Back in 2016 the knowledgeable hosts, Ryan Brady and Chris Mercer, set themselves the task of discussing, in detail, every single solo McCartney release. And they succeeded!
Understandably, the podcast went into a hiatus. How do you go on when one very talented half of the team has been taken away?
Well, the podcast is now re-emerging – as Take It Away: The Complete Solo Beatles Archive Podcast. Chris Mercer is joined by a new co-host and fellow Beatle nut, Paul Kaminski. Together they plan to expand the original brief to take in the solo careers of all four Beatles.
If you’re interested in The Beatles, Wings, or Paul McCartney the solo artist, then this could be the podcast for you.
The all-new Take It Away begins with a dive into the music of George Harrison. The first episode, ‘Beatle George’ (part one of two) is out now at your favourite podcast aggregator.
Chris and Paul write: “In this preamble to the next phase of the podcast, we’ll explore the origins of Harrison’s songwriting, musicianship and legacy, as the “quiet one” fights for his place amongst both his band mates and his musical contemporaries alike. We’ll chronicle every single (official) George Harrison Beatles songwriting contribution from the band’s beginnings up through 1967 in this first installment — an extensive deep dive you will not want to miss! Now, without further ado: take it away, George…”
Worth checking out.
Oh, and while we’re talking podcasts, just a reminder that the first two episodes in the brand new Paul McCartney and Paul Muldoon outing, A Life In Lyrics, will now be available for download from October 4. (Seems they missed the originally advertised September 20 release date for some unknown reason).
We appear to be in something of an avalanche of Beatle books at the moment with lots of titles either out now, about to be released, or in the longer-term pipeline.
This is by Luca Perasi, whose previous work on McCartney was the highly-regarded Recording Sessions (1969-2013). Luca was also one of the two official Italian translators of the singer’s own book The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present, and last year he collaborated with MPL on the label details for McCartney’s epic The 7” Singles Box release. So, he knows his stuff. Keep an eye out for our review of his new book Paul McCartney: Music Is Ideas here soon.
Another one we’ve been informed about but haven’t seen as yet is The Beatles On The Charts. This is by Michael Ventrella who has combed through nearly 60 years of Billboard to compile a list of every song and album that made an appearance in that fabled magazine’s music charts. The end result is an intriguing look at the band’s influence, including their solo efforts. Ventrella assigns points to the positions of each song and album in order to create a list ranging from the least successful to the most successful. Each entry includes a picture of the album cover or single sleeve, along with an analysis of the song or album. It looks like it’d make a great reference book to have in the library:
Looking ahead to June 13 there is 1964: Eyes of the Storm – Photographs and Reflections by Paul McCartney. This features a selection of Paul McCartney’s own photographs and memories from six of the key cities visited by The Beatles across the year 1964. It captures the craziness of the band’s intense life on the road as they steadily rose to fame, with many never-before-seen portraits and snapshots of John, George and Ringo.
As with McCartney’s 2021 book, The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present, a special, extremely limited boxed and cloth-bound edition (175 copies worldwide) of 1964: Eyes of the Storm has been made available as part of an effort to support independent booksellers. You’ll have to be fast and have deep pockets to secure one of these. Check out your local independent store to see if they scored a copy and how they intend to sell it:
In October comes Bruce Spizer’s latest installment in his Beatles Album Series and it is now available for pre-order. The book, the seventh to be published in the series, covers the albums Please Please Me and With The Beatles, as well as their associated singles and the American albums Introducing The Beatles and Meet The Beatles!
And finally worth noting, for release later in the year (November 14 to be precise), is the much-anticipated book by respected author Kenneth Womack on the life and times of famous Beatle roadie, friend, fixer, confidante, and sometimes co-composer, Mal Evans.
This one will be worth the wait as it is an authorised biography, with Womack being given access by the Evans estate to Mal’s diaries and the treasure trove of his vast, never before seen archive including hundreds of drawings and photographs, memorabilia and ephemera from inside the Beatle camp. Living the Beatles Legend: The Untold Story of Mal Evans is published by Harper Collins’ Dey Street Books. Pre-orders for are currently available on Amazon here. Tantalizingly, it will be followed in 2024 with a fully illustrated version. Cannot wait for that one.
Of course if you’re interested in Beatles books generally you must listen to The Beatles Books Podcast. It’s available on Apple Podcast, Spotify and Podbean, or wherever you get good podcasts. Host Joe Wisbey regularly chats to a wide variety of Beatle authors and writers and it is always interesting and informative as he seeks to discover what inspired them to add their particular entry into the 1000’s of books about The Beatles out there. Check it out.
Back in 2014 the ABC (the Australian Broadcasting Corporation) began hosting an ongoing series celebrating the 50th anniversary release of each British Beatle LP.
As each album reaches its anniversary ABC Radio presenter Rod Quinn speaks to US John Lennon biographer and Beatle expert Jude Southerland Kessler. Jude is the author of the extraordinary (and ambitious!) nine-volume John Lennon narrative biography. The latest instalment in the series is Volume 4: Should Have Known Better (to see the details for this volume scroll down after clicking).
The pair spoke about the 50th anniversary of Abbey Road late last year, but it has taken them a while to upload that episode onto the web. They’ve finally done it though, and you can now find it here, or just click on the Abbey RoadApple label below:
Like all the other podcasts in the series, this one is also very insightful – and really well worth a listen.
Thanks to all our followers and readers – it has been a hectic 12 months, but here we are at the end of another year, and another decade!
Wishing you and yours a very special holiday season, with lots of good things to eat, drink and of course good music to listen to (especially Beatle music)!
One small gift to leave you on this Christmas Eve – the discovery of a great podcast.
This one has been around quite a long time but has, until now, flown under our radar. There’s a lot to catch up on!
It is simply called I’ve Got A Beatles Podcast! and it’s great fun. Hosts Dave and Chris deliver content that will be right up your alley if you like our blog. Their aim is to be “an educational, informative, and irreverent look at all things Beatles“, and this podcast delivers. It’s terrific and well worth a listen.
If I’ve Got A Beatles Podcast! is new to you too, and you don’t know where to begin, then why not start this Christmas by checking out their Annual Holiday Gift Episode.
Back in 2014 the ABC (the Australian Broadcasting Corporation) began hosting an ongoing series celebrating the 50th anniversary release of each British Beatle LP.
As each album marks its anniversary ABC Radio presenter Rod Quinn speaks to US John Lennon biographer and Beatle expert Jude Southerland Kessler. Jude is the author of the extraordinary (and ambitious!) nine-volume John Lennon narrative biography. The latest instalment in Jude’s amazing series was released late last year – Volume 4: Should Have Known Better (to see the details scroll down after clicking).
Well, after a bit of a break, the pair are back. In October last year they took a look back at both sides of the original Yellow Submarine album:
Then came the big one, The Beatles (or The White Album) 50th Anniversary. It took Jude and host Rod Quinn some time to work through all four sides of the legendary album on air, but they’ve put the results together in one, long podcast:
They also talked through highlights of The Esher Demos bonus disc that came with 50th Anniversary release of The White Album last year:
Each of these podcasts are very insightful – and really are well worth a listen.
Since the terrifc Something About The Beatles podcast became Robert Rodriguez presenting solo (with frequent guest co-hosts), we’ve been wondering what happened to his original partner, Richard Buskin – who mysteriously disappeared from the show a while back.
Well, it turns out he’s struck out in the new direction with a new co-host and has launched an equally clever and entertaining Beatle-related podcast called Swinging Through the Sixties.
Swinging Through the Sixties sees the knowledgable and funny Buskin joined by Beatle fanatic and collector Eric Taros. Together they present a quirky romp through the music of the 1960s. Some episodes are purely about the Fab Four while others range more widely, but always with an ever-present undercurrent of how The Beatles fitted into whatever topic they have chosen to cover.
More than two years ago the ABC (the Australian Broadcasting Corporation) began hosting an ongoing series celebrating the 50th anniversary of each British Beatle LP.
As each album marks its anniversary ABC Radio presenter Rod Quinn speaks to US John Lennon biographer and amazing Beatle expert Jude Southerland Kessler. Jude is the author of the extraordinary (and ambitious!) nine-volume John Lennon narrative biography. The last instalment in Jude’s series was Volume 3: She Loves You, but Volume 4: Should Have Known Better is due out soon – in March, 2018 we believe.
It’s been quite a while since we gave you an update on the ABC Radio podcast series. There have been quite a few, so here goes.
If the first two episodes are anything to go by, this will be one worth downloading on a regular basis. The two bring unique and well-informed eyes to a topic they both clearly love. American Rodriquez (Solo in Seventies; Revolver: How The Beatles Reimagined Rock ‘N’ Roll; Fab Four FAQ and Fab Four FAQ 2.0), and Britain’s Buskin (The Complete Idiot’s Guide to the Beatles; Days in the Life: The Lost Beatles Archives; John Lennon: His Life and Legend amongst many others) complement each other with different experiences of growing up fascinated by the Beatles. They are both knowledgable of course, but also have a lot of fun with their topic too. There are no sacred cows here.
The homepage for the podcast features cool original artwork by Executive Producer Rick Wey:The podcast is also unique in that the pair play real Beatle music to illustrate what they are discussing – something we’ve not heard before. Highly recommended.
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