Screw It, We’re Just Gonna Talk About the Beatles

The panel guesses at what the next Beatles album might have been if they hadn't broken up. This is a common pasttime for Beatles fans, and is one of the most commonly suggested topics for an episode! Well, we try it!

We decided that the album could be 48 minutes maximum, and could include any song that was available for the Beatles to record by December 1970. 

Will, Joel, Katie and Brett each had very different approaches to their albums. Listen to hear our picks, and then join our Discord (info at screwitpodcasts.com) to discuss what you would have done.

NOTE: We forgot to consider "It Don't Come Easy" by Ringo Starr. We were thinking of it as a 1971 song but of course it was recorded in 1970 and should have been in consideration. I'm sure there's others but this is a big enough oversight that we wanted to flag it here.

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The panel had never seen this 1972 concert film of George Harrison's seminal fundraising concert. We watched and it and, of course, loved it.

The Concert for Bangladesh was the first celebrity concert fundraiser, at least in the rock and roll space, and it's a great one. You've got incredible musicians on stage: George, Ringo, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Billy Preston, Badfinger and more. You've got George doing live versions of While My Guitar Gently Weeps (trading solos with Clapton), Something and Here Comes the Sun. You've got Ringo doing "It Don't Come Easy" to raucous applause. Even the disorganized moments (so many guitars? George forgetting lyrics to Something?) and the notable absecnes (no Paul, no John) do not take away from the overall joy of this terrific concert.

We get into it!

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This is a short except from a bonus episode available in our subscriber feed. We discuss the FILM "One Hand Clapping!" To subscribe go to screwitpodcasts.com.

Here is the description from our bonus ep:

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The panel discusses the recently re-released version of One Hand Clapping, the documentary! it's footage of Wings in the studio, originally filmed for the BBC. Now, it's a precious time capsule of young Paul McCartney executing the beginnings of his post-Beatles catalog.

We also get into: the director's intereste choices of extreme close ups, Geoff Britton's karate gis, whether or not the conductor of the orchestra looks like Geraldo Rivera, how cool Linda looks, and lots of other stuff! 

The panels takes a look at what essentially is a live Paul McCartney solo album: One Hand Clapping. Done as part of a television special for the BBC in the 1970s, this album are some songs Paul recorded with a lineup of Wings shortly after he'd (they'd?) done their amazing album Band on the Run.

Although passed around as a bootleg for years, a well mixed and professionally mastered version was released this past June with some extra tracks.

We got a lot of live, loose, energetic Paul McCartney. Some of the versions of songs here, like Live and Let Die, surpass the studio versions. Some are just as good (Jet). And the ones that don't (Band on the Run) are still so fun to hear. Paul's confidence and joy come through in every track. There's also several unfinished songs that end up on future Paul projects (like I'll Give You A Ring).

We also listen to the "Backyard Sessions" which is a recording of an impromptu solo acoustic performance Paul did on lunch while the main album was being recorded. No lunch for the recoring engineer when Paul is around!

We love it! 

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We had planned on doing a "watch along" of Give My Regards to Broad Street (1984 Paul McCartney film), which we did. But then the next day we were texting so much about it, and we soon all realized we watned to record ANOTHER WHOLE EPISODE ON IT.

So this episode is that: a follow-up to our viewing of Broad Street.  A one hour follow up. Maybe you only want to hear this discussion. Maybe you only want to watch the film along with us. Maybe you will do nothing but consume media about the film "Give My Regard To Broad Street" for the rest of your life!

The movie is truly interesting. Not so much the movie itself, but what it could have been. And what Paul's motivations might have been for doing it. There's lots of good ideas in it, and also lots of things that just don't work. As you can hear, we really enjoyed watching the film and talking about it.

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The panel does a "watchalong" of the 1984 Paul McCartney film "Give My Regards To Broad Street." 

We are watching a version that is, as of this podcast release,  on YouTube. "Give My Regards to Broad Street Full Movie Full HD." We start watching at 12:03. 

This movie is a fictional day in the life (no pun) of Paul McCartney. There's also a plot in which a friend seems to have stolen the masters of an upcoming album, and Paul needs to find these masters and determine if his friend actually betrayed him. Along the way, there's several performances of Beatles tracks and McCartney solo tracks, including the lovely new song "No More Lonely Nights." Ringo makes an appearence, as does George Martin, and Linda and Jeff Porcaro (drummer from Toto) and John Paul Jones (bass player from Led Zeppelin) and... it's wild!

This movie is basically not well-regarded. It was a flop commercially and critically. But there's really interesting sequences. And as Beatles fans, it's interesting to try and guess why it appealed to Paul to do.

We were so fascinated by it that we got together the NEXT DAY and recorded another whole episode discussing it! That episode will appear next in this podcast feed, probably tomorrow.

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Okay we go a bit crazy and spend over 2 hours talking about the new release of John Lennon's 1973 solo album Mind Games.

But it's understandable! First we had to talk about Mind Games in general -- how he and Yoko broke up as he started recording, the incredible session band (assembled by May Pang -- who became his girlfriend, as 'assigned' by Yoko), how John's previous lackluster album Some Time in New York City pressured him to go "back to basics", etc.

Then we had to talk about all the mixes included in this release! We've got the Ultimate mix (bringing John's voice out), the minimal Elements and Elemental mix, the Raw Studio mix that lets you hear the band's take with minimal studio effects, and the Evolution mix that includes snippets of demos and rehearsals.

And THEN we go song-by-song. 

If you just want to hear us go track by track, that starts at about 58 minutes.

Okay! Get your friendship meters calibrated, pledge your loyalty to Nutopia and buckle up for a deep dive into the underrated Lennon album Mind Games.

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Our special guest this episode is Eric D. Johnson of the incredible band Fruit Bats. In addition to being an accomplished singer, songwriter and guitarist, Eric is a massive Beatles fan. He joins us to discuss a fascinating topic: the Beatles in the 1980s.

When you're done listening to this episode, buy the Fruit Bats latest album "A River Running to Your Heart" or get their new live album "Starry-eyed, in Stereo."

(And check out the video to "Sick of this Feeling" featuring your co-host Will Hines.)

Okay, the 1980s. Be warned: opinions ahead.

This is a strange and fascinating time for the Beatles and their music. Of course, it begins with the tragic murder of John. We hear the surviving Beatles each deal with that in their music in different ways. There's also the challenge of them reaching middle age, trying to adapt their sound to the MTV generation. There's also the lawsuits, which prevent Paul from joining the others as they get inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of fame.

Those are some of the lowlights. But there's also immense creativity. While John gets turned into a saint in the media, Paul experiments (McCartney II, Tug of War, Press to Play, etc) more than ever. George too seems to break free of his Beatledom first with a hit album (Cloud 9) and then by forming his own super group, The Travelling Wilburys. Though John never got to enjoy this time, the fans get two more Lennon albums: the underrated Double Fantasy and the excellent Milk and Honey. 

There's a lot. We discuss.

I fully admit we give Ringo short shrift on this discussion. Though we do take a quick journey into the (appropriately) insane song "Drumming is My Madness." We'll make it up to you, Ringo!

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Next month: More discussion that we expected about Paul's 1984 movie "Give My Regards To Broad Street."

Beatlesque songs. Or is it Beatles-esque? We say it both ways in our traditional not-quite-sure-we're-right style!

But the point is we bring songs to the table that have reminded us of Beatles songs. There are so many ways this can happen! Sometimes it's the harmonies, sometimes the arrangement, other times the quality of the vocal. Sometimes it's something even more subtle.

This is not by any means a definitive or iconic list. This represents a thing all Beatles fans go through, which is hearing a song and going "oh man, this feels like The Beatles."

Some of the songs / artists discussed:

• Zuder Zee

• Adrian Belew - Men In Helicopters v4

• Squeeze - Up The Junction

• Prince - Around The World In A Day period

• Elton John - Yellow Brick Road

• The Knickerbockers - Lies

• Michael Rault - I’ll Be There

• The Nerves - When You Find Out

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Next month on June 15: We talk 1980s Beatles with guest Eric Johnson of Fruit Bats!

Host Will Hines explains changes to the subscription model. Short version: (most) new eps will go in free feed, (most) back eps will be in the subscriber feed. This is differnet than what we set up 2 weeks ago, and hence this epsiode to explain!

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In this two hour discussion, the panel gets into the amazing tour de force Beatles documentary "Get Back." Directed by Peter Jackson, released as three 2.5+ hour episodes on Disney+ over American Thanksgiving weekend in 2021, this doc is taking Beatle fandom by storm. It's an incredibly intimate look at the band at work. Yes, we see the fights and the tension. But we also see the friendship and empathy, the musical genius and passion for what they were making. You feel as if you are really hanging out with the Beatles in an unguarded environment. In addition to that intimate feeling, you see many now-iconic Beatles songs (aren't they all iconic, though) get developed, sometimes from scratch right before your eyes.

Among the many subjects we touch on: all the toast, Yoko Ono's presence, the relationships between Paul and John and George, whether Ringo is chill sad or hungover, the director Michael Lindsay-Hogg (villain or just arrogant 'college sophomore' energy), Billy Preston's incredible impact, calming George Martin, George's cool clothes, the musicianship and seeing them play, how we're hungry for MORE MORE of this kind of footage if only it existed, Ringo's fart, the cops and the straps in their mouths, the stuffy London business owners, Peter Sellers, Paul's ambition, the flowerpot conversation, the songwriting, Allen Klein, Glyn Johns, Apple Studios and Magic Alex' insane guitar prototype.

Beatles fans everywhere are joyfully examining and discussing this documentary.  It's an incredible film and a joy to watch. I hope everyone listening to this feels the same way!

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The panel discusses the 2018 remix of the beloved double album: The self-titled The Beatles, better known as the White Album. Giles Martin's remix has all of Beatledom discussing this beloved album, as well as the newly collected original demos and lots of alternate takes! 

Panelists: Will Hines,  Brett Morris, Katie Plattner, Joel Spence, Heather Woodward

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We go over Paul McCartney's second post-Beatles album, RAM. Criticized upon its release, it's now considered one of his best solo albums! Brett Morris in particular doesn't want to hear you people who don't appreciate this album! 

We get into the unfair expectations on Paul, his insane vocal range, the inventive orchestrations, the as-usual-perfect-melodies. We also get into what we think the other Beatles might have brought to this.

And Joel does too many puns about name Klaus, a man who was not involved at all with this album!

Panelists: Will Hines, Brett Morris, Katie Plattner, Joel Spence.

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Continuing the series of "playing Beatles albums for Eugene" (this is the 4th installment) we do Rubber Soul! Hear Will try hard not to influence Eugene's opinion! Luckily he doesn't have to as Eugene falls in love with this album almost immediately.

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PLUG: Live show coming up Monday Sep 4th 10:30pm at UCB Sunset in Los Angeles! Singing Beatles songs! Come out!

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Good idea gone terribly wrong? Brilliant art project? Or perhaps the most faithful fulfillment of the title of this podcast?

Our panel (Will Hines, Ariana Lenarsky, Wayland McQueen) welcomes guest Arthur Meyer (writer for The Tonight Show, also a human being) as we go through EACH AND EVERY BEATLES SONG to see what our personal / emotional associations are.

I somehow did not realize this would take two and a half hours. I honestly thought "eh, hour, hour and 10 minutes." You can hear me at the 90 minute mark apologize to the group and predict we were about half an hour away from being done. Nope. Another full hour awaited us.

Did I think about chopping this episode down to a more humane length? Yes. I could have skipped all the early albums, for which we didn't have as many memories. Or cut every song for which we had zero personal memories (often true for amazing songs like Lucy in the Sky). But that seemed like a cop-out, hard, and also would still have only gotten this down to an hour and forty five minutes.

So, I'm just leaving it here.

Even if you never listen to this, I do recommend DOING this with your Beatle loving friends. We four learned about each other, and it WAS very fun to DO. You'll be surprised what memories come up. The Beatles are ubiquitous and have bled into our consciousnesses and memories throughout our lives. 

Ariana remembers hearing "Yesterday" when she was six years old!

Arthur seems to know the favorite Beatles songs of all of his friends and lovers!

Wayland was married before! News to us!

Will and his brother Brian used to wake up to a different Beatles song every day until they made the mistake of picking "Good Day Sunshine!"

Anyway. Here it is. 2 and half hours of it. "Enjoy!"

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Beatles guitars! We have four guitarists on to talk about Beatles songs in terms of the guitar parts in this plus-sized episode! 

Topics include:

The ninth chords that ends a lot of the early songs;

the iconic beginnings of A Hard Day's Night / Day Tripper / I Feel Fine and more;

George solo in All My Loving;

cool chords on Michelle;

sick Paul solo on Taxman;

dual guitars on She Said She Said;

easy songs to play around a campfire;

the clawhammer picking on the White Album;

George's stellar contributions to Octopus' garden;

She's So Heavy

More!

Were we up to the technical challenge of recording four guitars in the host's living room with whatever cords people brought to the session? Not always! But the love for the music stays strong throughout!

Plus we do our own version of the Abbey Road trading guitars jam --- at the one hour and twenty minute mark! Necessary? No! Fun? Yes! And as with all our jams it has that first take authenticity! (Order of soloists: Joel, then Brett, then Mike with James playing rhythm).

Panelists: James Bachman, Mike Carlson, Will Hines, Brett Morris, Joel Spence.

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EMERGENCY EPISODE (er, kind of): We review the new remix of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band! We get deep into audiophile things, talking about where the instruments are panned in terms of "left" vs "right" and the what the previous versions of this album were like (mono vs stereo), and what the difference is between "remastered" and "remixed."

We check out the extra tracks a bit, including the first take of "Lucy in the Sky."

It is nerdy and specific and fawning and fun. Stick around after the theme to hear Brett Morris noodling on his guitar and talking a bit about John's songwriting.

Panelists: Will Hines, Ariana Lenarsky, Brett Morris, Joel Spence

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Abbey Road. How did we ever think there was an album better than this? Our panelists enter into a state of transcendental bliss as they listen to the entirety of this, the last album the Beatles recorded. We realize that we have loved this album our whole lives. Every track we find ourselves saying "oh, no, THIS one is our favorite." It doesn't seem to get old. The Beatles (+ producer George Martin, engineer Geoff Emerick) use everything they've learned along the way -- and they've learned a lot. In just 7 years, the band has evolved from a merely brilliant blues-rock cover band into the greatest team of songwriters, performers and studio producers that has ever been known in pop music. 

"Come Together" "Something" "Here Comes the Sun" "You Never Give Me Your Money" "Oh! Darling" "Because" "Golden Slumbers" "The End" -  These songs are perfect ideas, made better by performance, better again by production and better yet again by being in proximity to each other. This is a perfect album. We will hear no dissent. 

After this, they broke up.

This is the end of Season 1 of our podcast. There will be a Season 2. Stay subscribed to hear details once we've figured that out. Thank you so much to everyone who has listened to any of these episodes!

Panelists: Curtis Gwinn, Will Hines, Ariana Lenarsky, Joel Spence.

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Our panel dissects the strange album that is Let it Be. Part live album, part throwback, part new songs, part movie soundtrack - what IS it? Something like 10 producers worked on it (2 mostly) and it didn't even come out until after the Beatles broke up. (We're covering it now because we're doing the album in the order they were recorded, not released).

We still like it a lot.

Our panel also gets into what the sexiest Beatle song is, that Paul McCartney is Jackie's real dad, that Heather has weird taste in what counts as a sexy song, and that the song Let It Be is one of the most perfect songs ever.

Panelists: Lynsey Bonell, Jackie Johnson, Jen Krueger, Katie Plattner, Heather Woodward.

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Holy crap. Just three albums in and we are already at a masterpiece: A HARD DAY'S NIGHT. Spoiler alert: We love it. This is the first "all killer, no filler" album. It's so happy! But wait, it's sad! And holy crap: they had "Can't Buy Me Love" and also "If I Fell" on this album? And the title track? AND EVERY SONG? Panelists: Will Hines, Joel Spence, Curtis Gwinn, Ariana Lenarsky.

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