In part 1, I named my second favorite Beatles podcast and general-topic, comedy, and defunct podcasts that I especially like.
Ranking podcasts
Ranking the Beatles. Jonathan Pretus (usually accompanied by his wife, Julia) ranks every Beatles song from 224 to 1. Sie Liebt Dich winds up at 224, and of this writing Jonathan has yet to unveil his top 60 or so. He ranks The Long and Winding Road at 212, Here, There and Everywhere at 112, and Hey Jude at 81. You’ve been warned.
Blotto Beatles. When Tommy, Becker, Scotty C., and RB rank Beatles songs, they’re in their cups. And often quite funny. They really don’t care for A Taste of Honey, but they sing a snippet of it in almost every episode.
The Beatles Note by Note. Musicians Kenyon Rosewall and Peter Pisano analyze and grade not just every Beatles song by order of release date, but also songs they wrote for other artists. Kenyon offers a separate “Lecture Series” episode for each song in which he examines the song from the perspective of musical theory.
The Big Sixties Sort-Out. Garry Abbott and his brother Paul ranked The Beatles songs in series one. In subsequent series, they’ve ranked solo Beatles ’70s singles and all of the number one songs from the UK and US charts. The brothers Abbott have terrific chemistry.
Solo Beatles podcasts
Paul or Nothing. The engaging host Sam Whiles says that his podcast is “The Place To Get All Your Paul, All The Time!” Among other topics, his deep dives into Paul’s solo albums span multiple episodes–and several hours.
Glass Onion: On John Lennon. Antony Rotunno specializes in thoughtful meditations on John, and sometimes offers free life-coaching advice.
My favorite Beatles podcast
Take It Away: The Complete Paul McCartney Archive Podcast. Ryan Brady and Chris Mercer tackled the enviable task of reviewing and discussing all of Paul’s singles and albums, plus bootlegs and songs that Paul wrote for other artists. They’re obviously fans, but they’re honest when the work warrants criticism, and they trace an often meandering line from the breakup to the present.
I’ve listened to each of the main Take It Away episodes (there are also a handful of bonus eps) at least three times. I was especially taken by Ryan’s delight in discovering McCartney tracks he’d never heard before.
I apologize, but here’s the gut punch: Ryan died from injuries suffered in a car accident, at age 34, In November 2020. Chris has continued the podcast in Ryan’s memory, teaming with Paul Kaminski and rebranding it The Complete Solo Beatles Podcast. They’re working their way through George’s solo work.
What are your favorite Beatles podcasts? Email me at beatletrack@gmail.com.
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