When They Was Fab: Electric Arguments About the Beatles

2024.16 Wings in Kampuchea - December 29, 1979

Lonnie Pena and I discuss Wings at the Hammersmith Odeon - the Concert(s) for the People of Kampuchea.     Through circumstance, December 29, 1979 would end up being the final Wings concert ever.     Got to Get You Into My Life, Coming Up, Maybe I'm Amazed, Mull of Kintyre and Let It Be.    One-Two-Three-Four!

2024.15 Oops - all Ringo! (and Rob Sheffields list)

Marv and I sit down and chat about the Ringo selections on Rob Sheffield's "100 Best Solo Beatles Songs" list.    As Dana Carvey might say, "isn't it conveeeeenient" that each claims one of the top four.      More seriously, we discuss the nature of such lists, how, when and why - and we talk about the thirteen selections.    Does Ringo deserve 25% of the take?     Is thirteen too little? 

2024.14 Life in Lyrics Season 2 - episodes 6_7 and_8

More of our thoughts on the "Life in Lyrics" podcast.    Martin Quibell and I discuss Episodes 6, 7, and 8.     The episodes are entitled "Silly Love Songs", "A Day in the Life" and "Hey Jude".    However, roughly fifteen different songs get covered within the three episodes...

2024.13 The Beatles Forever (not that one) - 1977

A Beatles special you might not know about.     In 1977, NBC purchased "The Beatles Forever", a variety-entertainment special from ITC Entertainment (aka: The company led by Sir Lew Grade).    The Toppermost gang "comes together" to discuss this Thanksgiving spectacular!

2024.12 Wings in Newcastle - July 10, 1973

Martin Quibell and Sam Whiles (Paul or Nothing) join to discuss the final Wings show of the summer 1973 tour.      If your experience of Wings Live begins with Jimmy McCulloch, you are in for quite a different experience.     Excerpts have been available for years (and are now on the official McCartney YouTube channel), but we are discussing and describing the full show, including "Turkey in the Straw."

2024.11 Red Rose Speedway (sort-of Underdubbed)

Martin Quibell joins this week as we discuss the recent "fan mixed" Underdubbed version of "Red Rose Speedway".    Sorry Paul, the term still is not going to catch on among the general public.        This mix is probably more accurately referred to as an "Elements" or (to borrow a term from the Lennon camp), a "stripped" mix - it is not something that ever existed for Paul, or that he used to make decisions on future directions, but it *is* a reflection of the stages these songs passed through.

2024.10 Blue Suede Shoes: A Rockabilly Session

Welll...It's one for the money, two for the show, three to get ready now go cat go!    George "Don't Call It a Comeback" Harrison joined his buddy Carl Perkins and his other buddies Ringo Starr and Eric Clapton to pay tribute to their friend and mentor Carl Perkins in a Cinemax special filmed in 1985 and aired in the UK (and later in the US) in 1986.   Lonnie Pena co-hosts.

2024.09 Life in Lyrics Season 2 - episodes 3_4 and_5

A grand old painter died last night.     I must've done something wrong.    More life, more lyrics from McCartney and Muldoon.     Lonnie Pena and I run through three more episodes of the "Life in Lyrics" podcast, talking about their talking, but also presenting some general chat about "Maxwell's Silver Hammer", "Yesterday" and "Picasso's Last Words."    

2024.09 Life in Lyrics Season 2 - episodes 1 and 2

Paul McCartney and Paul Muldoon return for the second season of the "Life in Lyrics" podcast.    We sit down to consider the first two episodes of the new season ("Love Me Do" and "Band on the Run"), and talk about the slight stylistic change between the two seasons.    We also talk a bit about the return of Paul McCartney's 1961 Hofner, and the Apple-approved, Sam Mendes directed quartet of biopics planned for 2027 release!

2024.08 The Ed Sullivan Show, Feb 9 and 16

It was Sixty Years Ago Today...   Beatlemania finished its reach as the Fab Four use New York City, Miami Beach and the Ed Sullivan Show to broadcast across the United States.    We not discuss the Fab Four, but Fred Kaps, Mitzi Gaynor, Rossi and Allen, Pillsbury, Aero Shave (Wet, Wet, Wet!) and Kent Cigarettes, and even manage a bit of Davy Jones and Leonard Nimoy.