Untitled Beatles Podcast

Their second film is fab and gear! Untitled Peedles, Have No Fear! 2025, what a year! And our final look at “Help!” has arrived! #WeDidntWriteNoPoetry

Tony, T.J., and producer P3Z-Casz put the Finnishing touchers on their “Help!” deep-dish, with a side of extra kvetching, as old, sad, deranged people do. Who doesn’t want to hear that? Are U a fan or not, pal? And, while we’re here, are you a fan of these questions?

📚 (Angry Chicago Guy, he’s up late, hoping MeTV will show ONE MORE “Hogan’s Heroes” before sunrise:) “How come Tony thinks he c...

Help! I need somebody once told me the world is filled with Kaili, but some folks call her Kylie instead. (#SmashMinogue)

What does any of this have to do with the “Help!” film? Good point, Buck O(wens); but, then again, what does anything in “Help!” have to do with “Help!”? I mean, the boys are skiing, they’re fighting villains at restaurants, they legit own multiple vending machines… Talk about privilege! #DefundTheBeatles

60 years on, “Help!” presents some of the most iconic scenes and songs in any Beatles-related film not named “Broad Street”. And gentlepeople, this week, Tony & T.J. h...

BIG BREAKING BEATLE NEWS (from like a week ago):

T.J. finally scored Ringo's VH1 Storytellers cassette from Psychic Records in Brooklyn.

Lots to react to, between this development and some business about a new Anthology release and Power to the People box set.

Open up those wallets and get geared up for all the grumps and gripes, as the Gab Two (+ Casey!) give Angry Drunk Chicago Guy a run for his money, with the hard hitting questions like:

💰🔥 WHERE'M I SUPPOSEDA GET 400 BUCKS FOR ANTHOLOGY VINYL WHEN I ALREADY SOLD MY WEDD...

“Help!” It’s the second smash film, from the biggest band in the world, released when Beatlemania was still at its peak. It’s filled with great - and in a few cases, top-tier - Beatles music. Its cast includes well known actors, and the director was an expert in maximizing the boys comedic, personable on-screen talents. It satirizes the burgeoning Bond franchise and, it’s in color! (Take that, Boxing Day 1967 UK airing of “Magical Mystery Tour”)

And yet the question must be asked all these years later: is “Help!” a classic? A great movie? Merely a good one? And in...

WHEW! What a Fest that was! This week, the gents are catching their breath. So join us in the bleachers with a cold one, as we revisit a summertime classic.

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Originally released August 13, 2022

It’s obvious that The Beatles first love was music. But their fabbest love was for the American sport of baseball, with its electrifying foul balls, nail-biting bunts, and contemplative rain delays. And that’s why this week, T.J. and Tony have each compiled a major league set of fab tunes to compete against one another in this All...

This week, Tony and T.J. step aside and hand their mics over to Eurotrash broadcast sensations Glücklich und Froh, recording LIVE from the Grugahalle in Essen, Mutter Deutschland. Listen along as they dig into the recently surfaced bootleg board recordings from the start of the Beatles’ 1966 world tour.

Was it sloppy? Was it rock n roll? It sure was feelin’ dank.

While they’re at it, the Zwei Zornzwerge wander off the autobahn and wonder:

🥊 Which Peter would you take in a fist fight: Brady or Gordon?
🥊 Which “Got To Get You Into My...

The 2025 Chicago Fest for Beatles Fans is coming up...like a flower...next Friday, in beautiful, mobbed up Rosemont, IL. To preview the merriment and madness (#ourhouse), the UBP welcomes #1 Beatle Stan, Fab/Gear social media influencer, and friend of the program, Skylar Moody!

Plus, Producer Casey drops by to help preview the 3rd Annual UBP F**k It We'll Do It Live Taping at The Fest! And as piano hero and fascism fighter Ben Folds says, "but wait, there's more!", like...

⛳️ At which legendary Rosemont dining establishment are the UBP3 (#Cantaloop?) more likely to dine...

When did the news become so awful?

A: 2015.

That was more of a rhetorical question, but you’re 100% correct. It was 2015. So after 10 YEARS of doom-scrolling our collective souls (#shine) into a revolting, malodorous tarpit of human despair (access to misery included for a small monthly surcharge), how can the news be worth our time?

A: When it’s SUMMER BEATLE NEWS!!! That’s why this week T.J. and Tony catch up on a romantic hammock and muse freely on the latest from the Land of Fab. And as they sway to the ca...

Maybe, just maybe, "Yesterday"...And Today, was a modern-day Robin Hood (Men In Tights). Sure it stole from the rich, in this case, the U.K. "Revolver". But it also gave to the poor, in this case, American Baby Boomers, whose dreams would eventually be crushed under the weight of their own selfish interests from a life unfulfilled.

Anyhoo! The Gab 2 dissect this essential Capitol album, and butcher both facts and myths as they discuss it and more, like:

🗑 If you're a Sanford, and your son isn't in trash, are you super pissed?

🌫 When di...

Bill Miller isn’t just Texas’ fastest growing BBQ joint this side of that one suburban Manila Kenny Rogers Roasters. No, sir/ma’am! Once upon a time, Bill Miller traded in his Texas, wet-rub BBQ stained hands to prepare something better and more culturally significant than chick’n: a U.S. Beatles album!

Longtime Capitol butcher Dave Dexter was (allegedly) too busy running Nixon’s campaign to assemble a Beatles album comprised of songs left-over from the British albums “Help”, “Rubber Soul”, and ripped from the not yet released “Revolver”. So that job fell to Bill Miller, the fast-growi...

“Nevermind”. “Ten Summoners Tales“. “The Backbeat Soundtrack”. Sensing a theme here, fellow alt-rocker?

Perhaps more than any other record not named “The River Of Dreams", these three albums are at the very heart of the alt rock/grunge/post-chillwave scene. Going to Metro in 1994? Better bring your cassingle of “Fields Of Barley”. Because at Metro, they don’t take American Express.

And yet, of all the great grunge albums, none is grungier than the motion picture soundtrack of “Backbeat”.

Was (not was) that a little too much? Cut me some slack! The Backbeat Soundtrack really does h...

1994 proved to be one of the most fertile years for Beatles-inspired filmmaking. The titles of cinematic classics either directly about The Beatles (“The Secret Of Roan Inish”, “Blue Chips”) or clearly inspired by their music (“Ski School 2”, “Wesley Snipes’ Sugar Hill”) were ’94’s dominant cultural and commercial hits. (Yeah, go ahead and f off, “The Air Up There”.)

Perhaps the most notable fab film from that year was “Backbeat”, which focused primarily on Stuart Stucliffe’s brief but incredibly/debatably important tenure as a Beatle. What does the film get right? What does it get terribly, offensively wrong? How do Beatles (and cinem...

One of the darkest days for the UBP was in May 1990, when Vic Tayback, a.k.a. Mel on CBS’ “Alice”, left this earth; and perhaps others. Despite taking place literal decades before the UBP began, Mr. Tayback’s death caused a deep level of pain that has us forever kissing our own grits.

Flash forward to June, 2025. Another entertainment hero is gone - one arguably bigger than Mr. Tayback - who helped define American music in the 1960’s, and inspired Paul McCartney and The Beatles to reach arguably their greatest artistic heights.* (*Does not include “Now And Then”.)<...

John Lennon literally said it best: "All You Need Is Love: The Cirque Du Soleil Soundtrack, on CD in multiple editions, streaming with bonus tracks on iTunes, and on a making of DVD."

And in 2020, a younger, dumber, sadly Casey-less Gab Two gabbed fab and dished deep on this album!

Now, for the first time, here's the Deluxe Edition remaster, in 5.1 Dolby NR Cr02 Color.

See you next week with an all new episode!

EPISODE LINKS

What’s your Favourite Beatles Cover, Art? Or, more generally, for those listeners not named Art, what’s your Favourite Beatles Cover Art? There are seemingly endless global 7” and 12” covers from which to choose. Despite all but a small few ever being authorized by the Fabs, a good many are iconic, super weird, or a mesmerizing combination of both.

Loyal listener and Patreon member Mick B brought us this great suggestion, inspired by the live-performance photo on the cover of “The Beatles In Italy”; which, indeed features hits by The Beatles! Just not live. Or “In Italy”. Maybe Bruce Spiz...

Look, some “Beatles podcasts” don’t have the 🏀🏀 to break into 14th-Beatle Vanessa Williams’ “Save The Breast For Last” while deep-dishing Beatles Covers.

Unfortunately, the UBP is not just any “Beatles podcast”. First off, and obviously, we’re officially authorized by #BMGDarkHorse, #CalderstoneuMe, and #Apple (Pantry on Fullerton, near Marco’s Beef).

Second, let’s change the subject and use AI to write about this collection of listener-suggested cover songs made famous by the Beatles, and re-interpreted by other artists of different genres and eras. Some argue that Beatles covers cannot be as good as the originals, but Producer T...

Dust off your funny bone (actual NBC ad copy circa 1987), it’s the long-awaited conclusion to T.J., Tony and Producer Casey’s forensic deep dish into Paul McCartney’s 1993 appearance on Saturday Night Live!

Yes, the boys are combing through every Macca performance, each Clinton-era comedy sketch, and almost every opinion... Unfortunately, Producer Casey did not inform the affiliates that we would be running over, so regularly scheduled programming resumed as planned.

Of course, any well-executed satire (like the Gap Girls sketch!) will elicit thought-provoking questions. Such as:

💰🚳 Didn’t Lorne Michaels offer Paul $300...

Remember when Paul wasn’t in The Beatles anymore? And, um, he was on that TV show Saturday Night Live? A second time? And he played all those songs nobody knew from that record only T.J. Shanoff loved called Off the Ground?

Remember that?

That was awesome.

(But also some of it might’ve been hot garbage #AlecBaldwin #AnalcAnal)

Join Tony, T.J., and Producer Casey as they foray into Sir Paul’s second foray into live sketch comedy, his 1993 appearance on SNL. Along the way, the gang finds out:

...

Did you know that fellow '60's Brit rockers The Kinks had their biggest ever hit in 1984? Who didn't love "Kum Backing", their tribute to one of the very first bootlegs: the Beatles acetate "Kum Back"?

Here at the UBP we love the Kinks, kink shaming, Kum & Go gas, and this legendary bootleg, heard by the #Kum2GetherToo for the very first time just this month! Some Beatles "fans", right? I'll bet they can't even pronounce "Esher" correctly...

So do get your tape recorders rolling, but be forewarned; Kash Patel may come to your home...

Some “podcasts” only hear The Beatles (TM, pending) tell some. But only one “Podcast” hears the Beatles tell all, for one. #Sting #BryanAdams #RodStewart #TellMeAllYourThoughtsOnRod

This week, our own Dunhill & V.J. - Tony & T.J.! - jump into one of the long-forgotten, 1964 V.J. record label cash grabs, “Hear The Beatles Tell All”. This tabloid-style Beatles interview album contains no Beatles music, but it does feature one of rock & soul music’s greatest drummers this side of Purdydice City. Take! Me! Home! #PurdiePlayedOnThatTrackToo

Take a trip back to late 1964, when this album was released, or sometime in...

Holy Beatles Discovery! Two 1963 concerts, in arguably made up British towns, have surfaced! They capture the early days of British Beatlemania (#BillyJoel) and are a revelatory addition to the Beatle live catalog. One can only hope Calderstone/UMe releases it in a souped up vinyl version, with an Apple and on Capitol's 1988 purple label, for only $75! #ThrowInADamnGnome #AndAnXDRChime

As if we needed any more proof that the fabs were on top of their game well before they hit the U.S. (angry Chicago guy: "How come Tony & T.J. hate A Murica so bad? And how come...

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 (¿🇺🇸?) 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 go...

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!

EPISODE LINKS

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March may be officially in the rearview, but its Madness sticks around for one more week! Join T.J., Tony, and Producer Casey as they Duke it out over their Eighth Beatle Brackets, and maybe also inadvertently disseminate dubious biographical details.

We’re just asking questions here. Like:

🏀🍆 Did Jimmie Nicol "Delonte West" John’s Aunt Mimi?

📡🍆 Can any of us ever truly know whether “Radar Love” was written about Patti Boyd?

🇺🇸🍆 Where was Cilla Black on J6?

WE’RE 👏 JUST 👏 ASKING 👏 QUESTIONS 👏 HERE 👏

And who will be crowned the Untitled Beatles Podcast’s offi...

It’s 1964. The Beatles have conquered America. But beneath the screams and the hysteria lies a secret—a mystery so audacious, so rhythmically complex, that it has remained hidden for decades. Could it be true that Bernard Purdie, legendary session drummer, played on Beatles records?

Join hard-hitting investigator Tony Mendoza as he dives headfirst into one of rock and roll’s most bizarre conspiracy theories. Along the way, he encounters a rogue’s gallery of underground insiders whose stories paint a picture of deception, syncopation, and a janitor with a mop that could shuffle harder than a Reno cro...

It’s March Madness! Can you feel the excitement, between bouts of despair from our rapid descent into a fascist state? And did anyone else pick Fascist State to beat Attica State in the Hate Eight?

The UBP takes March Madness more seriously than Americans take hating Duke. (David. F**k him!) Because at the UBP, we have two jobs: being the podcast of academic record for serious Beatle (and bible) study, and creating a tournament bracket destined to cement Dick Biondi’s legacy as a Top 10 figure in Beatles history! So play along with us as Tony...

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!

Move over, "Cloud 9". 1987's biggest release, at least for fans of the kind of hard, f rock that Appleton's legendary WFUK made famous, is Tiffany's "Could've Been".
#📁_🍆🎸

But what was ol Tiff singing about? We interpret her lyrics as a listing of songs the Beatles could've (been) released in their real-time, U.K. discography. For those of you for whom Tiffany rocks just a wee too hard, the Untitled Two dream up some of their choices most amazing fantasy Fab singles.

So come on down to fantasy land - no yoga toe spreaders required, which is...

In what many scholars consider one of the most revelatory album releases of 1994 (perhaps second only to Sade's "Best of Sade"), the Beatles' "Live at the BBC" provides a portal back to the early 60s, when the Beatles weren't yet quite as popular as the big J.C.

This week, T.J and Tony dust off their CD collections to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the 30th anniversary of some of the Fab Four's finest live studio recordings, and in the process, answer the timeless questions:

🇬🇧🎙️ Who was the superior BBC presenter: Lee Peters, Pee Litres, or...

Have you ever had a Rock & Roll Fantasy? The Kinks did. So did Bad Company. And nobody hated Bad Company more than rock music’s Stephen Sondheim. #FireElaineStritch

Some Rock & Roll fantasies are quite dangerous, like the troubling, cancel-worthy ones Rick Rubin has about feet. ALLEGEDLY. But others are healthy enough to dream out loud, on, by any reasonable metric, one of America’s most acclaimed podcasts.

Inspired by an inspiring suggestion from longtime listener, Patreon supporter, and singer/songwriter, Montreal’s own Max "Como" Comeau (which translates loosely in ‘Murican to "Max, how"?), Tony and T.J...

The fab four’s fourth fab album, Beatles for Sale, isn’t just absolutely freaking underrated. It offers perhaps the last of their comparatively-less-ubiquitous knockout tunes. Side 2 illustrates this point perfectly, where just about Every Little Thing is magical*. (*May not include cover songs!)

And yet, the UBP’s very own Tony “Dave Dexter Junior, Junior” Mendoza wants to make this album even better. How will he do this you may ask? That’s why you literally have to listen! (No, really this time we’re not f**king around.) Spoiler alert: just when the “lawyers” said Rush and The Beatl...

It’s one of the more unique and perhaps under-appreciated albums in the Beatles otherworldly catalog: “Beatles For Sale”. Recorded in the eye of the Beatlemania storm, with the making of  what would become “Help” right around the corner, this is one of the few Beatles albums that, to quote TLC’s tribute to Zach Braff (NBC’s “No Scrubs”), “Beatles For Sale”, sadly gets no love. It’s occasionally dismissed as a creative and energy step down from the album which preceded it, “A Hard Days Night”. BY MORONS, AM I RIGHT? Because this is a damn fine album, however exhausted and...

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:

 🌿 Who g...

The rager of an anny party continues over at the UBP, as the team celebrates their 200th (200-point-fifth?) episode! With the help of some fab listener questions, Tony, T.J., & Casey dish deep on all things Beatles - and some exciting news that may be revealed for 2025! (This is called a tease, but it’s a bad one, because there’s no special news. There is, however, a rarely-heard Tony Mendoza production, crafted exclusively for Beatlefest 2024, seamlessly bringing together the world’s two most important proper nouns.)

While reflecting on the future of UBP, and also preparing for th...

It was 200 episodes ago today… The world was thrown into chaos by a pandemic that real scientists, like the bumbling, mediocre, former host of a largely stupid, 2000’s NBC reality show, knew could be cured with basic medical know how; like injecting bleach. #NegativeCreep #FileHimUnderARock

From this weird, wild world of alternative facts and despair came The Untitled Beatles Podcast, and we couldn’t be more proud to share our 200th sojourn into the vast, beautiful world of Beatles music and culture. In this special episode, Tony, T.J., and Producer Casey take the rare step of making...

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:

🤠 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

🗑️ If Matt...

To celebrate the release of The Beatles 1964 US Albums in Mono, Untitled T.J. invited Untitled Tony over to his Untitled Beatles Paradise, where the two middle-aged lads Beatled about for hours with these new HOTLY CUT platters.

In this episode, the first in a sporadic series, they delve into this MOSTLY FAB box set, leading off with Side 1 of Meet The Beatles.

While the hot wax spins, the Jurk Twins ponder:

🥩 Is Tony’s new copy of “Mono Meet The Beatles: feat “Not A Second Time Sgt. Paper Inner Groove [Lee Minkler Remix]” more rare or...

The fellas are offline for the holidays this week, enjoying a restful end of the year and prepping furiously for all-new episodes in 2025.

And hey BY THE WAY, UBP Episode 200 is coming up real soon! If you'd like to be a part of the celebration, we'd love to have you. Record an audio memo with a question for the guys and email it to untitledbeatlespod@gmail.com with "Episode 200" and we'll try to find a way to work it into the episode.

And in the meantime, dust off those old Xmas Flexidiscs, and please enjoy...

Since Xmashanukkwanza has been an ongoing celebration since late September, we here at the UPB have already spent all of our allotted giving spirit for 2024 (#ThanksObama). Therefore it’s time to focus on what we WANT to RECEIVE from The Beatleverse in the years to come. So this week, Crimbledee and Crimbledum list off all the major contenders on their fab wishlists, while leaving these remaining items for future wishlists:

🧊“Now and Then” Then and Now Commemorative Scrapbook Vault. A crafty 12’x12’ cube to warmly display all of your “Now and Then” 100+ coloured 7”, 10”, 12” vinyls, posters, t-shirts, keychains, beach towels, cuckoo cl...