COMING SOON: The 2022 Fifth Beatle Bracket

March means one thing: SPORTSBALL. Or, two things: SPORTSBALL AND OFFICE GAMBLING.

But for those of us with (at best) a passing interest in sportsball, how are we supposed to get on the fun?

Fear not, fellow Fab Five aficionados! This year, the Untitled Beatles Podcast puts our brackets to better use: to finally crown THE FIFTH BEATLE.

Tell your friends! Maybe start your own pool, make it interesting. We hear that some of the more reputable Vegas establishments have Magic Alex at 2000-to-1.

And stay tuned for the real action over our next two episodes, as our field of 32 contenders duke it out—once and for all—for the title of Fifth Beatle.

🏀 Who'd we miss? Who's in your Elite Eight (Days a Week) and your Final Four (the Benefit of Mr. Kite)? Come talk trash with us over on Facebook.

Ep. 90 | Twitch & Shout with The Second City’s Kelly Leonard

The Untitled Beatles Podcast’s all-time favorite “Sanford & Son” character was, obviously, Grady. So, shake it up Grady now (shake it up Grady), and join us for this deluxe, remixed, world podcast premiere of “Twitch & Shout”, the Untitled Beatles Podcast’s foray into live video on www.twitch.tv/Chicago4Real.

In this episode, we’re joined by longtime, renowned Second City producer Kelly Leonard, a fellow Beatle-nerd—and host of the "Getting to Yes, And" podcast—who shares his thoughts on “Get Back”, and more, including:

 🐶 Is Kelly’s dog’s part of an unusually vacuous conspiracy cabal?

 ✈️ (Please read in an incensed, drunk Chicago voice) How come “Jet” has TWO b-sides, ya jagbag?

 🏀🎙😴 Is WGN AM 720, your home of Northwestern Mens Basketbazzzzzzzzzzz sorry fell asleep there for a second responsible for the biggest mashup hit single of all time?

EPISODE LINKS

• Prefer your videos in video format? Find the original video edition of our conversation, and check out Roy Leonard's interview with Paul on YouTube.

• Don't miss our next live stream! Be sure to follow us on Facebook / Twitter / Instagram.

• If you're feeling generous, we'd love it if you left us a review on Apple Podcasts. If you're feeling lazy, maybe get your friend to do it? WE APPRECIATE YOU.

Ep. 89 | Our Show About Nothing

"Seinfeld" is one of those shows that, strangely, never caught on. Nobody’s seen it and fewer remember it. Anyway, it was a show about nothing, and so is this week’s Untitled Beatles Podcast. While working like mad in their day/night/both jobs, The Gab Two didn’t have the requisite time to do their usual, vigorous, often dangerous show prep. But they let it roll, Bob, and the result is a wild #banger, including fierce debates about:

 🧤 Who would you rather step out with, John Lennon or Joe Jackson? (As in the British new-wave pianist, not Jacko’s dad. Jacko as in Michael Jackson, not Jocko, as in Jocko Marcellino, Sha Na Na’s drummer.)

 🎷 Is Clarence Clemmons his generation’s Clarence Carter?

 🌭 What kind of a jag bag doesn’t put grilled onions and mustard on their Polish sausage?As Phil Collins sang in 1982, “You can’t Murray Head”.

So grab a cold one (as in drink, not a person who’s been dead for a while), snuggle up with your favorite koala-type bear, put on a puffy shirt, giddy up, yada, yada, yada, and insert your own “Seinfeld” reference here.

EPISODE LINKS

• Do you prefer shows about... something? WE HAVE THOSE TOO! Subscribe wherever you listen and rate and review on Apple Podcasts

• When time allows, we also often talk about something and/or nothing on all your favorite social things: Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram

Ep. 88 | Get Back - The Rooftop Concert IMAX Experience (A Very Special Untitled Beatles Field Trip)

This is a new phase Untitled Beatles Podcast...essential to the content of seeing the film, Get Back in IMAX was that Tony & T.J. each recorded their experiences driving to the theater; in comes the warmth and general nonsense of discussing the film together in a live bar performance, as reproduced for mp4 by Producer Casey. Also in this very special episode: 

 📻 Baby, if you’ve ever wondered, does T.J. wax nostalgic when his favorite sitcom actor leaves the material world? 

 📷 Which better suits the George Martin Orchestra’s “This Boy”: Sad Ringo (not living in a van) down by the river, or Tony’s musings on the Sgt. Pepper costumes? 

 🤦‍♂️ Do the Gab (and/or Abacab) Two know if one of the most influential figures in Beatles history is alive or dead? (Spoilers: Nope.)

Take that plastic flap off your mouth holes, slam an I-talian beef or two, and enjoy this inside look at a joyous, Tony & T.J. field trip to see this remarkable film together.

EPISODE LINKS:

• We don't have a Patreon (yet...?), but if you Dig It, please support the show! Subscribe wherever you listen and rate and review on Apple Podcasts

• Did you catch the concert at your fine local IMAX establishment? What'd you think? Hit us up on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram

Ep. 87 | Beatles Valentimes: Songs for Significant Others Part 2

Would you look at that? It was JUST Valentimes Day! And, beloved listener, please accept our belated gift: the thrilling conclusion to our conversation about the tunes inspired by Beatle significant others.

T.J. and Tony talk tender tunes, play some Pattie (Boyd) Cake, and ponder:

 💋 Which is sexiest: “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” or Lenny and the Squigtones?

 🎼 Which Barry Manilow banger (#barrybanger) inspired the key change in John Lennon’s “Woman”?

 🦘 Was that strange lady who made Men At Work’s Colin Hay nervous, in fact, Pattie Boyd?

It’s not too late! Get back out to your local CVS, load up on all the half-price Whitman’s Samplers, and close out your Valentimes season in the warm embrace of the Untitled Beatles Podcast.

EPISODE LINKS:

• If you "like" like us, consider sending some of that valentine love our way: Subscribe wherever you listen and rate and review on Apple Podcasts

• Which songs did we miss? Come yell at us on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram

Ep. 86 | Beatles Valentimes: Songs for Significant Others Part 1

Would you look at that? It’s almost Valentimes Day! Better run to CVS or lastminutegiftcarddepot.oops and show that special someone how much you care. Or, better yet, you could write your lover song after song after song that will forever stand the test of time and be meaningful to millions all over the world? I mean John, Paul, & George did it, why can’t you? #FailureAlert

With so much love in the air, Tony & T.J. look at some of their favorite songs inspired by The Beatles significant others. Along the way, their hearts explode with these hot topics/wet seals:

 🏄‍♂️ Who was more in love with baby Linda Eastman: Jan or Dean?

 ⚾️ If “Shipoopi” played baseball, would it bat in two or three hole?

 🛋 Is Paul’s longtime keyboard player actually a defunct furniture superstore? 

EPISODE LINKS

• We’re warning you with peace and love: please subscribe wherever you listen and rate and review on Apple Podcasts

• Hear us, women and wives? If not, tell us about it on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram

Ep. 85 | Beatles B-Sides

For centuries, humankind has wondered:

What does the “B” in “B-side” stand for?

Blench? Brackle? Bywoner?

Perhaps we’ll never know. 

By the by, this week T.J. and Tony bloviate brusquely about B-sides by The Beatles, like a barrel of barmy bywoners. Baby they are not rich men, but their benevolence for this band will never blench!

Be that as it may, they often brood:

 🌊 Could Tony’s inimitable soprano have secured him a spot with The Beach Boys, or was he always destined to push Al Jardine’s sad inert duck into a dusty Chicago barn?

 🥯 Had T.J. attended the 14 Hour Technicolor Dream, would he and Suzy Creamcheese have become the Roseanne & Tom of the 1960s?

 💥 Will Peter Jackson add the Lennon-penned onomatopoeic graphic “Chatoong!” to restored episodes of TV’s Batman? And then will Disney postpone its DVD & Blu-Ray release?

Besides, B-sides are boss!

Won’t you brackle with us?

EPISODE LINKS:

• All you singles looking to mingle, come take a walk on the B-side with us: Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram

• Tony hates to ask, but PLEASE rate and review us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen.

Ep. 84 | The Beatles “Rarities” (1978 or 1980)

If your ideal “Penny Lane” ends with a trumpet riff, if you prefer “I Am The Walrus” with extra beats, if you struggle to enjoy “And I Love Her” without the longer outro: a) seek help, friend, and b) "Rarities" was a big part of your 80's Beatles experience!

Tony & T.J. deep dish on Capitol’s long-forgotten 1980 offering and the wholly different '78 U.K. version, and along the way, consider:

📻 Is “The Boombox In The Backseat Of Tony’s Car" the standout track on "Ram"?

🌈 Is mono “Don’t Pass Me By” a better song on the Capitol rainbow label?

🖖 Is Stuart Sutcliffe best remembered for his spoken contribution to the stereo “Helter Skelter”?

One audio note: this episode was sourced from an original Ron Furmanek 45. You can tell because Producer Casey's not on tambourine.

Read Nicholas Schaffner’s real-time Rarities thoughts here.

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EPISODE LINKS

• Is British "Rarities" superior to the U.S. Capitol release? OK REDCOAT: save the hot takes for Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram

• We like to think our show is more album track than rarity... help make sure gems like this episode see the light of day! Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen.

Ep. 83 | NME vs. UBP: Ranking The Beatles’ Song Catalog

Rage Against The Machine sang, “Know Your Enemy”.  Perhaps they were really singing “Know Your NME”, in reference to the U.K. magazine’s recent ranking of *almost* every Beatles song?Turns out, TJiskel and TonEBert’s rankings differ wildly from NME’s, and each other’s! Good thing (#FineYoungCannibals) Producer Casey is there to set the record straight, as we reveal our own exhaustively exhausting rankings of the Beatles catalog, and also delve into other major Beatles news, like:

🚦Which 1982 hit-maker doubled as a traffic eye in the sky for WBBM/CBS-2?

🏀🏈 Is T.J’s Derrick Rose Beatles song Tony’s Walter Payton Beatles song?

🐣 How’s the Sgt. Pepper Chicken at official show sponsor, Kenny Rogers Roasters?

Now open (only) in the Malaysia area! Less fat, less salt, less calories: it’s the #Untitled #Beatles #Podcast!

EPISODE LINKS

• See T.J. and Tony's complete lists ranking every Beatles song

• Share your rankings or yell at us for what we got wrong on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram

• Help us climb the ranks! Be sure to subscribe to the show, and rate and review us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen.

Ep. 82 | The Concert for Bangla Desh (1971)

For many, the most significant Beatle fundraising contribution on record is Macca’s nonsensical gibberish on the extended mix of Band Aid’s “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”

For Tony and T.J., it’s the George Harrison-organized “Concert For Bangla Desh,” whose 3-LP boxed set just turned 50 years old. The album and film are powerful, joyous, and iconic, filled with both bangers and ladeshers. In this episode, the Gab Two salutes their favorite moments and other hawt topics like:

🏀 Who was a better New York Knick: Eric Clapton or John Starks?

😵 Have Leon Russell and Leon Redbone ever been seen together in Belvedere, IL, or on Chicago’s Webster street?

🥁 Is Keith Moon’s most famous solo that time he f**ked up Badfinger’s drum set?

We’d appreciate if you could, uh, try and settle down and get into this episode. That’s the way (the Untitled Beatles) Pod planned it!

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EPISODE LINKS

• Help support our show! Tell your friends! Subscribe! Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify! Come hang with us on Facebook!

• Our live Twitch and Shout show is back! Join us this Tuesday, January 18, at 6 p.m. CT on the Chicago4Real Twitch channel! untitledbeatlespodcast.com/live