On Favorite Beatles Songs

This weekend at Shore Leave, on Saturday evening at 5 o’clock, I’ll be moderating a panel on the Beatles. It’s an odd topic for a panel for science-fiction convention, and I admit I put it down on my list of suggested topics as a kind of a lark, and I still have no idea whatContinue reading “On Favorite Beatles Songs”

On An Awful Beatles Cover

“Let It Be.” As many people know, it’s probably my favorite Beatles song. At least in the top five. The album version, with the blistering guitar solo, is better than the single version, in my not-so-humble opinion. However, you have never heard “Let It Be” until you’ve heard it like this… I have no ideaContinue reading “On An Awful Beatles Cover”

On Let It Be, Forty Years On

Forty years ago today, The Beatles’ Let It Be arrived, and an era came to an end. The band had already disintegrated in the summer of ’69. Paul McCartney announced that he had left the band in April, before the release of his solo album McCartney. It wasn’t just a Beatles album, it was theContinue reading “On Let It Be, Forty Years On”

On My Present Musical Mood

I’ve recently been on a Beatles kick. These things go in cycles for me; I’ll listen to the Beatles hardcore (or Lennon solo, or McCartney solo, or Harrison solo, or even Starr solo) for a month, and then I’ll not touch the Beatles for six months or so. Recently, the cycle kicked in. I can’tContinue reading “On My Present Musical Mood”

On Completely Nerdy Knowledge

On Friday I mentioned how Snoopy made his annual report to the Head Beagle in a Peanuts strip that ran on Sunday the 4th of January, 1970. That date, it nagged me in the back of my mind yesterday and today. And then, this morning, I realized what’s so important about that date. I justContinue reading “On Completely Nerdy Knowledge”

On Beatles Pedantry

I have seven different versions of the song “Let It Be” on my hard drive. And for some reason I’ve been comparing the George Harrison guitar solo in all seven versions. Harrison, at various times, recorded new guitar solos for the song, as the whole project was worked on by various producers between January 1969Continue reading “On Beatles Pedantry”