It's been a hectic April! New Ringo EP, One Hand Clapping announced this past week, RSD and now finally a "new" Beatles related text has been published. All You Need Is Love: The Beatles In Their Own Words is a new book of interview transcripts conducted by long time Beatles associate Peter Brown and his co-author Steven Gaines.

These interviews were conducted between 1979 and 1981 with all then surviving members of the Beatles and their entourage which formed the basis for their 1983 controversial "tell all" book The Love You Make: An Insider's Story on The Beatles. One of the more significant interviews is the one that Paul gave for the book. Which we think took place sometime in 1980 (There are no dates given for the interviews but it was certainly before December 1980 as he refers to John in the present.

Much of the interview questions centered around the breakup and his relationships with Brian, John, Yoko and Linda.

Have you picked it up yet? Thoughts?

Let us know!

Peace Andy & Tom

This past week the much bootlegged album/sessions of One Hand Clapping leaked suggesting a 14th June release.  We discuss.  From our YouTube channel.  

We are big time proud and happy to share that Ms. Caitlin Larkin joined us for Episode 244 this week on 2Legs! Caitlin is a DJ on The Beatles Channel on SiriusXM (Channel 18) and can be heard Monday to Friday from 12PM to 1PM EST.

Caitlin has been a panelist with Andy at Fests in Chicago and New York the last few years and she shares her Beatles upbringing, her experience in radio, landing the gig at Sirius and what it was like when 'Now and Then' dropped at the station.

She also provided her "Top 12" Paul Solo Songs because she couldn't name just 10! @CaitlinLarkin on All Socials

Calling all Bootleg Fans! It's like Christmas in April!

Recent boots have surfaced (don't ask us where to find them!), stemming from the Geoff Emerick Estate sale which includes many Rough Mixes of BOTR material as well as later Wings material.

These are on the Misterclaudel and HMC labels. We have only heard the Misterclaudel as of this recording.

We would also like to give a special shout out to Hoffman/Beatles forum member "mikecarrea" who always has the inside scoop on this stuff and has painstakingly broken down the differences between the two.  His analysis can be found here. 

We discuss the potential use of AI on some of these tracks. In favour of it or not?

Have you heard any of these yet?

Peace,

Andy & Tom

(PS - We do not condone the purchasing of bootlegs whatsoever). 

We are very proud to announce the start of a recurring monthly series (which will be a regular episode) titled Iconic Song Series.  We will pick one Classic McCartney solo track and once a month we will be joined by Allan Kozinn and (eventually) Adrian Sinclair.  Co-Authors of the celebrated The McCartney Legacy. By now all followers of our show and McCartney fans in general know that Volume 2 of their book has been announced and scheduled for a 10 December release with pre-orders available now on Amazon.  

We were beyond happy that Allan and Adrian were willing to join us for a recurring show on 2Legs.  And this topic lends itself well.  For the first installment we chose 1970's 'Maybe I'm Amazed' from Paul's first solo album McCartney.

We discuss historical significance, where Paul was at the time (personally and professionally), lyrical meaning, track by track (analysis). (As in number of tracks used to make the record.). It's well known that Paul recorded much of McCartney at home over on Cavendish Avenue.  But for what is essentially one of if not his best known solo song Paul recorded this at E.M.I.  

These and all the other tiny details we all love to learn about are included in this episode!

We thank Allan and Adrian for joining us for this series and we look forward to doing more!

Suggestions?  Let us know or email us!

All The Best! 

Andy and Tom

Hello 2Legs Faithful!

This week we chose to analyse (in real time) another vintage Paul interview. As we have done in the past, (1986's Paul McCartney Special) etc. This time around we opted to view the rare 1980 Interview conducted by Tim Rice of all people which was recorded in May 1980 and later released that August. This was a promotional piece to promote McCartney II which had just been released.

We like to focus on interviews pre-1989/90 when Paul's interviews became more formulaic with his answers. And certainly any interview pre-December 1980 are valuable. We find that to be the case with this one. And would a video interview about a new solo album in 1980 have happened without the events that happened in January of that year? We discuss all this and more.

How do you feel about Paul's interviews over the years?

Let us know in the comments!

See ya next time 

Andy & Tom

Rob Sheffield from Rolling Stone Magazine recently wrote a 15,000 word excellent article on his choices for the Top 100 Solo Beatles Songs of All Time. Surprise Surprise - Paul wins with 33 entries, John 30, George 24, Ringo 13.

What Macca Tracks made the cut? We discuss. And some of the other tracks by the others.

Article

Do you largely agree/disagree?

Andy & Tom

D.I.L.Y.

Hi all! For Episode 239 Andy and Tom invited Daryl Easlea who edited and assembled the special edition of Record Collector Magazine first published in the UK in December and arriving Stateside in January. Daryl is a lifelong collector on all things Beatles, Solo and McCartney and has been in the industry for the past 25 years.

He assembled a great team of writers for this issue. There is a submission for every studio album, sections on live, classical, and Firemen albums. Retrospective essays, and one of the most thorough (UK) discographies we've ever seen.

If you didn't snap this up, get it here! or 'Do It Now' as the man sings!

Daryl's X: @lordwakering @rrpgeditor @RecCollMag

Andy was part of the Historians Panel at the 2024 Fest. Topic: "Free As A Bird, Real Love, Now And Then: The End Of Beatles History?". This was great fun and joining Andy was Susan Ryan, Jim Ryan, Janet Davis and Caitlin Larkin of the Beatles Channel on SiriusXM. Good Chat!

Hi Everyone! Fresh and Rested from the FEST, Episode 238 finds Andy and Tom discussing the second compilation hits package from Paul, All The Best! from 1987 and it's UK vs US configurations and our earliest memories with it.

We think it holds up rather well and a brilliant marketing and promotional campaign ensured the album sold well in the homeland (#2) while not doing as well in the US (#62). It was a pretty pivotal moment in Macca's career coming after some bad critical reviews with Give My Regards To Broad Street (84) and Press To Play (86). (Even tho we still love them). He was also pushing a new single at the time with 'Once Upon A Long Ago.'

We discuss this and ponder other potential tracks that could've gone on it.

Ta Ra,

All The Best! :)

Andy and Tom

Finally caught our breath to recap the 2024 NYC Fest and give our thank you's to everyone we met and talked to and hung out with! Roll on Chicago!