Category: Music

One Hand Clapping – Paul McCartney and Wings

After 50 years the movie version of One Hand Clapping finally sees a cinematic release. But was it worth the wait?

What’s The Movie? One Hand Clapping

What’s It All About, JG? It’s an in-the-studio recording of one of (many) Wings line-ups, this week time including Geoff Britton on drums and Jimmy McCulloch on guitar, alongside regulars Denny Laine, Paul McCartney, and Linda McCartney. We get to see them messing about in the studio, running through a few tracks, faffing about in the control room and so on. There’s also “The Backyard” tacked on the end, which is literally McCartney sitting in Abbey Road’s backyard with an acoustic guitar, running through a small handful of classic rock and roll numbers. The whole thing is topped and tailed by 2024-vintage McCartney doing a specially-recorded introduction.

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Stop Making Sense

What’s The Movie? The 1984 Talking Heads concert film Stop Making Sense.

What’s It All About, JG? Watching a band at the absolute pinnacle of their abilities perform what is arguably the greatest concert film ever put together. Capturing the band towards the end of 1983, promoting the Speaking In Tongues album and just before they tilted over into the full-on pop of Little Creatures, Stop Making Sense highlights the band’s back catalogue but changed, warped, adjusted, and generally rearranged for the film. It was shot at the Pantages Theatre in Los Angeles over four nights, the final result being a blend of footage from different nights. The whole of Stop Making Sense was conceived of from the word go as a concert that would be filmed, and David Byrne serves as artistic director, pulling the whole project together. It’s directed by Jonathan Demme in his first outing behind the camera, not that you’d know it from looking at the – frankly amazing – footage. Why cover a 1984 film now? Well, because it’s been re-released back into the cinema in a glorious 4K IMAX restoration to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the original release.

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Abba Voyage

After forty years, Abba are back with an album and a huge virtual concert. But is the gig worth all the fuss around it?

What’s the Concert? Abba Voyage

What’s It All About, JG? Well, without going through the full history of Abba recording music again after forty years, basically they’ve built a bloody big stadium in the east end of London and filled it with a band and a whole heap of technology and lighting. And in this Abba Arena is a show that really isn’t quite like any other. The band members did a motion-capture concert which allowed projections – Abbatars, if you will – of them to be generated as if it were the real thing. These are, naturally, de-aged so we get a view of the band in their prime. But in using mo-cap to get a genuine performance it means you’re not just watching a CGI version of the band. You’re watching them give an actual performance, but then with a bunch of technical jiggery-pokery used to generate the show.

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Beatles Stuffology Podcast – Episode 25: Till There Was You

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Till There Was You is up for discussion this week, as JG and Andrew delve into another one of the cover versions on With The Beatles. Is the track as chintzy as its reputation? Do the band make a good fist of a complicated number? Plus we return to one of the podcast’s favourite subjects – The Rutles and Neil Innes – and excitement ahoy! We delve into the postbag for the first time to cover a listener’s email.

Rankings: Track-by-track Ranking

eMail: beatlesstuffology@gmail.com

Twitter: @beatles_ology

 

Beatles Stuffology Podcast – Episode 23: Little Child

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This episode, JG and Andrew turn their attention to “Little Child”, which turns out to be a Lennon/McCartney Original and not a cover version at all! What difference does knowing how something was recorded make to appreciating a song? Should this have been a Ringo song, as was originally intended? And what on Earth is “brumbeat”?

Rankings: Track-by-track Ranking

eMail: beatlesstuffology@gmail.com

Twitter: @beatles_ology

Beatles Stuffology Podcast – Episode 23: Don’t Bother Me

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We turn to George’s first Beatles song on an album this episode as JG and Andrew cover “Don’t Bother Me”.  How does George’s first attempt at songwriting stack up against Lennon and McCartney? Is his solo output worth bothering (ho ho) with? And how contentious will the final score be?

 

Rankings: Track-by-track Ranking

eMail: beatlesstuffology@gmail.com

Twitter: @beatles_ology

 

 

 

Beatles Stuffology Podcast – Episode 22: All My Loving

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It’s something of a classic that’s getting covered this episode as “All My Loving” falls under the spotlight. Does it deserve to be such a popular live number? Why is JG pulled up for speaking French? And how on-topic will things stay before the inevitable score?

Rankings: Track-by-track Ranking

eMail: beatlesstuffology@gmail.com

Twitter: @beatles_ology

 

Beatles Stuffology Podcast – Episode 21: All I’ve Got To Do

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The second song on With The Beatles goes under the JG/Andrew microscope today with All I’ve Got To Do. Does it continue the album’s run of quality after the terrific opener? How go Lennon’s vocals? And for how long can two people prevaricate over picking a score for the song while essentially working out format points on the fly? 

Rankings: Track-by-track Ranking

eMail: beatlesstuffology@gmail.com

Twitter: @beatles_ology

 

Beatles Stuffology Podcast – Episode 20: It Won’t Be Long

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We kick off the second Beatles album this episode with “It Won’t Be Long”. How does the song work as an opening track to the album? Does it deserve its somewhat-neglected reputation? Plus there’s a discussion of Across The Universe, a film neither JG nor Andrew have actually, at any point, seen. And as if that wasn’t enough, there’s the introduction of a new format point! But what will it be? There’s only one way to find out… 

Rankings: Track-by-track Ranking

eMail: beatlesstuffology@gmail.com

Twitter: @beatles_ology

 

Beatles Stuffology Podcast – Episode 19: I’ll Get You

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We flip She Loves You over to cover its B-side this episode with the largely-forgotten I’ll Get You. Does the song deserve to languish in obscurity? How does it fare stylistically? And just how long can JG vamp for while Andrew desperately tries to find some statistics?

eMail: beatlesstuffology@gmail.com

Twitter: @beatles_ology

 

eMail: beatlesstuffology@gmail.com

Twitter: @beatles_ology