4 episodes
The Beatles: They Came to a Land Downunder Frank and Gaz
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- Music
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5.0 • 13 Ratings
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Frank and Gaz take a cross-disciplinary deep dive into The Beatles 1964 tour of Australasia. They explore where The Beatles went, who they met, and their broader social impact. But they also look more deeply into the nature of the land downunder - culturally and socially - using the Beatles as their point of departure. Expect some unexpected turns like discussion of Taylor Swift’s 2024 tour vis-a-vis the 1964 Beatles tour, connections to Ancient Rome and the classical era, feminist perspectives on the band and its history, and a rarely heard ABC (Australia) interview with John Lennon.
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Episode 2: Tragical History Tour
Before diving more deeply into the Australasian tour, Frank and Gaz take a slight tragical history detour. They review how our understanding of the Beatles has improved with social media, AI and other technology. And they consider what might be called Beatles' history wars. This quasi literature review sets the scene for Episode 3 in which they consider what the Beatles might have known about Australasia and what kind of place they were going to find on arrival. Among other unusual highlights: Frank compares the preservation of Beatles' homes with the ruins of Ancient Rome. Gaz plays a sitar version of early Beatles. And for Swifties - Taylor Swift, touring Australia in 2024, is mentioned and discussed in greater depth in later episodes.
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Episode 1: Downunder
In their first episode, Frank and Gaz introduce themselves, their Beatles interests, and explain the podcast title and its connection to the Beatles, Australia and the Australian psyche. The episode features some historical audio from the tour and excerpts from a rare interview. The podcast will go into detail about the Beatles but, just as much, the nature of the land down under itself. (The audio quality will improve in future episodes).
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The Beatles: They Came to a Land Downunder - Trailer 2
Some excerpts from the forthcoming podcast coming in May.
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The Beatles: They Came to a Land Downunder
Australia topped the world in terms of people turning out to meet The Beatles. Where did they go, stay and play? Who did they meet? What was the land down under of 1964 really like - socially, culturally and politically?
Stay tuned for more details ahead of the 60th anniversary in June 2024.
Customer Reviews
Rollicking Beatles soundscape
Well that was great fun! Great craic! Frank and Gaz have started knitting together what should be a fascinating musical history tour. I loved the sounds and historical audio woven throughout the chat and I learned more than I expected - not only about the Beatles but also about Australian social history. Top start! I’m looking forward to the rest of the episodes.
These guys know their stuff
What do you get when you put two of the biggest Beatles nerds in a room to focus on the three weeks in 1964 when the Beatles toured down under? The first episode shows it will be a well-informed deep dive into music, personalities, cultural and social impacts and pretty much everything else.
As the episodes roll out I’m hoping to learn new things about John, Paul and George and the response to them from Australian teenage girls and boys. Are there any salacious revelations that have been uncovered in recent research? Probably not but it doesn’t hurt to hope. Snippets of music/screaming from the shows would add to the podcast experience too.
Over to you Frank and Gaz. I’m looking forward to this.
Gear
What a journey! Full of interesting historical audio of Beatles interviews and press conferences. And the AI readings of material from archives and libraries makes this a great historical trip into the Beatles in Australia and the country itself.