The Walrus Was Paul – Details, episodes & analysis

In this "break from the normal format" episode, host Paul Romanuk talks with songwriter and musician Drew Arnott (of the 1980s Canadian band Strange Advance) about The Beatles' use of the Mellotron, a cutting edge instrument in the 1960s.

Catch up with Drew and Strange Advance at their website: strangeadvance.com

This is the 2nd of a two part episode with Edmonton-based music creator Jay Sparrow talking with host Paul Romanuk about a couple of sides of The Beatles‘ 1968 masterpiece The Beatles (aka The White Album). This is a two-part episode. The previous episode covered Side One. This episode covers Side Three.

You can find out more about Jay Sparrow at his webpage. He also has a YouTube channel.You can also find him on Insta and FB.

Hey! Be sure to check out his great new album Hard Eight, wherever you stream your music.

Montreal singer and songwriter Max Comeau returns to talk with host Paul Romanuk about Side Two of 1973's Paul McCartney & Wings album Red Rose Speedway. Also talk about Max's latest album, a collection of jazz-influenced McCartney covers called Play McCartney.

Montreal singer/songwriter Max Comeau talks with host Paul Romanuk about the 1973 Paul McCartney & Wings album Red Rose Speedway.

EPISODE NOTES:

-the best place to find info on Max is his Bandcamp page. He's pretty thorough on there, with lots of notes and factoids about many of the songs as well as lyrics.

-here is a Rolling Stone magazine review from 1973 on Red Rose Speedway. It's generally quite favourable.

-an interesting discussion on the album on the excellent Steve Hoffman Music Forum

-here's a link to the obit that ran in The Guardian on Wings guitarist Henry McCullough. As we discuss in the episode, McCullough's guitar solo on My Love was one of his finest.

In the second part of a two-part conversation, country artist Raquel Cole talks with host Paul Romanuk about Side Two of The Beatles 1969 #1 album Abbey Road. Lots of talk about Raquel's songs and songwriting as well.

EPISODE NOTES:

-find out what Raquel is up to at her website

-Raquel talks about her solo work, but also about her work with a trio, The Woods. Here's a link to one of their videos.

-here is a 1969 review of Abbey Road from The Guardian newspaper by critic Geoffrey Cannon. In it he refers to Abbey Road as "a slight matter. The Beatles have lost the desire to touch us." Hmm. That didn't age well, did it?

Country music star Raquel Cole talks with host Paul Romanuk about The Beatles' 1969 #1 album Abbey Road. Also, lots of talk about her excellent songwriting.

EPISODE NOTES:

-find out about all things Raquel Cole at her fine, splashy, website.

-here's an article from 2020 from Raquel's hometown paper in Vernon, BC, about "hoping to make her hometown proud with some big opportunities."

-Raquel, who is from Vernon, now calls Nashville her home. It is the epicentre of the country music world and she seems to fit right in. She talks about the move to Nashville in this piece.

-found this, very cool, recording of a 1969 interview that George Harrison did with music writer Ritchie York. George goes through Abbey Road track-by-track. It's a great listen.

Part II of host Paul Romanuk's conversation with musician and singer/songwriter James Clark (aka James Clark Institute) about The Beatles' 1969 album Yellow Submarine.

EPISODE NOTES:

-you can find out about James and his band, James Clark Institute right here.

-Side Two of Yellow Submarine consisted of The Beatles' brilliant producer and arranger George Martin's score for the animated film. Here's a look at George Martin and his work. I also highly recommend Kenneth Womack's two outstanding books on Martin and his life and work: Maximum Volume (Vol I) and Sound Pictures (Vol II). Both are widely available.

-here's the cover artwork for Yellow Submarine

-here's the cover artwork for James Clark Institute's The Colour Of Happy

-here's the excellent video The James Clark Institute did for their song Marcella Never Got The News (directed by Sean Ryan). Hey, watch for the "Beatle like" false ending to the song.

Songwriter and singer James Clark talks with host Paul Romanuk about The Beatles' 1969 soundtrack album for the animated film Yellow Submarine.

EPISODE NOTES

-you can find out about James and his band, James Clark Institute, at their website

-here's a good BBC article on the animated film that went with the album and how it resonates on so many different levels and is, in the eyes of many, a cult classic

-we talk about one of James Clark Institute's songs - Marcella Never Got The News. The song is about a 1959 float plane crash in Saskatchewan, in which the pilot died and the plane was never found. That is, until July of 2018, when the wreck was discovered at the bottom of a lake. On the same day the discovery was made, the wife of the deceased pilot passed away. She died before getting news of the finding. The song is based on a book, Into The Mist, by Victoria Hetherington. Here's a CBC article that fills in some details.

-we talk about The Beatles song Hey Bulldog. It was an interesting song that The Beatles were filmed, in the studio, creating and recording. There are very few films of them actually working in the studio. Here's a link to some of the film clips from that day.

-speaking of films of The Beatles working, here's a link to the short BBC film on the creation of the song All You Need Is Love for the Our World worldwide television broadcast of June, 1967, where the song was premiered.

Newfoundland based, Canadian, singer/songwriter Chris Picco talks with host Paul Romanuk about 1964's Beatles For Sale album. This is the second part of a two-part episode.

SHOW NOTES:

-Chris has a really good new record out called Split Down The Middle, and you can find out more about Chris and the record at his website.

-we talk about a song Chris wrote and put out on his first EP (2004's The Passenger). The song is called Wood 'N Steel. Good luck finding the EP. Here's the link to it on Discogs

-we talk about the creative group Perfect Day, who have done almost all of Chris' album artwork as well as that of The Long Distance Runners. Here's a link to their website, where you can see some examples of their great work. Here's the artwork for The Long Distance Runners album Elements (it was nominated for a Juno Award in 2016). Here's the artwork for Chris' EP The Beach, which I thought was pretty cool as well.

Newfoundland singer/songwriter Chris Picco talks with host Paul Romanuk about 1964's Beatles For Sale album.

SHOW NOTES:

-Chris has a great new record out, Split Down The Middle, and you can find out more about it and Chris' other work at his website.

-we talk about what a manic year 1964 - the year they recorded this album - was for The Beatles. Here's a month-by-month, day-by-day list of what they were up to in 1964 (from The Beatles Bible)

-Chris refers to Newfoundland musical giant Ron Hynes. Here's a link to his Wikipedia page