A deep dive into the music and complex psychology of John Lennon, featuring interviews with such noted authors and podcasters as David Bedford, Dan Richter, Jude Kessler, Kit O'Toole and Ken McNab, as well as ex-Quarrymen bandmates Rod Davis and Colin Hanton
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50 years on, the world is still in love with The Beatles. Join Nothing Is Real hosts Jason Carty & Steven Cockcroft as they continue the never-ending conversation about the greatest band the world has ever known. Each episode puts a tiny piece of the Beatles story under the microscope to try and make sense of it all. Coming at you live, on tape, from Dublin. Weekly. 414227 Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/nothing-is-real-a-beatles-podcast. Become a member at https://plus.acast.co ...
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Episode 101- Toronto 1969 Part 1: Revival '69 with Dave Thurmaier
1:36:10
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And so the next century of Glass Onion begins. We’ve got another fine 2-parter for you, with Antony joined by Dave Thurmaier, the co-host of the ‘I’ve Got A Beatles Podcast’ and former guest of the show way back in 2019 and 2020. The Toronto Rock and Roll Revival concert of September 1969 yielded a live album for John & Yoko plus D.A. Pennebaker’s …
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LIVE with Mark Lewisohn - 60 Years of Hard Day's Night - Part Two
40:29
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Live with Mark Lewisohn: 60 Years of A Hard Day’s Night - Part Two We are concluding our May 2024 live chat with Mr Mark Lewisohn. Will A Hard Day’s Night get released? Will it be a hit? What will the reviews say? Tune in to find out… Live in Person from Dun Laoghaire, it’s Nothing Is Real. Website: nothingisrealpod.com/ X: @BeatlesPod Facebook Gro…
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Live with Mark Lewisohn: 60 Years of A Hard Day’s Night - Part One
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S08 Live with Mark Lewisohn: 60 Years of A Hard Day’s Night - Part One It’s been 60 years since A Hard Day’s Night hit the silver screen. In the intervening years, many myths have risen about how this film came together, and who better to bust those myths than Mr Mark Lewisohn. Live in Person from Dun Laoghaire, it’s Nothing Is Real. Website: nothi…
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Bonus Episode # 14- Revolution 9 Revisited (Antony on 'Pop Goes The 60s')
1:51:45
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Over 4 years on from our original episode about ‘Revolution 9’ (episode 25, in the show notes), we return to the topic with an audio version (including multiple sound clips) of a discussion that originally went out on video on Matt Williamson’s excellent you tube channel ‘Pop Goes The 60s’ back in March. We discuss our origin stories with the track…
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Episode 100b- John Lennon In The 1960s (Part 2 of 2)
1:34:35
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And so we complete the milestone! Scott Phipps once again joins Antony to complete their whistle-stop, greatest hits tour through John Lennon and the 1960s. Scott gives us a brief sketch of each year through a few news events (some extremely random but no less interesting) before our two intrepid heroes each pick a Beatles/Lennon talking point, thi…
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Episode 100a- John Lennon In The 1960s (Part 1 of 2)
1:15:52
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What better way to mark Glass Onion’s century than with a traditional multi-parter? In the first of two shows to celebrate our milestone, Antony is joined again by Scott Phipps to take a whistle-stop, greatest hits tour through John Lennon and the decade that made him and which he helped propel into history. Scott puts on his ‘Rainbow Valley’ trous…
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We felt it in poor taste to add show notes at such a sad time for the world...
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Nothing Is Real Live 2023 - The Q&A Sessions
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Nothing Is Real Live 2023 - The Q&A Sessions At each of the Nothing Is Real live shows in 2023 we had a Q&A session. As a taster for the whole event, here are the sessions for Belfast on October 23rd (Before Now & Then) and Dublin on November 9th (After Now & Then). Live in Person from Belfast & Dublin, it’s Nothing Is Real. Website: nothingisrealp…
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Episode 99- Gimme Some (More) Truth
2:01:49
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In the last episode before we notch up our century, Antony flies solo to muse on and discuss various items of Lennon interest. In order, these are the 40th anniversary of the ‘Milk And Honey’ album, the cancelling and virtues of the Lennon-penned Beatles song ‘Run For Your Life’, May Pang’s 2022 documentary ‘The Lost Weekend: A Love Story’, the wor…
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Review of 2023 You boy! What day is it? Ending the year in the NIR log cabin looking back at 2023 - our fifth annual review. Did anything to do with the Beatles happen this year? That’s right, the third anniversary of McCartney III. Oh, and a little tune called Now & Then. Includes a special Christmas guest! Live on tape from Lapland, it’s Nothing …
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The Rock And Roll Hall of Fame 1988 was an unusual time: The biggest Beatle was George, rock stars were dealing with the unthinkable (their forties), people were paying attention to Mike Love, and the rebellion of rock & roll had been replaced by a gentlemen’s club. Live on tape from Dublin & Belfast, it’s Nothing Is Real. Website: nothingisrealpod…
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We round off Glass Onion’s 5th year with a personal episode. Antony explores further his origin story with John Lennon and the ongoing relationship and fascination with the subject of our show (yes, it’s our show). You will also hear some writing that didn’t quite culminate in a book this year, and there’s some discussion of childhood, both Antony’…
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Live at the Roundhouse - Part Two In December 1968, Michael Lindsay-Hogg directed a TV special where the kings of British rock gathered to play their new material. Unfortunately, it was with the Rolling Stones. Whither The Roundhouse? What happened next and what could have happened? Live on tape from Dublin & Belfast, it’s Nothing Is Real. Website:…
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Episode 97- John Lennon in 1967 with Tony Green (Part 3 of 3)
1:54:42
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We conclude our 1967 odyssey by picking up from mid-June and detailing all the main Lennon and Beatles events for the rest of 1967. The Beatles are linked by satellite to hundreds of millions, they almost buy a Greek island, the Maharishi enters their lives and they make their own TV special just in time for it to be shown in black-and-white among …
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Live at the Roundhouse - Part One After filming the Hey Jude promo, and in the midst of recording the White Album, somehow The Beatles decide to eye up a return to the stage in the heart of London. So where should that be, and how will they pull it off? Live on tape from Dublin & Belfast, it’s Nothing Is Real. Website: nothingisrealpod.com/ X: @Bea…
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In 1991, when so many acts from the 60s were lucratively touring, George Harrison decided to dip his toes in the water. Why? Money. Where? Japan. Who? Clapton. What…could possibly go wrong? Live on tape from Dublin & Belfast, it’s Nothing Is Real. Website: nothingisrealpod.com/ X: @BeatlesPod Facebook Group: tiny.cc/NIRFBG Mastodon: @nothingisreal@…
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The plan for a quick live-in-the-studio album gradually morphs into something more 80s, more produced. Hello to Hugh Padgham. Warning: Contains Spies Like Us. Live on tape from Dublin & Belfast, it’s Nothing Is Real. Website: nothingisrealpod.com X: @BeatlesPod Facebook Group: tiny.cc/NIRFBG Mastodon: @nothingisreal@mastodon.ie Instagram: instagram…
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Or…. Press to Play After the huge success* of Give My Regards to Broad Street, Paul McCartney wants to get back to basics. Kicking back in a small band with Eric (not that one) this is a broth that attracts many cooks… Live on tape from Dublin & Belfast, it’s Nothing Is Real. Website: nothingisrealpod.com X: @BeatlesPod Facebook Group: tiny.cc/NIRF…
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November 63 - Part Two As the Beatles move through the month, beyond the Royal Variety Performance they continue to pack houses up and down the UK. What recordings are waiting in the wings? I Want To Hold Your Hand and With The Beatles. Not too shabby. Live on tape from Dublin, it’s Nothing Is Real. Website: nothingisrealpod.com X: @BeatlesPod Face…
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Episode 96- John Lennon in 1967 with Tony Green (Part 2 of 3)
1:41:40
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In this episode we start to work our merry way through the Lennon/Beatles events events of this most swinging of Beatleyears, reaching mid-June. The Fabs start off by releasing what could be their greatest single ever and then turn their full attention to creating what is surely at least their most famous album, Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band…
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Between October 31st and December 1st 1963, the Beatles pushed the envelope from being the biggest pop group in the country to something even… bigger. In a year when they just kept getting more extraordinary, by the end of November 63, the world was theirs for the taking. Live on tape from Dublin, it’s Nothing Is Real. Website: nothingisrealpod.com…
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Harrison/Starkey George and Ringo always had a special bond. As the sixties became the seventies, was there an opportunity for the Beatles to give the world a second magnificent song-writing partnership? Live on tape from Dublin & Belfast, it’s Nothing Is Real. Website: nothingisrealpod.com X: @BeatlesPod Facebook Group: tiny.cc/NIRFBG Mastodon: @n…
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Bonus Episode! Talking Mal Evans with Ken Womack Kenneth Womack is a writer, historian, and critic, who has written some of the best books about The Beatles and their inner circle. To this list, he is about to add Living The Beatles Legend, The Untold Story of Mal Evans, the first of two books about big Mal, which comes out in November 2023. Live o…
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Mal Evans Mal Evans had a front-row seat to the entire Beatles experience, and the Beatles were happy to have him there. Whether it was as an extra in A Hard Day’s Night or co-writing a song on the Ringo album, he remains an indelible part of their landscape. Contains anvils. Live on tape from Dublin & Belfast, it’s Nothing Is Real. Website: nothin…
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Episode 95: John Lennon In 1967 with Tony Green (Part 1 of 3)
1:49:33
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1967 is a year that has gone into legend for various reasons. Was it the year of peace and love? Was there any real love in it at all? Or was it just like any other year, a heady mix of everything good and bad about the human race and society? Before looking at what was undoubtedly a ground-breaking and life-changing year for John Lennon and The Be…
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Bigger Than Jesus - Part Two Four months passed between John Lennon free-associating about Christianity to a trusted journalist, and touching down in the US for a North American tour. The “Bigger Than Jesus” controversy hung over the tour, but was it really that big of a deal? Live on tape from Dublin & Belfast, it’s Nothing Is Real. Website: http:…
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Bigger Than Jesus - Part One John Lennon never actually said that the Beatles were “bigger than Jesus”, but that wasn’t the point. When you’re free-associating to a trusted journalist, what’s to stop your words being lost in translation as they cross the Atlantic? Live on tape from Dublin & Belfast, it’s Nothing Is Real. Website: nothingisrealpod.c…
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Welcome to Season Eight Full steam ahead for the eighth(!) season of Nothing is Real. We need to tell you about live shows, the new season, the world’s most difficult Beatles quiz, and ask the burning question of “Where’s that new Beatles single?” Live on tape from Dublin & Belfast, it’s Nothing Is Real. Website: http://www.nothingisrealpod.com X: …
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Episode 94- Shake It Up Baby!- The Beatles and 1963 with Ken McNab (Part 2 of 2)
1:24:10
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Ken McNab and I complete our discussion about his new book 'Shake It Up Baby!: The Rise of Beatlemania And The Mayhem of 1963' and the general atmosphere and events of that breathless year. This time round, we cover the second half of the year as our four intrepid musical explorers continue their furious work rate and have their first proper brushe…
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Episode 93- Shake It Up Baby!: The Beatles and 1963 with Ken McNab (Part 1 of 2)
1:07:17
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Following the shows on 1962, we seamlessly move to 1963 with the welcome return of Ken McNab to talk about his new book 'Shake It Up Baby!: The Rise of Beatlemania And The Mayhem of 1963'. After Ken gives some thoughts on Peter Jackson’s ‘Get Back’ (his previous appearances on Glass Onion were prior to its release), we cover the events of the first…
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S07 Bonus: STINYC Live Jam Jason Mix The Fillmore tapes have been remixed and repurposed, so in telling the tale, let’s do some remixing and repurposing… Live on tape from Dublin, Belfast, The Fillmore, and The Lyceum, it’s Nothing Is Real. Website: http://www.nothingisrealpod.com Twitter: @BeatlesPod Facebook Group: http://tiny.cc/NIRFBG YouTube: …
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Episode 92- John Lennon In 1962 with David 'Ghosty' Wills (Part 3 of 3)
1:39:39
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We complete our deep dive into 1962 in the outer world and in the Beatles family psychodrama, picking up from late July with Beatles events including a historic change of drummer, John Lennon’s marriage, the group’s first radio interview, their more than troublesome experience recording the simplest song in the world (Love Me Do), gigs with one of …
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Episode 91- John Lennon In 1962 with David 'Ghosty' Wills (Part 2 of 3)
1:29:10
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In this episode, Antony and Ghosty start discussing the Beatles/Lennon events of 1962, covering January to June. Particular focus is put on the Pete Best issue and the death of Stuart Sutcliffe, not to mention John Lennon’s contentious and highly unique reaction to that death. Every year in the Beatles story from around 1960 was packed with activit…
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Episode 90- John Lennon In 1962 with David 'Ghosty' Wills (Part 1 of 3)
2:01:38
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Our latest Lennon odyssey starts with a review of the events of 1962, a tangential conversation in which Antony and guest David ‘Ghosty’ Wills freewheel into all kinds of other territory before setting the listeners up with some pre-1962 context on the Beatles’ progress on their own journey to musical and cultural world domination. 1962 was marked …
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Episode 89- All We Are Saying: The 1980 Playboy Interviews (Part 3 of 3)
1:37:38
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We complete our latest Lennon journey with the conclusion of my analysis of some of the more telling quotes from the series of interviews conducted in September 1980 for Playboy magazine by John Lennon and Yoko Ono. This episode contains a lot of clips from the original audio of the interviews and focuses mainly on John's comments about who wrote w…
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Episode 88- All We Are Saying: The 1980 Playboy Interviews (Part 2 of 3)
1:42:36
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This episode starts with a ‘short intro’ of around 45 minutes, with yet more Coleman vs Goldman material, before continuing our in-depth look at John Lennon’s series of interviews for Playboy magazine in September 1980, which also included Yoko Ono. The interviews offer a fascinating and multi-layered study of a highly eccentric artist and also for…
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Nothing Is Real - Season 7 Episode 12 - Stuart Sutcliffe Part 2
1:13:33
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Stuart Sutcliffe - Part Two As a group, the Beatles were changed by Hamburg. Individually each Beatle got something different from their time in the city and it would shape the rest of their lives …and for Stuart it was Astrid and art. Live on tape from Dublin, it’s Nothing Is Real. Website: http://www.nothingisrealpod.com Twitter: @BeatlesPod Face…
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Episode 87- All We Are Saying: The 1980 Playboy Interviews (Part 1 of 3)
1:34:37
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John Lennon’s series of interviews for Playboy magazine in September 1980, which also included Yoko Ono, are not only a fascinating and multi-layered study of a highly eccentric artist but also form an integral part of the official narrative of John and Yoko’s relationship in 1980 before his death and of the genesis of the songs for their joint alb…
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Nothing Is Real - Season 7 Episode 11 - Stuart Sutcliffe Part 1
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Stuart Sutcliffe - Part One Stuart Sutcliffe was the star pupil at the Liverpool College of Art, and also John Lennon’s flatmate. By becoming a Beatle, he demonstrated that the band was a state of mind. To be a Beatle was to be something…other. Then they got the call up for Hamburg. Live on tape from Dublin, it’s Nothing Is Real. Website: http://ww…
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Nothing Is Real - Season 7 Episode 10 - Stop & Smell The Roses
1:10:04
1:10:04
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Stop & Smell The Roses When work began on Ringo’s eighth album in May 1980, the outlook was good. John, Paul and George came on board to contribute, trying to rekindle the magic of 1973’s Ringo album. By the time the album came out at the end of 1981, it was a different world. Live on tape from Dublin & Belfast, it’s Nothing Is Real. Website: http:…
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Nothing Is Real - Season 7 Episode 9 - Derek Taylor Part 2
1:01:19
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Derek Taylor, Part Two Returning into the Beatleverse via Apple, Derek Taylor settles into his peacock chair at Saville Row, with a ciggie in hand, to dispense drinks and bon mots … but who is sending him all those narky messages? Answers on a postcard… Live on tape from Dublin, it’s Nothing Is Real. Website: http://www.nothingisrealpod.com Twitter…
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Nothing Is Real - Season 7 Episode 8 - Derek Taylor Part 1
49:07
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Derek Taylor, Part One In May 1963, Derek Taylor was sent to review a Beatles concert, an event that spun his world off its axis. For the next 34 years, he would be connected to the band, even as he went from working for them in London to being a free man in Los Angeles. Live on tape from Dublin, it’s Nothing Is Real. Website: http://www.nothingisr…
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Nothing Is Real - Season 7 Episode 7 - Mark Lewisohn Returns
1:13:48
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Mark Lewisohn Returns In January 2023 Mark Lewisohn came to Belfast to present his Evolver: 62 show. For dessert, Steven & Jason joined Mark on stage for a mixture of audience questions, chat, and Beatle diversions. Live on tape from Belfast, it’s Nothing Is Real. Website: http://www.nothingisrealpod.com Twitter: @BeatlesPod Facebook Group: http://…
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Nothing Is Real - Season 7 Episode 6 - August 23rd - Part Three
45:34
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August 23rd - Part Three In the whirlwind of the Beatleverse, three short years connect the golden date of August 23rd from their last live concert to the first day of the rest of their lives. Live on tape from Dublin, it’s Nothing Is Real. Website: http://www.nothingisrealpod.com Twitter: @BeatlesPod Facebook Group: http://tiny.cc/NIRFBG YouTube: …
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Nothing Is Real - Season 7 Episode 5 - August 23rd - Part Two
48:00
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August 23rd - Part Two Our continuing evidence for August 23rd as the greatest Beatle date - a little single called She Loves You and the next stop: The Hollywood Bowl. Live on tape from Dublin, it’s Nothing Is Real. Website: http://www.nothingisrealpod.com Twitter: @BeatlesPod Facebook Group: http://tiny.cc/NIRFBG YouTube: http://tiny.cc/NIRYT Sup…
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Bonus Episode #13- John Lennon Compilation Albums (Antony on 'When They Was Fab' podcast)
1:40:41
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Compilation albums come in many shapes and sizes and some can be justified while others rely on good marketing and glossy packaging to persuade consumers to part with their hard-earned money for the same material. This is an appearance by your humble host on the ‘When they Was Fab’ podcast back in December 2020 discussing the mind-boggling number o…
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Nothing Is Real - Season 7 Episode 4 - August 23rd - Part One
49:37
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August 23rd - Part One Looking through everything the Beatles managed to get done in the sixties, there is one date that means more than any other - August 23rd, of course. The course of their very existence pivots on events related to this date. Starting in Hamburg… Live on tape from Dublin, it’s Nothing Is Real. Website: http://www.nothingisrealp…
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Nothing Is Real - Season 7 Episode 3 - STINYC Part 2
1:32:07
1:32:07
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Some Time In New York City - Part 2 In 1972 John Lennon entered a New York studio to record the follow-up to his transatlantic chart-topping ‘Imagine’ album. With him were Yoko Ono, Phil Spector, and the Plastic Ono Elephants Memory Band. Things would never be quite the same again. Live on tape from Dublin and Belfast, it’s Nothing Is Real. Website…
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Nothing Is Real - Season 7 Episode 2 - STINYC Part 1
1:11:37
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Sometime In New York City - Part 1 In August 1971 John Lennon and Yoko Ono left the U.K. and traveled to New York City. Personal circumstances and political intrigue would ultimately make the city their permanent home; in the meantime, there was Beatle business to resolve, causes to fight, and work to be done. Live on tape from Dublin & Belfast, it…
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Nothing Is Real - Season 7 Episode 1 - Allen Klein - Part Five
1:02:50
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Allen Klein - Part Five From Brian to Klein (slight return). Despite our best efforts, some loose ends still remain in the Ballad of Allen Klein. How does he navigate the Beatles once they all stop being in the same room? Well… see you in court! Live on tape from Dublin, it’s Nothing Is Real. Website: http://www.nothingisrealpod.com Twitter: @Beatl…
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