Episodes

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Ep. 175 | Paul McCartney, “One Hand Clapping (2024) Part 2

The 4th of July is a wonderful time to remember that life’s all about picking sides - and, often, hands; across the water, and across America! And today we pick sides…deep dishing sides three and four of One Hand Clapping! Plus, we dive into the incredible bonus, backyard vinyl EP that under no circumstance should be included anywhere digitally, because the millions of peons who dare to get their music from places other than the Universal Music online store don’t deserve live “Blackbird”. (Nope, not letting this one go.)

Tony and T.J. agree that the first official release of “One Hand Clapping” is a masterpiece, perhaps one of Paul’s very best albums; unless one is Rob Sheffleld, in which case this would rank just below “Gone Troppo”. But when it’s time to pick sides, perhaps they’re more Siskel & Ebert and less Medved & Lyons as they also ponder:

🎻 Are you #TeamWix or #TeamActualOrchestra

🇺🇸 Are you #TeamCanadianREM, #TeamAmericanBarenakedLadies, or #TeamAmericaWorldPolice? #Fyeah

🦅 Are you #TeamGlenFrey or #TeamRandallCunningham?

 

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Ep. 174 | Paul McCartney, “One Hand Clapping” (2024)

What exactly is the sound of one hand clapping? Is it similar to one man napping? Some band slapping? Dumb planned crapping? Crumb...tanned...uh, line? LINE?

No, you can't get in line at your local record shoppe for a midnight release party, because the first ever official, complete vinyl issue of "One Hand Clapping" is being sold exactly as it would've been in 1974: exclusively on Universal's website. Eat it, beloved, local record stores!

And unlike Wacco Jacko's '88 parody "Eat It", these live-in-studio Wings tracks have never sounded fresher. 50 years after they were recorded, can a case be made that this is a top-tier McCartney album, filled with definitive versions of Macca classics? We'll leave that to Rob Sheffield, who'll rank "Love My Baby" ahead of "Watching The Wheels", and instead ask:

If NBC's "Geoff Emerick And A Dog" hadn't followed "Glücklich And Froh" in the fall of '77, would it have been a bigger hit? 

 If you mash up Paul Simon's "One Trick Pony" with Macca's "One Hand Clapping", do you get "One Simon's Hand Pony Macca's Clapping Trick"? Or might you, more than likely, find a different combination of words? 

🐦‍⬛ (Angry Chicago Guy): HOW COME THE CD SOUNDTRACK OF "THE IN-LAWS" 2003 REMAKE AIN'T AVAILABLE AT CROW'S NEST? (Sadly, reeking of old Old Style) AND WHEN DID THE RAP SECTION OUTNUMBER SINATRAS?

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Ep. 173 | Rolling Stone's 100 Best Beatles Solo Songs (A Very Special Untitled Beatles Penpals Episode)

Is any magazine as influential as Rolling Stone magazine? From the iconic Garth Brooks/Goo Goo Dolls issue (4/93) to the glibly unsuccessful attempts to help sway the outcomes of the ass-brutal 2004 and 2016 elections, hooray for Rolling Stone! (And, Caddyshack fans, hooray for the Douglasses!)

We at the Untitled Beatles Podcast don’t dare hold a Beatles-related opinion without first consulting what the culture-makers at RS want us to know. So we were thrilled - no, THRILLED - when RS (dba Rob Sheffield) released a list this spring of the 100 Best Beatles Solo Songs!

In fact, we were so thrilled, we decided to start an old-school letter writing campaign all about the rankings - to each other! Thanks to the bravery and diligence of the U.S. Postal Service - which the previous president proudly tried to sabotage, because, uh, “Own the libs” I f’ing guess? - the New Box Tops (dba Tony & T.J.) read their pointed correspondences aloud. They have some questions, including:

🍕 (Angry Chicago fella): How come Paul’s got a song about Dominoes, and not a real Chicago pizza joint like the Barnaby’s in South Bend or the Old Town Pizza Hut on North & Wells that they turned into some woke Boston Market? And how come I keep getting kicked out of Old Town Ale House at 2 in the afternoon?

❤️📦 If Kurt Cobain were Jesus, would he have returned to stop “Cut Me Some Slack” from happening?

🍗 Is it a coincidence that the UBP is sponsored by Kenny Rogers Roasters in Malaysia, and longtime Beatle roadie Mal Evans and early 80’s supergroup Asia are both essential parts of The Beatles story? #MalAsia

 

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Ep. 167 | Macca Snacks #1 / Paul McCartney’s The 7” Singles Box (2022)

In the fall of 2022, acclaimed (fictional) documentarian and (fictional) podcast factchequer P3Z-Nutz planted a microphone in a flower pot embedded in the Shanoff residence to surreptitiously record T.J. and Tony as they unboxed and auditioned select cuts from the then-newly-released McCartney 7" Singles Box Set. (Don't worry -- our AI lawyers assure us it's totally legal.)

While we were unable to obtain Peter Jackson's proprietary AI sound-cleaning technology, we were able to get access to a turntable once used to play Pete Best's "Best of the Beatles", and frankly, the sonic results are astounding.

Please enjoy the first of what we hope will be like 80 occasionally recurring episodes—part of a complete, balanced breakfast—that we're calling MACCA SNACKS.

 

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Ep. 164 | Paul McCartney and Wings "Band On The Run" Underdubbed Mixes (2024)

Here’s an actual e-mail from The Untitled Beatles Podcast to M.P.L., sent on The Fifth of November, 2023:

Hi Sir Paul or Freda! We are the Untitled Beatles Podcast, America’s foremost discussion of profound, focused Beatles scholarship. With the holidays around the corner (AMERICAN ONES, LIKE CHRISTMAS! USA! USA! USA!) we wanted to represent all Beatles and Macca fans with this wish list for 2024:

First off, please, absolutely do not deliver long-delayed remasters of “London Town” and “Back To The Egg”. Who needs’ em! The most “recent” ones from 1993, with their harsh compression and lack of any meaningful bonus tracks, have held up JUST GREAT.

But, please do make us buy “Band On The Run” again! Only this time, change things up. Maybe put the songs in a different order? Take away all of the beautiful arrangements that are baked into this album’s legacy? Just one thing: please, do not include “Helen Wheels”. Feel me, holmes?

We at the UBP - the home of Producer Casey’s exclusive re-mix of your old band’s most famous single, “The Movie Medley”, as you’re well aware from your cruel lawsuit - guarantee that even the most skeptical fan will find this to be a stunning reissue we never knew we needed. Your skilled team can give this album an intimacy and rawness that somehow elevates the these already great songs. What do you think? Are you in? And while we have a minute with you Sir Paul, or Freda:

👩‍❤️‍💋‍👩 What’s your favorite old porno rag: Screw? Naked? Stripped? Underdubbed? Cracked? Stacked? Smothered? Covered? Or Chunked? #TruffleShuffle

🎻 Is Tony Visconti the Phil Spector of producer/arrangers who don’t kill people?

👍❌ Is the BTS K-Pop smash “Dyno-mite” a fitting or, quite frankly (#StephenASmith) insulting tribute to “Good Times” legend Jimmie Walker?

Thank you, Sir Paul, or Freda, for liking and subscribing to our show like decent/non-awful people do! And, because we’re writing this on Sunday, 11/5/23 (Remember??), and it’s Daylight Savings Time, it’s probably already Meat Free Monday where you are. As they say at NEMS, Mazel Tov!

With Kisses On Your Bottom,

Tony, T.J., Producer Casey, and P3Z-Nutz

 

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Ep. 157 | Paul McCartney and Wings, ”Band on the Run” (1973) Part 2

Live from Meigs Field, it’s the final Untitled Beatles Podcast!

Of 2023, that is! Unless you know something we don’t? What is you [sic], a cop? If so, are you as effortlessly bouncy as the cop in "Hot Cop", the Village People's #2 Billboard Disco Charts smash from '78? #HotCop

Anyhoo, it’s onto Side 2, as we continue to deep dish “Band On The Run”, Paul’s most beloved album that doesn’t feature the word “Oratorio”. And because Tony, T.J., Producer Casey, and Sir Paul are all obviously Americans, we’ll consider the US version that includes the powerhouse single, “Helen Wheels”, not to mention much more memorable Macca music. Plus, we’ll examine this album’s rough beginning in Lagos and unmatched legacy within Paul’s recorded catalog, the celebrated cover and packaging, and also:

👖 Do some copies of “1967-1970” (2023 Remix) include the creepy 2000’s Subway jingle instead of “Now & Then”?

👗 Is the pronunciation of “Mamunia” the audio equivalent of Blue Dress vs Gold Dress?

🇨🇴The poster of Polaroids that came with the vinyl is fine, but is album’s most exquisite feature the massive UPC barcode on the front cover of the Columbia Records cassette?

#🔔🍆🔔🍆

 

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Ep. 156 | Paul McCartney and Wings, ”Band on the Run” (1973)

Many Macca fans would argue that Paul McCartney’s best post-Beatles album is the German 12” Maxi-Single of “All My Trials”. (#WixTrumpetSolo) But others just might suggest that it’s 1973’s still-beloved landmark, “Band On The Run”.

This week, Tony & T.J. celebrate 50 years of this true (and, maybe, ultimate) Macca classic with a deep dish on Side 1, which features some of Paul’s most celebrated, iconic mega-hits. Along this Journey (#LyingBesideU), the Soft Beatle Boyz also ask:

📼📼 Did the BOTR robbers in Lagos inspire the most iconic line in “Give My Regards To Broad Street”?

🌅 (Angry Chicago Guy:) “How come there ain’t no “A.M. Magazine”? (Threateningly) And how come Oprah never gave me no car?”

🐪🥪 Did Sha Na Na’s Screamin’ Simon really eat a camel sandwich at the sock-hop in “Grease”? And if so, why didn’t Bowser yip-dip-dip-dip-dip-dip-dip-dip stop him?

 

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BONUS! Back in the U.S.S.R. from McCartney: A Life in Lyrics

Cue the Salt ’N’ Pepa: Pu-Pu-Pushkin’s real good…at producing podcasts and audiobooks! They’re the force behind the just-dropped “McCartney: A Life in Lyrics” pod, which is off to a delightfully entertaining and insightful start. The dulcet tones of Paul Muldoon had better be the future voice of AI. (We’re talking about practice. Not a game.)

And on this very special episode of the UBP, the Gab Two is proud to present, in partnership with Pushkin, a special airing of “McCartney: A Life in Lyrics” Episode 2. How cool is that?! This one one’s a Double Paul deep-dish on “Back In The U.S.S.R.”, a definitive #FileUnderRock track, though, as the episode sadly fails to acknowledge, was largely unknown until Billy Joel’s live take on “Kohuept” (2 LP’s on 1 CD!).

We’ll be back with our usual chicanery and a whole new episode/world, DON’T YOU DARE CLOSE YOUR EYES, next week. In the meantime, all 3.5 of us at the UBP are absolutely honoured to be associated with anything Macca-related. We hope you will enjoy the show as much as we did. Five Freaking Fabs!

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McCartney: A Life in Lyrics | Back in the U.S.S.R

What’s Paul McCartney, a Liverpudlian, doing writing about the Soviet Union in 1968? Turns out McCartney was doing a little Chuck Berry, a bit of The Beach Boys, some pastiche and a lot of subversion. Opening “The White Album”, “Back in the U.S.S.R.” raised some eyebrows. And because of The Beatles’ evolving position within the former Eastern Bloc the song has over the years taken on a life of its own, following the trajectory of the West’s often fraught relationship with the region.

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Ep. 126c | Red Rose Speedway 50th Anniversary Part 3

How much 'Red Rose Speedway' is too much Red Rose Speedway? It’s the age old question. Paul wanted it to be a 2-LP set. EMI said, “no”. And, with that, Macca’s recording career was effectively over.

So today we’ll look at Julian Lennon’s 1989 hit, “Mr. Jordan”! [BUZZER SFX]

No! It’s actually Part Three of our 17-part deep dish full-on-sausage-patty salute to Wings’ 2nd album, which sadly does not feature “Thank You Girl”. THANKS FOR NADA, DAVE DEXTER.

This week, we look at Paul’s original 2-LP iteration of this title, which finally surfaced as a limited vinyl set in 2018. Is it an improvement on the single (pigeon) album we've known for 50 years? Tony & T.J. select the best of the best of tracks left off the original Red-and/or-Blue Rose Speedway, and along the way they ponder:

🚗 If Willie Dixon is also Willie Nelson, did Harry Nilsson drive a Nissan?

🦅 Is the civil rights anthem “Blackbird” also Paul’s most nazty, bangin’ f**k tune?

🥞🍳🥓 Woah woah woah woah! Woah woah woah woah! Does Denny’s do it good? #MoonsOverMyHandy

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Ep. 126b | Red Rose Speedway 50th Anniversary Part 2

Hey Weepers! Hey Creepers! Hey Hugga Me Righters! Whether dragonfly or pigeon, we think you're gonna dig part 2 of our Red Rose Speedway deep dish even more than George Leroy Chickashea loves "Ebony and Ivory" (solo version).

Along the way, they take a (Cleveland) Brown Line L train around the Loup, and also discuss:

🍄 Where's the long delayed digital remaster of "Portobello Road: Mushrooms Salute The Beatles"?

🟤 Is Bernie Kosar to Paul what Brian Epstein was to John? And how come Lewishon won't talk about it? What's Apple hiding, exactly?

⚾️ Holy Ann Margaret, Bartman! Paul wrote "Bye Bye Birdie"?!?!?!

We strangely encourage you to buy lots of Bud Light (legit only if you're over 21, tough gal!!) put yer carpet sleepin feet up, and enjoy this week's sumptuous, sunset cruise along the Red Rose Speedway...

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