I published a post about the last episode of our humble A Year With The Beatles podcast at the end of last month, for those of you keeping up. The show was a limited series of podcasts that explored one studio album by The Beatles each month as hosted by my oldest and best friend Graeme Burk and co-hosted by me, along with many other fine people as guests.
But what I didn’t tell you here on The Delete Bin was that during the course of our project, we recorded a number of supplementary episodes in the series beyond just those 12 albums.
For those of you who are completists, here is a list of those episodes for your amusement and edification that you may have missed, and with links to each!
A Tribute to George Martin
George Martin was indespensible to the development of The Beatles as a studio entity. Upon the occasion of his passing, Graeme and I took a look at Martin’s background and contribution, and explored how he made such a difference to the trajectory of the band, and how we now view the role of the record producer to this day as a result, thanks to his work.
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Films About The Beatles
The story of The Beatles seems to resonate across generations. Over the years, many films have been made about their history, some good, and some not quite so good. In this episode, Graeme, guest Shannon Dohar, and I explore a selection of them. We talk about what it is that makes the band’s story so compelling and filmable, and of course talk about our favourite (and least favourite!) depiction of the four lads from Liverpool.
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Leftover Singles & B-Sides: 1963-1965
From the very beginning, some of the best songs The Beatles recorded did not make it onto one of their Parlaphone albums, although many appeared on their Capitol records counterparts and compilation albums. In England they were singles, put out to deliver value for money to fans and to give them something exclusive to enjoy between LPs. To explore those songs released between 1963 and 1965, we were joined by podcaster and writer Erika Ensign to discuss the charms of these songs, and how they fit into our Beatles listening experience.
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Eight Days A Week Reviewed
In my absence, Graeme Burk and guest co-host NPR Books Editor Petra Meyer review the recent Ron Howard-helmed Beatles documentary that received limited theatrical release last summer. Did it shine a light on The Beatles’ story in a way we’ve never seen before?
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The Animated Beatles
Just like they were depicted in live action form, so were The Beatles interpreted into the medium of cartoons in at least two forms. One was The Beatles cartoon series that ran from 1965-1969 on ABC. Another was the more high-profile 1968 film Yellow Submarine. How do these interpretations compare and contrast? And what was the effect of having The Beatles appear as animated characters? To help Graeme and me explore this was Felicity Kuznitz, who also joins us in talking about how the music works in these cartoon contexts.
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Leftover Singles & B-Sides: 1966-1970
Even late in their career, The Beatles kept up the habit of releasing singles and b-sides which didn’t appear on the original UK versions of their albums. What do these ones reveal about the musical identity of the band, even toward the end when their union began to crumble? Our first-ever guest, Bill Evenson, comes back to join us on tackling this question, and as always helps us talk about our favourite tunes of the bunch.
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With a story that’s as big as The Beatles’, there was bound to be some overspill. And as it turned out, many of the above were some of my favourite episodes to do.
If you want to listen to the whole A Year With The Beatles series right from the beginning, that’s easy. Just click here.
and otherwise …
Enjoy!
The Delete Bin 