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Post by sonnywestmuir71 on Jan 16, 2013 18:02:16 GMT
I’m new to this forum so I hope I’ve posted this in the right place. As well as an obvious obsession with the music of The Beatles, I also have an obsession with Beatles related literature. With that in mind I’m just wondering what everyone’s favourite Beatles related books were. Is there any that you would recommend to my groaning bookshelves or any that I should stay clear from.
Thanks in advance.
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Post by Amadeus on Jan 17, 2013 0:57:43 GMT
Anthology first of all.
Then Hunter Davies authorised biography of The Beatles. get the 1985 edition with the updated forward and afterword. Some really neat stuff. And for the main text, which was written when the group was still together, it's amazing to see some of the inaccuracies included to keep from sullying The Beatles good clean name.
Revolution In The Head is good as a social commentary and putting each individual song in a clear historical context, musically and socially. For all of us who heard the music afterwards, it's impossible to imagine the newness and radicalness of their music.
If you like the tech side of things, get Mark Lewisohn's The Beatles Recording Sessions. Very interesting sort of 'being' there as the records are being made.
Those are my picks.
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Post by sonnywestmuir71 on Feb 10, 2013 18:32:59 GMT
Anthology first of all. Then Hunter Davies authorised biography of The Beatles. get the 1985 edition with the updated forward and afterword. Some really neat stuff. And for the main text, which was written when the group was still together, it's amazing to see some of the inaccuracies included to keep from sullying The Beatles good clean name. Revolution In The Head is good as a social commentary and putting each individual song in a clear historical context, musically and socially. For all of us who heard the music afterwards, it's impossible to imagine the newness and radicalness of their music. If you like the tech side of things, get Mark Lewisohn's The Beatles Recording Sessions. Very interesting sort of 'being' there as the records are being made. Those are my picks. Goodness, forgot I made my initial post. Thanks for the reply. I've read all the titles you mention with the exception of 'The Beatles Recording Sessions' although I've come across it during frequent Beatles related internet trawls. Not long finished read a biography on Ringo that was a bit of a slog.
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Post by mrmustard on Feb 10, 2013 21:42:14 GMT
I would definitely concur with the recommendations by Amadeus. In addition to these I would also recommend Richard Dilello's The Longest Cocktail Party for an insiders guide on the true madness and mayhem of Apple. I would also highly recommend Ron Schaumburg's Growing Up With The Beatles. He gives an exceptionally vivid account of what it was like for him as he grew up with the rise of the band. I think he actually spoke for millions in this book.
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Post by sonnywestmuir71 on Feb 11, 2013 9:58:31 GMT
I would definitely concur with the recommendations by Amadeus. In addition to these I would also recommend Richard Dilello's The Longest Cocktail Party for an insiders guide on the true madness and mayhem of Apple. I would also highly recommend Ron Schaumburg's Growing Up With The Beatles. He gives an exceptionally vivid account of what it was like for him as he grew up with the rise of the band. I think he actually spoke for millions in this book. I really enjoyed Dilello's book. Just finished Hunter Davis' collection of John Lennon's letters which I have been dipping into every so often. Quite a few sitting in my 'to read' pile including ' The Love you Make' by Peter Brown and Tony Barrow's 'John, Paul, George, Ringo & Me'. A real favourite of mine has been Peter Doggett's 'You Never Gave Me Your Money'.
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Post by sonnywestmuir71 on Feb 11, 2013 10:02:42 GMT
Anyone ever read ' Waiting for The Beatles: An Apple Scruff's Story' by Carol Bedford? Had it recommended to me a while back but it's long out of print and is usually prohibitively expensive whenever it appears on Amazon etc?
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Post by mrmustard on Feb 11, 2013 13:14:10 GMT
I really enjoyed Dilello's book. Just finished Hunter Davis' collection of John Lennon's letters which I have been dipping into every so often. Quite a few sitting in my 'to read' pile including ' The Love you Make' by Peter Brown and Tony Barrow's 'John, Paul, George, Ringo & Me'. A real favourite of mine has been Peter Doggett's 'You Never Gave Me Your Money'. Ha! Have you been reading all my Beatle books! You Never Give Your Money was a brilliant book and a firm favourite of mine too. The Love You Make is also a must in anyone's Beatles library. I am also reading John Lennon Letters at the moment too! Great concept for a book. My first Beatle book was Philip Normans Shout. I thought at the time it was great but at the time there was hardly anything to compare it to. My opinion on the book has changed drastically over the years.
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Post by mrmustard on Feb 11, 2013 13:16:09 GMT
Anyone ever read ' Waiting for The Beatles: An Apple Scruff's Story' by Carol Bedford? Had it recommended to me a while back but it's long out of print and is usually prohibitively expensive whenever it appears on Amazon etc? No, must look out for it.
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Post by sonnywestmuir71 on Feb 11, 2013 13:31:22 GMT
I really enjoyed Dilello's book. Just finished Hunter Davis' collection of John Lennon's letters which I have been dipping into every so often. Quite a few sitting in my 'to read' pile including ' The Love you Make' by Peter Brown and Tony Barrow's 'John, Paul, George, Ringo & Me'. A real favourite of mine has been Peter Doggett's 'You Never Gave Me Your Money'. Ha! Have you been reading all my Beatle books! You Never Give Your Money was a brilliant book and a firm favourite of mine too. The Love You Make is also a must in anyone's Beatles library. I am also reading John Lennon Letters at the moment too! Great concept for a book. My first Beatle book was Philip Normans Shout. I thought at the time it was great but at the time there was hardly anything to compare it to. My opinion on the book has changed drastically over the years. Likewise re Shout and not a great fan of it either. Seemed to suggest that George and Ringo were just lucky to be in the right place at the right time. It's not overly kind to Paul either. I much more enjoyed Norman's biography of John although the material on the period when John 'retired' was, understandably, fairly scant.
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Post by mrmustard on Feb 11, 2013 13:39:12 GMT
I remember reading/seeing an interview with Mick Jagger. Norman did a book on the Stones and Jagger said he interviewed him for about 10 minutes and left it at that. Then he published the book. Jagger was prepared to spend much longer with him on the interview but apparently Norman wasn't interested. Jagger subsequently dismissed the book.
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Post by mrmustard on Feb 14, 2013 22:09:31 GMT
Anyone ever read ' Waiting for The Beatles: An Apple Scruff's Story' by Carol Bedford? Had it recommended to me a while back but it's long out of print and is usually prohibitively expensive whenever it appears on Amazon etc? No, must look out for it. It's £59.99 on Amazon!
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Post by sheepdog on Mar 3, 2013 16:54:22 GMT
Oo,this is a good thread. i too need to expand on my beatles book material although i have a few good ones now. Could someone tell me what or some of the inaccuracies are of the shout book by phillip norman? This was my first one too
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Post by mrmustard on Mar 3, 2013 22:16:19 GMT
The main misdemeanor Norman is guilty of is the complete put down of McCartney throughout the book. He holds Paul in total disdain and treats George and Ringo as lucky and not particularly talented sidemen.
Also, he has no musical appreciation whatsoever. In fact he avoids any in depth musical discussion throughout the whole book.
He loves John though!
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ranger
I'll Be On My Way
Posts: 153
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Post by ranger on Mar 4, 2013 11:38:03 GMT
These would be my Top 5 in no particular order:
1. 'Love Me Do' - Michael Braun 2. 'The Penguin John Lennon' - the two Lennon books from '64 and '65 in paperback 3. 'The Beatles Live' - Mark Lewisohn 4. 'Recording Sessions' - Mark Lewisohn 5. 'Revolution In The Head'
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Post by sheepdog on Mar 5, 2013 15:26:59 GMT
Thanks, yeh i got the hunter davies book for christmas which was really good and i remember at the end ge was talkin to paul about it and norman making him out to be a bit of a bastard.
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Post by sonnywestmuir71 on Mar 8, 2013 19:06:53 GMT
Read Tony Barrow's 'John, Paul, George, Ringo and Me' a couple of weeks ago. One of the better 'insider' accounts of The Beatles.
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alix
I'll Be On My Way
Posts: 340
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Post by alix on Mar 9, 2013 23:48:17 GMT
Some of the books in my Beatle library i'll never part with
Alister Taylor - Yesterday Alf Bicknell - Ticket to Ride Michael Brun - Love Me Do AHDN Help Lewishon - Beatle Chronicles George Harrison - I Me Mine Anthology The one with the Warhol cover (yeah i got both dust jackets) longest cocktail party
plus a whole load of the photographic ones as i appreciate them from a photographic perspective as well as a Beatle one
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Post by dominicw on Apr 10, 2013 16:58:03 GMT
Hi -- as I just posted elsewhere, Leslie Woodhead, the award-winning film-maker who shot the historic first footage of The Beatles in the Cavern Club (sure you've seen the clip), has a new book out on April 25: How The Beatles Rocked The Kremlin. The Facebook page is here: on.fb.me/ZPqT84. 'Like' it to get Beatles trivia and enter a draw for free a signed copy. You'll also find a link to a free 30-page extract.
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Post by Amadeus on Aug 19, 2013 14:41:00 GMT
Howdy Doody. OK. So I was recently looking at the availability of Bruce Spizer's books (because I was too cheap to buy them in and around 2000) and discovered that they're ALL out of print with no reprints on deck and existing copies are going for hundreds of dollars. Anybody here have any of them? Are they good?
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Post by ROCKY on Aug 19, 2013 15:20:35 GMT
HOLY APPLES BATMAN!!! I just checked Spizer's books on ebay and the 'Story of the Beatles on VJ Records' is going for $495!! One sold for a couple of hundred a while back. And the two Capitol ones are going for BIG bucks too! I always thought Epstein's 'A Cellerful of Noise' was pretty good and now hard to find.
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