Books - Reviews by JPGR&B

Books - Reviews by JPGR&B

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Member	Item		Review/Comment
JPGR&B SUBS 5th Nov 2022		Book Richie Unterberger - The Unreleased Beatles (2006)	Review Annotation: Richie Unterberger is an excellent popular music researcher and all his works require serious attention from the popular music scholar. He does not write in an 'academic' way, as such, but his research is undoubtedly of academic quality. For example, here, an enormous amount of material has been examined by Unterberger: from unreleased studio outtakes, BBC radio recordings from 1962-1965, live concert performances, home demo recordings, fan club Christmas recordings, and other informal demos partially-completed away from EMI studios. The work also includes chronological entries for all Beatles' unreleased recordings of note from 1957-1970, as well as all thus far unreleased video footage from 1961-1970 together with information concerning outtakes from 1990s interviews filmed for the Anthology. Furthermore Unterberger provides a general overview of Beatles bootlegs, Beatles songs recorded by other artists in the 1960s, and never-recorded material. This is therefore an excellent example of a piece of quality Unterberger research. As far as bootlegs, go, perhaps Doug Sulpy provides the 'final word' on such issues; nevertheless we have here a highly detailed look at the songs in a mature fashion. Unlike many Beatles-related discographies, this is not just a dry list of what is (or might be) available. Each track or session is reviewed on its merits. There are details of the way in which certain recordings differ from their EMI counterparts, which versions of BBC recordings have good, bad, or indifferent guitar solos, and which concerts are listenable or dire. Reference tables including songs performed at BBC and Get Back sessions, a list of alternate mixes, and a short and essential list of live recordings which are of great use. Information on sound quality of recordings will be of especial use to collectors. Also, at the end of the book, is a list of the songs the Beatles gave away. This information is a welcome addition to our knowledge of the subject. In addition, the author dispels some myths along the way by discounting rumours of the existence of certain songs. As with all Unterberger volumes (Beatles or otherwise), this is highly recommended. Michael Brocken Source: The Beatles Bibliography: A New Guide To The Literature - Michael Brocken and Melissa Davis (The Beatle Works Ltd., 2012), with acknowledgement, and used here with permission from the authors for educational and historical purposes only. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
JPGR&B SUBS 3rd Nov 2022		Book Various Authors - The McCartney Legacy Volume 1: 1969-73 (2022)	Review "A gold mine for avid fans" "A fulsome biography set during a crucial period of the iconic musician's life" Kirkus Reviews, November 2022. Book review magazine Kirkus Reviews provide an overwhelmingly positive analysis of The McCartney Legacy Volume 1: 1969-73 ✔︎ Helpful Review?
JPGR&B SUBS 20th Oct 2022		Book Various Authors - Paul McCartney: Bass Master (2006)	Review Annotation: Tony Bacon was previously editor of Beatles Gear, while Gareth Morgan is a professional bass player and teacher who contributes a regular 'Bass Workshop' column to Guitar magazine. This superb text is not only well written, but also beautifully produced with a coherent layout. The authors have completed a first-rate job of presenting McCartney's muse and music. Indeed they are able to show to bass players and Beatles fans, alike, just how the dynamics of his bass playing have contributed to the development of his songwriting. Not only is it a first-rate bass tutor, but is an informative and reliable historical text, to boot; as such this is a highly recommended text. Michael Brocken Source: The Beatles Bibliography: A New Guide To The Literature - Michael Brocken and Melissa Davis (The Beatle Works Ltd., 2012), with acknowledgement, and used here with permission from the authors for educational and historical purposes only. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
JPGR&B SUBS 10th Oct 2022		Book Colin Hall - The Songs The Beatles Gave Away (2022)	Review The Beatles and the songs they gave away to other artists A new book highlights this little-known aspect of The Beatles' career Alan Wilson, Liverpool Echo, 9 October 2022 ✔︎ Helpful Review?
JPGR&B SUBS 17th Aug 2022		Book Barry Miles - In The Sixties [Signature Edition] (2017)	Review Review, dated 3 October 2017, from Fine Books & Collections Barry Miles' Memoir of British Counterculture Issued as a Limited Edition ✔︎ Helpful Review?
JPGR&B SUBS 16th Aug 2022		Book Various Authors - The Beatles Bibliography: A New Guide To The Literature (2012)	Rated 10/10 From Goodreads: The goal of the authors, Mike Brocken and Melissa Davis, was not only to gather and list a comprehensive list of the writings about (and in some cases 'by') The Beatles, but to provide thoughtful and thought-provoking annotations. The readers and users - researchers, writers, students, scholars and fans - were kept in mind, so separate songbook and webography sections, the cross-reference and logical style conventions make it a 'user-friendly' resource. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
JPGR&B SUBS 7th Jul 2022		Book Lewis Lapham - With The Beatles (2005)	Review Annotation: Lewis Lapham claims to have been the only journalist allowed inside the Beatles coterie that went to India to study with the Maharishi. This is debatable, although the trip itself can be seen retrospectively to have been a significant, early encounter between Western pop culture and the mystical East - a social comedy, perhaps. The trip has been reasonably well documented over the years, and despite some wild speculations and rampant rumours, Ringo's 'holiday camp' summation appears accurate. The Beatles claimed to have written some of their greatest songs there and yet they also came away somewhat disillusioned (well, you would, wouldn't you?). Lapham's little book at times verges on the disappointing for, despite his attendance, he informs the reader of very little - except, of course that he was 'there'. But to its great credit, it also shows that not every writer who covered the Beatles was smitten with the band. When Lapham was sent to India to write about the Beatles for the Saturday Evening Post, he was a young, sceptical reporter who did not appear to be conscious of what the fuss was all about. 'I didn't rate myself an informed or fervent fan' he writes in this text. So this sliver of a book chronicles his stay at the meditation compound where the Beatles stayed for various lengths of time (Ringo and Maureen lasted a fortnight amidst the spicy food and bugs that plagued them respectively and missed their children in England), Paul and Jane Asher stayed just a bit longer and the Harrisons and Lennons lasted almost two months), does have its charms, despite remaining a little too slight for its own good. Unlike (say) Bob Spitz, Lapham's touch is light and detached, his eyebrow perpetually raised, his command of language scrupulous. He sees the Beatles as a curiosity, not a revelation. Ironically, Lapham manages to etch an evocative portrait of the band members: the way they interacted both as individuals and as a collective, and by doing so, perhaps suggests how it might have felt to have spent some time around them. But to what extent did he actually spend time with them, rather than in the same compound? Michael Brocken Source: The Beatles Bibliography: A New Guide To The Literature - Michael Brocken and Melissa Davis (The Beatle Works Ltd., 2012), with acknowledgement, and used here with permission from the authors for educational and historical purposes only. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
JPGR&B SUBS 4th Jul 2022		Book Todd McFliker - All You Need Is Love To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb: How The Beatles And U2 Changed The World (2007)	Review Annotation: This 200-page text has to be this reader's single most pointless purchase of recent years. The title and cover promise that some important parallels can be discovered between the careers and works of the Beatles and U2. But is it fair to say that U2 captured the attention of 'thoughtful' rock fans as the Beatles did? (The Beatles were never even considered a rock band by many). Is it historically correct to draw direct comparisons between Sgt. Pepper and Achtung Baby? Is this 'like with like', for God's sake? The answer to that is clearly 'no' and 'no'. This rather tawdry book reads like a set of very tenuous links attempting to correlate the two bands because the writer wants to: it fails miserably. As one critic writes: 'It goes something like: Bono's dad was called Bob, Bob was the name of John Lennon's goldfish, Goldfish live in a bowl, Milton Keynes Bowl was where U2 played in 1985, 1985 was when Paul McCartney recorded the Frog Chorus'. It is generally agreed, I think, that this one is utter drivel. Michael Brocken Source: The Beatles Bibliography: A New Guide To The Literature - Michael Brocken and Melissa Davis (The Beatle Works Ltd., 2012), with acknowledgement, and used here with permission from the authors for educational and historical purposes only. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
JPGR&B SUBS 2nd Jul 2022		Book Matthew Schneider - The Long And Winding Road From Blake To The Beatles (2008)	Review Annotation: This book traces the musical and cultural achievements of the Beatles as a contemporary musical phenomenon to its origins in the Romantic revolution of 1790's England when traditional concepts of literature, politics, education, and social relationships were challenged. This is not as far-fetched as one might at first imagine, for in the 1960s a new generation of politically and socially disenfranchised artists and writers worked their way through Britain's class system to make their collective voices heard. This is perhaps the first study of the relationship between the Beatles and the Romantic poets, an important issue if one also remembers that Liverpool contained several poets of note (Adrian Henri, Brian Pattern, Roger McGough) while the Beatles were developing their skills - and that Michael McCartney, brother of Paul, was closely connected with this local movement. One would have to take care however that we do not consider the Beatles' lyrics as poetry. Their lyrics could indeed be 'poetic' but the words were serving quite different purposes to those provided by the Romantic or indeed the Mersey poets. Michael Brocken Source: The Beatles Bibliography: A New Guide To The Literature - Michael Brocken and Melissa Davis (The Beatle Works Ltd., 2012), with acknowledgement, and used here with permission from the authors for educational and historical purposes only. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
JPGR&B SUBS 10th Jun 2022		Book Joachim Noske - The Beatles Covered (2009)	Review Annotation: Limited edition of 500 signed copies in slipcase; printed in LP size (30 cm x 30 cm) with photographs. The author, a teacher in Berlin and self-admitted 'obsessive' ("You have to be mad to do something like this ... not only to even conceive of the idea, but then following through"), Noske has collected, arranged and printed 14,000 photographs of the artwork on every Beatle record released in the world: singles, EPs, LPs, flexi-discs and 78-rpm shellac pressings. And by 'the world', you can take that to include Beatle records released in Angola, Pakistan, Mozambique, Iran and the West Indies, as well as 66 other countries from every continent save Antarctica. In addition to the entire EMI output, Noske includes the Tony Sheridan Hamburg recording from April 1961, the Christmas flexi-discs, the Decca audition, interview and documentary discs, colored vinyl and picture discs and boxed sets. Several appendices make this massive work easier to peruse. Significantly, Noske chose to exclude bootleg items; only those records which were legitimate releases are here, although to what extent the records were always legal for purchase, as in the Soviet Union and the Soviet Bloc countries is another matter. Unable to find a publisher willing (or able) to finance the cost of printing the colossal volume (800 pages, 14,000 photographs, many in color), Noske financed the project himself and the final product is impressive and, frankly, gorgeous. The book is in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. It was published in a limited edition of 500 numbered and signed copies, issued in a slipcase and weighing 5.5 kilograms (more than 12 pounds). Noske made it available online at $280 and was listed on the website for the book as sold-out as of this printing. Melissa Davis Source: The Beatles Bibliography: A New Guide To The Literature - Michael Brocken and Melissa Davis (The Beatle Works Ltd., 2012), with acknowledgement, and used here with permission from the authors for educational and historical purposes only. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
JPGR&B SUBS 7th Jun 2022		Book James Campion - Take A Sad Song... (2022)	Review Book Review: “Take A Sad Song: The Emotional Currency of ‘Hey Jude'” by James Campion This review is by Amy Hughes, Beatles-Freak's Reviews, 6 June 2022. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
JPGR&B SUBS 28th May 2022		Book Andru J. Reeve - Turn Me On, Dead Man (1994)	Review Annotation: Several authors have attempted to cover the mountain of material connected with the Paul McCartney death hoax story, but Andru Reeve's text of over 300 pages includes some excellent secondary research on the topic. For example, the text contextualises key moments extremely well, as when on October 12, 1969 WKNR-FM's Russ Gibb opened the phone lines for his usual Sunday afternoon with listeners. Eastern Michigan University Student Tom Zarski called in with questions about the supposed death of Paul McCartney. This was effectively the catalyst for the tall tale that would immortalize both 'Uncle Russ' and WKNR-FM in the annals of Beatle history. In addition to outwardly dissecting almost every possible lead, the author apparently spent thousands of dollars to secure rare photographs and memorabilia directly connected with the event, all of which are on display in the pages of his book - a dedication to historical narrative that goes well beyond the call of duty. Reeve lists 140 clues discovered over 35 years, including every Beatle lyric that conspiracy fans say 'prove' that the Paul McCartney we 'know' today is actually an imposter. This is fascinating stuff: excellent detective work of the very highest quality. Michael Brocken Source: The Beatles Bibliography: A New Guide To The Literature - Michael Brocken and Melissa Davis (The Beatle Works Ltd., 2012), with acknowledgement, and used here with permission from the authors for educational and historical purposes only. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
JPGR&B SUBS 20th May 2022		Book Tom Widdicombe - I Blame The Beatles (1997)	Review Annotation: This is a local history-cum-vanity text, which uses the advent of Beatles as a way of creating a historical illusion concerning the ending of a previous and more authentic way of life in Devon. Silly, really, but at least 'the Beatles' in the title has done its job in attracting the attention of this bibliography. Michael Brocken Source: The Beatles Bibliography: A New Guide To The Literature - Michael Brocken and Melissa Davis (The Beatle Works Ltd., 2012), with acknowledgement, and used here with permission from the authors for educational and historical purposes only. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
JPGR&B SUBS 7th May 2022		Book Barbara J. Guardino - How I Met The Beatles (And How They Broke My Heart) (2011)	Review Annotation: This fictitious account of a Beatle-mad fan during the British Invasion of America is intended, according to the author, to encourage an intergenerational discussion about the pitfalls of idol-worship, as relevant today, if not more so, than in 1964. An oddly parallel book to Date With A Beatle (see Kristen, within), with different portrayals of the Beatles' characters - and different results. An indication, perhaps, that as the group enters its second half-century, The Beatles both individually and collectively are more or less available for appropriation for many purposes. Melissa Davis Source: The Beatles Bibliography: A New Guide To The Literature - Supplement 2013 - Michael Brocken and Melissa Davis (The Beatle Works Ltd., 2014), with acknowledgement, and used here with permission from the authors for educational and historical purposes only. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
JPGR&B SUBS 7th May 2022		Book Judith Kristen - Once Upon A Time In Liverpool (2012)	Review Annotation: Once Upon a Time in Liverpool, is a delightful surprise and welcome addition to the expanding genre of children's books about the Beatles. Special mention must be made of the extraordinarily well-done art of Eric Cash; merely noting 'illustrations by ... ' falls far short of describing his fine watercolors of the Beatles and the city. His work is much more nearly impressionistic - Mendips, the Cavern, a skyline of Liverpool are accurate while at the same time beautiful and evocative, as is the cover - a fantasy of four young boys running down a Liverpool street. Views of the group performing show particular imagination - from the balcony at the Prince of Wales Theatre of the Beatles performing at the Royal Command Performance in November 1963 and a close up on the set of the Ed Sullivan Show. These provide a 'you were there' feel; the choice to show the Cavern from behind Ringo looking out through the brick arch, past the front three Beatles out to the audience is exceptional and refreshing. But it is in the depiction of the Beatles themselves where Cash truly excels. He captures the distinctive features of the four without resorting to the cartoonish caricatures (Lennon's sharp nose, McCartney's cherubic cheeks, Harrison's strong jaw line, Ringo's beagle eyes) that are cheap shortcuts to real portraiture, giving the next generation of Beatle fans, the children who will enjoy this book, images of real people rather than cartoons, to get to know. Another piece - John and Paul singing together at the St. Peter's Church Fete didn't happen, of course - but the artist nails the look and feel of the moment so perfectly you wish they had. Children and the adults reading to them will enjoy the book, as Kristen has found the right tone and the right words to tell the Beatles' story. Although one might wonder about the message on the back cover (' .. .it's not where you start that counts ... it's how you finish! '), Kristen resists the temptation to over-dramatize and in reading the text it is easy to see how the story could resonate with so many children who face similar situations of modest circumstances, broken homes, step-parents, childhood illness and even dead mothers. Kristen has an honest, yet delicate touch here that will be welcome to parents and children's librarians; the story also includes Stuart Sutcliffe and Pete Best, as well as a period when they 'called it quits for a few weeks' (in real life the post-Hamburg deportations in December 1960), which is admirable. The story, therefore is neither all sunshine and light nor all poor boys on the docks in gritty, grimy Liverpool as is so often the case. There is hard work, perseverance, friendship and above all - music. And that's a good message for any reader, regardless of age. Melissa Davis Source: The Beatles Bibliography: A New Guide To The Literature - Supplement 2013 - Michael Brocken and Melissa Davis (The Beatle Works Ltd., 2014), with acknowledgement, and used here with permission from the authors for educational and historical purposes only. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
JPGR&B SUBS 3rd May 2022		Book Larry Kane - Lennon Revealed (2005)	Review Annotation: Includes DVD. The DVD features the last filmed interview with Lennon and Paul McCartney, conducted by Kane in 1968 when the two were in New York to announce the formation of Apple. The former Philadelphia anchor man dredges his memories of covering The Beatles and few encounters with Lennon afterward to pad this hagiography. Kane covered the Beatle tours as a radio reporter and his book about them, Ticket to Ride, is an excellent fly-on-the-wall account. Here, however, he takes his material and pads it with uniform praise for the group and nearly everyone who knew or worked with them. He then tacks on 33 pages of fan letters. One major drawback here is that there is too much fulsome prose: The Shea Stadium concert? 'An epic moment in contemporary entertainment'; onetime band mate Stuart Sutcliffe? 'In the formative years of John's march to eternal greatness, Stu Sutcliffe was a colossal figure'. Even Beatle experts are not spared this praise, with one authority called 'the world's greatest scholar' on the group. Tony Bramwell is mysteriously described as a 'British musical icon'; such gushing is, for this reader, unjustifiable. While this text could be described as an appropriate study in journalistic licence, the DVD it comes packaged with, an uncut interview Kane conducted with John and Paul from 1968, is a truly a fascinating glimpse into the tense chemistry between the two frontmen shortly before they went their separate ways. To its credit, the prose settles down considerably when Kane describes the private moments he shared with Lennon while on tour. The aforementioned accompanying 40-minute DVD mixes a promotional interview with Kane with that 13-minute Lennon and McCartney interview (an important moment, the last one they did together in America), together with a few seconds of Lennon giving the weather report as part of a charity telethon at Kane's Philadelphia station. Perhaps this is overall something of a curate's egg: agreeable in parts, but a little unsatisfactory as a whole; nevertheless Larry Kane has a great memory for detail. This is not a tell-all or expose, therefore, despite several flaws, is a recommended text. Michael Brocken Source: The Beatles Bibliography: A New Guide To The Literature - Michael Brocken and Melissa Davis (The Beatle Works Ltd., 2012), with acknowledgement, and used here with permission from the authors for educational and historical purposes only. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
JPGR&B SUBS 3rd May 2022		Book Richard A. Edmunds - Inside The Beatles Family Tree (2018)	Review John Lennon's centuries of family history in North Wales uncovered by new research by Christopher Davies, 1 May 2022, MSN ✔︎ Helpful Review?
JPGR&B SUBS 30th Apr 2022		Book Eoghan Lyng - Decades: George Harrison In The 1970s (2022)	Review “George Harrison In the 70s”: His Decade of Change by Cindy Grogan, Culture Sonar Editor’s Note: Eoghan Lyng is a longtime contributor to Culture Sonar, having written many of our most popular posts. We’re pleased to share a look at his new book about George Harrison. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
JPGR&B SUBS 22nd Apr 2022		Book Sam Leach - The Rocking City (1999)	Review Annotation: Upon release in 1999 this text was immediately deprecated as fiction by three key Merseybeat figures (Allan Williams, Bob Wooler and Bill Harry). At one stage Williams even considered a defamation suit. Both tone and content are mean spirited and hurtful concerning those early Beatles related promoters and pioneers - why? We never really get to learn. But we are given clues, for Leach appears consummate in his assertions that he was first to the punch in fully recognising the importance of this local scene (and presumably the Beatles at the head of it). For example, Sam suggests that he coined the 'bigger than Elvis' statement before Epstein, makes a claim to the moniker of 'Mersey Beat' (the title of a Liverpool Echo column for years, actually written by another George Harrison), and he also professes that he was about to start an independent label in Liverpool in 1961 - Troubadour (tape recordings made under the name of Lambda do, however exist); this is all before the character assassinations begin. So what should we make of this text? Sadly for Leach a great deal of his information is speculative at best, and at worst? One suspects downright fable telling. Nevertheless this is recommended as a text to all Beatles researchers, who should read it merely to discover how not to write a Merseybeat vanity text. Michael Brocken Source: The Beatles Bibliography: A New Guide To The Literature - Michael Brocken and Melissa Davis (The Beatle Works Ltd., 2012), with acknowledgement, and used here with permission from the authors for educational and historical purposes only. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
JPGR&B SUBS 22nd Apr 2022		Book David Lewis [UK] - The Beatles: Liverpool Landscapes (2010)	Review Annotation: This exploration of Liverpool via text and photographs is Lewis's fifth book; previous books include a collection of walking tours and a best-seller about the development of the suburbs around the city. As such, the author is familiar with the phenomenon of Liverpool being an 800 year-old city with a sometimes-baffling inability to grasp the beauty and significance of itself and its treasures. Here, the city is seen as the backdrop for the story of the Beatles, but Lewis goes beyond offering the standard sights of The Cavern, Penny Lane and Strawberry Field. Those places are vital to the story, to be sure and they are covered, but he steps back in time to show the city the Beatles' families were born into and settled in, shaping their histories, as well as that of Liverpool. Lewis has a sense of the Beatles not just suddenly appearing as fully-grown mop-tops, but as Liverpudlians with roots in the city stretching back for generations. As a veteran explorer of the city, he defines his mission as tying their family histories to that of the city. In this, his descriptive, sometimes poetic narrative is excellent, as well as evocative. On the other hand, Lewis's a priori goal sets him to his task with preconceived images of not only the city, but the Beatles themselves - Lennon, the 'darkest Beatle, the angry one, volatile and unpredictable'; Paul drawing confidence from his parents, George the quiet, observant one, and Richie, the sickly one. It is a contrivance that is not needed here. Something that will surprise many, no doubt, is the pastoral, almost bucolic nature of the area where John Lennon grew up (Woolton Village) and the neighbouring Allerton where Paul McCartney lived from age 13 to the time he moved to London following the Beatles' success in 1963. Those accustomed to seeing the city as a blighted, decaying industrial wasteland or imagining the young Beatles playing on the docks are in for a shock. Liverpool was never an industrial centre anyway, but rather a busy seaport - one of the world's most important. Readers who expect to see dire photos of John Lennon's childhood as a future working class hero will be surprised to see 'Mendips' (his home had a name!) - a lovely two-storey detached home (duplex in American English) with a neat yard and driveway. McCartney grew up in public housing, but his home is nothing like the inner city slum that the phrase conjures up in America (of course, he never represents it as anything like that). Harrison grew up even farther out from the city in a council estate (British for project) that bears no resemblance to Cabrini Green in Chicago or the Baruch Homes in the Bronx; of the four, only Starr grew up in rough circumstances in the city. A map (several, actually, representing different eras) would have been useful and Lewis takes the poetry a tad far in noting the many opportune places in the city where the four (and others like Stuart Sutcliffe and Pete Best) might have crossed paths by coincidence before fateful meetings at church fetes or on the bus to school, but he does a good job in going far beyond presenting merely another picture book of the city. Lewis brings the tale to the present with a walk around Mathew Street and visits to the Eleanor Rigby and Lennon statues, finishing up with the National Trust tour of the childhood homes of John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Wandering through the rooms, taking a moment to sing in the porch where John and Paul were exiled to practice, listening to a girl play the piano in the McCartney living room, Lewis finally comes to the unavoidable conclusion that the homes and the city around them are living things and that the past is unreachable. We could have told him that, but the journey was (and is) not without interest along the way. Readers looking for an oversized glossy photo album of oft-seen Beatle-related sights like the gate at Strawberry Field supplemented with the usual views of the Liver Building and the Cathedrals will be disappointed. Those looking to explore the way a city forms and informs its people may well be intrigued. Melissa Davis Source: The Beatles Bibliography: A New Guide To The Literature - Michael Brocken and Melissa Davis (The Beatle Works Ltd., 2012), with acknowledgement, and used here with permission from the authors for educational and historical purposes only. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
JPGR&B SUBS 22nd Apr 2022		Book Sam Leach - Follow The Merseybeat Road (1992)	Review Annotation: Leach promoted some of the Beatles' early shows in Liverpool. He also organised the Lennon Tribute in Liverpool in December 1980. This diminutive text is a 32-page magazine full of photographs and drawings discussing the group's early days in Liverpool. There are one or two interesting anecdotes that relate to venues such as the Tower Ballroom and the Iron Door club. There is also a pretty Stephen Barwise's hand-drawn map of Liverpool's Beatle sites. An interesting text for its day, it now more of a collector's item rather than a piece of informative source material. This text was still available from Sam Leach, as of this printing. Michael Brocken Source: The Beatles Bibliography: A New Guide To The Literature - Michael Brocken and Melissa Davis (The Beatle Works Ltd., 2012), with acknowledgement, and used here with permission from the authors for educational and historical purposes only. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
JPGR&B SUBS 13th Apr 2022		Book Patrick Cadogan - The Revolutionary Artist (2009)	Review Annotation: Cadogan claims that John Lennon began his career as 'an ordinary pop star who made extraordinary music'. Lennon, according to this matrix, slowly began to 'evolve' as his fame grew, and this personal advancement also involved Lennon's radicalization via meetings and associations with late-sixties activists. During this time, there is some evidence that Lennon referred to himself, somewhat scurrilously perhaps, as a 'revolutionary artist' and it is on this expression, that the author focuses his attention. So, 'The Revolutionary Artist' is an attempt at examining Lennon's incursions into activism, his perhaps formless political views, and of course the music he created during that rather ill-defined period. Specific areas of focus include an interesting look at the 1969 Montreal bed-in, plus interviews; a previously unreleased transcript of a far less interesting peace seminar attended by Lennon at the University of Ottawa; discussions between John and Yoko recorded during the Janov primal scream therapy of 1970; and a song-by-song analysis of Lennon's first three solo releases, together with bits and pieces of commentary from John Lennon running through the songs he and Paul McCartney wrote as Beatles. This is mostly more recycling, together with a massive assumption from the author concerning Lennon's politicised nature. To this day there remains scant evidence of Lennon ever having read Hegel, Marx, or indeed Mao, the texts that so infatuated the London-based counter cultural 'intelligentsia' that (according to some) so influenced Lennon. But there is a greater problem here, too, for Cadogan merely focuses his research upon this seemingly revolutionary aspect of Lennon because he (the author) likes the idea. So, for all of its so-called methodological rigour (it is actually a 'bits-stuck-anywhere' text), there is little evidence that the interdisciplinary demands of such a complex project have been considered. This work, therefore, is a classic example of an aspect of John Lennon's past produced by someone in the present day corresponding to the usual old a priori assumptions. Michael Brocken Source: The Beatles Bibliography: A New Guide To The Literature - Michael Brocken and Melissa Davis (The Beatle Works Ltd., 2012), with acknowledgement, and used here with permission from the authors for educational and historical purposes only. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
JPGR&B SUBS 13th Apr 2022		Book Olivier Julien - Sgt. Pepper And The Beatles (2008)	Review Annotation: Some would suggest this was the first concept album in the history of popular music, the soundtrack to the 'Summer of Love'. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is certainly first and foremost the album that gave rise to high art elitists suggesting that there were some 'hopes of progress in pop music' (The Times, 29 May 1967) - yawn. This edition commemorates the fortieth anniversary of 'Sgt. Pepper' by addressing issues that help put the record in perspective. These issues include: reception by rock critics and musicians, the cover, lyrics, songwriting, formal unity, the influence of non-European music and art music, connections with psychedelia and, more generally, the sociocultural context of the 1960s, production, sound engineering and musicological significance. The text was winner of the 2009 ARSC (Association for Recorded Sound Collections) Award for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research: Best Research in Recorded Rock and Popular Music. It was therefore widely congratulated and duly recommended - a couple of sample reviews ran as follows: Deena Weinstein from DePaul University stated: 'Like the album that it analyzes, this collection of essays by an international array of Beatles scholars has more than just a few hooks to capture everyone's particular fancy. The authors present a wide-ranging and contextualized discussion that shows us why Sgt. Pepper is a monument in the history of rock music. Given the richness of the Beatles' work and the densely dynamic times in which they flourished, all pivoting around Sgt. Pepper, this book is more than welcome.' Yrjö Heinonen of the University of Jyväskylä stated: 'The eleven chapters, written by distinguished international scholars, approach this groundbreaking album from eleven interrelated points of view: connections with psychedelia (psychedelic lyrics, sonic and conceptual realizations of the psychedelic experience), aesthetic unity and complexity (formal unity, aesthetic divergence of Lennon and McCartney, classical and psychedelic aesthetic ideals, influence of Indian music), production (sound design, position in the rise of a "phonographic tradition", album cover), critical reception and musicological significance. These diverse points of view cover the key issues, which made Sgt. Pepper not only the soundtrack of the "Summer of Love" but also the album of all times - an album which is remembered 40 years after its first release and will also be remembered in the future. This book is a "must" in the bookshelf of anybody interested in the Beatles or Sixties culture in general.' Michael Brocken Source: The Beatles Bibliography: A New Guide To The Literature - Michael Brocken and Melissa Davis (The Beatle Works Ltd., 2012), with acknowledgement, and used here with permission from the authors for educational and historical purposes only. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
JPGR&B SUBS 5th Apr 2022		Book Bernie Ilson - Sundays With Sullivan (2010)	Review Annotation (Part 1 of 2): Ilson was a television producer in the 1970s after getting his start with the Ed Sullivan Show in 1963. In the late 1990's, Ilson took a PhD from New York University and the cultural aspects of the Sullivan Show formed the basis for his dissertation: 'High Cultural Aspects of The Ed Sullivan Show (1948-1971) and how it affected Cultural Diffusion in the United States'. This combination of an insider's perspective and an understanding of cultural context puts Ilson in the position of being able to examine the cultural impact of the long-running show in a decidedly unique way. Today, little is known about the often caricaturized Sullivan who undoubtedly contributed to his image by the delight he took in presenting comedians on the show who mimicked his stilted style, mannerisms and malapropisms. The premise of the show (something for everyone: a comic, a singer, a juggler, a pretty girl, and a dancing bear) was dismissed by some as 'vaudevision', merely the latest incarnation of old-time entertainment, but although Sullivan took pains to ensure there was 'something for the kiddies', the show provided much more. Sullivan had a sixth sense about what the public wanted and his radio show, 'Cavalcade of Stars', was one of the first to make the transition to television in the early days when networks and programmers. Right from the start, Sullivan insisted on scheduling opera stars like Leontyne Price (and later, Beverly Sills) as frequently as Peggy Lee and Ella Fitzgerald, once devoting an 18-minute segment to Maria Callas's debut in Tosca. He presented dramatic excerpts from Broadway plays, such as Mr. Roberts and Anne of the Thousand Days; Alfred Lunt, Noel Coward, and Helen Hayes did dramatic readings. Louis Armstrong and Van Cliburn all found an audience on the Sunday night show. Viewers were exposed to rich ethnic and early feminist humor (Woody AlIen, Bill Cosby, and Carol Burnett were among countless other Jewish, black, and female comedians who had their earliest television exposure on his show). Leonard Bernstein and Burt Bacharach were valued equally to Sullivan, who had an early understanding that popular culture had worth and meaning. He broadcast from outside the United States; from the Kremlin and Berlin in the depth of the Cold War, even during the McCarthy era, negotiating appearances by the Bolshoi Ballet, as well as other Russian theatre troupes. Yes, there was the night Sullivan, standing in the wings, grew so entranced by the performance of Rupert the Bear onstage that he nearly became part of the animal's act, and the host did routinely kiss Topo Gigio goodnight at the end of the rodent puppet's routine. But he also broadcast an interview he taped after flying a small crew to Cuba and driving three hours into the island's interior war zone to get the first post-revolution meeting with Fidel Castro in January 1959. Sullivan also had a reputation for being 'color-blind' presenting Afro-American stars, sports figures, and personalities on stage and from within the audience, often to the consternation of his tobacco company sponsors in the South. Anyone who saw the Beatles perform from the Deauville Hotel in Miami in their second Sullivan Show appearance (February 16, 1964) would note that although the audience is solidly white, Sullivan goes out of his way to introduce African-American boxers Joe Louis and Sonny Liston from the audience. Television's first integrated chorus line danced on Sullivan's show in 1961 and Mrs. Coretta Scott King, widow of the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. made an appeal for racial tolerance just weeks after the assassination. Sullivan's standard was talent and appeal: if someone had those two things, he was adamant: "Nobody tells me who to book on my stage." In the end, the southern sponsors couldn't argue with the ratings . Ilson covers the three famous Beatle shows in February of 1964, although he presents the oft-told mixture of myth and memory that Sullivan favored, rather than the more plausible and verifiable reality presented by James Maguire in impresario: The Life and Times of Ed Sullivan (see within, Maguire, James). Still, there is no doubt that the Beatles could not have taken the next step in what now seems their inevitable progression from Liverpool to London to the world stage, had it not been for the Sullivan Show. Quite simply, there was no other venue in the world that could give them the exposure in as favorable light ("Four of the nicest youngsters we've ever had on our show" Sullivan told the audience), to as wide a demographic (the policy of presenting something for every member of the family paid off), or to sheer numbers (73.9 million viewers; over 40% of the American population). ✔︎ Helpful Review?
JPGR&B SUBS 5th Apr 2022		Book Bernie Ilson - Sundays With Sullivan (2010)	Review Annotation (Part 2 of 2): After the Beatles three record-breaking appearances, Sullivan followed up by being the first to give other British Invasion acts exposure on American television: Gerry & The Pacemakers, Herman's Hermits, The Dave Clark Five, The Animals, and Petula Clark. He is often pilloried for asking the Rolling Stones to alter the lyric, 'Let's spend the night together' to 'Let's spend some time together', for their 1967 appearance, however when taken in context - the BBC would ban 'A Day in the Life' that same year finding objectionable the phrase 'I'd love to turn you on' - Sullivan does not seem entirely out of place with the times. What is lost is an understanding of the value of the Sullivan show as a venue in the first place, which was inestimable even to the 'bad boy' Rolling Stones. Personal insight into Sullivan and anecdotes about the shows make this text an essential volume for background into why the Sullivan appearances were so significant to the Beatles and other British Invasion groups that followed. Recommended, especially when read alongside Maguire's excellent biography, which does, by the way, provide the 'real' story of how Sullivan first learned about the Beatles and booked them for that first appearance. Melissa Davis Source: The Beatles Bibliography: A New Guide To The Literature - Michael Brocken and Melissa Davis (The Beatle Works Ltd., 2012), with acknowledgement, and used here with permission from the authors for educational and historical purposes only. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
JPGR&B SUBS 3rd Apr 2022		Book Ian Wright - On The Brink Of Fame (2008)	Review Annotation: Ian Wright was a pop photographer in the 1960s and captured many stars, including the Beatles, on film when working in the northeast of England. Wright's work periodically appears in exhibitions, the latest being in London 2009. His early work is perhaps of most interest, for while it is not 'artistic' in the way one might describe (say) the 'Peter Kaye' shots, Wright's photographs are incredibly vibrant and atmospheric and seem to capture the excitement of those package tours through Britain in the 1963-1965 period extremely well. Michael Brocken Source: The Beatles Bibliography: A New Guide To The Literature - Michael Brocken and Melissa Davis (The Beatle Works Ltd., 2012), with acknowledgement, and used here with permission from the authors for educational and historical purposes only. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
JPGR&B SUBS 3rd Apr 2022		Book Ingrid Newkirk - One Can Make A Difference (2009)	Review Annotation: This work contains several different parental-children anecdotes, including material provided by Paul and Stella McCartney. Michael Brocken Source: The Beatles Bibliography: A New Guide To The Literature - Michael Brocken and Melissa Davis (The Beatle Works Ltd., 2012), with acknowledgement, and used here with permission from the authors for educational and historical purposes only. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
JPGR&B SUBS 3rd Apr 2022		Book Ingrid Newkirk - One Can Make A Difference (2008)	Review Annotation: This work contains several different parental-children anecdotes, including material provided by Paul and Stella McCartney. Michael Brocken Source: The Beatles Bibliography: A New Guide To The Literature - Michael Brocken and Melissa Davis (The Beatle Works Ltd., 2012), with acknowledgement, and used here with permission from the authors for educational and historical purposes only. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
JPGR&B SUBS 3rd Apr 2022		Book Bernie Ilson - Sundays With Sullivan (2008)	Review Annotation (Part 1 of 2): Ilson was a television producer in the 1970s after getting his start with the Ed Sullivan Show in 1963. In the late 1990's, Ilson took a PhD from New York University and the cultural aspects of the Sullivan Show formed the basis for his dissertation: 'High Cultural Aspects of The Ed Sullivan Show (1948-1971) and how it affected Cultural Diffusion in the United States'. This combination of an insider's perspective and an understanding of cultural context puts Ilson in the position of being able to examine the cultural impact of the long-running show in a decidedly unique way. Today, little is known about the often caricaturized Sullivan who undoubtedly contributed to his image by the delight he took in presenting comedians on the show who mimicked his stilted style, mannerisms and malapropisms. The premise of the show (something for everyone: a comic, a singer, a juggler, a pretty girl, and a dancing bear) was dismissed by some as 'vaudevision', merely the latest incarnation of old-time entertainment, but although Sullivan took pains to ensure there was 'something for the kiddies', the show provided much more. Sullivan had a sixth sense about what the public wanted and his radio show, 'Cavalcade of Stars', was one of the first to make the transition to television in the early days when networks and programmers. Right from the start, Sullivan insisted on scheduling opera stars like Leontyne Price (and later, Beverly Sills) as frequently as Peggy Lee and Ella Fitzgerald, once devoting an 18-minute segment to Maria Callas's debut in Tosca. He presented dramatic excerpts from Broadway plays, such as Mr. Roberts and Anne of the Thousand Days; Alfred Lunt, Noel Coward, and Helen Hayes did dramatic readings. Louis Armstrong and Van Cliburn all found an audience on the Sunday night show. Viewers were exposed to rich ethnic and early feminist humor (Woody AlIen, Bill Cosby, and Carol Burnett were among countless other Jewish, black, and female comedians who had their earliest television exposure on his show). Leonard Bernstein and Burt Bacharach were valued equally to Sullivan, who had an early understanding that popular culture had worth and meaning. He broadcast from outside the United States; from the Kremlin and Berlin in the depth of the Cold War, even during the McCarthy era, negotiating appearances by the Bolshoi Ballet, as well as other Russian theatre troupes. Yes, there was the night Sullivan, standing in the wings, grew so entranced by the performance of Rupert the Bear onstage that he nearly became part of the animal's act, and the host did routinely kiss Topo Gigio goodnight at the end of the rodent puppet's routine. But he also broadcast an interview he taped after flying a small crew to Cuba and driving three hours into the island's interior war zone to get the first post-revolution meeting with Fidel Castro in January 1959. Sullivan also had a reputation for being 'color-blind' presenting Afro-American stars, sports figures, and personalities on stage and from within the audience, often to the consternation of his tobacco company sponsors in the South. Anyone who saw the Beatles perform from the Deauville Hotel in Miami in their second Sullivan Show appearance (February 16, 1964) would note that although the audience is solidly white, Sullivan goes out of his way to introduce African-American boxers Joe Louis and Sonny Liston from the audience. Television's first integrated chorus line danced on Sullivan's show in 1961 and Mrs. Coretta Scott King, widow of the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. made an appeal for racial tolerance just weeks after the assassination. Sullivan's standard was talent and appeal: if someone had those two things, he was adamant: "Nobody tells me who to book on my stage." In the end, the southern sponsors couldn't argue with the ratings . Ilson covers the three famous Beatle shows in February of 1964, although he presents the oft-told mixture of myth and memory that Sullivan favored, rather than the more plausible and verifiable reality presented by James Maguire in impresario: The Life and Times of Ed Sullivan (see within, Maguire, James). Still, there is no doubt that the Beatles could not have taken the next step in what now seems their inevitable progression from Liverpool to London to the world stage, had it not been for the Sullivan Show. Quite simply, there was no other venue in the world that could give them the exposure in as favorable light ("Four of the nicest youngsters we've ever had on our show" Sullivan told the audience), to as wide a demographic (the policy of presenting something for every member of the family paid off), or to sheer numbers (73.9 million viewers; over 40% of the American population). ✔︎ Helpful Review?
JPGR&B SUBS 3rd Apr 2022		Book Bernie Ilson - Sundays With Sullivan (2008)	Review Annotation (Part 2 of 2): After the Beatles three record-breaking appearances, Sullivan followed up by being the first to give other British Invasion acts exposure on American television: Gerry & The Pacemakers, Herman's Hermits, The Dave Clark Five, The Animals, and Petula Clark. He is often pilloried for asking the Rolling Stones to alter the lyric, 'Let's spend the night together' to 'Let's spend some time together', for their 1967 appearance, however when taken in context - the BBC would ban 'A Day in the Life' that same year finding objectionable the phrase 'I'd love to turn you on' - Sullivan does not seem entirely out of place with the times. What is lost is an understanding of the value of the Sullivan show as a venue in the first place, which was inestimable even to the 'bad boy' Rolling Stones. Personal insight into Sullivan and anecdotes about the shows make this text an essential volume for background into why the Sullivan appearances were so significant to the Beatles and other British Invasion groups that followed. Recommended, especially when read alongside Maguire's excellent biography, which does, by the way, provide the 'real' story of how Sullivan first learned about the Beatles and booked them for that first appearance. Melissa Davis Source: The Beatles Bibliography: A New Guide To The Literature - Michael Brocken and Melissa Davis (The Beatle Works Ltd., 2012), with acknowledgement, and used here with permission from the authors for educational and historical purposes only. ✔︎ Helpful Review?

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