Hello all,
I haven’t quite finished cutting the next show, but in the meantime, for anyone looking to fill that place in their listening habits, allow me to offer up three podcasts I appear on that went public in the last week: first, there is the Note By Note conversation with Kenyon and Peter, focused largely on “I’ll Be Back.” Then, there is the briefer but fun Robert Miller talk on Follow Your Dream podcast. And last, the Classic Rock Album Olympics analysis with Gary Wenstrup of 1975’s The Who By Numbers, an often-overlooked release that deserves more love than it tends to get.
News
Just before the long-anticipated release of the Power To The People release in its various iterations this past week, Sean gave an interview on the SiriusXM Fab Forum; you can hear it here. Surprising to absolutely no one who’s paid attention to the roll out of this project or is a regular listener of The Beatles Channel, the elephant in the room was simply not addressed. Reviews posted in the wake of its release tended to split two ways: toward the glowing, accepting record label dictates that some material just doesn’t have a place in the 21st century, while others skewed toward dismay at the “normalization of artistic vandalism,” as one reviewer called it earlier. (Allan Kozinn’s piece in the Wall Street Journal was a good example of the latter, for anyone who can access it beyond the paywall.)
Sir Paul’s tour rolls on; here’s a review.
Remember the four Sam Mendes films in progress we’ve discussed from time to time in this forum? The new news: casting of the female leads was announced. Saoirse Ronan (you knew she was Irish but did you know she was born in The Bronx?) has been cast as Linda Eastman. This begs the question: since Paul and Linda met in ‘67, coupled up in ‘68 and married in ‘69, will there be a Jane Asher (or Cyn) cast? Ronan will be joining Anna Sawai (Yoko), Aimee Lou Wood (Pattie) and Mia McKenna-Bruce (Maureen) as the announced names so far. These ladies join the other four principals for what so far seems to be getting judged (harshly) as though it was a lookalike contest.
Less contentious was the announcement on what would’ve been John’s 85th birthday of the banjo once owned by surviving Quarry Men member Rod Davis going on public display in Liverpool. Interestingly, one cannot see it in the photos taken on July 6, 1957 at the Woolton fête where John and Paul were introduced by Ivan Vaughan, but it is documented in his hands that very month - I am not thinking anyone doubts him. The hook is that it was occasionally played by John, and by Julia. (The banjo is currently owned by Ashley Davie, an associate producer of the Good Ol’ Freda documentary.)
Releases
It was just announced this week that Ringo’s first four (and yes - 1977’s Ringo the 4th would’ve been more accurately titled Ringo the 6th) albums are coming to colored vinyl.
For anyone who collects such things, 7,600 “zoetrope” copies of George’s Living in the Material World album will be issued for Black Friday this year. (November 28)
Passing Noted
As some of you may know, Brian Epstein took on the Moody Blues as managerial clients for one year, from October 1965 to September 1966. The most notable aspect of this association (besides Denny Laine later joining Wings) wasn’t any hit single or album being released. Instead, it’s that for the month of December 1965, the Moodies and the Beatles were tour mates for the latter’s final live UK dates. Denny quit the band one year later, effectively ending the band’s partnership with NEMS. But the Moodies re-grouped, and Laine was replaced with Justin Hayward, while their departed bassist’s place (Clint Warwick, who’d briefly been replaced by Rod Clark, who did not appear on any of their albums) was taken by John Lodge, who passed away this past week at 82. The addition of these two made for a shift in direction that took the Birmingham five-some from R&B also-rans to enduring rock legends.
The band with Lodge and Hayward onboard was a different animal from the Laine-Warwick iteration: instead of their rootsy soul sound, the Moodies took a look around, realized it was 1967, and headed down their defining path: a progressive one encompassing elements of classical and English folk as well as their beloved early rock ‘n’ roll. Days of Future Passed, released post-Pepper, introduced the quintet’s new direction. It was the right thing at the right time, showing how the rock palette had been expanded, marrying an actual concept to an exploration of sounds (orchestral plus Mellotron) to produce pleasing results that needn’t be impenetrable or wholly pretentious. Lodge contributed “Evening (Time To Get Away)” - initially unlisted on early pressings.
For the follow up - 1968’s In Search of the Lost Chord - Lodge showed he could contribute memorable material, in this case “Ride My See-Saw.” His signature song, “I’m Just A Singer (In a Rock and Roll Band)” arrived on 1972’s Seventh Sojourn, but really it was his bass playing that marked his chief contribution to the band. Listen to tracks like “The Story in Your Eyes” and “Wildest Dreams” for just two examples. Their 1992 Red Rocks concert is a great showcase for what these guys could do.
John played with the Moodies until their retirement in 2018, and produced a couple of solo albums along the way. One of his touring iterations shared the stage with the latter-day edition of Yes, and a song they trotted out was “Imagine,” featuring the Lennon recording’s drummer, Alan White. John Lodge shared the lead vocals with latter-day Moodies keyboardist Alan Hewitt.
With Lodge’s passing on October 10, only Hayward remains of their classic line-up (plus keyboardist Patrick Moraz if one counts their latter-day albums).
History
October 15, 1960: the very first studio recording session by John, Paul, George and Ringo took place in Hamburg.
Now, of course, Ringo wasn't a Beatle yet and this wasn't even a proper "Beatles" session: instead, it was contrived as a showcase for "Wally" - bassist Lu Walters from Rory Storm and The Hurricanes, who functioned as the second lead vocalist in the outfit and specialized in ballads. The Beatles came to Hamburg in mid-August, while the Hurricanes followed after, replacing Derry and The Seniors, the first Liverpool act Allan Williams had sent. In October, he came down to check on their progress and also to check in with the Reeperbahn club owners to see about sending more acts.
While Allan quickly discovered that The Beatles had improved greatly since Liverpool - the hours and hours of stage time before a demanding audience, fueled by amphetamines and beer saw to that - he was more interested in promoting Wally as a potential star and to that end, decided to spring for a "professional" recording session to produce a demo with which he might be able to shop him around. At this distance, it is not all all clear exactly who made the creative decisions as to which musicians would be involved; whether it was intended strictly as the four core Beatles backing Wally, until Pete decided he was going to go to a music store to buy himself some drumsticks, or whether Ringo was drafted into the project from the start (Stuart abstained).
In any event, here it was: the classic Beatles line-up plus Wally, in a recording studio together for the first time. The facility itself, Akustik Studio, was located on the fifth floor of a building in the city's downtown area. As for the itinerary, the one song that most accounts consistently name is "Summertime," the Gershwin standard from Porgy and Bess that had been recorded by rocker Gene Vincent (and was a part of both band's repertoires). "Fever" was a title that also surfaced in tellings of the event through the years, while "September Song" is also mentioned as the possible third song recorded. Johnny Guitar of The Hurricanes, who attended the session but did not play, said the facility was not much more impressive than Percy Phillips' set-up in Liverpool (where both the Quarry Men and the Hurricanes had recorded). Unlike Phillips' method, Akustik recorded to tape before cutting to disc: in this instance, it is believed that six acetates were cut, not one of which is known to still exist today.
A photo of an acetate, bearing the title “Summertime” was first published in Williams’ 1975 memoir, The Man Who Gave The Beatles Away (and re-published in 2025’s Ribbons of Rust by Rodriguez/Hammack). It is entirely possible that one day one of the non-Williams/Ringo copies will be found among the estates of the Hurricanes who were involved; we can only hope.
Bonus History
Mike Webber is a guy I have been acquainted with through social media for a number of years, but it wasn’t until recently that I got to experience some of his Beatles writing, one that ties together his aviation vocation with his Beatles fandom. He has, through the years, put together three lengthy articles focused on this very specific niche and The Beatles. The first is focused around their initial TWA flight to the states for the Ed Sullivan Show. The second one takes up the story upon their trip to Los Angeles. And newly-published, the third installment and final piece of the trilogy serves to tie up some loose ends, both before and after the specific periods covered in the first two articles.
I am deeply appreciative of anyone who can not only come up with a fresh angle on a familiar story, but also who then possesses some serious research chops to track down the data and then present it well. It’s not a skill that everyone has (and honestly, more people attempt it than have a right to). It is therefore my pleasure to share some good Beatle reading with you here exploring the logistical challenges of getting The Beatles around the world during a hectic, demanding time when the protocols in place now had scarcely been conceived. Just makes you appreciate even more what they had to go through to make those thirty minutes onstage happen, providing experiences that lasted a lifetime for anyone fortunate enough to have been there.
All best,
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