Greetings, folks!
Something I wanted to bring to everyone’s attention who might not have seen my post earlier this week: the Mark Lewisohn documentary, Evolver ‘62, was made available on Amazon Prime in the UK. Also - and this came directly to me from the director, Chris Purcell - these platforms:
Apple TV
Google Play
https://bit.ly/4qsUXHy
Fandango at Home
https://bit.ly/45SSvTu
Amazon US
Amazon UK
DVD
https://bit.ly/3Zap37F
Artwork by Eric Cash
The film had been available for free this week in the US on Tubi, but then just as quickly disappeared. I have been promised a conversation about Evolver ‘62, which is a documentary depiction of the lectures Lewisohn had delivered in the UK in the autumn of 2022 (“Love Me Do’s 60th). It doesn’t look like Mark himself will be coming on, and to be honest, I didn’t expect that he would. But hopefully, Chris or producer Simon Weitzman will make good on their offer, so we’ll just see.
NEWS
The Beatles’ organization announced more castings from the Sam Mendes film project, including the roles of Ravi Shankar, Cynthia Lennon, Jane Asher and Stuart Sutcliffe. You can read about them here. In recent weeks, there was much pearl-clutching among a certain segment of fans over leaked images taken of the shoot, which served as catnip for those among the hardest of the hardcore trainspotters (to mix metaphors). They’ve been quick on the trigger to call out anachronisms they’ve spotted (see what you can spot here) and I can freely admit that a younger version of me would’ve piled on too. But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve found there’s no good reason to rush into being socially insufferable - most people don’t care and these films aren’t documentaries. (Flashback to 1979 and the release of Quadrophenia: there’s a scene that’s supposed to take place in 1964 and it depicts the 1970s double reissue release of The Who’s Sell Out and A Quick One/Happy Jack album. I can recall this jumping out at me at the time, but later read somewhere that its placement in the film was deliberate as a joke by the filmmakers. Who knows?)
All the considerable quibbling we’ve seen so far online about the actors and their lack of resemblance to the people they are portraying (or their advanced ages) and details like “that album didn’t exist at the time being depicted” underscores what a tremendous challenge it is for anyone bold enough to take on a project of this scope about people known quite well to the world. It takes a lot of brass to subject oneself to the inevitable criticism one will face, as well as a tremendous amount of self-belief in what one is doing to set something like this in motion, so whatever judgment we make once we see the finished films, I think a certain amount of respect is due to Sam Mendes for even investing so much energy into this in the first place. Here’s a good article about the criticism so far, and the challenges facing filmmakers in the real world that go beyond casting lookalikes and getting small details right.
Speaking of filmmakers, we said goodbye to actor Bud Cort this week. For most people, he’s best known for his portrayal of the male half of the couple in Hal Ashby’s 1971 film, Harold and Maude, opposite Ruth Gordon. I am confident I can say that most everyone who has seen it loves it, while at the same time it remains one of the boldest and strangest movies ever made for a mass audience. A life-affirming black comedy rom-com - how do you sum that up on a poster? The film also features a soundtrack by Cat Stevens, at the top of his game at the time, in an exercise of marrying music to story very much on the level of Mike Nichol’s use of Simon and Garfunkel’s tunes in The Graduate. All a way of saying, if you haven’t yet seen it, do check it out.
Not much in the way of any overlap between Cort and Beatles, but I did spot this:
Here’s the rest of the article, from 2014, giving his side of things (“a blessing and a curse” is how he recalls Harold and Maude). Cort was 77.
BEATLES FOR SALE
Remember the 2022 music video for Revolver’s “I’m Only Sleeping”? Your mileage may vary, but I thought it was an original and engaging visualization to a nearly-sixty year old song at the time, and sure enough, it went on to win a Grammy. It was created by artist and filmmaker Em Cooper, who describes the process here. In any event, the artwork used for the film is now going up for sale - you can find the details here.
ON ART AND YOKO
You recall I have mentioned the exhibit currently in town (Chicago) but not for long: Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind. Having now actually seen it, I can recommend it without reservation. It originated in 2024 at the Tate Modern in London (remember that pavement artwork seen in George’s 1981 Somewhere In England cover art? That was photographed there) before arriving here in October (yes, it took me a while to get down there) and will be leaving soon, headed to Los Angeles. If you are already a fan of Yoko, I don’t need to tell you anything more. If you aren’t, I’ll tell you this: set aside your objections to her presence in The Beatles’ story (some criticisms are valid and no one in this story is above reproach, but…) and try to approach it with an open mind. If you are at all interested in context - why was John so fascinated with her? and how did she warrant an exhibit at Indica Gallery in November 1966 in the first place? - you will learn all of this and more.
All of the best-known pieces are here, including the step ladder + canvas, Mend Piece, Half-A-Wind, instructional poems, hammer and nails, apple on display, and so forth; also, a wishing tree and space for her discography. Films being shown included Yoko Ono’s Film Number 4 (AKA “Bottoms”), plus Fly, whose production serves as comic relief throughout the 2025 One To One documentary. I didn’t see the most notorious films in her oeuvre (Self Portrait, which is often confused with another film that isn’t what you think it is, titled Erection), but 1969’s Rape might be the most interesting and controversial joint John-and-Yoko project, and that’s saying something. You can read all about it here.
Here’s something I found funny and totally on brand for her style of conceptual art.
Try the URL - some Yoko-styled hilarity will ensue. But then there’s this one.
As noted, I was given a couple of pertinent names attached to the exhibit at Chicago’s MCA but neither responded to an invite to discuss it: conceptual! But I will work my way up the fabled step-ladder and get somebody nailed down eventually…
HISTORY
On February 15, 2026, Glyn Johns turned 84. The man whose credits are among the most staggering in rock (having worked with The Beatles, The Who, the Stones, as well as The Kinks, Small Faces, Led Zeppelin, Steve Miller Band, Spooky Tooth, Humble Pie, The Move, Eagles, Belly and LOADS more) has been having a renaissance of late, given his prominent presence in Peter Jackson’s Get Back. (Any talk of Johns in Get Back cannot overlook his singular fashion choices in January 1969. Any interview with him would be worthwhile, but a discussion of what and why would be fascinating.)
Oddly, the two times he worked in the orbit of Beatles - first as a group, and then with Paul in Wings - did not quite come off as planned, despite their obvious fondness for him. With Get Back, adhering to the concept they’d planned for a “warts and all” release just didn’t work: he duly submitted several audio vérité drafts of what they’d asked for, but they were evidently horrified at the results and ultimately, the collection ended up in the hands of Phil Spector to make it palatable for issue. Three years later, Glyn walked out of the sessions for Red Rose Speedway, purportedly frustrated with the excessive weed consumption leading to hours of studio self-indulgence that failed to get the project on track. (RRS was originally planned as a double album, but ended up a single; arguably, some of the rejected tracks may have been better off issued than some of what was, suggesting Johns may have had a point.)
To choose a single representative track to sum up Johns’ career would be impossible, but one recording does suggest itself: in 1975, during work on The Who By Numbers, Glyn insisted (and won) the argument for including a particular solo Pete Townshend recording to be included on the release: “Blue, Red and Grey.” Said Pete, ‘I said, ‘What? That fucking thing? Here’s me wanting to commit suicide and you’re going to put that thing on the record?'” Augmented with brass from John Entwistle, it is a rare understated gem within The Who’s canon not bursting with bombast. It takes special ears to recognize its qualities, and Glyn had them.
He penned a memoir - Sound Man: A Life Recording Hits with The Rolling Stones, The Who, Led Zeppelin, the Eagles, Eric Clapton, The Faces… - in 2014. Here’s an interview excerpt, discussing Beatley things.
FROM THE ARCHIVE
As noted in last week’s newsletter, the Man On The Run film will be playing worldwide on the big screen for one night only on Thursday (19 February) this week. For anyone who can’t make it, or else is feeling nostalgic for Wings’ first iteration, check out this. It’s Wings’ TV appearance in June 1972 on the UK children’s show, Basil Brush. (It comes at 19 minutes in, to spare you all some agony.) They are plugging their second single, in perhaps the most suitable setting possible (a kid’s show), infinitely more fitting than where they promoted the song later that year on US TV (27 minutes in). If Paul and co were getting some serious kicking around by the credible rock press of the day, it’s little wonder.
All best, RR
Enjoying the podcast? Say so here
Got an issue? Tell me here:
Subject: Feedback
Join the SATB Discord!
Socials: