We take a trip into rare Beatles songwriting credits Wednesday as The AIR brings you another very special episode of Beatles Blast.  You can tune in at the website, or just stay right here and  listen to the convenient embedded radio player lurking elsewhere on this page.

At 2 PM (EST) Beatles Blast brings you an hour of music that A) was composed by one or more of The Beatles and B) was released on the band’s own Apple Records.

It’s a mixtape show that includes tracks by Badfinger, Jackie Lomax, Billy Preston, Ronnie Spector and many more, plus I’ve tossed in a few rarely-heard B-sides by the solo Beatles.

Many of these are songs that the members of the band wrote to jump-start the careers of their fellow Apple artists.  Paul wrote songs for Badfinger and Mary Hopkin. George wrote or produced tunes for Lomax, Spector and Doris Troy.  John created a benefit single for OZ Magazine that’s included here.  There are also covers of Beatles and solo tunes by other artists, like Hot Chocolate Band, who were a Reggae band before dropping “band” and becoming a Disco powerhouse.  Trash, who never acheived fame, released their version of “Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight” a week before The Beatles put out their Abbey Road album. Likewise, Billy Preston’s version of “My Sweet Lord” was released two month’s before George’s mega-hit recording.

It’s a nice slice of Beatles obscurities.

Here’s the playlist…

Beatles Blast 107

Badfinger “Come And Get It”
Jackie Lomax “Sour Milk Sea”
Black Dyke Mills Band “Yellow Submarine”
Mary Hopkin “Goodbye”
Trash “Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight”
Hot Chocolate Band “Give Peace A Chance”
Doris Troy “Get Back”
Ronnie Spector “Try Some, Buy Some”
Bill Elliott & The Elastic Oz Band “God Save Us”
Billy Preston “My Sweet Lord”
Black Dyke Mills Band “Thingumybob”
Elastic Oz Band “Do The Oz”
Ronnie Spector “Tandoori Chicken”
Ringo Starr “Blindman”
George Harrison “Deep Blue”
Wings “Little Woman Love”
John Lennon “Move Over Ms. L”
Paul McCartney & Wings “Zoo Gang”
George Harrison “I Don’t Care Anymore”

Beatles Blast can be heard every Wednesday at 2 PM, with replays Thursday at 11 PM, Friday at 1 PM,  and Saturday afternoon.

At 3 PM (EST) on Curtain Call, Mel Larch brings you two encore episode from just a few months ago.  Curtain Call will return with a new episode next week.

Curtain Call can be heard on The AIR Wednesday at 3 PM, with replays Thursday at 8 AM, Friday at 10 AM, Saturday at 8 PM and Monday at 9 AM. A six-hour marathon of classic episodes can be heard Sunday evening starting at 6 PM, and an all-night marathon of Curtain Call episodes can be heard Wednesday nights, beginning at Midnight.

Also on The AIR, Wednesday at 11 PM,  The Comedy Vault brings you the wacky-assed music of Barnes & Barnes.