Photo: Janey Roberts
Well its about time Sirius radio has decided to launch a channel devoted to the music of the Beatles. The mega satellite radio company has been devoting channels to a wide range of artists over the past ten years. Its extraordinary that it took so long to dedicate a channel to perhaps the most important musical group in history. However, it probably wasn’t because Sirius didn’t yearn to establish a Beatles channel. Apple Records has been notorious in denying the rights to the Beatles catalog. The most cherished catalog in music has always been slow in embracing modern music formats associated with digital downloads and streaming.
Sirius Radio has announced that the Beatles Channel will embrace not only the entire Beatles catalog, but also the post Beatles solo material. That announcement is what we believe makes the launch so special. What we have always loved about satellite radio is the attention paid to deep tracks. However, when looking back at the Beatles officially released catalog, one may ask is there really any such thing as Beatles deep tracks. Just about every Beatles song on their original studio releases is well known to the general public. It’s the deep tracks material from the Beatles solo albums that is not as well known to the general public. Off course everyone knows the big hits, but it’s the tracks from the lesser known solo Beatles albums that we hope Sirius radio embraces. We are especially looking forward to the presentation of George Harrison solo material. Harrison may not of had as many solo hits as Paul McCartney had over the years, but that does not mean that his albums weren’t filled with brilliantly written songs and recordings. George Harrison’s catalog of solo recordings is deep, and we hope that Sirius radio serves Harrison’s materiel.
Of course our tribute to Harrison’s solo materiel in no way argues that McCartney, Lennon, and Ringo Starr’s material should be ignored. Its so horribly sad that John Lennon’s life was cut so short in 1980. No one knows what direction John Lennon would have headed musically if he had lived past his fortieth birthday. However, in the ten years Lennon recorded solo material in the post Beatles era, he continued to release some of the greatest rock and roll records ever recorded. It’s funny how his 1980 album was viewed as a comeback album because he had taken a break from recording for just a few years. In the present days, so many mega artists take two to three years between albums. In the 1970’s, if you took more than a year you were views as if you were retired.
Ringo Starr’s catalog may not be as deep as his Beatles colleagues, but the iconic drummer did release some great records. It will be interesting to see if Sirius radio explores the live Ringo Starr All Star Band shows. Over the years, Ringo Starr’s All Star Band has included some of classic rock’s most cherished artists. Rock stars such as John Waite. Shiela E, Paul Carrack, Joe Walsh, Nils Lofgren, Clarence Clemons, Todd Rundgren, Randy Bachman, Peter Frampton, Mark Farner, Dave Mason, Edgar Winter and so many more have all performed as part of Ringo’s band.
And than there’s Paul McCartney. Is there any other solo artists that matches the recorded output that Paul McCartney has released since the breakup of the Beatles. The only artists that comes to mind is Elton John. McCartney has released album after album of fantastic material that has become timeless in so many ways. While the general public is well aware of his hits like Band On The Run, My Love and his other mega chart busters, there are so many deep tracks that desrved more airplay. An we are only taking about the officially released mater.
It will be interesting to see if Sirius is allowed to explore the unofficial bootlegged materiel like the way they were given permission to explore with Springsteen’s catalog on his channel. The Anthology series delivered so much of the Beatles bootlegged material to fans. However there is so much more especially among the solo works.
Sirius Radio has announced there there will be a Yellow Submarine full of special programming on the Beatles Channel. There will be the “My Fab Four,” program in which musicians talk about how the Beatles inspired their careers. There will be fantasy concerts. The Beatles Channel will also preview the 50th anniversary release of the Sgt. Pepper album on June 1st 2017.
The new Beatles Channel on Sirius Radio will debut on May 18th 2017 at 9.09 am. That specific time may ring a bell to fans of the Let It Be album. We are hoping that clever odes like the starting time will be just a preview of some magical moments on a channel that will feature the greatest band in classic rock history.
