Award-Winning producer Paul Ingles adds another installment to his series of programs spotlighting The Beatles album releases with A Spin Down Abbey Road.  A panel of music writers, musicians and Beatles fans offer historical background on the tracks and their own personal feelings about this landmark album.  Their comments are woven through the music of Abbey Road.

Featured guests are music writers Anthony DeCurtis, Steve Turner, Ann Powers, Richie Unterberger, Jim Derogatis and Greg Kot.  Musician guests include Shawn Colvin, Glen Phillips, Richard Goldman, David Gans, Phil & Tim Hanseroth and Jon Spurney.

On this special edition of Peace Talks Radio, we recall the several years when musician John Lennon and his wife, performance artist Yoko Ono, were among the most high profile peace advocates on the planet.  John was shot dead outside his apartment in New York in 1980 – 11 years after he wrote the song that – since its creation in 1969, has been a fixture at just about any gathering for peace.   Give Peace A Chance was released 40 years ago this summer (July 4).  We’ll talk with Yoko Ono as well a the producers and directors of two fine films about this part of their lives: David Leaf who co-created the film The US vs. John Lennon, and the co-producers of the film John and Yoko, Give Peace A Song, Paul McGrath and Alan Lysaght.  Lennon's voice is heard in clips from both films and in his songs including, Give Peace A Chance, Happy Xmas (War Is Over), Power To The People, Revolution, and Imagine.

There is also a 29 minute version of this program available at PRX:

http://www.prx.org/pieces/37503-peace-talks-radio-the-peace-work-of-john-lennon

NOW AVAILABLE TO ALL OF PUBLIC RADIO. "AWESOME! BEST PIECE OF RADIO I HAVE HEARD in ages. A must listen for any Beatles fan." PRX REVIEW by Jonathan Fahey When rock music critics and fans are asked to rank the top rock albums of all time, The Beatles' 1966 release Revolver either heads the list or falls into the top tier. To mark the 40th anniversary year of the album's release, award-winning producer and host Paul Ingles presents Everything Was Right: The Beatles' "Revolver" Ingles explores the landmark album's story and influence in depth, talking with historians, musicians, music critics, and fans and spotlighting each Revolver track (along with the 1966 single "Paperback Writer and Rain") The Beatles experimented with new sounds and subject matter on Revolver, pioneering psychedelic rock on some tracks and exhibiting extraordinary song-craft on others. Listeners learn about the sources for the tunes, the studio experiments The Beatles used to get their ground-breaking sounds, and the lasting impact of the collection on the pop/rock music scene. Among the guest commentators is Mark Lewisohn, author of The Beatles Recording Sessions. The only journalist to have listened to every second of the Beatles' studio recordings, Lewisohn is a major authority on the band's history. Everything Was Right also features music writers Jim Derogatis, Steve Turner, Jeff Sobul, and Stuart Maddow. Musicians Shawn Colvin, Mark Erelli, John Leventhal, Deborah Holland, Richard Goldman, David Gans, Kristy Kruger, and Jon Spurney join other Beatle fans to talk about their favorite tracks on what is arguably the greatest album by the greatest band of all time. "...it does do a solid job of dissecting the psychology, backstory and musicianship of each song note for delicious note. This is the kind of program that makes musical pedants like myself pant with delight...this documentary does offer solid journalism, excellent production values and a style that leaves most of the talking to the interviewees. Highly recommended." PRX REVIEW by Jonathan Groubert Program is not available for sale on CD but it is available to hear again online at www.coolstreams.com. "...relentless, meticulous work on the part of the producer and host, with a rich overflow of excellent interviews. Finally, once each song has been perfectly framed, they actually let you hear it in its entirety, or nearly. And it's like you're hearing it for the first time." PRX REVIEW by Marjorie Van Halteren

For decades, The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band has ranked highly on many All-Time Best Album lists. Celebrated as the first quasi-concept album in rock, fans and critics have long lauded the songcraft, the pioneering production sounds, and its colorful, now iconic, cover art. Some say it both reflected and drove the burgeoning youth culture through the "Summer of Love" in 1967. In more recent years, some critics have tried to cut through the mythology of the album and reconsider it in every way. Some have ranked other Beatle albums as superior to Pepper and feel the record has been over-hyped. In this two-hour special, producer and host Paul Ingles ("Everything was Right: The Beatles' Revolver" and "The Beatles in America-1964") presents a lively ride that functions as both a celebration of a landmark recording and a balanced survey of critical opinion about "Sgt. Pepper." Listeners will experience this music in a new way as they'll hear both the stories behind the creation of these memorable tracks as well as thoughtful perspectives that place the work in context. The "Pepper Panel" assembled for the show includes musicians, writers, fans and critics. Some still love Pepper. Some "have issues." It features Steve Turner, Ashley Kahn, Anthony DeCurtis, Jim DeRogatis, Greg Kot, Scott MacNicholl, Ann Powers, Deborah Holland, Richard Goldman, Jim Fusilli, Douglas Grant, Leslie Healy, Stuart Madow, Paul Zollo, Jon Spurney, David Gans, Richie Unterberger, and Howard Massey. _____ If your station is not currently a member of the Public Radio Exchange, sign up for a starter package today and get 6 free hours of programming. And start with the Sgt. Pepper Special! ___ This program is newscast compatible. Worthwhile, optional content is provided for stations NOT wanting to run a newscast in each hour. NOTE FOR STATIONS RUNNING NEWSCASTS AND *NOT* USING THE OPTIONAL CONTENT: The Hour One Optional Content makes a nice preview feature for the special. You have our permission to trim off the opening narration and closing narration to create a preview piece to run in a newsblock or music program to promote the show.

INTROS: If Aired October 12-21... 40 years ago this week (October 12-21), The Beatles were in the studio recording an enigmatic John Lennon composition called "Norwegian Wood." In 1970, Lennon told Rolling Stone Magazine that he wrote the song about an affair he had while married to his first wife, Cynthia Powell. John never said who the affair was with. Commentator Sarah Karni looks for some clues about the nature of the affair by pulling out the nails and deconstructing "Norwegian Wood." If Aired Near December 6... 40 years ago this week, The Beatles released the album RUBBER SOUL which included an enigmatic John Lennon composition called "Norwegian Wood." In 1970, Lennon told Rolling Stone Magazine that he wrote the song about an affair he had while married to his first wife, Cynthia Powell. John never said who the affair was with. Commentator Sarah Karni looks for some clues about the nature of the affair by pulling out the nails and deconstructing "Norwegian Wood." --- Sarah Karni is a writer who lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

GEORGE HARRISON PART 2:  BROADCAST  12 / 3 / 2011
IN SEARCH OF A SONG originates in BLOOMINGTON, INDIANA and is sponsored by: THE BLUEBIRD NIGHTCLUB,  AIRTIME RECORDING STUDIO,  and VISIT BLOOMINGTON.COM 
Professor Glenn Gass, and executive producer Rich Reardin discuss the life and music of George Harrison, Part 2.  Glenn Gass teaches at the prestigious Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University with series of courses on the history of rock & roll and popular music. Rich Reardin is the executive producer of In Search of a Song, and longtime radio and music producer.

Professor Gass is the recipient of the Herman B Wells Lifetime Achievement Award, the Indiana University Sylvia Bowman Distinguished Teaching Award, the IU Student Alumni Association Student Choice Award, the Society of Professional Journalists Brown Derby Award, and other teaching awards and honors. He was inducted into the Faculty Colloquium on Excellence in Teaching and is author of A History of Rock Music: The Rock & Roll Era (McGraw-Hill, 1994).Professor Gass is a member of the Education Advisory Board of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland.He is the recipient of grants in composition from the National Endowment for the Arts, Meet the Composer, and the Indiana Arts Commission. Dr. Glenn Gass Website

Producer/presenter Fred Flaxman introduces four famous Beatles tunes, each one played in very different versions by Ofra Harnoy and the Orford String Quartet, the Cellists of the Berlin Philharmonic, the King's Singers, the Cincinnati and Boston Pops, and, in one case, by a Chinese guitarist. The tunes are Michelle, Yesterday, Eleanor Rigby, and Here, There and Everywhere. A complete script with playlist is available here and at www.compactdiscoveries.com.

Different Angle on "Guy on a Bus" His name is Phil, from outside Liverpool. He sings Beatle's songs on busses in Montevideo, Uruguay for money. He's learned a lot about his audience, and himself... A non-narrative piece, touching and musical. Shorter Version aired on "The World"

HOST:   Today on This I Believe, we hear from Macklin Levine [MACK-lin le-VEEN] of New York City.  Macklin wrote her essay for her sixth grade English class.  She thought of writing about a belief in the value of diversity or in learning from mistakes, but then she settled on a belief inspired by a fond memory.  Here is 12-year old Macklin Levine with her essay for This I Believe.

LEVINE:  I believe in The Beatles.  Although they don't exist anymore, their music is very much alive, even to a 12-year-old like me.  As old as the songs are, you can learn a lot about yourself from the lyrics. Listening to them with others and singing along has been important to me and to my family.

Three years ago, my dog Phoebe ran away near our house in Cold Spring, New York.  Every Friday afternoon, we would drive upstate from Manhattan together as family and dog.  My parents never had much music in the car—nothing that we could all agree to listen to except for “Yellow Submarine” by The Beatles.

We were really scared when Phoebe took off, but hoped she’d come back soon.  She didn’t. My friend’s Dad hiked into the state park behind our house, miles in, posting signs explaining about our lost dog.  A day passed, and still no Phoebe.    

We called and called into the woods.

Next thing I knew, my Dad climbed into our station wagon and disappeared.  A half an hour later, I saw the headlights of our car and heard the weirdest thing: loud, loud music.  It was nine o’clock at night, my dad is in the car alone, and he’s blasting Beatles music.  

My Dad was really smart, probably the smartest one of any of the people looking for Phoebe. But Mom thought he'd lost his mind.  Dad explained he figured Phoebe had been in the car with us all those times when we had nothing else to listen to but The Beatles over and over again.  He thought if anything could make her come home, it would be the sound of The Beatles.

Phoebe did come home a few days later.  It wasn’t The Beatles who got her there; it was a sign a neighbor saw, and the phone number on her collar.  But I think back to my Dad playing The Beatles’ music so loud we could hear him a half mile away across the lake, and it makes me smile.

My Dad died a few months after my dog ran away, and when I first wrote the essay I was afraid to say that because I knew I wouldn’t be able to read it out loud in class without crying. But now when I think of him, I remember his wacky idea to play the family music, and how it made me feel like everything would be okay.  

The Beatles don’t exist anymore but their music will live in everyone forever.   I believe in The Beatles because their music brings people together, and gives us hope.