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Beatles Films, Solo Projects, John, Yoko UBP Producer Beatles Films, Solo Projects, John, Yoko UBP Producer

Ep. 213 | “One To One: John & Yoko” (2025) / Touring the Shanoff Collection

As our beloved US quickly descends into cruel authoritarian idiocy, the UBP crew reunited IRL to wax fab on new RSD purchases, old Reckless Records purchases, and then attend an IMAX screening of the new Magnolia Films doc One To One: John & Yoko.

Within the fortified safety of their top secret Meigs Field Beatle Bunker Bag, T.J., Tony and Producer Casey hunkered down to opine freely about anything (ÂżđŸ‡ș🇾?) and pre-game with some DEEP HARDCORE MACCA. Owwwoooooo!!!!

It wouldn’t be a UBP field trip without a visit to some kind of ROADHOUSE. And while no one got punched completely through the stomach at this particular establishment, the atmosphere was lively with the CRUNCH of real pub-style appetizers AND the PLOP of real hard-hitting questions.

Questions like:

đŸ€ź Does your pronunciation of the Wrigleyville wing-stitution Yakzie’s depend on which side of the tracks you were born?

🎧 How come streaming services don’t feature an XDR chime and 27 seconds of hiss to start off every album?

💰 Why did John have so many copies of Abbey Road in his re-enactment apartment? Was he reselling them to Bleecker Bob’s for rent money???

Sadly, our fact-checking robot P3Z-Nutz was kidnapped by ICE agents on the way to his favorite oil store, where he has been disappeared without due process to be re-tariffed for Government Bitcoins using taxpayer dollars. I think Gary Numan put it best when he said “Is everything stupid?” (Fact-checking currently out of order)

Remember, if you voted for the scrotum-faced man-toddler wannabe-Putin, you’re either in on the grift (rich psychopath), or you got grifted (poor mark). Binary world, right?

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Ep. 212 | Untitled Spring Break / Yoko Ono’s “Approximately Infinite Universe” (1973)

Spring Break Alert! Get your bus ticket to Cabo and/or Wabo, because it's time for a springtime April catch-up! Tony and TJ 1969 Xmas Flexi Disc the heck out of this episode, as they review the latest Beatle film news, and more! Plus, newly crowned 8th Beatle Yoko Ono takes the spotlight, with a deluxe reissue of our early-ass look at Approximately Infinite Universe; now in Dolby NR!

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Originally reissued August 12, 2023

Yang Yang! You’ve given me a Yang Yang! And we’re thinking of Yoko
so we’ve decided to reach into our archives for a limited, deluxe remix/remaster/reissue/bonus Gnome edition of our vaunted 4th episode in 2020, where we deep-dished a Tony favorite: Yoko Ono’s “Approximately Infinite Universe”!

Did you know it’s TWO albums? Well hell yeah, it is! Good for Tony. Butt, what about T.J.? Well, there are even more questions that must be answered, such a$:

đŸ§čSpoilers: Did Yoko’s “Death Of Samantha” predict the “Who’s The Boss?” series finale decades before it aired?

â˜€ïžđŸ” Does anyone remember the 1990’s Fiddler On The Roof/Don Henley theme restaurant, “Sunrise Sunset Grill”?

🏀 Was San Diego Clipper great World B. Free really a bastard? And if not, WTF with Yoko’s hateful tune?

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Originally published June 20, 2020

Tony turns TJ on...to Yoko Ono's 1973 double-LP Approximately Infinite Universe. They explore the merits of her influence and the complexities of her marriage to John at the time this album was recorded. TJ comes to terms with his disdain for Elephant's Memory, particularly the saxophone, and Tony reveals his least favorite song of all time. Spoiler: it's not by The Beatles (Remember, they like them!)

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Solo Projects, Paul UBP Producer Solo Projects, Paul UBP Producer

Ep. 209 | Macca Snacks Finale / Paul McCartney’s The 7” Singles Box (2022)

It’s the end of an error, as Tony & T.J. conclude their three years/one day saga of binging reissued Macca 45s with a couple of absolute late-era McCartney gems; and an exclusive, world-wide/WorldStar, legally dubious debut of T.J.'s "Liverpool Oratorio" test pressing!

We’ll be back next week with an all new episode where we get in the March Madness spirit; and by that we mean point-shaving, baby!! In the meantime, go ahead and grab a Macca snack; they’re meat free and it’s not even Monday. Unless it is!

 

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Ep. 202 | Ringo Starr's "Look Up" (2025) and Our Country Music Favorites

Sure, in 1982, George may have “Gone Troppo” 
 but who could’ve guessed that some 43 years later, his old pal Ringo would have “Gone Conttro”?

That’s right! Buckle your buckles, scoot those boots, and pour out’cher ten gallon hats, because this week the Twangin’ Two dish deep not just on Ringo’s new Nashville-infused release, “Look Up”, but they Look Back on their own Americana and country music roots.

Join us as we hit the open highway with our radios tuned to Tom T. Hall, Dave “Curley” Dudley, and Dick Butkus, and along the ride we ask:

 đŸŒż Who got higher at Poplar Creek in the 1980s: Willie Nelson, or T.J.’s mom?

🐂 True or False: Tony’s first concert was Alvin and the Chipmunks at the opening night of Coyote Ugly Saloon?

 đŸ‘Ż Is Ringo’s “Can You Hear Me Call” featuring Molly Tuttle the greatest solo Beatle duet since Macca’s “Ivory and Ivory” with Hamish Stuart?

 

(hat tip to Patreon supporter ChossoMosso for episode art inspiration đŸ€ )

 

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Ep. 201 | Dark Horse Records

Cheer Down, Untitled Beatlefreaks! This week, Tony gives T.J. Cliff’s notes (shouldn’t have left your locker open, Cliff) on the fascinating book, Dark Horse Records: The Story of George Harrison’s Post-Beatles Record Label, written by Aaron Badgley. Did the quiet Beatle create the first indie label, one that featured appearances from Ringo Starr, Billy Preston, and at least one former Wing? The guys discuss this and more, like:

đŸ€  Joe Cocker toured the country in the musical “Grease”, so why is Eric Clapton too cowardly to step into “Oklahoma”? TULSA TIME, MY ASS. #DonWilliams

đŸ—‘ïž If Matt Gaetz were a grumpy green monster on “Sesame Street”, would his name be Oscar The Couch; because he diddles couches?

📰 Would Attitudes second album, “Good News”, have sold more copies had there not been a crippling frisbee shortage in 1977?

 

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Ep. 196 | George Harrison's "Living In the Material World" Super Deluxe Edition

Right around Thanksgiving (the American one, THE ONLY ONE), the Material World got a whole lot more material! The Harrison estate graciously reintroduced one of George’s most acclaimed records to the world; via a sparkling, glorious Paul Hicks remix in honor of its’ (approximately, infinite) 50th anniversary. There are many iterations of this current reissue, as Beatleworld continues its transition from “marketing exclusively for the masses” to “marketing primarily for boomers with loads of disposable cash”.

In arguably the greatest national tragedy of 2024, Theater Tony (The Annoyance) and Theatre T.J. ("Madonna: The Musical") could only afford the 2-LP/streaming version of this title. (Producer Casey, please put an “awwwww” drop here. K? Then do it, damn it!) But fear not! The guys delve into this reissue with their usual panache, like a couple of panache-holes, but also find the holiday spirit to ask other hard questions, like:

đŸŽ€ What’s the Kim Deal with Seinfeld?

đŸ‘șđŸšœ Does the deluxe remix archive crate gnome edition of “Living In The Material World” come with a skibidi toilet?

đŸšȘ If Krishna showed up to Ed McMahon’s house, would McMahon hand him a cartoonishly large check and then bellow in his face, “you are correct, sir?”

 

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Ep. 194 | Macca Snacks #3 / Paul McCartney’s The 7” Singles Box (2022)

This week, we gotta get back in time. Back to 2022, when a bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, and edible-influenced T.J. and Tony ripped through Teej’s brand new box set of the 7” Macca Singles, joined by their close (and possibly hallucinated) friends P3Z-Nutz, Mrs. Vandebilt, and Uncle Pecos.

Will they make it all the way through the bonus test (your patience) pressing of 4 random songs from Liverpool Oratorio? Pop in your earbuds and a coupla your favorite Macca Snacks, and you might just find out.

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Beatles Films, Field Trip, John, Solo Projects UBP Producer Beatles Films, Field Trip, John, Solo Projects UBP Producer

Ep. 189 | “Daytime Revolution” Documentary (2024)

In 2003, The Redwalls, a really good band hailing from Chicago suburb Deerfield, IL kicked off their album “Universal Blues” by encouraging a “Colorful Revolution”; in a most Beatle-esque Banger fashion.

By coincidence (?), a mere 31 years earlier, there was a colorful “Daytime Revolution” as John, Yoko, and friends took over a week’s worth of “The Mike Douglas Show” - a.k.a. the guy all of us, if we’re being honest, initially confused/conflated with “The Dick Cavett Show”.

This new, soon-to-stream documentary examines these historic episodes, and had a brief in-theaters showing on what would’ve been John’s 84th birthday. Tony saw the film solo in Chicago suburb Glenview, IL, as T.J. handled the un-related, un-paid improv rehearsal many miles from his home - and even further from #GlenviewsFamousDawgPark. The result is a new-ish phase Beatles podcast, reproduced for streaming by Producer Casey. Roll up for this special UBP field trip, an aural journey (cue: “Faithfully”) of Tony documenting a documentary, as documentary commentary from T.J. documents Tony’s documentary commentary of the documentary's documentary commentary.

ALSO: The UBP’s Medved + (Helen) Roeper ask:

đŸ”„đŸĄ Does a movie with too many talking heads stop making sense? Or does it get nothing but flowers? Is Wings Wild Life > Wild Wild Life? Sick Byrne, qu’est-ce que c'est?

âšŸïžđŸ“» (Chicago guy - a Sox fan, but he doesn’t hate the Cubs; only Wrigleyville and their fans, and maybe he has a point): “How come the unique single mix of Steve Goodman’s “Go Cubs Go” - pressed, my friendt, on WGN Records! - ain’t been made available anywhere else since the original 45? Maybe Dean Richards will return one of my many handwritten letters and tell me what exactly woke WGN is trying to hide?

đŸ„Ș Would former American Idol Reuben Studard have been more successful if he’d been slathered in extra 1000 Island and better swiss?

 

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Solo Projects, John, Super Deluxe Special Edition UBP Producer Solo Projects, John, Super Deluxe Special Edition UBP Producer

Ep. 184 | Mind Games (The Ultimate Collection) Deluxe Box Set Part 2

Attention loyal podcast description reader! Mighty fine morning in your town, init? Say, are you an “Only People” fan? Ever think, “I want to be, but it’s just not long enough!” Well, have we got a John Lennon boxed set for you, featuring 11 - count ‘em, 11 - more seconds of “Only People”. It’s “Mind Games!” Still a Capitol Records Value, now available for the low price of one month’s rent/mortgage. #ImagineNoPosessions

The Grumpy Gabbers deep dish this sprawling Lennon reissue’s many gorgeous ups and frustrating (Hugh) downs: the demos, myriad remixes, hidden tracks, glow-in-the-dark RSD exclusives, and more, like:

🎾 Does WFUK-96.9 FM - APPLETON’S HOME FOR F**K ROCK - play too little Led Apron?

🍌 If “Now & Then” is, technically, a Beatles song, is “Nutopian International Anthem (Evolution Documentary) technically a Rutles song?

đŸȘ„✌ (Angry Chicago Guy, He’s Not Sober) “How come Tony don’t get no “Wizard Of Oz” references? And how come I took mushrooms after Super Bowl XX and watched my VHS of “Wizard Of Oz” synced up to “Pipes Of Peace”, and it all made sense?”

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Ep. 183 | Mind Games (The Ultimate Collection) Deluxe Box Set

In 1981, the Capitol Records green label LP, budget line re-release of "Mind Games" cost $5.99. In 2024, that same record, when heard in a cube complete with a gnome sized replica of Yoko (allegedly), can be purchased for roughly $1700. Thanks, Obama! (#Sarcasm #Satire #Satcasm)

A new precedent in solo Beatles reissues has been set with this reissue, including the more moderately priced (yet still insane) 6 disc edition. Is that a good thing? Does hearing 6 versions of "Intuition" really enhance the experience of listening to the album? And if T.J. doesn't collect it, does it even exist?

Tony and T.J. begin to dive into this massive release and answer these questions, and more, like:

đŸ’·đŸ„ŠđŸ’” Was Aunt Mimi a loyal fan of BBC 4's, "Pounds or Dollars"?

🐋 Did the Mick Jagger film "Freejack" portend the Michael Jackson film song, "Freewilly"?

đŸ» Angry Chicago Fella: "How come the John Lennon tribute band, Real Sanpaku, don't play at the Merrillville Star Plaza no more?"

 

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