Lennon: Penny Lane – the bank was there, and that was where the tram sheds were and people waiting and the inspector stood there, the fire engines were down there. It was just re-living childhood.John Lennon 1968 Rolling Stone interview
Rolling Stone: You really had a place where you grew up.
Lennon: Oh, yeah. Didn't you?
Rolling Stone: Well, Manhattan isn't Liverpool.
Lennon: Well, you could write about your local bus station.
Rolling Stone: In Manhattan?
Lennon: Sure, why not? Everywhere is somewhere.
Podcasts
I've been enjoy a diverse bunch of Beatles audio recently
First and foremost the Fabcast guys talking to Mark Lewisohn about McCartney's collaboration with Elvis Costello was riveting. The style is a little strident in places, (think Howard Stern), but if you can get past those opinionated patches it's full of interesting stuff.
Beatles Anthology Revisited is like a greatly expanded audio version of the TV show. Apparently the whole thing runs to 28 hours - I'm still working through the Revolver episode. The downloads are hidden about halfway down this page and here's a Pitchfork article about the project.
(Thanks to John Morgan for the recommendation).
My search for outtakes and stems has turned up the now defunct Dave McPhillip's Podcast which you can still download from his podomatic page and reverb-drenched producer Anthony Robustelli has The Beatles Multi-track Meltdown a kind of radio show of board mixes and other oddities. Anthony also features artists like Steely Dan and David Bowie from time to time.
Books
I was fortunate to get my hands on a pre-release copy of Aaron Krerowicz's Beatlestudy Vol. 2 – a massive conCHORDdance – covering every single chord change in every single song in a myriad of ways. It's a mind-bending work of scholarship and it's out now. There's also a sister book on structures that looks just as crazily detailed. Info - Buy in US - Buy in UK.
Websites
The White Album Project looks like an interesting place to hang out. And Every Sound There Is - 'Guitar Stuff For Beatles Fans'? I'm in!
Posts
Aaron Krerowicz has a interesting article about harmony and Gary Ewer writes about making downward key changes (like Penny Lane) work
From Matt
I co-wrote a bizarre kid's song called A Little Spillage with the aptly named New Zealand lyricist Stephen Wordsmith which you can hear here and reposted the interview I did with the Creative Gibberish site here.
Parody/Tribute
Dan Amrich and Jude Kelley aka Palette-Swap Ninja have done something fairly extraordinary. Princess Leia’s Stolen Death Star Plans is basically the complete story of Star Wars Episode IV sung to the tune of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. I don't mean the song, I mean the WHOLE ALBUM – in order. Kind of like watching Wizard Of Oz while listening to Dark Side Of The Moon except it makes complete sense even if you aren't stoned. Dan says “We’ve released song parodies before, but nothing this ambitious. Once we settled on merging A New Hope with Sgt. Pepper’s, we completely committed ourselves to turning these two sacred cows into the ultimate double cheeseburger.”
Watch the whole thing here or download the album here
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