It’s time to talk about the new five-LP, four-CD deluxe box set dedicated to the Beatles’ 1965 masterwork Rubber Soul, so we enlisted Phil Angotti, a Chicago musician who not only performs Beatles songs but whose own songs are inspired by such smart, tuneful music. Angotti and I dig into the new Giles Martin/Sam Okell mix, the all-analog masters of the mono mix and the original U.S. stereo version, and the two-record collection of sessions, demos and studio chatter. Is the new mix the definitive one or unwelcome revisionism? Which is superior, the UK or U.S. sequence? Which Rubber Soul track is Angotti’s favorite Beatles song of all? What do we think of the previously undiscovered Lennon demo “Little Girl”? Angotti also discusses his own impressive discography, including 2023’s Once Around Again; his work with Material Issue and whether that band will ever record new material; his vintage guitar collection and love of Rickenbackers; and what’s next.

In Part 2 of our conversation with John Murphy, the Shoes singer-songwriter-bassist tells what happened after MTV started playing this Zion, Ill., power-pop band’s videos amid Elektra’s disappointment that they hadn’t turned into the next Cars or Queen. What was life like while the band was self-producing and releasing such acclaimed albums as Stolen Wishes, Propeller and Ignition? What are the advantages and disadvantages of the band’s three singer-songwriters—John and Jeff Murphy and Gary Klebe—each being guaranteed four or five songs per album? What were John’s and Jeff’s reactions to Gary Klebe’s solo album Out Loud, which was released earlier this year? Did they know Gary was making a solo album? Did they think some of those songs should have been on a Shoes album instead? Is the band on the same page now? Will there be another Shoes album? The next Shoes drop here…

Shoes, the now-legendary power-pop band from Zion, Ill., is the most democratic of groups, with each album presenting equal servings of smart, hooky songs from brothers John and Jeff Murphy and their childhood friend Gary Klebe. In Part 1 of a two-parter, John Murphy revisits the band’s formation—when none of them played an instrument and he had to learn bass—and tells how Shoes recorded three DIY albums before its first official release, 1977’s Black Vinyl Shoes. For that one John designed the original (and soon to be replaced) cover art and wrote the first Shoes song to gain wide attention, “Boys Don’t Lie.” Then came the band’s signing with Elektra, which hoped Shoes would follow in the footsteps of its breakthrough artists Queen and the Cars. Confusion over the first singles, “Too Late” and “Tomorrow Night,” didn’t help, though. How did that all shake out? Also covered: the John song featured prominently in Mannequin Two: On the Move.