The BBC has now unlocked its multipart podcast called "Eras: The Beatles," a documentary series spotlighting the Fab Four and the history that unfolded around them. Each part is 28 minutes long. They feature vintage clips from John, Paul, George and Ringo, along with some of their greatest songs - although most are just short snippets of the music, in lieu of letting the four men tell their stories.

The best part: no geoblocking, so all of them are accessible anywhere in the world.

I've heard Part One and it was very good, including interviews not heard in more than 60 years. 

Part 1: Rock & Roll
Part 2: Riots
Part 3: Rebellion
Part 4: Revolution
Part 5: Reincarnation

You can hear them all here.

Turns out there's still one last revelation to come as they exploit this to the hilt: a new music video for the single, directed by filmmaker Peter Jackson, will be released on Friday at 10AM. According to the BBC, it will contain at least one thing no one has ever seen before:
 
"It will contain previously-unseen footage, including "a few precious seconds" of the earliest known film of The Beatles, provided by original drummer Pete Best and his brother Roag.

 Roag said he bought the silent footage from a man who used a cine camera to film the band performing St Paul's Presbyterian Church Hall in Birkenhead in February 1962, eight months before their debut single came out.

 Jackson's team have improved the quality and "it looks absolutely fantastic", Roag told BBC News. 

It is also the only known footage of the band performing in the leather suits they sported before they became famous.

"The lads are rocking backwards and forwards with guitars, mouths to the microphones, singing," Roag said.

Still, this may not be all it's hyped up to be. Although the never seen footage is approx. one minute long, Jackson only uses about six seconds of it. And Roag's brother, Pete Best, isn't even in it, obscured by some guy standing in front of him. 

Which stations besides Boom have been playing it?  I checked Chum FM playlist and no sign.

Walter wrote:

Sad, dreary, forgettable.  Not worth releasing.  The Beatles remain the greatest musical and cultural power ever.  Let it be.

I have a feeling no matter what was released, it would never have been good enough. The hype on this was so high, it was almost sure to disappoint. And you have to wonder - would John Lennon have ever actually recorded this on an album if he'd lived? Or was it something he was just playing with to see if there was something there? I guess we'll never know.

Personally, I kind of enjoyed it, but it certainly wasn't the Beatles at their best. Still, more Beatles is better than less Beatles in my mind. 

Here's an interesting conundrum - could this be played as an oldie on an oldies station? It's technically new, so it wouldn't fit the format. But it is the Beatles, who haven't been around since the early 70s, so it would fit. My guess is places like The Grand or AM 740 will definitely consider playing it.

Heard it, while its nice its nothing exciting or powerful. 

A mediocre effort. It would not have been a hit back in the day. 

My understanding is this new tune will be on that boxed set. Hence, the reissue. And yes, it's ALWAYS about money.  

markow202 wrote:

Which stations besides Boom have been playing it?  I checked Chum FM playlist and no sign.

I was surprised not to hear it on CHUM-FM, which doesn't mean they didn't play it. I know for sure Boom did (they based special programming on it all morning.) 

I'm guessing Q107 likely had it on at some point.

And even the talkers talked about it. John Moore had Eric Alper on to discuss the new single. Alper later also appeared on Oakley's show on 640. And Kelly Cutrara brought Alan Cross in to discuss the final tune. There were probably a lot more, but you can only listen to so many stations at once. 

It was a kind of cultural touchstone moment that had many in the world talking. So if all the talks stations and the country stations in the iHeart chain in the U.S. stopped programming at 10AM to play it, given CHUM's heritge in this city you might think they'd want to be part of it, even just this once.

Like with most new songs I hear, I don't really know how it hits me until 15 or 20 listens in.

Zoomer Radio played it at 5:16 pm and Q107 played it 7:21 pm today, according to the stations' recently played songs on their websites. Also, it looks like The Grand 92.9 has played it a few times today, according to their recently played songs on Online Radio Box. (Their website only shows about the past six songs played). Zoomer will probably play it on a fairly regular basis and so might The Grand, but I suspect it may be more of a one-off for Q, as it seems a little soft for their format.

(Strange, somehow you ended up posting as me back there, RA!   )



PJ

RadioAaron wrote:

RadioActive wrote:

It was a kind of cultural touchstone moment that had many in the world talking. So if all the talks stations and the country stations in the iHeart chain in the U.S. stopped programming at 10AM to play it, given CHUM's heritge in this city you might think they'd want to be part of it, even just this once.

CHUM’s audience is not talking about it. I’m married to a CHUM P1 and I doubt she could name a Beatles song without looking it up.

iHeart in the US got their money.

That would appear to be the truth. I don't think CHUM 104.5's audience cares much about heritage. After 1050 packed it in as a music station, it seems to be just us "older guys" that associate the CHUM name with rock and roll. 



PJ

RadioActive wrote:

Paul Jeffries wrote:

(Strange, somehow you ended up posting as me back there, RA!   )
PJ

Yeah, there was some kind of weird glitch as I was posting an answer and it ended up combining your post with mine. Never seen that happen before, but nothing surprises me anymore!

That's okay, I'll take a free plug wherever I can get it! 



PJ
 

Well done!  

For those too lazy to click on the link!