Ticket 2 Ride

Beatles 24/7, available on the SiriusXM satellite radio service. The Beatles Channel is a constant in my car and iPhone. Honestly, I didn’t know the channel existed until I began subscribing to SiriusXM at the beginning of the year.

Classic Rock is my musical focus, but I do enjoy cool jazz, old school soul and Yacht Rock. I’ve found channels offering ambient music, acoustic instrumentals, meditation and background sounds for relaxing, working or sleep.

Meanwhile, let’s explore the Beatles Channel. At first, I expected just song after song, with no real programming structure, just a constant variety of their catalogue. I was misinformed.

Here is how SiriusXM describes the channel: All of their hits, album tracks, live recordings, rarities & solo songs, along with the records that influenced them & music inspired by them. Plus interviews & exclusive hosted shows.

The hits are balanced with deep album tracks and even B-sides of singles. If it was just a steady stream of the most familiar songs, that would get old. The Beatles do not have an abundance of live tracks, but they performed quite a few early tracks for BBC programs, of which were later released on CD. Separately, each Beatle has a live catalogue, Paul and Ringo having the deepest number of releases.

I enjoy the songs from the vault, demos, outtakes, alternate versions and other material from the Beatles Anthology or bonus material from solo Beatle album releases. It’s great when they explain the evolution of a song from one of the experts. An example is the complex recording process for “I Am the Walrus” which involved numerous attempts, and then John asking producer George Martin and engineer Geoff Emerick welding two different song segments together. These segments were in different keys and time signatures.

Interview snippets with the Beatles and others are fun. It’s wonderful to hear in their own words about songwriting, making a record or reflecting on Beatlemania. For example, the channel recently presented a program on the making of John’s Mind Games album to celebrate the release of the Mind Games Ultimate Collection.

Some of the programming that I enjoy:

Breakfast With the Beatles: Weekday morning show with Chris Carter. A relaxed variety of music with Chris’ knowledge of the Beatles. Singer Jackie DeShannon pops in on Tuesdays with Beatle news.

Dark Horse Radio: A weekly, 30 minutes devoted to George Harrison.

Peter Asher: From Me To You: Musician/producer/Apple exec Peter Asher answers fan questions and plays selected songs in support of his stories. Peter of course is the brother of Paul’s 1960s girlfriend, actress Jane Asher.

Northern Songs: Music authority Bill Flanagan hosts a weekly deep-dig into Beatles music.

Apple Jam: The Music and Artists of Apple Records: Hosts David Fricke and Tom Frangione a show devoted to the music of artists on the Beatles’ Apple Records. The music of Jackie Lomax, Mary Hopkins, Billy Preston and others is featured.

Musical Mystery Tour: Randy and Tal Bachman talk about songwriting and the technical aspects of the Beatles’ music.

Way Beyond Compare: Beatles Rarities with Tom Frangione: Rarities, live recordings and alternate tracks are featured with Beatles authority Frangione.

This is not a commercial for SiriusXM radio. The Beatles Channel is one of my favorites, but I also enjoy a few other channels. I don’t subscribe to Pandora, Spotify or other music streaming service.