Episodes
Ep. 71 | Imagine (1971) 50th Anniversary Part 2
Imagine the "Imagine" album has more songs than just "Imagine"...
The landmark record just celebrated its 50th anniversary, and in this week's deep dish Part 2, Tony & T.J. examine eight more excellent Lennon songs, plus another that remains controversial for those of us who don't think the only thing Paul ever did was "Yesterday". Along the way, the Flux Diddlers™ manage to find the time to address topics they won't dare touch on Sirius/XM's (uniformly excellent) The Beatles Channel, including:
🐶 Is "The Floppy Show" the Des Moines area's greatest contribution to popular culture?
💿 Was Wes Anderson's most unfortunate misstep leaving 80s hitmakers Level 42 off of the "Rushmore" soundtrack?
🍆 Did Chicago Bulls center Luc Longley - a.k.a. "The Australian Olajuwon" - inspire a phallic, early 90s reggae classic?
EPISODE LINKS:
Boyz II Men once paid tribute to John and Paul when they sang, "It's so hard to say goodbye...to yesterday". We hope you'll pay tribute to us by downloading and listening to this episode, and please consider us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, mall record store FYE, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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Ep. 70 | Imagine (1971) 50th Anniversary Part 1
Most casual John Lennon fans pick “Sometime In NYC” as their favorite solo album (hashtag Attica State). But for us die-hards, "Imagine" ranks as either #1 or #2.
This week, Tony & T.J. consider this seminal record on its 50th anniversary, looking at the album’s history and the immense staying power of its title track. (You “It’s So Hard” fans will have to wait until Part 2, next week!)
Along the way, the Fab Two™, with Producer Casey’s expertise, also examine these hard-hitting Lennon topics:
How a 1981 episode of “WKRP In Cincinnati” artfully referenced Lennon to presage today’s cuckoo crazy culture wars
Which Chicago expressway has more hits on the Billboard charts #MattBusby
Why cruise ship Elvis impersonators rely so heavily on arrhythmic hippy hippy hip shaking and incoherent mumbling
All this and more, now with a very 1987-y “Digitally Remastered” banner added to the front cover!
EPISODE LINKS:
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Ep. 16.2 | Deluxe Reissue: Star Club Tapes
It's the super deluxe reissue of our Star Club Tapes episode, remixed and remastered using the latest in "Mach Schau" technology. These excerpts of "The Little Beatles" in Germany will make you so hungry for live music, you could eat a Christmas horse!
[Originally issued September 12, 2020]
Pills, Punk, and Knuckle-Dusters!
This week T.J. and Tony zip, zap and zop thru the long out-of-print collection of lo-fi recordings of the Fab Four in Hamburg.
Also, T.J. tries out both his sexy voice and his creepy voice (it's two different voices) while Tony dogs on Ferris Bueller. And they accidentally do a Harold...we think.
Get out your Grundig reel-to-reel tape recorder and bootleg this episode. It could be worth something someday!
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Ep. 69 | All Things Must Pass 50th Anniversary Edition Part 2
Like the Dark Horse, we too love dig! And this week T.J. & Tony love digging thru the demos and “party record” from the 8-LP All Things Must Pass 50th Anniversary Box Set, prompting Frankie Crisp-like musings such as:
What would be the tube fare to get to Badfinger’s old neighborhood?
Does Pete Rose’s pudding basin haircut deserve to be in the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame?
How come the Untitled Beatles Podcast didn’t receive a Friar Park Gnome Civil War Chess Set?
Plus T.J. scores pajama points with the estates of Adler and Ross! Oh, and don’t invite Tony to “drum” for your outdoor acoustic guitar jam. Isn’t it a pity this couldn’t be a 3-parter?
Brought to you by The Pope and General Motors.
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Ep. 68 | All Things Must Pass 50th Anniversary Edition Part 1
George Harrison’s absolute masterpiece (no, not “Gone Troppo”) has been remixed at last, in a deluxe boxed set, and myriad configurations. (Why save for retirement when you can own the #DeluxeGnomeEdition for only $1K?) Regardless of how you listen, it’s clear that the new 50th anniversary edition of “All Things Must Pass” sparkles and shines like never before. To our ears, it’s the definitive way to hear this essential record.
In Part One of our Deep Dish on this long-awaited reissue, Tony & T.J. delve into this gorgeous package - ahem, #DingDongDingDong - and the stunning Paul Hicks remix of the original triple album. Is this the greatest Beatles-related boxed set to date? We’ll address that and more, including:
What if Apple had signed Jackson Browne instead of James Taylor - OR DID THEY?
Is the computerized soundtrack to the Journey video game better than actual Journey songs?
Do some songs just sound better when heard from your neighbor’s apartment? (Related: Shut Up, Little Man!)
Part Two arrives next week, where we’ll get into albums four through eight; assuming Tony hasn’t scratched them while DJ’ing in the L.A. club scene.
EPISODE LINKS
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Ep. 67 | The Songs They Gave Away Part 2
In this thrilling conclusion, T.J. And Tony get Lost in Space—and Portugal—while rummaging thru the songs John, Paul, and George gave to other artists—P.J. Proby, Mary Hopkin, Badfinger, Jackie Lomax and more. The embarrassment of riches is sure to send you into a lap slappin’ frenzy.
As usual, the fellas pose hard-hitting questions such as:
Which performance trick did Paul McCartney nick from Barry Manilow?
Who is the most famous member of Hollywood Vampires?
Do they have the rodeo in the United Kingdom?
Plus cameo appearances by local plumbers from Tony’s crackerbox palace.
Today’s episode was compiled by guest editor L’anJello Peculiarissimo.
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Ep. 66 | The Songs They Gave Away Part 1
Not every Lennon and McCartney tune made its way onto a Beatles record, but that didn’t mean they had to hide away gathering dust, only to be released on some future 20-disc rarities box set. The greatest songwriting duo in history also kicked some of their work over to other artists making their names in the 60s—Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, Cilla Black, the Fourmost, some scrappy Londoners calling themselves the Rolling Stones, etc.—and this week T.J. and Tony share some of their four-fab faves the Beatles gave away. And maybe also a couple of tossers.
While they’re at it, they also made some time to:
Record a pilot episode for the Untitled TV Guide Podcast*
Play a game of "Bob Gaudio, James Guercio, or Joe Guercio?"
And reveal their long-guarded secret that Tony and T.J. were, in fact, Chad, Jeremy, Peter, Gordon, Jan, AND Dean.
Buckle up! It's gonna be a two parter.
* Please no stealing our amazing podcast ideas
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Ep. 65 | Ringo Starr’s “Old Wave” (1983)
Commonly regarded (by no one) as one of the greatest post-Beatles solo projects of all time, this week T.J. and Tony finally dish deep upon Ringo Starr’s 1983 masterpiece, “Old Wave.” True to its title, Ringo and Joe Walsh teamed up to make a mid-70s record that was so hot, it wasn’t even originally released in the U.S.
Thankfully, in 2021, this rarity can be easily found on the internet to stream. Which is great news for fans, not so great news for T.J.’s side hustle selling bootleg burned German import CDs out of his trunk at the Lincoln Mall in Matteson.
Between tracks, the guys take a couple detours to revisit:
Paul’s passion for South Side slugger Frank Thomas
Eazy-E’s oft-overlooked cameo with the All-Starr Band
And great, miscellaneous moments in WKRP history
And, in what we have to assume is another first in podcast history, we may just take a quick pause to enjoy two full minutes of Chicagoland’s WGBO Super 66, originally broadcast in January, 1986.
We don’t want to overhype this episode or anything, but let's just say it beats sleep.
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Ep. 64 | McCartney 3,2,1 (2021) Part 3
What type of Macca apprecionado are you… a “Live and Let Die”-harder, a casual “Maybe I’m Amazed” fair-weather type, or an ironically distanced, “Check My Machine” troll?
In this, the final installment of our “McCartney 3,2,1” deep dish, T.J. and Tony discuss episodes 4, 5, and 6 of Rick Rubin’s “Hulu and chill” with Sir Paul, covering both his modern standards and less-celebrated obscurities.
Chock-full of Beatle conspiracies and high noon standoffs, this episode will have you wondering:
Which hit 80s sitcom theme did Julian Lennon secretly sing?
How much did T.J. pay for a Spanish copy of McCartney’s Unplugged LP at Sound Warehouse in June of 1991?
Did Hulu use AI to make Paul sing “Got My Mind Set On You”?
Polish your anvil and set your Moogs to fab, this episode is worthy of the Sledge-O-Matic!
EPISODE LINKS
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Ep. 63 | McCartney 3,2,1 (2021) Part 2
The 3,2,1 saga continues...
In this episode T.J. and Tony go over the recent Hulu 6-part docuseries "McCartney 3,2,1" with a fine-toothed comb, in which "Shoeless" Rick Rubin explores Sir Paul's 20th century catalogue with the precision of a pedicure cuticle nipper. #wikifeet/RickRubin
In this bonus mid-week splash, we'll deep dish on Episodes 2 and 3, with enough nostalgia to feed your inner-Curt Claudio, plus:
T.J. plays his favorite chillwave song
Tony becomes the new Al Sharpton
And a deleted scene from Space Jam 2.
EPISODE LINKS
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