bridges, and why this album stands out as a highlight in John's career.
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While 1974 was a prolific year for each of the former Beatles and their individual projects, it was also a prolific year for former Beatle contributions toward other artists' material. Perhaps it was a case of right-place right-time for these records, or perhaps they were an itch that the loss of Apple Records left for each of the former fabs to scratch - either way, the early fall of '74 brought us three major LP releases with big pushes from Beatle-backers. The first of these releases is what many considered after-the-fact to be a lost WINGS album, brother Michael "McGear" McCartney's eponymous debut solo LP. Helped along by "our kid" (McGear's term for Paul), Linda McCartney, Denny Laine, Jimmy McCulloch and more, the McGear album is a power-pop gem of a record, featuring many co-writes between the McCartney brothers - the biggest of which would be the hit single Leave It. As Paul helped propel his brother back into the charts, George Harrison's new Dark Horse label saw its first two releases: friend Ravi Shankar's Shankar Family & Friends LP, and The Place I Love LP by protege group Splinter. Splinter's Dark Horse debut spawned an international hit lead-off single with the catchy Costafine Town, and it seemed George Harrison was back in action after the tumultuous year of drugs, drink and personal turmoil he had just endured. But the biggest hit of early fall was yet to come -- a little song called Whatever Gets You Through The Night was at last unleashed upon the public, an energetic precursor to a new John Lennon masterpiece...
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It’s the end of summer in 1974 and big things are happening for John Lennon. After three long years of separation, John and his son Julian were at last reunited for a visit that would prove formative for their relationship moving forward. Though tensions remained with ex-wife Cynthia, the absence of Yoko Ono in John’s life allowed for some ice to be thawed between the former married couple, at least long enough for John to better get to know his son. As family ties grew, new professional relationships, such as that of Lennon’s friendship with Elton John, blossomed into fruitful collaborative projects. To repay buddy Elton for contributing to his new LP, John appeared singing harmony and providing instrumentation for two tracks slated for Elton’s new Caribou album. And Elton wasn’t the only pal to be paid a visit - Ringo Starr‘s new album, Goodnight Vienna, was given its name after former bandmate John’s title track contribution to the sessions. With Paul in the studio rehearsing his new Wings lineup, and George touting the new Dark Horse Records act called Splinter, it seemed that the Beatles were just as productive and vital as ever - even four years after the band’s split.
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As the summer of '74 winds to a close, work on John Lennon's new album is in the final stages of completion. One last magic touch would make its way to this new record in the form of Lennon's friend Elton John, who lent his talents to several tracks including the song Elton felt was destined to be a hit: the boogie-woogie pop gem Whatever Gets You Through The Night. So convinced was Elton, that the pianist superstar bet John the song would be a #1 record, and if it achieved that milestone, the former Beatle must join Elton and the band on stage to perform it. The unconvinced Lennon took the bet, and turned his attention to another collaborative project: the release of the long-awaited Pussycats album by pal Harry Nilsson, which John produced during the pair's notorious "lost weekend". Such a burst of musical productivity wasn't limited to John -- Paul McCartney and his band Wings were back from their extended stay in Nashville and shooting a new documentary called One Hand Clapping. The film (and planned "live" studio album of the same name) were meant to chronicle the new Wings lineup as the group tightened-up for what would assuredly be a new long stint of touring. Sadly, both the film and the planned album would be shelved as the band entered yet another transformative phase...
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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 turned to bitter sadness. After many months of substance abuse and unabashed infidelity, George's marriage to Pattie Boyd was in ruins, and Pattie sought refuge with the man who had fallen in love with her in that time: George's good friend Eric Clapton. Wasting no time, George continued headlong into his latest album project, though the same sorrows and substance abuses that had haunted Harrison throughout the decline of his marriage would remain intact and begin to take a physical toll on the former Beatle. John Lennon, meanwhile, was busy finding a new creative voice outside of his own crumbling marriage to Yoko Ono - only without the excesses that had plagued his life earlier in the year. No, John was in a good place - enjoying his new relationship with girlfriend May Pang and knee-deep in the development of a joyous, spirited follow-up to 1973's Mind Games LP. Paul McCartney and his newly #1 band Wings were hard at work on sessions of their own, wrapping up their summer-long stay in Tennessee with an eye toward their next destination...
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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 tapes from John Lennon's Oldies But Moldies record from Phil Spector - recorded during John's so-called "lost weekend" in Los Angeles. With the Oldies tapes in hand and a renewed creative zeal, Lennon decided to return to the studio to write and record a collection of all-new material as his next big album project. Capitol's input was working out well for Lennon and McCartney, but George Harrison's disagreements with CEO Bhaskar Menon in recent years would finally drive the ex-Beatle to form his very own label: Dark Horse Records. Dark Horse, distributed by A&M, was George's chance to flex creative muscle with distance from the now-embattled Allen Klein and the increasingly defunct Apple Records. The former Beatles were on a hot streak of hits, and making big creative moves with an eye toward the end of their EMI commitments in the months to come...
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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 and a snore in '74" by fans, years later) were hardly a masterwork of new material...still, John and Paul were making music together and thereby keeping the hope of a Beatles reformation alive. Lennon's crew of so-called "Hollywood Vampires" present at the Santa Monica beach home for this momentous occasion included Keith Moon, Stevie Wonder, Ringo Starr and the affable Harry Nilsson who, due to the excesses in his personal life, found himself suffering from debilitating throat problems. In fact, the Lennon-produced sessions for Harry's upcoming Pussy Cats album were nearly derailed by his ailments - and John found himself in the position to take charge of his rowdy comrades much like he had done for the Beatles themselves over a decade prior. But while John was straightening out, his fellow former bandmates George and Ringo spiraled further into times that could only be referred to as "simply shady"...
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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 dropping from that position and rising once again to #1 through the efforts of Capitol Records executive Al Coury. Al's recommendations to Paul included rereleasing Band on the Run with Helen Wheels included on the album, as well as encouraging the release of Jet as a single in the early weeks of '74. Al's efforts paid off, and McCartney's Wings were set on their course to the top of the pop world in the months and years to come. While Macca found himself at the top, former partner John Lennon found himself in the gutter, literally, with a series of mishaps in LA alongside fellow "hollywood vampires" Harry Nilsson, Alice Cooper, Keith Moon, Ringo Starr and Micky Dolenz (to name but a few of these wild and craaazy guys). One particularly disastrous night from John's famed "lost weekend" saw him and pal Harry ejected from the Smothers Brothers reunion concert at the Troubadour - leading Lennon to rethink his hard-partying ways. In fact, Lennon was rethinking a lot of things, including a new musical collaboration with none other than Paul McCartney...
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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 on the Run in the years prior to the album and therefore could inhabit the role of those eponymous "rabbits on the run". From the Denny Laine-penned No Words, to the Ginger Baker-backed Mamunia, to the the downright danceable Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five, this Wings album would become arguably the biggest of McCartney's entire career beginning in the Christmas season of 1973 and continuing on into 1974 to become a cultural phenomenon. While Paul was riding high, John Lennon continued his drug and drink fueled "lost weekend" in Los Angeles - separated from Yoko and acting out in unruly, and sometimes violent ways. Beyond his own personal struggles, producer Phil Spector seemingly skipped town with Lennon's "Oldies But Moldies" tapes, holding the recordings hostage for no ransom beyond his own personal madness. 1973 was one of the most prolific periods in the lives of the former Beatles, and it would not go out without a BANG (literally)...
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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. George Harrison, whose marriage was long rumored to be in dire straits, at last discovered his wife Pattie's affair with rocker Ronnie Wood. Ringo Starr, still riding high on the success of his eponymous solo album Ringo, was again running up the charts with the irresistible single You're Sixteen backed with Devil Woman. And lastly Paul McCartney, the solo Beatle with so much to prove, at last releases his surprise masterpiece LP: Band On The Run. Just in time for the holiday buying season, this collection of catchy yet purposeful rock and roll home runs took the world by storm, driving the seemingly defunct band Wings to the top of the charts. What lead to this album catching fire? Could McCartney continue the streak? Only time can tell as we move to the grand finale of 1973...
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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 with his new band Wings, hit singles, a hit album and a new record all building Macca's momentum...and then his band imploded. Can Paul pick up the pieces? John Lennon has been bombarded from all sides - his immigration battle, harsh reviews of his creative output...but it's his split from Yoko Ono that dealt the most devastating blow. Will a lost weekend in LA be enough to rejuvenate John's spirit? Ringo and George both knock it out of the park with respective #1 albums...but can they maintain that level of success? We discuss it all this episode, plus a special interview with Ryan Brady (Take It Away Podcast) and Paul Kaminski (The Third Men Podcast) about an exciting new project called NOW HEAR THIS! This brand new weekly album review podcast is hosted by Ryan and Paul and in each episode the duo reviews a new album special to one of them and new to the other. Lots of fun to be had on this new show and we give you the full scoop here on THE STORY SO FAR...
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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 roll roots with mixed and inebriated results. As Lennon stumbled through the studios and clubs of southern California, Ringo Starr enjoyed his time in the spotlight with the release of the hugely successful Ringo album. This star-studded LP of catchy rock and roll took the world by storm, and transformed Starr from former fab to full-fledged solo artist. With the mammoth lead-off single Photograph and a host of catchy pop song craft, pals George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Harry Nilsson, Marc Bolan, Billy Preston, producer Richard Perry and others helped Ringo create one of the biggest albums of the decade. With only a few weeks in the year left to go, the four former Beatles had managed to release four hit LPs of solo material which lit up charts around the world - and, impossible though it may be to believe, the biggest ex-Beatle LP was still yet to come...
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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 masterpiece. But the adverse conditions were not limited to interpersonal conflicts - many in Lagos accused the troupe of attempting to appropriate their music during the recording sessions. Paul & Linda were even mugged on their way back to their residence, which is seen by some as a direct result of their less-than-warm reception by the Nigerian people. Ringo Starr, meanwhile, was poised for the release of his very own solo LP masterpiece, the forerunner of which took the form of the instantly-lovable smash hit single Photograph (a co-write with George Harrison, also in the studio recording new music at this time). Amidst all this, John Lennon faced perhaps biggest life-changing moment of his post-Beatles life: Yoko Ono threw him out. Now a bachelor, John found himself alongside family aide May Pang in Los Angeles for the release of his new LP, Mind Games. This collection of scattershot melody and hooky pop was well received, though Lennon himself stood trembling on the precipice of chaos...
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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 have, at one point, seemed like the bold new direction for John and Yoko, the couple’s troubled marriage and recent critical disappointments lead each to retreat to their own respective studio albums for a more polished, if more expected, set of creative efforts. While recording new music may have once again proved to be a healthy outlet for John’s frustrations, time in the studio was beginning to feel like hard work for the former Beatle, whose immigration troubles and mounting personal and professional hardships were taking an increasingly critical toll. McCartney, meanwhile, was enjoying the encore leg of his wildly successful Wings UK Tour - at last beginning to taste the levels of success he had once enjoyed as a Beatle. Toward the tail end of July, the triumphant Wings returned to the studio to begin sessions for a new album, but Paul’s lucky streak was about to run out...
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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 and serene lyrical imagery shot right to the top of the charts, helped in part by the corresponding #1 single Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth), which dethroned the reigning #1 record, McCartney's Red Rose Speedway. Unlike the power-pop singalong songs from Red Rose, Material World focused on matters of the spirit and the burdens of corporeal life in a record that, even though successful, turned many fans and critics off with its preachiness. Scathing digs at former bandmate McCartney scorched through tracks like Sue Me, Sue You Blues and Miss O'Dell, in addition to the open mockery of the Wings Fun Club on its back cover. George had a bone to pick, and pick he did at just about everything wrong with humanity from his vantage point. This record marked a new era for Harrison, one which would alienate many fans, while the target of his ire, McCartney, would go on to score hit after hit despite the attacks. In fact, McCartney's next hit single ALSO debuted in those dog days of summer, as a certain secret agent would be forced to Live And Let Die...
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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 events in some of the same locations graced by the fab four in their heyday, and McCartney’s rocking new ensemble did not disappoint. From raucous rockers like Soily, Big Barn Bed, The Mess and their soon-to-be-smash single Live And Let Die, to the epic ballads Paul had become so known for since those aforementioned Beatle days, Wings travelled the country and dominated each stop. Manchester, Bristol, Oxford, Leeds, Newcastle, Edinburgh, London’s legendary Hammersmith Odeon -- this was a rock and roll band at their peak. While Wings took the country by storm, George Harrison was busy putting the final touches on his upcoming LP, his first full length record of new material since 1970’s mammoth All Things Must Pass. With Paul finally achieving the critical and commercial success that eluded his early solo works, would George (the critical and commercial darling up to this point) have the goods to go toe to toe with the Macca machine?
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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 batch of material may be up for debate, neither lover nor hater could deny its power-pop charm and staying power on the charts. Form the rocking Big Barn Bed, to RAM-era highlights like Get on the Right Thing, to the medley reminiscent of Paul’s efforts on Abbey Road, Wings was at last taking to the sky and proving to a skeptical public what they were truly made of. As McCartney and company prepared to tour the record in their first major foray into Britain, another Apple release entered the charts in the form of George Harrison’s catchy and sweet Give Me Love single. George’s plea for peace was a long-awaited return for Harrison, whose forthcoming album Living in the Material World stood poised to do battle with Red Rose Speedway on the charts...
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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 major releases, including new records from Paul McCartney & Wings, George Harrison’s hotly anticipated follow-up to All Things Must Pass, Ringo Starr’s first ever full-length pop album effort, Yoko Ono’s Approximately Infinite Universe and a comprehensive Beatles reissue package dubbed the “red and blue” double albums. With such a burst of product, proximity and creativity from each of the former fabs, it’s no wonder reunion rumors ran rampant. Output may be on the upswing, but challenges also remain: will John be deported from the United States? Can George live up to the massive solo success that came before? Will Paul at last win the critical and commercial acclaim that so largely eluded him during his early years as a solo artist? At least one of those answers will materialize in the form of Paul’s massive worldwide single smash-hit “My Love”...
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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 & Linda would feel the ramifications from this for several years to come. John & Yoko, meanwhile, found themselves continuing to drift apart following the disastrous election night mishap of the year prior. As Yoko prepared her latest album for release, news of a marriage on the rocks began to seep into the press, and the once-inseparable couple looked ahead to an uncertain future. While trouble may have plagued Lennon and McCartney in the early weeks of 1973, George and Ringo were immersed in musical productivity. Work on the Living in the Material World album continued, amidst George scoring the coveted Record of the Year Grammy Award for The Concert for Bangladesh. Ringo Starr was in the studio in LA, joined by John Lennon, a band of all-star players and producer Richard Perry, working on an album of new pop material that was downright startling in quality...
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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 Hi Hi Hi/C Moon in the waning months of ‘72, McCartney begins a string of successes that will carry him further than any had thought capable of even a year prior. George Harrison began his solo endeavors perhaps more strongly than any of his former bandmates, but the quiet Beatle remained quiet for nearly the entirety of the year, with a new album in development that would ultimately prove to be a crossroads for his career. Ringo Starr meanwhile was picking up steam with a string of successful singles, finishing out the year strongly with the premiere of his film Born to Boogie, starring Marc Bolan. John Lennon was the first to set sail into solo life...but now he finds himself lost at sea. With his latest album and concert appearance panned by critics, the dejected Lennon faced harassment and deportation at the hands of the Nixon administration. John’s only hope was in Nixon’s defeat, but alas that was not to be...
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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 super-fan made his way into the band's inner circle, befriending Denny, Jimmy, Geoff and eventually meeting and chatting with Paul. Buckle in for a roller coaster of a story as Dan recounts the journey of his Rickenbacker bass from himself, to Denny, to Jimmy, to Paul, back to him, then round and round to a smattering of owners for 42 years until finally arriving back in Dan's hands nearly a half century after his journey to the farm. Coming up this June the 2nd, 2019 Dan will be hosting a 45th anniversary party of the Junior's Farm visit with a concert and rare appearance of special guest Geoff Britton, Wings drummer during that golden summer. So don't miss out on your opportunity to see a piece of history in the making - take yourself back to Junior's Farm!
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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 treatment of handicapped children at the Willowbrook State School in Staten Island. With enthusiastic support from the Lennons, Geraldo’s event would bring a Beatle back to the Garden for a charitable cause in the span of a year - the last being George Harrison’s historic Concert for Bangladesh. John and Yoko were backed by the Elephant’s Memory Band, and Lennon tore through a hurriedly-rehearsed set of solo songs, covers and even the Beatles’ Come Together across two performances that late August day. While the shows left John energized, the reviews were once again harsh - a blow that would derail any future touring plans for John and send him once again to a dark place. John wasn’t the only former fab to struggle in the latter half of 1972 - Paul McCartney’s home was raided on drug charges, and Ringo Starr’s former band leader Rory Storm died alongside his mother in their Liverpool home on September 28th. George Harrison, however, found himself back in the studio developing tracks for the follow-up to his mega-successful All Thing Must Pass...
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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 Kentucky and Long Tall Sally, plus brand new material being tested on eager audiences each and every night. When the tour did finally roll to a close, Wings was in tight formation, ready to head back into the studio and deliver the goods! Meanwhile, in America, John and Yoko retreated to San Francisco to clear their heads and lick their wounds following the rough release of their Sometime in New York City double LP. It was in San Francisco where the couple met up with investigative journalist Geraldo Rivera, who was covering the Lennons struggle to uncover the whereabouts of Yoko’s daughter Kyoko. In the midst of this report, conversation between John, Yoko and Geraldo turned to a recent story the journalist had run on appalling conditions at the Willowbrook home for handicapped children in New York. John and Yoko were inspired to action, but it was Geraldo who suggested the couple use their talents to generate some real money through a charity concert at Madison Square Garden...
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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 NYC residents in the summer of ‘71, Some Time In New York City was intended to be listened to as a newspaper of sorts, a snapshot of the times and a reflection of the beliefs that the couple held most dear. To many in the record-buying public, however, Some Time (and its hefty double album price tag) read like a smattering of complaints and hollow rhetoric, further alienating the couple from those outside the radical community. Right or wrong, John and Yoko were taken aback by the failure of the record and plans for a tour seemed to be in jeopardy. Paul McCartney, meanwhile, decided to take the touring plunge with WINGS, launching the the very first major headlining concert tour by any Beatle since the band ceased touring in 1966. WINGS OVER EUROPE saw Paul, Linda, Denny, Henry and Denny in red-hot form after the training grounds of English University gigs, and the band was already knee-deep into the recording of the follow-up to their LP Wild Life...
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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 growing contacts in the radical community drew the watchful eye of FBI Director J Edgar Hoover and the Nixon White House, both anxious to avoid a repeat of the 1968 “Chicago 7” protests outside the Democratic National Convention. Complicating matters further was the continued disappearance of Anthony Cox, Yoko Ono’s ex-husband who went into hiding with their daughter Kyoko somewhere in America. Were the Lennons to be deported, a reunion between mother and daughter would be rendered impossible, and the fight to remain in America began. Meanwhile, in England, Paul McCartney and Wings had also found themselves in political hot water after their single Give Ireland Back To The Irish was banned by the BBC. In response to this, or in spite of it, the band’s next single was decided more innocuous, the sunshine nursery rhyme Mary Had A Little Lamb. With a children’s opus on the charts, Wings rehearsed for their first major tour of Europe. But Paul and Linda’s scrappy new band wouldn’t be the only former Beatle to be banned in ‘72...
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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 LP project...but Paul’s lucky streak was about to run out. The latest Wings single, Give Ireland Back to the Irish, was banned on the BBC and under-performed on the US charts (though did manage to climb to the #1 spot in Ireland and...Spain?). While controversy may have been expected on their protest song single, producer and old friend Glyn Johns walking out on the new Wings LP recording session came as more of a surprise...and a shock. Ringo, meanwhile, found himself on a hot streak of singles, this time with the monstrous Back Off Boogaloo - inspired by newfound friend Marc Bolan of T.Rex. The pair would even film a movie on the grounds of John & Yoko’s former Tittenhurst Park estate, which was made possible by the Lennons’ finding a permanent new home across the pond in New York City. That is, if the Nixon administration doesn’t get to them first...
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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 loaded up the van to take their rock and roll on the road. Meanwhile, in New York City, John and Yoko continued to settle into their new home with a weeklong stint on popular late night talk show, The Mike Douglas Show. This extended appearance would carry with it iconic musical performances, interviews with celebrities and political radicals alike, and a very special meeting between John and his boyhood idol Chuck Berry. It was an unforgettable event and helped to remind the American public that the Lennons were here to stay. As winter turns to Spring, both Lennon and McCartney would find themselves back in the studio preparing new solo albums...
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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 political endeavors, the couple launched into another series of protests in the new year, as well as a new series of recordings to capture the various protest songs they had written over the past several months. While John may have been the most outspoken activist of his former bandmates, one issue managed to capture and inspire both Lennon and McCartney to songwriting action: Bloody Sunday. The plight of the Irish drove Paul’s new band Wings into the recording studio in early 1972 to record Give Ireland Back to the Irish, which would join John’s Luck of the Irish and Sunday Bloody Sunday in the cannon of former Beatle support for the Irish cause. Another major move for Paul McCartney and Wings was also around the corner, in the form of a planned university tour of Great Britain in the weeks and months to come...
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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 episode, you’d think we wouldn’t have time for much else...but abandon your sorrow - we have something special up our sleeves! This episode of Yesterday features a crossover with the hit Paul McCartney solo podcast TAKE IT AWAY, as co-host Ryan Brady journeys out into the Los Angeles night with Paul Kaminski to witness a screening of the Wings concert film “The Bruce McMouse Show” at the Arclight in Hollywood. Paul and Ryan discuss Wings, podcasting and the pluses and minuses of anatomical correctness on cartoon mice in this ride along the red rose speedway. So join us for recap, fun on the open road and some surprises along the way in this very special episode, and be back again in 2 weeks for the beginning of 1972!
It’s the end of 1971 and John and Yoko have truly made New York City their home. Newfound neighbors such as self-proclaimed dirty hippy David Peel and fellow cyclist Bob Dylan were helping the couple fit right in to the big apple (pun) lifestyle. But it was their new friends in the radical community such as Jerry Rubin who were making the biggest impression on the politically outspoken Lennons. Tangible success at last befell the couple in the cause of the imprisoned MC5 manager John Sinclair, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison for attempting to give two joints to an undercover police officer two years earlier. Following a rally headlined by John and Yoko, who penned a new song for the occasion, Sinclair was released from prison and New York’s newest residents found themselves emboldened to use their celebrity for similarly targeted causes. From the plight of the Irish to the women’s liberation movement, John and Yoko made their voices heard...but it was the tragedy of Attica State which would spark the most heated debate between the former Beatle and his new neighbors. One cause the couple was no longer ready to fight for? The conflict with Paul McCartney. At last a reconciliation between the most influential songwriting duo of the 20th century was reached, but by the end of 1971 the last thing on the minds of John, Paul, George and Ringo was a reunion. Political activism, starring film roles, unlikely success and new bands were just the tip of the iceberg for the rest of the 1970’s to come...
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Emboldened by the slow-burn success of RAM, and anxious to prove himself in life beyond The Beatles, Paul McCartney was at last ready to reveal to the world the ambitious new project he had been working on for months. Enter: WINGS. In the years since The Beatles left live performance behind, John, George and Ringo had each found themselves back in the spotlight for concerts in one form or another, but curiously the Beatle who loved playing before an audience the most had shied away from taking the stage the longest. Those days were now over, as Paul McCartney’s new band prepared to take flight on the back of a brand new album: Wild Life. This was a rough-edged, garage-rock-ey band effort that was perhaps more akin to the Get Back project than its more polished predecessor - with jam tracks like the unruly Mumbo and wandering organ crooning on its eponymous Wild Life. Like nearly all of McCartney’s initial solo endeavors, Wings was off to a shaky start with this LP, failing to crack the top 10 in his native England and spawning no single-worthy tracks to help buoy sales. But Paul wasn’t the only former Beatle struggling with a launch in the fall of ‘71 - when George Harrison appeared on the Dick Cavett show to promote the Apple film Raga, America learned of the struggle to release the long-awaited Concert for Bangladesh soundtrack album, stemming from a sales dispute with Apple’s American distributor Capitol Records. The struggles of solo flight would continue into the winter, but prove to be the growing pains of four artists who were discovering just what it meant to pave their own path forward...
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The success of the Imagine LP was a welcome one for John and Yoko, who were settling into their new permanent residence of New York City in the fall of 1971. Immersed in both the art scene and the radical political underground, the couple had fallen in love with their new home and immediately set to work on a myriad of creative projects. On October 9th, Yoko’s This Is Not Here art exhibition premiered in Syracuse, which featured contributions from Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Ringo Starr and others in addition to Yoko’s showcased body of work. Noticeably absent from the festivities (aside from a drunken singalong by John & party-goers of Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey) was Paul McCartney, still warring with his bandmates and stinging from Lennon’s vicious How Do You Sleep? Cut off of Imagine. McCartney was busy putting an as-yet-nameless band together, including RAM drummer Denny Seiwell, former Moody Bluesman Denny Laine and wife Linda McCartney. The group was already in rehearsal for a new LP, choosing to double down on musical endeavors rather than be swallowed whole by the endless turmoil of the Beatles split. Inspiration for a name soon came with the birth of Paul and Linda’s second child, Stella, when complications and an emergency c-section gave Paul a vision of angel’s wings saving his sweet new baby daughter. With George championing Ravi Shankar’s Apple film Raga, and Ringo knee-deep in a saddle on the set of the spaghetti western Blindman, all four former Beatles continued to stay active and productive as fall turned to winter...
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John Lennon was not about to back down from a challenge. With his former songwriting partner achieving commercial success with the runaway US single Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey from the UK #1 RAM album, John’s solo work took a turn toward the charts. The Imagine LP was in many ways the culmination of everything John’s music had been over the years - equal parts catchy, light, heavy, political, hard-rocking, tender and introspective - missing only the kinds of radical experimentation that had alienated the general public in the past. From the downright bubbly Oh Yoko, to the haunting ballad Jealous Guy (a re-worked “Child of Nature” which had been kicking around since Rishikesh), to the iconic title track, Imagine was a home run for both critics and fans alike. John’s spite and anger toward Paul was on full display in the vicious How Do You Sleep, which Lennon explained to confused Beatle fans as a retort to Paul for messages directed toward him on RAM. The partnership was no more, but in its place a heightened sense of competition would drive both Lennon and McCartney to interesting new heights in the decade to come. But perhaps the biggest change for John Lennon as Summer turned to Fall in 1971 was his permanent relocation to New York City, where he (unbeknownst to him at the time) would call home for the rest of his life, and never again return to his native England...
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With RAM sitting high atop the charts, It Don't Come Easy blaring across radios worldwide and the finishing touches being placed on the Imagine album, the summer months of 1971 were bustling with former Beatle activity. Though mocked for its perceived underperformance by George and John, Paul McCartney's second outing was a steady seller that leap-frogged early criticism and seemed to only improve with age, even to this very day. But while a success for Paul was welcome news in the McCartney camp, it was another former Beatle in the summer of '71 that would steal the show...by putting one on. The Concert for Bangladesh was conceived and executed by George Harrison after his friend and mentor Ravi Shankar expressed to George the plight of refugees from war-torn Bangladesh. George was moved by his friend's plea and hastily prepared what was, at the time, an unprecedented benefit concert that included the likes of Eric Clapton, Billy preston, Leon Russell, Billy Preston, Ringo Starr, Badfinger, Jesse Ed Davis, Klaus Voorhman and, perhaps most surprisingly of all, Bob Dylan. It was a charitable event that would go on to inspire an entire movement, from Live Aid to Farm Aid and many more in the decades beyond. The spotlight may have been uncomfortable for Harrison, but in the summer of 1971 it was blazing as brightly upon him as the star underneath, and George rose to the occasion.
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While the rift between Paul McCartney and his former bandmates grew wider by the day, the bond between John, George and Ringo seemed to only strengthen in the summer of 1971 against their common enemy. The RAM album was slow to gain momentum, though eventually found its footing at #1 on the UK charts, and “Beatle Ed” (as the other ex-Beatles privately dubbed him) had recently won the first round of litigation in his bid to free himself from the Beatles contract. The anger was palpable and tensions at their peak when Lennon was pushed over the edge by several antagonistic messages left for him within the RAM album itself by Paul. John was quick to pen a rebuttal in the form of the stinging How Do You Sleep, who enlisted George to play a brutal slide solo and lend his support to John against Paul. This track and several others were in development for Lennon’s new solo LP, a more commercial-sounding follow-up to the acclaimed but depressing Plastic Ono Band LP from the year prior. Ringo Starr, who was still basking in the glow of the #1 single It Don’t Come Easy, stay above the fray as best he could and spent his summer portraying a bloodthirsty bandit in a new spaghetti western movie titled Blind Man. While George, himself still riding high from his uber-successful solo releases, was busy participating in records from Badfinger and pal Ravi Shankar. While recording Ravi’s album, the sitar master expressed deep sadness toward the Bangladeshi refugee crisis which would set the gears into motion for George to hatch a plan to help...
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With the solo efforts of John, George and Ringo still on the charts, the spring of 1971 saw Paul McCartney putting the final touches on the follow-up solo release that he hoped would help restore his name as a hit-maker and cement his status as a contender with the likes of his former bandmates. The result was RAM, a more polished studio LP that included an abundance of pure McCartney sound and Beatle-esq melody. From the sprawling Back Seat Of My Car to the stripped-down, almost Yer Blues/For You Blue-esq Three Legs, McCartney proved he had more in him than the results of his hand-made solo debut the year prior. But despite a massive hit with the quirky Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey and record advance preorders, the public reaction was cooler toward RAM than Paul had hoped. Critics weren’t sure what to make of Paul’s production and while no one could deny it was a step in the right direction, it fell short of the massive expectation Paul’s contemporaries assumed he was capable of. But this album would prove to grow beyond those initial reactions and stand as an LP ahead of its time. If an initial burst of success was out of reach for Paul, John Lennon too struggled to find commercial footing with the political anthem Power To The People failing to top the charts. Only George and Ringo seemed capable of conquering all they touched in the first half of 1971, a feat no one in the Beatles could or would have predicted…
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While the year prior began with uncertainty, 1971 began with a clear message: The Beatles were no longer together. But in the fall of the group that had meant so much to so many, came a spring of new creative energy from its former members, unrivaled in quantity since the heights of Beatlemania. George Harrison was celebrating a #1 LP and #1 single in America with his solo debut, and John Lennon’s Plastic Ono Band was the kind of critical success he had hoped for but had yet to achieve with his solo efforts prior. Ringo’s two LPs from 1970 were hardly chart-toppers, but the beginning of 1971 saw Ringo’s star on the rise with the imminent release of his own soon-to-be #1 hit single: It Don’t Come Easy. John, George and Ringo’s success was well-earned, but ultimately overshadowed by the court action of Paul McCartney, who, in an attempt to break free from Allen Klein’s Apple, was forced to sue his fellow former bandmates to dissolve the group legally and unfreeze the mountain of money they had accrued over years. Paul’s action was done with a heavy heart, as he continued to bear the brunt of the blame for the demise of the Beatles. But a new album was on the horizon for McCartney, who was putting his final touches on the “good one” Lennon had predicted Paul would make…
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As the year 1970 draws to a close, the holiday season brings with it even more releases from the now-former Beatles and other Apple Recording Artists. Alongside John Lennon’s own Plastic Ono Band LP that December comes a companion album from wife Yoko titled Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band. While the cover is nearly identical to John’s, the songs on this collection most certainly were not, as John, bassist Klaus Voorman and fellow fab Ringo Starr laid down some heavy jams in support of Yoko’s wild vocal stylings. On the more commercial side of the former Beatle pool, George Harrison, who was himself celebrating the #1 All Things Must Pass triple LP, ALSO celebrated a corresponding #1 single on December 26th with the hymnal pop opus My Sweet Lord. Defying expectations once more, George achieved a success rarely duplicated in pop music and handily became the most successful ex-Beatle of the four by leaps and bounds. Paul McCartney had been himself contemplating an end-of-year release with the album he had recorded in New York and had begun mixing back home, but it’s rumored that upon hearing George’s output, decided to take another pass at polishing the record that would later become RAM. It was a year of drastic change, and one the Beatles as a group did not survive...but through the hardship and the pain would be the silver lining of creative outpouring from John, Paul, George and Ringo; older and wiser for having redefined the world of popular music forevermore…
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It’s the winter of 1970, and there are three new LP’s from three former Beatles for fans around the world still mourning the band’s demise. With the Nashville-tinged Beaucoups of Blues LP, fans got a taste of Ringo’s vocals alongside the very top talent in country music. A novelty such as it was, Ringo’s album was quickly overshadowed by the two other projects he had contributed to in the summer and fall: new albums from George Harrison and John Lennon. First up, the epic triple album All Things Must Pass - a monster smash success and brilliant musical statement that propelled George to a new stratosphere of acclaim and stardom. If anyone thought for a moment that The Beatles were purely the sum of Lennon and McCartney’s talents, All Things Must Pass quickly silenced those naysayers with a collection of songs that ranged from the intensely personal, to the wildly commercial, all treated with the gentle yet biting care and respect of the man himself. And speaking of the intensely personal...John Lennon’s masterful Plastic Ono Band LP, which followed George’s on the release schedule, gave listeners a whole new insight into the depths of his pain and the heights of his abilities. From the inner torment of Mother, to the Beatle-esq Remember, fans who had hoped for a Fab Four reunion need only to have listened to the litany of denunciation in the track God to hear for themselves that the dream was, indeed, over…
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Despite the breakup of The Beatles, or perhaps because of it, 1970 was one of the single most creatively prolific periods in the lives of its former members.George Harrison’s epic double album sessions were in the final stages of mixing, and this oversized debut would be the kind of jaw-dropping musical statement to his bandmates and the world that he had always deserved. John Lennon was back in the studio recording his own statement, the kind of intensely personal and back-to-basics album that the Get Back project could have only ever dreamed of becoming. Joining John was pal Ringo Starr, whom had just released his second LP of the year: the pure country Beaucoups of Blues. While few could have predicted that Ringo would be the first out of the gate with two solo LPs in the span of a year, the former Beatle whose commercial expectations were sky high remained in his Scotland retreat...but Paul McCartney would not be down for long. Battered in the press and shouldering the blame amongst fans for breaking up the Beatles, Paul struggled to establish his freedom from Allen Klein’s Apple - and the only way to do so would be to sue his former bandmates. As an escape from the madness back home, The McCartneys travelled to New York and began holding auditions for a new musical project. By the waning days of fall, sessions would begin for an all-new Macca LP…
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Despite a record-setting #1 LP and a #1 single to match, the top-selling Beatles were no more. Paul’s announcement sent shockwaves throughout the world, as friends and fans tried to make sense of the bitterness that had consumed such a beacon of peace, love and positivity for so many. John Lennon was quick to assign blame, set the narrative against his former writing partner and dive headfirst into an album of intensely personal, all-new material. Under the therapeutic guidance of Primal Scream founder Arthur Janov, Lennon mourned the loss of the musical force he had set into motion over a decade prior, and worked through the many other traumatic splits from throughout his young life. George Harrison, whom had been more forgiving of Paul in the press, was eager to show his former bandmates, himself and the world what he was capable of. On May 26th and spanning nearly the entire summer, sessions began for George’s as yet untitled solo LP of new material - material which had ballooned into a massive collection of songs ranging from Beatle rejections to intimate reflections on the hectic circumstances of his chaotic life. Ringo Starr, who contributed to George’s sessions that summer and whom has released his very of LP of crooner standards earlier in the year, connected with Pete Drake where the idea of an all-country Ringo album was hatched. All the while McCartney made a retreat to his home in Scotland, wracked with depression and wondering what his next move would be…
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With the release of the McCartney album in April of 1970, Paul McCartney brought to light what had been his reality for nearly a year: The Beatles were no more. He and wife Linda were an instant target for angry fans and angry press for being the messenger of this awful news that up to this point was merely speculation and rumor on the part of the public. Many, including John Lennon, saw Paul’s move as a strategy to sell the aforementioned solo album, but if that WAS the case, it was a bizarre album to go out on such a limb for. The McCartney LP is a homemade piece of rock and roll experimentation with moments of Beatle-esq sound that baffled most upon first listen. Songs like Maybe I’m Amazed and Every Night could have handily been Beatles cuts, while oddball instrumentals like Valentine Day, Kreen Akrore and Hot As Sun more evoked former bandmate Lennon’s “Unfinished Music” series (albeit with a slightly more commercial ring to it). And like Lennon before him, McCartney’s proclamation came mere weeks before the debut of the long-defunct Let it Be LP and film which at last saw its release on May 8th. If fans were baffled by “Singalong Junk”, they were certainly equally baffled by the rough-n-tumble new Beatles LP, where the slick studio soundscapes listeners were accustomed to were replaced by impromptu jams and after-the-fact production trickery by producer (or should we say salvager) Phil Spector. This was a rough time for all four now-former Beatles, a moniker which even know rings as sadly as it did in the springtime of 1970...
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It’s the spring of 1970, and The Beatles have reached a crossroads, and the rift between the once-lockstep foursome was now growing beyond their ability to stop it. As he did in 1968 when he became the first Beatle to quit the band during the tumultuous double album sessions, Ringo Starr lead the path forward on March 27th by releasing the first commercial solo album by a Beatle: Sentimental Journey. This collection of crooner classics was hardly a masterpiece, but it draws an important distinction in Beatle history from prior solo projects in that it is a studio collection of traditional songs on a full length LP. Ringo would find himself at the center of another crucial event in the spring, when he, George and John (under the influence of Allen Klein) decided it best to delay the release of Paul McCartney’s upcoming solo album release, titled simply McCartney, to avoid direct competition with the forthcoming Beatles soundtrack LP, Let it Be. When Ringo delivered the news to Paul, he was thrown out by a ballistic McCartney who felt under fire by the entire organization. Paul objected to the appointment of Allen Klein as the band’s manager, and was overruled. Paul’s push to get the band back out on the stage to perform was met with laughable rejection. Paul’s songwriting partner, whom he had spent so many months attempting to placate (while making his own fair share of mistakes along the way), had quit the group privately while publicly proclaiming himself a saint of peace. This was the breaking point. Ringo Starr was thrown out of Paul’s house and the release of McCartney would NOT be delayed. As if history was set about repeating itself, on the eve of a new Beatles album, another Beatle quit the band. On April 9th, 1970, the press release for Paul’s solo album brought with it a public proclamation of the end of the Beatles.
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It’s 1970! As a changed and frantic world looked to the fresh, new decade with careful optimism, the dream of The Beatles remained on life support following John Lennon’s private exit from the group several months prior in the run-up to the release of Abbey Road. Still, on January 3rd a new Beatles recording session took place at number two studio, EMI. George, Paul and Ringo were back in the studio to record George’s I Me Mine for the upcoming release of the Get Back project as an LP and feature film. This session, which also included overdubs on Paul’s Let It Be, would go down in history as the final recording session to feature three or more Beatles. Absent was John Lennon, whose solo pursuits offered up a polished and successful new single on February 20th: Instant Karma! Unlike its predecessor Cold Turkey, this new rocker filled with hope and an anthemic chorus showed the world that even without his bandmates, Lennon would be a musical force to be reckoned with in the 1970’s. Ringo, meanwhile, was still knee deep in recording his first solo LP of crooner standards as well as a catchy little tune by George, the temporarily titled Got To Pay Your Dues. While Beatle-esq tunes under non-Beatle banners rang from the rafters of the new year, Paul McCartney was noticeably absent - retreating to his farm in Scotland and focusing on his new family...and a new homemade solo project of his own.
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It’s December, 1969, and The Beatles find themselves with a #1 album on both sides of the Atlantic, a #1 single with Something/Come Together, an album and film in the works for release in the new year, and...all but finished as a functioning group. What remained of the dream was in the process of being sorted out by Allen Klein and his people at Apple, while the band members focused on individual pursuits. Perhaps most notable amongst those pursuits being George Harrison going back out on tour as a support musician for Delaney & Bonnie throughout England that month. The Beatle who pushed so hard to petition his bandmates to cease touring back in the summer of 1966 found himself to be the first Beatle to join a tour since that time. But George wasn’t the only Beatle emerging onto the concert stage in December, John and Yoko were back again to promote a message of peace with the aid of Unicef for a special Peace at Christmas concert event. Accompanying the performance was a worldwide billboard campaign from the couple proclaiming “WAR IS OVER! If You Want It.” - a message of peace in time for the holiday season. The holiday season also brought with it not one but two releases from The Beatles, first in the form of the sixth and final installment of the Beatles Christmas Message for the fan club. The second release at last brought to the public the group’s 1968 performance of Across the Universe, appearing on a World Wildlife Fund charity LP. Ringo’s co-starring film role in the Peter Sellers smash The Magic Christian brought with it an accompanying soundtrack featuring songs by Badfinger and contributions from Paul McCartney to round out a very busy month and bring us, at last, to the end of 1969.
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1969 was undoubtedly one of the most difficult, trying years that The Beatles ever faced - but with Abbey Road dominating charts around the world, the group caught a rare ray of sunshine in the form of yet another stellar hit record. But instead of popping the champagne, the band couldn’t help but continue to scratch their heads at the pervasive “Paul Is Dead” rumor, gaining more and more traction by the day. While Paul McCartney was certainly far from death, The Beatles as a unified entity were nearing their own end times and solo projects populated the later half of the fall. Ringo Starr became the first Beatle to undertake a full length solo studio album, beginning sessions of newly arranged crooner standards that would evolve into the Sentimental Journey LP. John Lennon also branched out in bold new solo directions, becoming the first Beatle to release a commercial single as a solo act - the withdrawal-drenched Cold Turkey. While solo releases were hardly a first for Lennon, Cold Turkey marks a notable departure in that it was mostly straightforward rock song, as opposed to his experimental and anthem forays of the past year. The end of 1969 was around the corner, and with it would come new departures, new beginnings and an end to an era...
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Since episode one of the podcast, we’ve seen the Beatles evolve from a raucous pop quartet into the undisputed masters of modern musical craft - and more importantly, we’ve seen four boys transform into four men. This week on the show we take a moment to reflect on the four short years that were so transformative for John, Paul, George and Ringo, with an eye toward their future solo trajectories. From Beatles For Sale to Abbey Road, the evolution of songwriting, attitude and technique is staggering - indeed time seems to pass very differently for The Beatles. In this special bonus episode we cover it all and offer some insight into the most pivotal moments in Beatle history while we prepare to enter into the “break-up era” full-force. Also this episode, we present to you the complete initial radio airing of the “Paul Is Dead” rumor from October 21st 1969. This bizarre chapter in Beatle history foreshadows the unfortunate and sometimes violent misinterpretation of Beatles lyrics by certain individuals over the past 50+ years, and hearing this complete WABC broadcast gives you a real sense of what that misinterpretation sounds like in real time. Thank you for everyone who has followed the show so far, we’re proud and excited that so many of you have joined us on this gear journey through the lives of the Fab Four. And the story is far from over...
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The Beatles’ Abbey Road was an instant worldwide hit and would go on to become a template for modern popular music...but which side the listener prefers is a musical inkblot test, sharply dividing listeners even amongst the Beatles themselves. Side A’s straightforward compilation of tracks features benchmarks for each member of the band and their respective songwriting abilities, but what George Martin and Paul McCartney cooked up for side B was truly groundbreaking in its innovation and execution. Like Brian Wilson’s fabled (and at the time unreleased) Smile LP from a few years prior, Martin and McCartney attempted a long suite of songs which, like a classical symphony, would include various movements, recurring themes and integrated melodies. George Harrison’s optimistic Here Comes The Sun opens the side, followed by the three-part harmony dripping off of Lennon’s beautiful Because. From there we launch into You Never Give Me Your Money (a snarky little swipe at Apple business woes) into Sun King, which by the nature of its lyric loosely connects to Harrison’s opening track. Mean Mr. Mustard/Polythene Pam/She Came In Through The Bathroom Window are next, proving John Lennon offered quite a hefty contribution to the album side he would later pass off as “junk” in interviews following the band’s split. Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End bring the side to its dramatic culmination, somewhat echoing the musical climax that ended Sgt. Pepper. And the comparison’s to Sgt. Pepper don’t stop there - Abbey Road could easily be considered Pepper’s follow-up, as the prominence of George Martin and its slick, purposeful production link those two LPs together far more than the erratic (but masterful in its own way) self-titled double album the year prior. No matter which side you prefer, Abbey Road was yet another triumph by the Beatles, who inched closer and closer to disintegration with each passing day...
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On September 26th, 1969, the final studio album to be recorded by The Beatles was released: Abbey Road. With the tumultuous Get Back sessions still tucked away (more or less) on the shelf, John, Paul, George and Ringo got together one final time to create what would become an innovative, groundbreaking album that many argue sounds as fresh and modern today as it did upon its release. Newer studio techniques and instrumentation were used giving the record this timeless quality, including the moog synthesizer which adorned several of the tracks and would become a prog rock and top 40 staples over the next decade. Also unlike its predecessors, Abbey Road finds itself split in intent between sides A and B - with side A offering more of a traditional collection of songs, and side B expanding outward into a conceptual suite of smaller tracks. The album kicks in the door with the raucous Lennon rocker Come Together, which takes the stripped down lessons of Get Back and places them in a slick, proper recording with enough snap to send chills up the spine. George Harrison’s Something is close behind, proving the the world (and his bandmates) that he was every bit the mast songwriter that Lennon and McCartney were by this point in time. McCartney’s contributions to side A include Maxwell’s Silver Hammer (introduced during the Get Back sessions and famously hated by the rest of the band) and the throwback soul ballad Oh! Darling. Ringo’s second song, Octopus’s Garden, also adorns side A with its playful childlike melody that hints at special things to come for Starr’s songwriting in the future. I Want You (She’s So Heavy) closes the side and takes the blistering straightforward rock of Yer Blues to an entirely new level. Next, we move on to side B...
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Like a supernova, the summer of ‘69 was a burst of unprecedented prolific energy from the world’s brightest band. But the end was near. Following another fruitful bed-in for peace, this time in Montreal Canada, John and Yoko record and release a new anthem for the peace movement: Give Peace A Chance. The song carried the Lennon/McCartney writing credit, a rare peace-offering from John to Paul in one of the most trying periods of their lives. As The Beatles put the final touches on their forthcoming album, known for a time as “Everest”, their commercial successes continued to mount. The #1 hit single Get Back was barely out for a few months before it was quickly followed by another #1 hit single: The Ballad of John and Yoko. Like just about everything else John Lennon did in 1969, the tune’s lyrical reference to crucifixion carried with it some controversy and some radio stations opted not to play it for that very reason. George, meanwhile, championed another Apple group called The Radha Krishna Temple, producing for them a song called Hare Krishna Mantra and fulfilling his promise to bring world music to the pop world. Paul and Linda welcomed daughter Mary to the world, traveling to Scotland where the ever-growing family would find respite from Apple’s ever-worsening business troubles. Come September, John and Yoko found themselves performing live on stage with Eric Clapton, Klaus Voormann and Alan White as the Plastic Ono Band for a rock and roll revival concert in Toronto. Aboard the plane, and to the rest of his bandmates later on the eve of their new album’s release, John Lennon announced he would be quitting The Beatles...
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It’s the spring of 1969 and the Beatles are back in the studio working on a new album...but a storm cloud looms overhead. Business disagreements and personal differences continue to ebb away at the once united foursome at every turn, and things went from bad to worse when John, George and Ringo signed with Allan Klein to become the Beatles manager and fill the long-vacant seat left by the late Brian Epstein. Paul’s serious and justified reservations about letting Klein into the organization are ultimately undercut by his desire to include his new inlaws, the Eastmans, into the band’s financial affairs, and with no other alternatives to put forward, the group signs with Klein without Paul. But amidst these trying issues, or perhaps in spite of them, music continues to be made and released - first in the form of a single from the defunct Get Back project, the eponymous track backed with John’s Don’t Let Me Down. Next, John and Paul venture into the studio together without George and Ringo to record John’s The Ballad of John and Yoko - it’s a boogie-woogie tribute to the newlyweds’ journey to marriage and marks the last time John and Paul would collaborate together as a pair in the studio. Also in the spring, following an intense argument with his bandmates, Paul contributes drums and vocals to the Steve Miller track My Dark Hour. George also used music to escape the tension, penning the beautiful Here Comes the Sun in Eric Clapton’s garden whilst playing hooky from his Beatle commitments. The end of May saw John and Yoko once again staging an elaborate bed-in for peace, this time in Montreal, which stood in stark contrast to the peace that alluded the Beatles back home...
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With the arduous Get Back sessions behind them, and with no interest in ever revisiting the recordings, The Beatles faced an uncertain future. Against the protests of Paul McCartney, John, George and Ringo appoint businessman Allan Klein to manage the affairs of the fledgling Apple Corps, driving a further wedge into the group’s dynamic. Producer George Martin was convinced that the band was over, while friends and business partners wondered where to go from here. The answer came in the same form it had after the similarly difficult double album sessions months before: each Beatle branched out in seperate directions. George, bursting with songs and ideas, lent his talents to a band which had also found itself saying “Goodbye”, the “late, great” Cream, before being busted for drug possession by the same cop that had arrested John and Yoko the year prior. Ringo began filming a new feature alongside superstar Peter Sellers called The Magic Christian, the latest in a string of successful solo movie roles for the Beatle. Paul McCartney, who had recently overseen the massively successful Mary Hopkin LP release “Postcard”, married New York photographer Linda Eastman and became the last of his bandmates to tie the knot. John and Yoko were also married that spring and began a series of avant garde “happenings” to promote world peace, a notion which many close to the Beatle may have rolled their collective eyes at considering his recent behavior. And then, against all odds, The Beatles re-enter the studio to work on a new album...
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It was a quiet Thursday morning on January, 30th 1969 as the garment district of London went about their work week. The cold winter air suddenly crackled with a sound from the rooftop of 3 Saville Row - the biggest band in the world were performing their brand new album. This rooftop performance marked the ending of the Get Back project, providing the live finale to what had evolved into a concert film. It was an iconic moment, but one born of frustration by a band that was nearing the end of their capabilities to creatively fulfill one another - four people who had been so close but whom had drifted so far apart in a relatively short period of time. As Paul fought to preserve the group in the form that had brought them to unsurpassed heights of success, John and Yoko’s battle with heroin addiction left a void in the band’s leadership, and George’s battle for musical independence and recognition was simply lost in the shuffle, falling on the deaf ears of bandmates. The songs from the era say it all: John sang to Yoko “all I want is you” in Dig A Pony and pleaded “don’t let me down”, George gave his eulogy for the past with All Things Must Pass and Paul grieved with denial (Two of Us), bargaining (Get Back), depression (The Long and Winding Road) and finally acceptance (Let it Be). Paul’s Get Back project was meant to redefine the Beatles’ purpose and align their sights toward the future as a unified group, but despite his best efforts all the project did was show the band just how far they had fallen -- it was shelved indefinitely. Where do the Beatles go from here?
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A week after walking out on the Twickenham sessions, George Harrison agreed to rejoin his bandmates to finish what would soon be referred to as the “Get Back” project...with a couple of caveats. The first being to abandon the cold, barren Twickenham for a cozier studio atmosphere which presented itself in the form of 3 Savile Row, London. The new Apple Studios was set-up by John’s friend Magic Alex, who promptly transformed the space into an incomprehensible jumble of needless technological decoration. The Beatles, however, liked the actual room itself that Alex had found, and after a redesign were back in the business of making an album together. George’s second and perhaps most fruitful caveat, was asking longtime friend and keyboard virtuoso Billy Preston to join the sessions. Billy’s abundance of talent and enthusiasm gave the project an entirely new life, and once again a tiny spark of that Beatles magic began to ignite. But just as the band rediscovered its musical footing, a new looming danger rose on the horizon in the form of Allan Klein, whom had contacted John upon hearing of Apple’s financial difficulties. A former manager of the Rolling Stones, Klein vowed to refocus the group’s direction and, with the support of John, George and Ringo, positioned himself to fill the long-vacant spot of Beatles manager. Only one man stood in Klein’s way: Paul McCartney.
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As rehearsal for The Beatles next project at Twickenham Film Studios dragged on, the barren atmosphere of the studio space reflected the distant bandmates who occupied it. The distance was cut by growing agitation with the ever-pushy Paul who tried his hardest to rally the weary John, George and Ringo, but who by doing so only wound up driving a further wedge into their friendship. George was especially aggravated by Paul’s “coaching”, as well as Yoko Ono’s ever-growing influence over John, which sparked heated arguments both on and off camera and culminated in George walking out of the sessions. With no one in the cast or crew of the documentary sure what to do without one of the four Beatles, the fate of the project (let alone the band) looked to be in serious jeopardy - despite John glibly stating that if George left permanently the band would simply bring in Eric Clapton to replace him. Through the haze of Twickenham can also be heard dozens of songs and song fragments that would eventually populate the four Beatles’ solo output for years to come. A small burst of color came to fans in the form of The Beatles long-delayed Yellow Submarine soundtrack LP’s release, featuring the new or unreleased tracks the band contributed to the feature film the year prior. But even the cartoon smiles of the animated Beatles weren’t enough to see the band through the Twickenham sessions, and by mid-January the biggest band in the world lay in shattered pieces over the long, cold, lonely winter...
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It’s a new year and the Beatles are back in the studio. Mere weeks following the release of their titanic eponymous double album (now colloquially dubbed “the white album” after it’s all-white outer packaging) the band was once again called together with another big idea from Paul. The goal? To rehearse a brand new album of new songs, film the rehearsal and then perform the album in some sort of live setting. That process would be broadcast as a tv special and the live performance of the new material would be released as the next album. Michael Lindsay-Hogg was signed on to direct, who not only had a history with the Beatles themselves but whom had just recently worked with John on the Rolling Stones Rock’n’Roll circus. It was yet another grand undertaking by a band that was standing on the brink of complete fracture following the tumultuous year prior. As George put it, “I just spent 6 months producing an album of this fella Jackie Lomax, and hangin’ out with Bob Dylan and the Band, in Woodstock, and havin' a great time, and for me to come back into the 'winter of discontent' with the Beatles, in Twickenham, was very unhealthy and unhappy.” To compensate, these very early days of January 1969 find John, Paul, George and Ringo endlessly jamming on their 50’s rock “comfort food”, avoiding the inevitable...
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1968 was another year of drastic transformation for The Beatles, and by December the group was ready to take a breath and let the world continue to absorb their new double album. Apple's biggest success story, Mary Hopkin, was back in the studio with Paul preparing a full length LP to follow-up on the massive hit single Those Were The Days, and the pair was joined by Donovan (who had made quite an impact on the Beatle sound in 1968). John and Yoko retreated to their Kenwood home where John would pen a new slew of songs such as Don't Let Me Down and Oh My Love. Ringo's latest film Candy held its premiere and Apple's latest find James Taylor saw his very first self-titled LP debut. On December 11th John joined the Rolling Stones for their ultimately unreleased Rock and Roll Circus television special. Appearing as "the Dirty Mac", John performed the double album track Yer Blues alongside Eric Clapton, Keith Richards and Mitch Mitchell to sizzling results. John would later remark that this experience opened his eyes to just how rewarding playing with different musicians could be. 1968 took four boys and made them into four men, and the year that followed would test friendships, yield more brilliant music, and see the disintegration of the biggest band to ever grace the world stage...
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It's November of 1968 and the world is soaking in the new double album by The Beatles! While most the tracks on the new record were quite accessible, some baffled (and continue to baffle) listeners and challenged the limits of pop music. John Lennon's Revolution trifecta is a an experiment in sound unmatched by any other Beatles recording. Fans first heard the track in its rocking glory on the flip-side to the monster single Hey Jude earlier in the year. For the "White Album", the original version (rejected for the single by the others as being "too slow") finally saw the light of day, albeit trimmed from its play-out jam form. So what became of the play-out jam? In a truly innovative move, the play-out was used as the skeletal structure of an extended avant-garde sound collage titled Revolution #9. For those wondering where the psychedelia was hiding on this new record, they found it in this ten minute long disturbing portrait of revolution in action as executed by John, George and Yoko. Followed by the orchestral nursery rhyme Goodnight, the end of the Beatles double album left fans confused and critics to sharpen their knives. Controversy and harsh initial reviews aside, the band's 9th album would not only stand the test of time, but prove to be well AHEAD of its time, and is viewed by many to be the band's finest record ever released. As 1968 continued to wind down, the band recorded their annual Christmas message and looked ahead to another new year of transformation...
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Numbers, Colors & Music
Episode 25
The new Beatles double album is here!
On November 22nd, 1968 the band released their 9th full length studio recording, the self-titled behemoth colloquially known as "The White Album". The follow-up to Sgt. Pepper was a dramatic departure from the acid drenched sound paintings of the year prior and offered the most variety in song styles ever seen (either before or since) on a Beatles recording. Fans and critics alike were confused by the tonal shift, but as with any Beatles album commercial success was soon to follow.
While Revolver and even Pepper were more unified efforts, in many ways the double album was a showcase of four different musicians who were serving each other's songs. Paul's contributions include instant classics like "Blackbird," "Mother Nature's Son," "Back In The USSR" and "Ob La De Ob La Da" as well as thunderous rockers like "Helter Skelter" and "Why Don't We Do It In The Road?". John's tracks pointed the gaze inward, with a clutch of songs many consider some of the finest of his entire career.
"Happiness Is A Warm Gun," "Julia," "Yer Blues" and "Sexie Sadie" run the gamete of style and substance, while "Glass Onion" shows a rare tip of the hat to Paul for helping steer the Beatles' ship since the death of Brian Epstein.
Ringo Starr's very first original composition, "Don't Pass Me By," signaled the dawn of a fourth songwriter in the group, while the masterpiece "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" showed the band and the world exactly what George Harrison was capable of.
Enjoy!
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Episode 24
October 13, 1968 through November 21, 1968
It's the fall of 1968 and TWO Beatles solo albums are on the way. George Harrison holds the honor of the first solo record released by a Beatle (if we're not counting the Family Way soundtrack by Paul two years prior) with Wonderwall. Wonderwall is a soundtrack album chockfull of jams and electronic sounds that pushed some major boundaries at the time.
Next up would be the most controversial release of any one Beatles' career: John and Yoko's Two Virgins LP. While the actual record did little to rouse the ire of the public, a selection of noises and mood along with the cover art became the focal point of worldwide attention. The LP depicted a completely naked and fully frontal John Lennon and Yoko Ono. John knew this statement would be met with backlash from the public, but it was the backlash from the other Beatles that surprised him. The others struggled to embrace this new life for John, and yet another wedge was driven into the group's relationship.
This wasn't the only rough patch for John and Yoko in the fall of '68 the couple were busted for possession of cannabis resin (in the form of "hash") in October. In November Cynthia's divorce suit was granted within days of Yoko suffering a miscarriage.
All on the eve of a new Beatles album...
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September 16, 1968 through October 11, 1968
With Ringo back in the group and Hey Jude continuing its domination on the charts, The Beatles made one last push to wrap their ambitious double album project in time for a holiday release. A hallmark of the sessions was the diversity of song style, with the band recording tender ballads like I Will, raucous rockers like Birthday, haunting epics like Happiness Is A Warm Gun and Long Long Long, to borderline novelty tracks like Honey Pie and The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill. While this diversity reigned, the double album did find itself dominated by "stripped-down" acoustic tracks that would be a shocking departure for fans who had grown accustomed to the lavish studio creations of 1967. The fall of 1968 also saw the publication of The Beatles authorized biography by Hunter Davies perhaps the last vestige of influence by the band's late manager Brian Epstein. If Brian's influence was finally dissipating, the influence of John's new girlfriend Yoko Ono was expanding by the day, and by October the couple would proclaim themselves inseparable...
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August 22nd, 1968 is a landmark day in Beatles history: the day a member of the biggest band on the planet...quit. The Beatles' double album sessions were growing more tense by the day, and in the dog days of the summer of 1968 tensions finally boiled over. Accounts of what specifically happened vary; some claim it was a clash with Paul McCartney over his domineering direction in the studio, some say it was simply insecurity on Ringo's part, but whichever the case Ringo Starr made history as the first Beatle to quit the band. Of course, Ringo's holiday would be short-lived, as his bandmates realized just how unloved their drummer felt and lured him back with flowers and postcards in time for the biggest release of their career. Hey Jude, backed with John's Revolution, was the debut single on Apple Records and would go on to sell over 8 million copies and shatter records around the world. If the group was on the verge of shattering, the music surely wasn't showing any signs of slowing down. National Apple Week, as they called it, also saw the debut of Mary Hopkin's McCartney-produced smash-hit single Those Were The Days, which itself dominated charts and sold gangbusters -- in most cases only seconded by Hey Jude. Jackie Lomax and The Black Dyke Mills band rounded out the releases and once again John, Paul, George and Ringo found themselves at the top of the world. But Apple's rot was about set in...
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Once upon a time...or maybe twice...it was the summer of 1968! The so-called "summer of love" was in full swing as the Beatles continued work on their ambitious new double album project. From Paul's raucous "Helter Skelter", to John's vicious "Sexy Sadie", the Lennon-McCartney songwriting duo continued to dominate and the double album was looking to be their most successful release yet. But George's contributions to the new record were no slouch either, with Eric Clapton guesting on what some consider to be his finest Beatles work: "While My Guitar Gently Weeps". George was well on his way to proving his songwriting mettle, but resentment still lingered from the Maharishi experience leading George to also pen the defensive "Not Guilty" - worked on relentlessly though ultimately left off the album. This wasn't the only unrelenting song the group covered - the infamous "Ob La De, Ob La Da" session nearly resulted in a break-up and caused longtime engineer Geoff Emerick to quit the sessions completely. The double album sessions were packed with highs and lows, but outside the studio the Beatles' successes continued to mount - this time in the form of the animated YELLOW SUBMARINE film and its corresponding soundtrack album, which both became instant classics after the movie's premiere in July of '68. As if all that wasn't enough, John's first art exhibit "You Are Here" received it's grand opening, the Apple Boutique closed down, and the band spent a "mad day out" amassing hundreds of new promotional photos for use on the double album and beyond...
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It's June 1968 and The Beatles' double album is finally taking shape. Kicking things off this month was the very first all-original composition by Ringo Starr, a years-in-the-making honky tonk number called Don't Pass Me By. And the Beatles wouldn't pass it by, spending as much time and energy on Ringo's first track as they had for any of those that came before. It was moments like these that drew a sharp distinction from the tension that was beginning to haunt these sessions - a tension never before experienced on a Beatles project. The four boys who had entered the EMI studios 5 years earlier were now four men who were beginning to lead separate (and sometimes intense) personal lives of their own. As John's marriage to Cynthia broke down, his passionate love affair with artist Yoko Ono became public knowledge, and while a divergence into the avant-garde was good for Lennon's soul, it also alienated many longtime friends and fans. George's attempt to bring Indian spiritualism to his bandmates may have been a rocky road with mixed results, but his heart remained in Indian culture even if his brothers-in-arms didn't. With Apple in full swing, Paul's attention was set squarely on talent development, both his own (recording tracks like Blackbird and Mother Nature's Son to name a few) and that of his musical proteges like Mary Hopkin. The band would have to hang on to periodic shows of unity, because the woes of the double album sessions would be far from over...
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It's April 1968 and The Beatles are back from India and open for business with a new company: APPLE. The concept of Apple Corps began as a clever way to reinvest money into creative endeavors, rather than pay it all to the taxman...but it soon blossomed into, as Paul put it, a type of "western communism" that sought to change the world of pop music from the top down and the bottom up. The company would be divided into several sectors including records, manufacturing, retail, publishing and technology, each designed by the Beatles themselves to promote art, music, culture, innovation and talent that they each believed in. At the heart was Apple Records, and John, Paul, George and Ringo each set out to discover, nurture and promote talented fresh faces of music such as Mary Hopkin, James Taylor, The Iveys, Jackie Lomax and others. Apple was a massive undertaking, and could not have come at a more unstable period for the group. Upon returning from Rishikesh with a renewed sense of inner self, John put months of secret correspondence to bed (literally) with Japanese conceptual artist Yoko Ono Cox, sending his marriage into a tailspin. George, meanwhile, became the increasing target of bitterness and resentment from his bandmates for having involved them with the Maharishi in the first place, whom John especially felt personally betrayed by. All this while the boys readied themselves to return to the studio and begin the most challenging sessions of their musical career...
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It was a long road to Rishikesh, but in the spring of 1968 The Beatles had finally arrived. Eager for a much-needed holiday and in search of spiritual regeneration, they found themselves in India on the foothills of the Himalayas with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi for an extended seminar in transcendental meditation ("TM"). TM was an effective alternative to the abuse of drugs and alcohol, and enthusiasm for it was shared by fellow members of the pop elite such as singer/songwriter Donovan, Mike Love of the Beach Boys and actress Mia Farrow (along with her sister, Prudence) who joined the boys on their trip. For the musicians in the camp, hundreds of songs were written over their respective stays, all the while sharing stories, verses, inspiration and encouragement with one another. Techniques such as Donovan's finger-picking guitar style were a revelation, and the songs written during this period would seed their way into countless recordings for years to come. It's only natural for a trip like this to bring people closer together, and it would for a time...but the quest for inner peace would also bring about an introspective transformation in each of its disciples. The John, Paul, George and Ringo that went to India were not the John, Paul, George and Ringo that returned, and in learning about themselves by looking inward, the four boys who had been so close for so long had begun to truly grow up, and to grow apart...
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It's 1968! After a year of incredible highs and dizzying lows, The Beatles took on the new year with energy and enthusiasm. The boys entered the studio to record rockers, pop tunes and ballads that would be counted among their very finest, as well as a segment for the upcoming Yellow Submarine film still in development. Macca's ode to Fats Domino, Lady Madonna, and John's rocking Hey Bulldog roared with the kind of sound and energy of the band's pre-psychedelic recordings, while Across the Universe grew from the type of poetic song-craft of the year prior. The early weeks of the year also saw John and Paul produce the band Grapefruit - one of the first groups connected to the as-yet-to-be-fully-up-and-running Apple and whom share their name with a book published by Japanese artist Yoko Ono. They were named by John Lennon, who at this time was focused on finding himself under the tutelage of the Maharishi. John made amends with his father Freddie, who had abandoned him at an early age, and looked inward with meditation as a way to peel back the layers of anger and pain that had driven him to substance abuse. Life was good, and change was coming as the band made its final preparations for an extended holiday in India...
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Roll up! Roll up for the epic finale to 1967! The year that changed so much in the lives of The Beatles would continue its transformative effects in the fall and winter, with new music, a new film, a solo project and a new business venture all happening at once. The boys' latest single, Hello Goodbye, would dominate the charts in November and serve as a bridge between the Sgt. Pepper era and the group's next record, Magical Mystery Tour. Released as an EP in Britain, and as an LP in North America, Magical Mystery Tour was a collection of new songs that provided a soundtrack to the group's made-for-television film of the same name. While the record was a smash success on both sides of the pond, the film...well, not so much. Headlines around the world proclaimed the effort a "FLOP" and for John, Paul, George and Ringo the shine of psychedelia was well on its way to erosion. George, meanwhile, had begun work on the Wonderwall soundtrack which would (not counting The Family Way soundtrack by Paul from 1966) amount to the first Beatle solo album. And to top it all off, a little company called Apple was about to take off in a big, big way...
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Still riding high on the critical and commercial success that Sgt. Pepper brought, the Beatles entered the so-called "summer of love" as the spokespeople for their generation. Beloved by both fan and critic alike, John, Paul, George and Ringo took to the biggest audience of their career, representing Great Britain in the worldwide telecast "Our World" and debuting for it their new smash single "All You Need Is Love". With another chart topper in the bag, the band also made great strides toward ditching the harder drugs that had begun to take a destructive toll earlier in the year under the guidance of a spiritual leader named Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Discovered by George and Patti, the Maharishi and his transcendental meditation seminars brought the boys some much needed peace of mind, especially John, whose chemical-laden escapades were starting to become a serious problem. But just as the Beatles began their retreat, tragedy struck. Manager Brian Epstein, the man most responsible for their fame and success, died suddenly of an apparent drug overdose at the age of 32. It was a terrible blow, and one that many (including the Beatles themselves) point to as the single event most responsible for the truly dark times ahead...
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We're back with a detailed look at side B of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band! To open the second half of the record, George Harrison picks up where he left of on Revolver's "Love You, Too" with the Indian-influenced "Within You, Without You". A moody choice for the otherwise bright record, George's exercise in writing western pop for eastern instrumentation is a beautiful exploration of the soul through the lens of a young man on the verge of the biggest period of spiritual enlightenment of his life. Of course the follow-up, Paul's "When I'm Sixty Four" is an exploration in abrupt, sharp turns! One of the very first songs a young McCartney crafted in his teen years, this was also one of the first recorded for the record in the winter of 1966. From there the Paul train rolls on with "Lovely Rita", followed by John's "Good Morning, Good Morning". If his songs on side A of the record were to be considered "workman-like", this track is certainly no exception - with it's principal hook lifted from a corn flakes commercial. The Sgt. Pepper Reprise then leads us into what is considered by many to be the band's finest work of song-craft, the beautiful and haunting "A Day in the Life." As we leave this album behind and proceed through 1967, it's clear that the good times will never be this good for the Beatles again. So love it or hate it, Sgt. Pepper is the peak. Enjoy the view.
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At long last, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band has arrived! It's the spring of 1967 and The Beatles have unleashed their eight LP on the world -- and the reactions are pouring in: "ALL HAIL SGT PEPPER!" While many would argue that song-for-song, Revolver was a stronger effort, Pepper tapped into the cultural zeitgeist like no other pop record in history, simultaneously reflecting the culture whilst also guiding it to the path forward. The album begins with its eponymous title track, and scorching lead guitar kicks in the door to let the listener know this isn't quite the Beatles you remember. The entire first side of Pepper, detailed in this episode, is an exercise in the progressing song-craft of Lennon and McCartney which was growing in bold new directions by the day. Drugs and drink may have hindered some of John's interest, but you'd never know it from the expressive poetry of songs like "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" and "Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite". Meanwhile the Macca creativity explosion continued to soar with tracks like "She's Leaving home" and "Fixing A Hole", while "Getting Better" only served as further proof that Lennon and McCartney were, and would always be, stronger together.
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Is the world ready for the "new" Beatles?" After the successful, but comparatively disappointing commercial debut of their new sound courtesy of the Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever single, the band put readied their final touches on the LP considered at the time to be their masterpiece. Well, at least Paul McCartney and producer George Martin thought so...the other three Beatles had mixed feelings themselves about the new direction. Drugs and drink gripped their talons into John Lennon (only 26 at the time) who considered Sgt. Pepper to be a solid, but workman-like exercise. George Harrison's mind was still in India and away from the guitar - the instrument that had so inspired him as a child - as he found two out of his three new keyboard-penned compositions rejected for the new album. Ringo famously learned to play chess on the record, with days, weeks and sometimes months in between overdub sessions. Regardless, the launch of "Pepper" was about to make The Beatles a whole new kind of creative force in the world of pop art, and once again guide the culture of the world into uncharted territory...
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It's a new year for the Beatles, and with it a new album in the works. After half a decade of nearly non-stop live performances, the band were at last able to enjoy the fruits of their fame, and the freedom to experiment in bold new directions. But the real question was, would the public follow them in those bold new directions? Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields Forever, recorded the prior December, would be the true test of the band's new direction. It's one thing to listen to "Tomorrow Never Knows" as the play-out end of an LP, but another entirely to see if this new English psychedelia "proto-prog rock" could also dominate the singles charts. The answer? Yes and no. America propelled the Beatles' new sound to #1, but in their native England the band was, for the first time since the dawn of Beatlemania, shut out of the top spot. Younger fans who adored the mop-tops now saw high brow cover art and facial hair adorning their favorite crushes. This was a message the world: whether you like it or not, The Beatles are growing up. But would growing up mean splitting apart? Was the height of their popularity behind them? Many theorized, but few could predict that once more John, Paul George and Ringo would push the boundaries of pop music into a whole new world...
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The Beatles may have been riding high on the critical and commercial success of Revolver, but a tour of the tumultuous United States was in full swing, and danger loomed large around every corner. Manager Brian Epstein's attempt to quell the outrage from the American public over remarks from John Lennon that the group was more popular than Jesus Christ proved futile, as Bible Belt radio stations torched albums, staged boycotts and stoked the frenzy to a fever pitch. Beatlemania, once an outlet for youthful energy and positivity, now brought a different kind of enthusiasm from the likes of the Ku Klux Klan, religious zealots and troublemakers looking for an excuse to take the fab four down a peg. When one such concert-goer hurled an explosive on stage, it was finally decided that enough was enough. On August 29th, 1966 the band would play their last concert in San Fransisco's Candlestick Park, and the trajectory of John, Paul, George and Ringo would never be the same. As 1966 drew to a close, each Beatle took time for themselves before reuniting for what would become the ultimate musical statement of the 1960's: Sgt. Pepper...
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Turmoil may have followed the Beatles on tour, but in the studio the band reached its zenith with their 7th and perhaps finest LP ever: Revolver. While Sgt. Pepper nearly a year later tends to be remembered as their greatest achievement, it's on Revolver where the combined efforts of John, Paul, George and Ringo shine the brightest and in the most cohesion. Psychedelia is, for the first time, used as a songwriting tool by the band who by this point had been well into dropping acid. Even Paul, the notorious LSD hold-out, had finally succumb to the pressures of his friends and of his generation the prior December of 1965, setting the stage for the kinds of schisms that would shake the group apart just 3 1/2 short years later. But for all the chemical experimentation, The Beatles' song craft had grown to towering heights on tracks from the LP such as Here There and Everywhere, Tomorrow Never Knows, Eleanor Rigby, For No One, I'm Only Sleeping, Taxman and so many more. Another shift also swept through Revolver, with George Harrison contributing a full three songs to the record and a Ringo vocal topping the singles charts! But the storms that had brewed earlier in the summer had yet to subside, and despite the smash-success of their latest masterpiece, once again the group found themselves at the center of a firestorm in the American south...
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It's the summer of 1966, and for four scruffs from the mean streets of one of Great Britain's most raucous port cities...it's good to be the kings. But the uninterrupted reign of the Beatles was bound to have a breaking point, and as the group kicks off their 3rd major world tour, they're about to find theirs. To kick of their tour, the band enjoyed a triumphant return to their old stomping grounds of Hamburg, Germany, where the specters of the past loomed large and served as a reminder to the boys that they had been cut from rough cloth. Then, on to Japan where protests over their appearance at the Nippon Budokan temple in Tokyo soured what was otherwise a very successful, albeit sterile, visit. Next stop, the Philippines, where a run-in with the Marcos regime nearly ends in disaster for the band who felt lucky to escape with their lives. A violent encounter at the airport and a shake-down that robbed them of any profits they would have made from the performance left the boys shaken as they travelled onward to India for a respite on their way back to Britain. All the while a storm was brewing in North America that would haunt the band's legacy to this day...and it would only get worse from here...
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It's 1966! Join the Yesterday & Today podcast as we enter perhaps the single most transformative year in the history of The Beatles, the year that would bring us butcher covers, final live performances, tomorrows that never know and strawberry fields forever. This week we cover January through June of 1966, wherein we find the Beatles hard at work on their 7th LP release Revolver. In these first few months of the new year George Harrison marries to model and longtime girlfriend Pattie Boyd, John Lennon delivers an off-the-cuff interview to friend and journalist Maureen Cleave that will haunt the group in the coming months, Paul McCartney dabbles in experimental sound and helps launch the Indica Gallery in London and Ringo Starr delivers arguably the best drumming performance of his career on the wonderful John Lennon-penned track Rain. In North America, Capitol Records releases the Yesterday & Today LP, combining songs from the English Rubber Soul and the as-yes-to-be-released Revolver. In protest, the boys sent over their choice for the cover to this "butchered" compilation...which sparks some major controversy in the states. All this, plus discover what it sounds like to be in a car with a titanically stoned Bob Dylan and John Lennon!
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The year 1965 was one of the busiest, most ground-breaking and prolific years in the Beatles' career; second, perhaps only to the madness of 1964 - and it's not over yet! In the final weeks of December, the band's sixth studio album, Rubber Soul, would cement the group as more than a simple pop-rock combo, but as musicians that would continually redefine genre and transform the very concept of an album itself from a simple collection of songs, to one unified artistic statement. From the touching "In My Life" to the stinging harder edges of "Think For Yourself" and "You Won't See Me", John, Paul, George and Ringo were once again reinventing pop music. Rubber Soul also introduced the western world to the possibilities of eastern instrumentation and its application in rock and roll. The sitar used on Norwegian Wood would be the "lick that launched a thousand records". The end of '65 also saw the Beatles last tour of the UK, a new Christmas record, the surfacing of John Lennon's father Fred and a Saturday morning Beatle cartoon for American audiences. Join us in celebrating the year that was, as we venture forth into the turbulent and ever-changing waters of 1966...
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The Beatles had once again triumphantly returned to Britain after a whirlwind tour of North America...but the break in activity wouldn't last long. By September, EMI was quick to remind the boys that they needed a new LP for the Christmas season, so once again John, Paul, George and Ringo returned to the studio to pull a record out of thin air. But this time it was different. This time, the record itself was being thought of as a piece of art that The Beatles could craft using all they had learned up to this point. By October, they were knee deep in studio exploration when it came time to visit Buckingham Palace to at last receive the much anticipated MBE Award from Queen Elizabeth. Honored by their country, decorated by their Queen, Lennon and McCartney would next be honored by their fellow pop stars in a television special dedicated to their songwriting. All this over a two month period, for young men the oldest of which was only twenty five.
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It's the summer of 1965, and The Beatles are conquering North America...again! With a number one movie, a number one single and a number one album on all the charts, John, Paul, George and Ringo's popularity showed no signs of decay more than a year into their planetary super-stardom, and on their return to America in August they continued to dominate. This week we take a closer look at the biggest concert tour the group would ever embark on -- beginning with the very first arena rock concert EVER, The Beatles at SHEA STADIUM! Also in this episode, the fabs fly to California and meet their inspiration, Elvis Presley, in the flesh! It wasn't a warm and fuzzy reception between rock royalty at first, but once the ice was broken, this meeting would go down as a quintessential moment for the band. Ringo even played football with Elvis!
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Everyone could use a little "HELP!", and the Beatles are about the unleash it around the world! It's the release of their second feature film, the plot-laden romp that puts Beatle Ringo in a world of trouble - and the threetles set to defend their bound buddy. But that's not all the summer months of '65 had to offer, the LP release of the film's corresponding album was a major breakthrough for the band, where songwriting and melody once again took a dramatic leap forward from the mostly backward-looking "Beatles for Sale". The group also embarked on their first North American tour since conquering the continent the year prior, and what better place to make their triumphant return than to the stage that made them household names: the Ed Sullivan Show! Join us for the continuation of one of the busiest periods in Beatles history!
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Take a ticket to ride with the Yesterday and Today podcast as we roll up into the spring of 1965! The Beatles' feverish pace that started the year somehow ramped up even higher, as each of the four Beatles found new breakthroughs in sound, song craft and experimentation. The group was finishing the filming of their sophomore film release, recently changed from "Eight Arms to Hold you" to the pithier "HELP!", recording an LP to accompany the film AND beginning the first leg of a European tour. And somehow, during all this madness, a little song about scrambled eggs was being refined into one of the greatest pieces of pop music in modern history: Paul McCartney's Yesterday. George Harrison was introduced to a little instrument called a Sitar, Ringo acted naturally and John Lennon took to the streets of London having just passed his driving test. The summer is almost here, and 1965 is only just heating up - join us for all the madness!
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This is the story of The Beatles, in the words of those who were there both then, and now. Since their inception, the world's most famous band has been written about and reflected upon, both from a musicological and sociological lens. Moments became stories, stories became tales, and tales became legends over the last 50+ years -- making the truth harder and harder to find.For one fan, finding the truth in the legend became a mission. In the year 2000 the Yesterday and Today project began. Thousands of hours of film and audio were compiled into yearly summations of Beatle activity, accentuated by countless books, magazines, newspaper articles and memorabilia that would help flesh out the true story of the fab four from a wide variety of points of view. At the heart of the project, several previously released documentary series' served as a spine for the narrative - the most notable of which being the "Yesterday and Today" retrospective that aired on WXLO Radio on May 30th, 1977.Now, 18 years later, the Yesterday and Today project is ready to be released for free as a labor of love and fandom to Beatlefans around the world.We begin with 1965....and we hope you will enjoy the show!
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