A Year With The Beatles

As a supplement to our third episode, Graeme Burk and Rob Jones get together to pay tribute to George Martin, who died in March at the age of 90. George Martin was not only an influential figure to the Beatles but popular music in the second half of the 20th century and Graeme and Rob discuss what George Martin brought to producing the Beatles, some examples of how he revolutionized pop music and what were some of his best moments with the Beatles. 

In the third month of our year with the Beatles, Graeme Burk and Rob Jones are talking with Shannon Dohar about A Hard Day's Night, which is the four lads' first album with all original songs as well as the tie-in to their first feature film. There's a small dispute about whether the album innovates, a discussion of Lennon-McCartney's growth as lyricists, a discussion of surprising songs and much more. For extra-credit homework, Graeme, Rob and Shannon all watched the 1963 film A Hard Day's Night and marvelled at the band's adeptness with film comedy and the uncommonly good script by Alun Owen and discussed whether this film laid the groundwork for the band's eventual demise.

In the second month of our year with the Beatles, Graeme Burk and Rob Jones got together with Andrew Flint to talk about With The Beatles and how it managed to avoid being anything but the difficult second album. There's also a discussion of the Beatles' growth in the studio, how they transformed the covers they performed and even a thought or two of how they might have presaged punk music.  For extra-credit homework, the guys watched the full episode of the Ed Sullivan Show featuring the Beatles' American debut and pondered what it must be like to be the self-effacing magic act following the fab four and much more.

In the first month of our year with the Beatles, Graeme Burk and Rob Jones are joined by Bill Evenson to discuss The Beatles debut album Please Please Me. There's a discussion of the Beatles in their earliest form, a conversation about favourite songs and deep cuts and we tackle the question of whether the Beatles' genius can be seen in nascent form even at this point. For extra-credit homework, Graeme, Rob and Bill listen to the Beatles' first single as sidemen for Tony Sheridan's "My Bonnie" for the German market.