“It’s rip-roaring, infectious stuff, with the accent on beat throughout,” wrote Derek Johnson in the New Musical Express.

“Beatles For Sale is going to sell, sell, sell. It is easily up to standard and will knock out pop fans, rock fans, R&B and Beatles fans,” predicted Melody Maker’s Chris Welch.

Nevertheless, the Fab Four’s fourth album has received mixed reviews down the years, especially when rated within the context of their musical canon. Worked to the bone with film, TV, radio, press and global concert tour assignments, The Beatles were also under pressure to deliver a couple of LPs per year. Unable to sustain the standard set by the all-Lennon-McCartney A Hard Day’s Night, its composers still produced some magnificent work, yet a few mediocre tracks, out-of-tune guitars and uncharacteristically questionable artistic choices gave the finished record an erratic quality that has resulted in divided opinions among listeners—including those discussing it on this show.

Under-appraised and underpraised, Beatles For Sale is put under the microscope for a well-earned reevaluation. And what no one can deny is that even the group’s sub-par output—in the eyes and ears of some—outstrips that of most other artists.

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Such was the growing British interest surrounding The Beatles by mid-1963 that, on 1st July, fans gathered outside the EMI Studios on Abbey Road where the group was recording both sides of its next single: ‘She Loves You’ and ‘I’ll Get You’.

Since the late-Sixties, ‘She Loves You’ has been short-changed; dismissed by many as just catchy MOR pop compared to the Fab Four’s subsequent, more experimental tracks. In reality, this one was every bit as groundbreaking: a unique, infectious, beautifully-crafted rock belter that saw the Lennon-McCartney songwriting team hit the ball out of the park before, five days later, they and their colleagues accomplished the same inside Studio Two.

‘She Loves You’ was unlike anything that had been heard before—in various ways. So, where did it come from? And what were the ingredients in its creation? Take a deep dive into a true classic.

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How, when and where did our passion for the Fab Four first get ignited? What form did it take and how has it evolved, personally and professionally? Our friend Mark Lewisohn, the group’s foremost biographer, joins us for an informal chat recorded at Erik’s home studio that provides perspective and reminiscences from both sides of the Atlantic, reaching back more than 55 years to our initial encounters with John, Paul, George and Ringo on TV, radio, record and in print. It’s been a lifelong love story, focusing on not only the music, but also the personalities… and the humour. As such, this episode speaks to fans everywhere.

The Music

• ‘I’ll Get You’
• ‘She Loves You’
• ‘Here There and Everywhere’
• ‘The Inner Light’
• ‘Look at Me’
• ‘The Beatles Movie Medley’
• ‘All My Loving’

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During a taped business meeting attended by three Beatles and Neil Aspinall while Ringo was away – likely in mid-September ‘69, a month before that in which John would say he wanted “a divorce” from the group – JL remarked, “Alright, let’s move on. We’ll do another album. We’ll all do four songs. How’s that? That’s fair.”

When the others showed no interest, he then said, “Alright, how about a Christmas single? Y’know, we finish it with a Christmas single. I think it’s a great idea — I’m in.”

That changed after John and Yoko performed in Toronto with Eric and Klaus. But what if the others had approved John’s initial suggestion and immediately returned to the studio? Between them they already had enough songs for another LP – songs that would end up being utilized for their own solo projects.

Here are the tracks selected by your co-hosts…

Erik

• Let It Down
• Look at Me
• Another Day
• Stormy Weather
• Gimme Some Truth
• Hear Me Lord
• Maybe I’m Amazed
• Oh My Love
• Art of Dying
• Child of Nature
• All Things Must Pass
• The Back Seat of My Car
• Isn’t It a Pity
• Suicide

Richard

• Gimme Some Truth
• Maybe I’m Amazed
• Art of Dying
• Child of Nature
• All Things Must Pass
• Another Day
• Isn’t It a Pity
• Oh My Love
• When Every Song is Sung
• Every Night
• Beautiful Girl
• Look at Me
• The Back Seat of My Car
• What is Life

Featuring a recording of ‘Maybe I’m Amazed’ by Mark & Rosalie Cunningham, produced for this show.

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At the suggestion of press officer Tony Barrow, The Beatles ended their first year of national fame by thanking the members of their UK fan club with a flexi-disc single containing a specially recorded Christmas message. So began an annual tradition that not only endured as long as they were together, but also mirrored and encapsulated their career: from the innocent fun of 1963 and 1964 to the biting cynicism of 1965, offbeat creativity of 1966, psychedelic surrealism of 1967, disparate contributions of 1968 and complete fragmentation of 1969. What starts off joyous ends up sad, with much of life in between – and guest appearances by George Martin, Mal Evans, Victor Spinetti, Yoko Ono and Tiny Tim.

Featuring:

• “Christmas Time (Is Here Again)”
• 1963: “The Beatles’ Christmas Record”
• 1964: “Another Beatles Christmas Record” + outtakes
• 1965: “The Beatles’ Third Christmas Record” + outtakes
• 1966: “The Beatles’ Fourth Christmas Record: Everywhere It’s Christmas” + outtakes
• 1967: “Christmas Time Is Here Again!”
• 1968: “The Beatles’ 1968 Christmas Record”
• 1969: “The Beatles’ Seventh Christmas Record: Happy Christmas 1969”
• Dora Bryan – “All I Want for Christmas is a Beatle”

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This is a new phase STTS episode…

Essential to the concept of the ‘International White Album Symposium’ at Monmouth University, New Jersey, was that we recorded the show in front of an audience, revisiting and merging the much-discussed topics of Episodes #2 and #4 with a couple of our mates: celebrated Beatles author Mark Lewisohn and our resident musicologist Allan Kozinn.

John Lennon and Paul McCartney each contributed 12 songs to the White Album. These could have been justifiably issued as LPs in their own right. And what stunners they would have been; filled with an eclectic array of incredible compositions and unforgettable performances that captured both men—and their bandmates—at the top of their game.

Here we review the Lennon and McCartney White Albums, comparing them with each other as well as with the legendary, recently remixed Beatles opus. In comes the warmth and freshness of a live appearance, captured for you by the STTS team. Featured tracks:

• Birthday
• I’m So Tired
• Julia
• Dear Prudence
• Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
• Back in the U.S.S.R.
• Why Don’t We Do It in the Road?
• Revolution

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A tribute to the recording engineer whose in-studio innovations helped shape The Beatles’ sound—and alter the course of popular music.

Geoffrey Emerick (born 5th December 1945, died 2nd October 2018) was just 16-years-old when, on 6th June 1962, he joined the EMI Studios on Abbey Road as a tape operator. Two days later, he attended the group’s first recording session with Ringo Starr on drums. He subsequently assisted on a number of sessions, including those for ‘She Loves You’ and ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’, before replacing Norman Smith as The Beatles’ chief engineer in early 1966 and diving straight into the deep end with the first track committed to tape for their landmark ‘Revolver’ LP: the revolutionary, now-legendary ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’. The following year, ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ won him his first of four Grammy Awards.

In this episode, Richard, Erik, Allan and Craig examine how, together with producer George Martin, Geoff helped realize The Beatles’ most far-flung creative ambitions. And there is also an enlightening interview with multi-award-winning engineer John Kurlander, who assisted Geoff on the group’s final album, ‘Abbey Road’.

Featured Tracks

• Tomorrow Never Knows (STTS remix)
• Yer Blues
• Good Day Sunshine
• Good Morning Good Morning
• Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End (STTS remix)
• I’m Only Sleeping
• A Day in the Life (STTS remix)

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They’ve been labeled the Prefab Four, America’s answer to The Beatles; a manufactured group performing songs on TV and in concert that were written by accomplished composers and recorded by crack session musicians. All of which is true—up to a point. Davy Jones, Mike Nesmith, Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork boasted assorted pedigrees as actors and/or musicians, and they eventuially exerted greater control over their own career. But, as fast as they became superstars on both sides of the Atlantic, they flamed out, and to this day the debate continues regarding their musical validity and credibility. Which is where Richard, Erik, Allan and Craig enter the picture…

The music featured on this show comprises a wide array of singles, session tapes, outtakes and tracks from the albums ‘The Monkees’ (1966), ‘More of The Monkees’, ‘Headquarters’, ‘Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd.’ (all 1967), ‘The Birds, The Bees and The Monkees’ and ‘Head’ (both 1968).

Featured Tracks:

• (Theme from) The Monkees
• Mary, Mary
• Goin’ Down
• (I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone
• Cuddly Toy
• Daydream Believer
• Your Auntie Grizelda
• Ladies Aid Society
• Saturday’s Child
• Papa Gene’s Blues
• Take a Giant Step
• Last Train to Clarksville
• I Wanna Be Free
• She
• When Love Comes Knockin’ (at Your Door)
• Sometime in the Morning
• The Day We Fall in Love
• Porpoise Song (Theme from Head)
• Laugh
• I’m a Believer
• Gonna Buy Me a Dog
• For Pete’s Sake
• Randy Scouse Git
• Shades of Gray
• A Little Bit Me, a Little Bit You
• Salesman
• The Door into Summer
• Words
• What Am I Doing Hangin’ ’Round?
• Star Collector
• Love is Only Sleeping
• Peter Percival Patterson’s Pet Pig Porky
• Valleri
• Ditty Diego – War Chant
• Pleasant Valley Sunday

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Arguably the most famous of all unfinished albums, at the center of an infamous showdown between Brian Wilson and his fellow Beach Boys, SMiLE was envisaged as a means of elevating the standard pop opus to unprecedented artistic heights. Commercial considerations, a copious intake of drugs and Brian’s rapidly deteriorating mental health put paid to that—especially after he heard The Beatles’ landmark Sgt. Pepper. For years it was alleged that he had destroyed the session tapes, yet these eventually emerged intact and a rejuvenated Brian has since performed the entire set live. So, how would SMiLE have fared if released as intended at the start of 1967? And what kind of impact might it have had on the contemporary music scene? Erik, Richard, Allan and Craig dive into this intriguing, part-tragic, ultimately inspirational topic along with special guest John Anderson, the Emmy-winning, Grammy-nominated director of numerous films featuring Brian, The Beach Boys and assorted other rock luminaries.

Check out John’s credits here: http://www.thisisandersonproductions.com/AboutUs.html

Featured tracks:

• Our Prayer/Gee
• Heroes and Villains
• Do You Like Worms? (Roll Plymouth Rock)
• I’m In Great Shape/Barnyard
• You Are My Sunshine/Old Master Painter
• Cabin Essence
• Wonderful
• Look (Song for Children)
• Child is Father of the Man
• Surf’s Up
• I Wanna Be Around/Workshop
• Vega-tables
• Holidays
• Wind Chimes
• Mrs. O’Leary’s Cow
• Love to Say Dada (In Blue Hawaii)
• Good Vibrations

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The things we loved back in the 1960s that we’re now embarrassed about, as well as the things we still love from the 1960s that we should be embarrassed about: the music, movies, TV shows, products, fashions, you name it.

The musical content on this show includes:

• Ian Bernard – ‘Inquistive Tango’ (theme from Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In)
• Bikini Beach cast – ‘Bikini Beach’
• Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs – ‘Wooly Bully’
• Elvis Presley – ‘Kissin’ Cousins’
• The Flintstones – ‘The Way-Outs’
• The Jetsons – ‘Jet Screamer’
• Gary Miller – ‘Aqua Marina’
• The Flower Pot Men – ‘Let’s Go to San Francisco’
• Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Titch – ‘The Legend of Xanadu’
• Paper Dolls – ‘Something Here in My Heart’
• The Glitterhouse – ‘Barbarella’
• Elvis Presley – ‘Wolf Call’
• Ricky Nelson – ‘Hello Mary Lou’
• Napoleon XIV – ‘They’re Coming to Take Me Away’
• Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs – ‘Little Red Riding Hood’
• The Royal Guardsmen – ‘Snoopy vs. the Red Baron’
• The Swingin’ Medallions – ‘Double Shot (Of My Baby’s Love)’
• Sopwith Camel – ‘Hello Hello’
• The T-Bones – ‘No Matter What Shape (Your Stomach’s In)’
• Tony Hatch/Wings –Crossroads theme
• Ann-Margret – ‘Bye Bye Birdie’
• Doris Day – ‘Move Over Darling’

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Even by the standards of the 1960s, it was quite a week: the murder of peaceful-protest civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., resulting riots across the U.S.A., multilateral talk of a ceasefire in the Vietnam war, the fall of Czechoslovakia’s communist government as part of the pro-democracy movement’s ‘Prague Spring,’ the appointment of Pierre Trudeau as Canadian Prime Minister, the release of movies such as 2001: A Space Odyssey and Planet of the Apes, and a wide array of now-classic chart hits on both sides of the Atlantic.

Among this episode’s musical attractions:

• Louis Armstrong’s ‘What a Wonderful World’
• The Beatles’ ‘Lady Madonna’
• Elvis Presley’s ‘Guitar Man’
• The Move’s ‘Fire Brigade’
• Aretha Franklin’s ‘Sweet Sweet Baby (Since You’ve Been Gone)’
• Donovan’s ‘Jennifer Juniper’
• Otis Redding’s ‘(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay’
• The Lemon Pipers’ ‘Green Tambourine’
• James Brown’s ‘I Got the Feelin’’
• Bobby Goldsboro’s ‘Honey’
• The Monkees’ ‘Valleri’
• Cliff Richard’s ‘Congratulations’
• The Delfonics’ ‘La-La (Means I Love You)’
• Sly and the Family Stone’s ‘Dance to the Music’
• Mahalia Jackson’s ‘Take My Hand, Precious Lord’
• Cilla Black’s ‘Step Inside Love’

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“I don’t see too much difference between Rubber Soul and Revolver,” George said in the ‘Beatles Anthology’ documentary. “To me, they could be Volume One and Volume Two.”

Many might think he should have paired Revolver with Sgt. Pepper. But, bearing in mind that George wasn’t nearly as involved with Pepper, let’s view things from his perspective…

In August 1965, John and George took acid intentionally for the first time, together with Ringo. In October and November, The Beatles recorded Rubber Soul. The following month, 10 days after the album’s release, a day after the end of the group’s final UK tour, Paul took LSD for the first time (with Guinness heir Tara Browne). Less than four months later, the Revolver sessions began.

Very different albums, but within just five months of one another: ‘Volume One’ shortly after three Beatles had dropped acid; ‘Volume Two’ after Paul had done so.

Featuring ear-catching, ultra-rare audio clips, this episode will dive deep into how hallucinogens influenced not only The Beatles’ songwriting and studio techniques during this period of unsurpassed group unity, but also the attitudes and instrumentation evident on record.

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Just because a record’s a hit doesn’t mean it’s good. And there are many good records that never achieve chart success. This show focuses on the former: 1960s singles that cracked the top 100 in the U.S. and/or U.K.—in certain cases even topping it—yet which are universally condemned or divide opinions: some people love them, others hate them.

Incorporating several of their own choices with those of listeners, Richard and Erik bravely take a trip through an assortment of Sixties stinkers—ranging from novelty records to artistic blunders—and also recruit the Celebrated Mr. K (Allan Kozinn)  to try figure out what in hell the artists and composers were thinking.

Following are the featured tracks. But this is just the beginning—no way can all of the contenders fit into a single episode…

• Ray Stevens — Jeremiah Peabody’s Polyunsaturated Quick-Dissolving Fast-Acting Pleasant Tasting Green and Purple Pills
• Brian Hyland — Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini
• The Trashmen — Surfin’ Bird
• Jimmy Cross — I Want My Baby Back
• Freddie and the Dreamers — Do the Freddie
• Elvis Presley — Do the Clam
• Mrs. Miller — Downtown/A Lover’s Concerto
• Sgt. Barry Sadler — The Ballad of the Green Berets
• Esther and Abi Ofarim — Cinderella Rockefella
• Senator Bobby — Wild Thing
• 1910 Fruitgum Company — Simon Says
• Richard Harris — MacArthur Park
• Tiny Tim — Tip Toe Thru’ the Tulips With Me

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Pimps, drug dealers, call girls, kinky orgies involving members of the ruling class, a government minister sharing a mistress with a Russian spy, a suicide… and the Prime Minister’s resignation. This was the scandal that rocked Britain in 1963—along with The Beatles simultaneously providing an alternative form of entertainment.

Among the featured tracks:

‘From Russia with Love’ – Matt Monroe

‘Do You Want to Know a Secret’ – Billy J. Kramer with the Dakotas

‘On the Rebound’ – Floyd Cramer

‘Runaway’ – Del Shannon

‘My Bonnie’ – Tony Sheridan & The Beatles

‘You Don’t Know’ – Helen Shapiro

‘Tower of Strength’ – Frankie Vaughan

‘Come Outside’ – Mike Sarne with Wendy Richard

‘Telstar’ – The Tornados

‘All I Do is Dream’ – Mandy Rice-Davies

‘Please Please Me’ – The Beatles

‘Dance On’ – The Shadows

‘Let’s Dance’ – Chris Montez

‘Summer Holiday’ – Cliff Richard

‘The Cruel Sea’ – The Dakotas

‘How Do You Do It’ – Gerry and the Pacemakers

‘From Me to You’ – The Beatles

‘Confessin’ (That I Love You)’ – Frank Ifield

‘(You’re The) Devil in Disguise’ – Elvis Presley

‘She Loves You’ – The Beatles

‘I’ll Get You’ (live) – The Beatles

‘Nothing Has Been Proved’ – Dusty Springfield

PLUS ultra-rare clips of The Beatles performing at London’s Royal Albert Hall and Walthamstow Granada in the spring of 1963.

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Not tribute songs. More like honourable mentions. Some made in jest. Some a nod and a wink (nudge-nudge, say no more). All cultural reflections of their era. Listened to and contrasted within their proper context, they tell a fascinating Sixties story, populated with colourful characters and some pretty juicy backstories…

The tracks in this case—The Beatles’ ‘Taxman and Dig It’, Bob Dylan’s ‘I Shall Be Free’, Paul Simon’s ‘A Simple Desultory Philippic’, John Lennon and the Plastic Ono Band’s ‘Give Peace a Chance’, Donovan Leitch’s ‘Sunny South Kensington’, Dion DiMucci’s ‘Abraham, Martin and John’, Eric Burdon & The Animals’ ‘Monterey’, The Mamas and Papas’ ‘Creeque Alley’, Peter Sarstedt’s ‘Where Do You Go To (My Lovely)?’ and Jacqueline Taïeb’s ‘7 Heures du Matin’—reference actors, poets, politicians, fellow musicians and assorted other icons.

These include Brigitte Bardot, Muhammad Ali, Martin Luther King, Sophia Loren, Phil Spector, Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix, The Byrds, The Who, Ravi Shankar, The Rolling Stones, John and Robert Kennedy, Andy Warhol, Elvis Presley, Walt Disney, Doris Day, Marlene Dietrich, Liz Taylor, Lenny Bruce, The Grateful Dead, Pablo Picasso, Mary Quant, Timothy Leary… While the names go on and on, this show about them and the songs in which they’re featured is limited by the boundary of time—but not much else.

So, sit back, crank up the volume and dive into what Donovan’s track describes as “a flip out, skip out, trip out” with Erik Taros and Richard Buskin as your groovin’-era guides…

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