Episodes
Ep. 53.1 | U.S. Rubber Soul Part 1 (Replay from 2021!)
Originally aired May 15, 2021
Hey hey! It's our birthday, and we're gonna have a good time. And amazingly, T.J. managed to do an entire year's worth of podcasts before finally cutting loose on his all-time favorite version of his all-time favorite album: the Capitol Records U.S. edition of Rubber Soul. Dave Dexter helps the Fab Four find their inner folksters, and, not to spoil the podcast or anything: TONY AND T.J. ENTHUSIASTICALLY APPROVE.
In Part 1 of their deep dish, the guys remember how they first discovered Rubber Soul, compare and contrast the U.S. and British releases, and dig into the first few tracks. But there's so much good stuff to talk about, we'll have to finish out the album in Part 2 next week. As always, we got a little distracted along the way, making sure to cover crucial tangents like:
What are our least favorite words for "excrement"?
Which Buffalo reigns supreme: Buffalo Springfield, Buffalo Stance, or Dabney Coleman's early 80s sitcom Buffalo Bill?
Where does Norwegian Wood sit among the all-time great pyromaniac songs?
Really, we can't believe we've been at this for a whole year (or that we still haven't come up with a title for the podcast). We couldn't do it without this wonderful community of Fab Four fanatics. Thanks for coming along on this long and meandering road, and here's to another trip around the sun!
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Ep. 280 | Paul McCartney, "Press to Play" (1986) Part 2
āOklahoma was never like this?ā Really, Sir Paul? AGAIN with the complaining about the 1999, Hugh Jackman-led revival of Rodgers & Hammersteinās first banger? Oh sure, Paul - go ahead and be all Tipper Gore-y about that opening scene where Aunt Eller is churning butter like some barnyard horndog, milking every delicate inch of that up and down churn work. And donāt get me started on how Paul handled the edits to the āFarmer & The Cowmanā dance break! He (allegedly) threw the London Cast Recording CD at Heather Mills!! That's a $17.99 CD, my guy!
Who the hell knows what Macca was talking about in his 1986 semi-hit, āPressā. But weāll be damned if it isnāt one of the best pure pop songs of the mid 80ās. Much like the album from which it came, itās never gotten the love itās so obviously due. Until now, as Tony & T.J. freshly (?) assess side two of āPress To Playā with open arms (#Journey) and open eyes (#Incubus). Along the way, they ask (rather intuitively, if we do say so ourselves):
š§µ Is Press To Play the āDesigning Womenā of McCartneyās catalog, and does that make Eddie Rayner Meshach Taylor?
š¢ Has anyone checked on El Debarge (āThe Debargeā, en ingles)? Like, will he short circuit if he doesnāt finally figure out whoās holding Donna, now?
š„ Angry Chicago Guy (Heās bleeding, but in a good way): HOW COME THEY NAMED A STREET AFTER POTATO ICON ORE IDA B. WELLS BUT YOU CANāT FIND TATER SKINS AT DOMINICKS NO MORE?
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Ep. 279 | Paul McCartney, "Press to Play" (1986) Part 1
Forgive us, dear reader, for sounding Jaded. But most real McCartney fans will admit that Aerosmithās 2001 LP āJust Push Playā is better than literally any solo Macca; and perhaps even better than most Beatles albums. (*Does not include āLive At The Star Club Vol. 2ā)
But, in turn, would there even be an Aerosmith without Maccaās 1986 offering, āPress To Playā? Weāll leave that to the rock scholars to decide. But one thing is for sure: āPress To Playā is now officially 40 years old, or, in U.S. presidential terms, at least three decades older than the girls a certain orange baboon used to regularly party with. (In fairness, itās tough for real patriots to get too worked up about that, especially when Obama once wore a tan suit.)
T.J.ās been in love with this cassette since its release the summer of 1986. Tonyās had the opposite reaction since he was contractually obligated to listen to the album twice, in 2020 and 2026; in brave service of arguably Americaās Favorite Podcast (TM).
This week, the Gab Two discuss whether āPress To Playā has aged well and warrants more respect in Macca's catalog. Does it deserve an Archive Collection reissue before or after āOceanās Kingdomā? Are there more remixes of āPressā than there are takes of āNot Guiltyā? And what about the other pertinent Beatles questions you wonāt hear on woke Newsmax, like:
ššØ Is Phil Collinsā best release, āHelloā¦I Must Be Going [And He Never Returned]ā? And for the answer, should somebody bring Phil Collins in?
ššŗ Can Tony retire from his collection of mint, K-Tel Breakdancing LPās? And is the greatest song about breakdancing Irene Caraās āBreakdancingā?
šš« Did the sad origins of the āMAHAā movement emanate directly from Mac & Jackās Wonder Potion? #SaySaySay
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Ep. 278 | The Year Without a BeatleFest
Listen.
Do you hear that?
Those are crickets.
Crickets at the Marriott Suites OāHare, abandoned site of Chicagoās Fest for Beatles Fans. Unfortunately, there are no humans at this yearās festival as it has been postponed to retool. #KitOāReToole
Some of the crickets are in ill-fitting Sgt Pepper costumes, others don obscure Beatles ephemera while wacking tambos to off-key āYellow Submarineā singalongs, and a small number of lonely small-minded crickets are still wearing their pit-stained anti-Yoko t-shirts, repping for the original incels.
Oh and look!
Thereās even an aphid whoās a Pete Best Look-A-Like and a corn weevil thatās dressed up like Freddy Krueger for reasons unknown.
As all the bugs scramble for crumbs of pre-packaged microwaveable hoagies while waiting for āTermites from Midge Ureās Tour Busā to perform a medley of deep cuts from Press To Play, the Goys of Dum Dum Lame, joined by Producer Casey, are here to gab sad about this yearās absence of fab community celebration. Letās take a few questions from the crickets:
š¤ Why does Mike Love lip sync live in concert to RFKās rendition of āKokomoā?
š„½ With regards to the future of the festival, will there be a VR helmet to unsee āGive My Regards To Broad Streetā?
šµ Angry Drunk Chicago Cricket: HOW KUM DA KAREEOKE KARENS WONāT LET ME SING āGIVE ANT FARMS BACK TO THE ANTISH"?? WHADDOO DEY GOT AGAINST ANTS? MY GREAT GRAMPA WUZ HALF ANT!!
Plus Producer Casey has the boys play a game and T.J. reveals how many BeatleFests he has attended in his half-century on earth. Wait. He doesnāt reveal this. Well, okay. The answer is also a number associated with a Ringo Starr #1 from āsimpler times.ā
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Ep. 277 | Beatle-esque Bangers IV (Part 2)
Beatle Bangers? I barely even Beatle knewāers! Is this thing on? No, for real, is this thing on? The microphone in my hand, I mean. Is it on? Can people hear these bits or is the silence merely judgement? What if the XLR is broken? Or the DI? Maybe the audio fellaās on coke? Surely thatās possible, but what if the silence is because these ājokesā are terrible? And maybe theyāre not even jokes at all, but more of a psychological crisis, thinly masquerading as ācomedyā? If so, would there be more questions like:
š„© Is Tony proud of his time as script supervisor of āThe Bearā, or does he wish he was old enough to have been around professionally for a more classic show, like āOne Day At A Timeā? Or the reboot of āOne Day At At Timeā?
š Were The Pointer Sisters so excited to sing on Sesame Street that they did an Automatic Fire Slowhand Neutron Dance? And should the sisters be institutionalized, perhaps at the Pointer institute?
šØ Is the discovery of R. Stevie Mooreās performance of āPink Litmus Paper Shirtā at the 1999 Beatlefest more or less exciting than the Star Club tapes in ā77; or at least more than the Horst & Fred Fascher tunes?
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Ep. 276 | Beatle-esque Bangers IV (Part 1)
The great Todd Rundgren once sang, "I don't wanna work, I wanna Beatle Banger, all day!"
Well, Mr. Motor City (sorry Jack White! Not sorry, Kid C&ck!), the UBP is back with yet another powerful/perhaps controversial edition of UBP Beatle-esque Bangers! These are, well, bangers that the UBP-3 believe share lysergic properties with songs written by the Fab 5, and perhaps, one or three of Tony Sheridan's #BeatBros. Do you like these bangers? Do you prefer post-bangers, e.g. Bangers and AfterMASH? Do you want more questions, like:
š£ Angry Chicago Guy: "How come Harry Schmerler don't sing no Rockabye My Baby when I told him that Diane's '84 Ford Taurus exploded and that's why I ain't seen her no more?"
š§ Which one's the musical jerk-off: those who insist it's 1 measure in 7/8, or 2 measures in 3/4 then 4/4?
š© Does anyone still confuse Seals & Crofts with Deals & Craps, the ill-fated, early 90's warehouse store exclusively stocked with like-new, deeply discounted items because they're soiled in stranger poo?
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Ep. 60.1 | Deep Dish: Let It Be⦠Naked (2003) | Replay!
To quote the great Rob Thomas, "Man it's a hot one!" This week, the guys are keeping cool ("So cool" -- Rob Thomas) and we hope you are too. And, frankly, we like our hot summer days like we like our Let It Be... Naked!
Please enjoy this classic from the UBP stacks.
Originally aired 10 July, 2021
Take it off! Wait, leave some on! In anticipation of the continuing delay of Peter Jackson's Get Back film, T.J. and Tony react to the recent Vanity Fair teaser about said project, then delve into the first revisionist history attempt of The Beatles swan song, 2003's Let It Be... Naked.
They dissect the merits and flaws of these stripped down "newer phase" mixes, and reveal which bits they prefer clothed. Meanwhile, Tony impresses T.J. with his Star Wars knowledge, T.J. impresses non-listeners with his musical theatre knowledge, and the two explore Harry Caray backwards masking, Rappin' Rodney and the cola wars.
As always our producer Casey comes to the rescue with any trivia TJ and Tony deem too difficult to google. We hope you dig this episode as much as you dig a pony or a pygmy⦠Naked.
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Canāt get enough of these rockinā tunes? Find our weekly Untitled Beatles Playlist and the full Let It Be⦠Naked album on Pandora!
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Ep. 275 | Beatles Anthology 2025 Episode 9 Part 2
The Untitled Beatles Podcast has done it!
We are Free As A Bird from Disneyās Beatles Anthology!
There were moments of Real Love; Now And Then. But would the new Episode 9, comprised largely from the 2003 Special Features DVD, provide some Hope Of Deliverance? Would the new episode finally bring T.J. Off The Ground? Is Producer Casey Looking for Changes in how itās edited? Does Tony simply want Peace in the Neighbourhood, allowing us to enjoy the old and the new? Also, whatās with all these āOff The Groundā references, did this weekās randomly selected writer run out of ideas? WTF, now I Owe It All To You, to explain? Nah, son - Get Out Of My Way. This oneās called Biker Like An Icon, you Golden Earth Girl, female animal.
So, uh, yeah; do join us as we conclude our deep dish of Episode 9 and also ask:
ā Did Mal Evans put copies of Elvis Costelloās āSpikeā in the English tea of EMI engineers?
š· Does the Untitled Beatles Podcast exist without Gus, the Tufts band who later changed their name to Guster, and gave us one of 2003ās greatest hits, āAmsterdamā?
š» (Angry Drunk Chicago Guy, heās super horngry): āHow come Chicago aināt got no improv pizza animatronic kids theater called 'Showbitz Pizza'? And how come I canāt legally be near kids no more since I peeād on that family at Comiskey?"
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Ep. 274 | Beatles Anthology 2025 Episode 9
Since itās a holiday weekend, this episodeās blurb was written by A.I. (American Intelligents)
Happy 250th birthday to the United States of America! And hey America, what better way to celebrate than with an American podcast about the worldās most famous American group, The Beatles!!
We salute these Beatles American hometowns:
John - Menlove Ave, New York City
Paul - Forthlin Drive, Carolina Shores, NC
George - Wavertree Hall Farm, Virginia
Ringo - Dingle, Idaho
And since The Beatles have been #1 in Americaās heart since 1776, scientific statisticians - using recent census figures combined with ATV sales and the market price of halibut - have proven that 9 is truly a magical number.
Por ejemplo:
9x4=36
There are 4 Beatles but really there are 36!
So this week the Untitled Beatles Codpiece performs as a throuple (T.J., Tony, and Producer Casey), discussing the 90s era Threetles (9-3=3) in their critique of Disney+ (in association with Good Times Video)ās Beatles Anthology Episode 9. Is it truly worthy of a Revolution?
Hork down a hot dog sandwich in a muenster truck while hurling a beanball at your Mom! Itās American Independence Day served Beatles-style, made possible only by Calderstone Imperial Musical Enterprises Incorporated. Because the Red Album, White Album and Blue Album = Now and Then Forever. šš§Øš
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Ep. 273 | Revolver Super Deluxe [Not] Instant Reaction [Replay from 2022]!
Originally aired October 29, 2022
HOLY MOLY IT'S HERE. And Tony and T.J. want to talk about it. Join the Fab Fellas as they go Full Culkin⢠on the latest (and perhaps greatest? LISTEN TO FIND OUT!) Super Deluxe Special Edition reissue of the Beatles' groundbreaking 1966 LP "Revolver".
This is just part oneāmore to come once we get to spend some time with the vinyl box set.
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Originally aired November 5, 2022
We're back! Our super deluxe vinyl box sets arrived in the mail, and Tony and Teej are ready to dish even deeper on the sparkling new Revolver remixes, bonus tracks, and beautiful accompanying 100-page book.
At least Tony is. T.J. might've taken one too many edibles and spent the week listening to Eddie Murphy's 1993 Motown Records sensation Love's Alright.
TUNE IN TO FIND OUT!
Give Robert Freeman's rejected cover art a spin. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EliGoQnSEeA&t=204s
Check out the Beatle lyric manuscripts at Northwestern University (shout out to Robert Rodriguez of Something About the Beatles) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NrtgcKLuW4
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