We happened upon a new series of Australian radio programs featuring the Beatles last night. A popular presenter called Rod Quinn hosts a national overnight radio show on the ABC (the Australian Broadcasting Corporation).

As each Beatle album marks its 50th anniversary Quinn has been speaking to US Lennon biographer (and Beatle expert) Jude Southerland Kessler. Jude is author of the extraordinary and ambitious nine-volume John Lennon series – a narrative biography she is presently writing. The latest instalment in her series is Volume 3: She Loves You.

Well, last night here in Australia the pair looked at the band’s fourth studio album Beatles For Sale, released on December 4, 1964: As you’ll hear in the podcast, Jude Sutherland Kessler brings unique insights to this famous fourth Beatle album by examining its song selections, running order, lyrics – and even the way the Beatles are portrayed in the LP’s UK cover images. You can click on the links in this post to hear a podcast of the original ABC Radio broadcast.

Previous broadcasts have covered Please Please Me; With the Beatles and A Hard Day’s Night, each also well worth a listen.

Incidentally, the album looked quite different here in Australia having a cover unique to this market, but with the same LP inside: