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

NOTE: although Midas Man is not available on major streaming platofmrs, you can buy and watch it at this link: https://bit.ly/4jQmYGa This supports the creators of the movie better than watching it on streaming does! ------------------------- In this episode, we do a watchalong to the 2024 film Midas Man, which tells the story of Beatles manager Brian Epstein. This movie currently not available for streaming in America, just Europe. But we believe it will be available for streaming soon! The movie watch starts at about 21 minutes in. We were inspired by director Sam Mendes planned FOUR Beatles biopics, one for each member. It's a very ambitious goal for a genre -- Beatles biopics -- in which there currently almost no success stories. Portraying the Beatles is really hard! We're so familiar with the real thing! Getting the rights to the songs is tough! Midas Man is a respectable film in many ways: the actors are really good, the production is professional. Epstein is a fascinating guy. In the end, the panel of this podcast that despite it's strengths, it doesn't pull off the job of giving us the feeling of the Beatles' world. Also, Jay Leno plays Ed Sullivan, which is something we did not know going into this. --------- Our bonus episode this month for bonus subscribers is a 40 minute look into session drummer/genius Bernard Purdie's claims that he did overdubs on 21 Beatles tracks. This claim has been debunked, but Purdie sure seems to think it happened. What's the story? It's interesting and we get into it. To get our bonus episodes, subscribe at screwitpodcasts.com You can also join our free Discord channel at screwitpodcasts.com  

The panel takes a look at George Harrison's 1973 album Living In The Material World. Our reason is that a re-release came out last year (2024) and we've been meaning to examine it. But also we are sometimes big dummies who haven't given things a proper listen and it was just long overdue for us to give this a proper listen. Hey, guess what? It's good. It's listed on Wikipedia as his 4th solo album but that's because they are counting his experimental albums Wonderwall Music and Electronic Sound (done while the Beatles were still together). Most fans would consider this to be his second solo album, following the massively successul 1970's All Things Must Pass.  Compared to the epic feel of All Things Must Pass, Living in the Material World is more contained. This feels more like a small rock combo delivering simple but effective arrangements. We've got a lot of the usual suspects for Beatles solo albums: Nicky Hopkins on keys, Jim Keltner on drums, Klaus Voorman on bass. We also have lots of George solo and rhythm guitar. A little bit of sitar. A little bit of string arrangements.  It sounds modern to our ears. His voice is really front and center, especially in this new 2024 mix. It feels vulnerable and bold. The two most famous tracks are likely "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)" and "Be Here Now" but every track is thoughtful and interesting. The Beatles seemed incapable of going through the motions. Every song has SOMETHING unique and unexpected.  It's a great listen!

The panel goes over Look Up, the 21st studio album from Ringo Starr. Largely written and produced by T-Bone Burnett, this album features a bit more of a country flavor, though still unmistakably Ringo, maybe because he's one of the most famous people on the planet. We like this album because we like Ringo, and it's a pleasure to spend time with his voice. We go over positive and negative reviews for the album. We talk about the phenomenon of Ringo in general, and what makes him so likable. We speculate on why he is so prolific, and how we're glad he still does so much. -------- You can subscribe to support the podcast and get full access to our back catalog. See details at screwitpodcasts.com You can also join our Discord, a free chat service, by clicking on the invite link at screwitpodcasts.com

A new Bob Dylan biopic, "A Complete Unknown" starring Timothy Chalamet, directed by James Mangold has been in theaters. The panel took this chance to spend an episode talking about Bobby D. We don't know his music nearly as well as we do the Beatles. But we are fans. So we just took turns picking songs and talking about them.  Here's the songs we discuss in this episode: Visions of Johanna Billy 1 Ring Them Bells I Want You Murder Most Foul Most Of The Time Most Of The Time - Tell Tale Signs version Threw It All Away Idiot Wind Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You 4th Time Around Nettie Moore Congratulations - Traveling Wilburys Ballad of a Thin Man The Time They Are A Changin' Girl From A North Country When I Paint My Masterpiece Hurricane As you can see we jump all over the place! Hope you enjoy this! ---------- Subscribe to support the podcast and get access to back episodes: screwitpodcasts.com Also join our free Discord at screwitpodcasts.com  

The panel discusses the new documentary Beatles '64, released November 2024 on Disney Plus. Using a lot of behind the scenes footage from the Beatles first U.S. visit, which includes their landmark appearance on the Ed Sullivan show. Although this is not the landmark event that Peter Jackson's Get Back doc was, it's still really fun for Beatles fan. A lot of the behind the scenes footage is from the journalists Albert and David Maysles. As Will points out, a lot of it was featured in a VHS tape called The First U.S. Visit. But the doc add a lot of interviews with Paul and Ringo, as well as journalists, musicians (Smokey Robinson) and some of the original Beatles fans captured on film at that time.  Will was a bit grouchy -- he'd seen a lot of this footage in an old VHS tape called The Beatles First U.S. Visit and wasn't into the talking heads interview. The other panelsts enjoyed it a lot!  What do you think? Email us at [email protected] with your thoughts.    ---- Subscribe for access to full back catalog of podcast episodes at screwitpodcasts.com Use code HOLIDAY24 for 20% off of annual plans through the end of 2024.

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. Subscribe to screwitpodcasts.com for full access to back episodes. Email us as [email protected] with your Beatles thoughts.   Joel: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6rBVnGnl4XIPCjhjlItCd6?si=ef20f0fb4b0444d5   Brett: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5aUUsGDpqQyUCTBzEciJNQ?si=08dc61daea214c28   Katie: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6d0Pf9Mjf7y97rs8wt2BKL?si=cc7a557f509b4ef4   Will: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1v9OXDFHiH3NSIJpPrCbf5?si=d382dc3d7bb44c1d   Will (more conventional): https://open.spotify.com/playlist/52cNnJmRdmNo3Bj4oYNhpI?si=1fad739432134267

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! For full access to all of our back episodes, subscribe at screwitpodcasts.com!  

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: ------------------ 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!  Tell friends they can subscribe to get our full back catalog at screwitpodcasts.com And join our (sometimes busy?) free Discord chat service there also! And email us at: [email protected]  

(This is an abridged version - subscribe at screwitpodcasts.com for the full version) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 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. ------------------ To get access to special episodes and our whole back catalog, subscribe at screwitpodcasts.com Email us at [email protected]