I borrowed this graphic novel from the Northport Public Library (here on Long Island; just an hour and a half away from the Ed Sullivan Theater, by thI borrowed this graphic novel from the Northport Public Library (here on Long Island; just an hour and a half away from the Ed Sullivan Theater, by the way.) This was the first edition, published by M Press in 2013. This dreamlike account of Brian Epstein's career is entertaining and aesthetically pleasing. The copyright page lists a team who either worked on the book itself specifically or who help oversee books issued by M Press and who, I conclude, worked like movie studio personnel to make this a really good-looking book. The copy I borrowed was a hardcover. If you're looking for the book, try to get it in hardcover so that you can lay it out flat. It is well-crafted. The pages are sewn to the binding. This is a model of artisanship. I read it straight through in about an hour. One reason I wanted to read it, and, in fact, a reason I've wanted to read it for ten years is that it has an introduction by Billy J. Kramer. The Beatles wrote a few songs for him. In fact, his version of "P.S. I Love You" came out before theirs did, and it was their composition. He knew Brian Epstein quite well, and he was one of the artists Brian managed. He was witness to the rise of the group. His introduction is to the point; it may be the most realistic part of this book. I am a Beatles fan. I loved them when I saw them on THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW when I was four years old, and I started listening to them seriously when I was about eleven. I am 62 years old now and have read about the Beatles and listened to their catalog for decades. I'm not a scholar; I don't write footnoted essays about them. But I don't think I am any less enthralled with the Beatles than a Bostonian is with the Red Sox. Beatlemaniac though I am, I kept thinking, as I read THE FIFTH BEATLE, "Either this is a revelation or a fantasy." I'm going to quote from Vivek Tiwary's afterword, because what he says here encapsulates the ultimate problem of this book. (The use of asterisks is his. I put them here on one line for clarity's sake. I wonder how many people reading the afterword are AWARE that an asterisk at the end of a sentence implies that you have to look at the bottom of the page for the follow-up? Here, it's a punchline.) "Did Ed Sullivan really negotiate with Brian using a ventriloquist's dummy? (Believe it or not, THAT actually happened.*) *Or did it?" If Sullivan did not have a ventriloquist's dummy in the room as he negotiated with Brian, Tiwary has given Sullivan a prop that Sullivan didn't have. If he DID have it there, was Sullivan throwing his voice? Was it a light-hearted moment? Here, the dialog and the drawings just make him seem a rather threatening man. Setting factual matters aside, the ventriloquist's dummy doesn't make sense. Even I can imagine that a sixty-something show-biz figure like Sullivan might have thought it endearing to do business using an antique Vaudeville prop, but this does not come through in Tiwary's book. Is the reader supposed to think Sullivan is a witless old fossil? Tiwary is missing something about Ed Sullivan, or doesn't convey something about him we need to know. Throughout the book, phrases from Beatles songs pop up. More often, these are PARTS of phrases from Beatles songs. At one point, early on, a song hits Number nine on the charts. For the next few panels, people say "Number nine." Finally, Yoko Ono's face appears and she says "Number nine." It's not much of a gag. It is a mere coincidence that a song has reached number nine. It tells the reader nothing about anything. In the afterward, Tiwary also asks the question of why Pete Best does not appear in this. He then proceeds not to answer the question, as if he's preserving a precious mystery. He also asks, about a major character, "And who - or what - the hell is Moxie?" She is a key figure in the story. If she didn't really exist, tell us, or make the case as to why she is necessary for this fantasy. Or shall I ask, "Or is it fantasy?" What I will say is this: The book is fun. The detour into the Philippines disaster, and its metamorphosis into the burning of Beatles albums in America, is, in itself a wonderful set-piece. It is drawn in a completely different style from the rest of the book and is overtly funny in a way that the rest of the book is not. (I'm assuming Kyle Baker drew that part and Andrew C. Robinson the rest.) THE FIFTH BEATLE'S most sustained theme is Epstein's status as a closeted gay man at a time when Britain threw people in prison for homosexual acts. Brian's conversation with John on the beach in Spain, with John teasing him and either being REALLY cruel or REALLY kind, is worthy. (John's ambiguity strikes me as rendered accurately.) Again, a piece of prose written for this book makes this book better: Howard Cruse, the pioneer of the gay graphic novel, wrote an essay which appears at the end, "The Freedom To Marry." This was just before the right for same-sex couple to marry became federal law in the United States, and Cruse points out that "the creators of THE FIFTH BEATLE have forged a spiritual and economic alliance with Freedom to Marry." While this book is about Brian Epstein, it is peripherally about the Beatles. It is centrally about what the closet did to even an ambitious entrepreneur. I, myself, am gay, and am lucky to have lived at a time when the United States has given gay men and lesbians the freedom to live in peace. The book makes a case that Brian Epstein saw in the Beatles the sort of optimism that he never lived to see embraced by any institution. All I know is that my parents' generation thought the Beatles' hair made them look like girls. By the time I was in high school, a boy without long hair didn't GET girls. I cut my hair very short in ninth grade once, because a boy taunted me for having long hair. I think he was straight. I wasn't. I bet he hated the Beatles. So: This book is really intriguing. I'm so glad that Brian (largely through Billy J. Kramer's efforts) got into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame. I think I was right, as a kid, to think the Beatles were as significant as Shakespeare. And I will add that this book should act as a record of the world's changing attitude toward gay people. The book may have forgotten to make one point, though, and for that reason I can't quite suspend my disbelief: Society will try, when it can, to put gay people back in the closet. And the politician taking away your freedom probably loves "Love Me Do."
This is the first audiobook I've listened to in five years. I use to listen to them as I drove for work delivering auto parts. I stopped after leavingThis is the first audiobook I've listened to in five years. I use to listen to them as I drove for work delivering auto parts. I stopped after leaving that job. I generally can't concentrate on an audiobook unless I am navigating the road. TUNE IN is an exception. Somehow, reading the text itself (on a Kindle) wasn't working for me; not because I couldn't follow it but because, serious Beatles fan that I am, I kept skipping ahead to read about particular moments. So I decided I needed to hear it instead, so as to follow it from start to finish. I made the right choice. The audiobook I obtained (from audible) is read by Clive Mantle, whose intonations show a keen understanding of author Mark Lewisohn's purpose. He reads at a very even pace, and Lewisohn's prose lends itself to that pacing. Mark Lewisohn is universally praised as a great researcher, but I think his main achievement here is to tell this story with clarity. I've read many books about the Beatles. This is the only one I would call a compelling piece of writing. I've read many of the stories in here before. But these have never been told without breathlessness or flippancy. Mark Lewisohn is calm, informed and observant. ...more
THE BEATLES DIARY VOLUME 2: AFTER THE BREAK-UP 1970-2001 is written by Keith Badman. It is NOT written by Barry Miles, as Goodreads mistakenly indicatTHE BEATLES DIARY VOLUME 2: AFTER THE BREAK-UP 1970-2001 is written by Keith Badman. It is NOT written by Barry Miles, as Goodreads mistakenly indicates on another edition. Barry Miles DID write a four-page foreword to this edition. The vast majority of this book appeared originally in 1999 under the title THE BEATLES AFTER THE BREAK-UP. The one I'm reviewing appeared in early 2001. The chapter on the year 2001 simply starts with the words, "Coming this year", and consists of two pages of events projected for 2001. This is problematic for a Beatles scholar because on September 11th, 2001, Paul McCartney was on a jet plane on the runway at a New York airport, as he and everyone else on board watched in horror as the World Trade Center burned in the distance. In December of the same year, George Harrison died. In between these events Paul led a tribute concert at Madison Square Garden for the fallen firemen of 9/11. I don't know how long this particular edition of this book remained in print, but a reader should be aware that 2001 is not covered, merely hinted at. These points, though important, do not take away from its great merit. Keith Badman has put together a 690-page book detailing, not daily, but more numerous than weekly, accounts of the activities of each Beatle from 1970 to the end of 2000. The entries are quite often filled with detail about the events of a given day. The time Paul and John tried to record "Stand By Me" at Harry Nilsson's house in 1974 is described, for example, and there is a photograph of them from that occasion, lounging on beach chairs by the pool with Keith Moon sitting between them. Newspaper articles, letters and announcements are quoted. This is a serious contribution to Beatles research. It is also enjoyable. Of course, it isn't a narrative, but many stories are told in its entries, and these are backed up by facts. ...more
Pretty detailed account of Beatles producer George Martin's life up to 1966. The Beatles remained a group until 1970, so Martin's story will continue Pretty detailed account of Beatles producer George Martin's life up to 1966. The Beatles remained a group until 1970, so Martin's story will continue in the next volume. While this book is written in a straightforward manner, the story itself is interesting. With the decades, Beatles scholarship has become so thorough that great detail is available to many. The author makes note of Mark Lewisohn's groundbreaking work, still ongoing, and all books about the Beatles will, from now on, have to be judged in light of Lewisohn's scholarship. MAXIMUM VOLUME may even be a better place to start reading about the Beatles than Lewisohn's books because its focus on their producer allows readers to get a good, general view of their rise. If mist interest to me are the chapters about Martin's Depression-era upbringing, service in Workd War Two and his climb at EMI before the Beatles met him. Martin is quoted extensively, but there are areas he himself never wrote about. This book shows string research there. It is an informative book....more
A sort of updated APPLE TO THE CORE (a 1972 biography by, I believe, Peter McCabe and another writer whose name momentarily escapes me) this book dealA sort of updated APPLE TO THE CORE (a 1972 biography by, I believe, Peter McCabe and another writer whose name momentarily escapes me) this book deals with the same issue: How the finances of the Beatles broke up the group. APPLE TO THE CORE gave me my notion of the dynamic of the group and YOU NEVER GIVE ME YOUR MONEY reinforces that notion: The animosity between John Lennon and Paul McCartney was at least as deep as the rift between Gilbert and Sullivan, and, in a real way, tragic. The advantage this book has over APPLE TO THE CORE is that it leads the reader to the present day. The narration is straightforward and driven and, as someone who has read about the Beatles for most of his life I can say this book seems more accurate than most books about the group. I also recommend a book which came out about six years ago, the title of which forms the subtitle of this book: THE BEATLES AFTER THE BREAKUP. (I don't have the author's name at hand.) That book is a date-by-date chronology of events in the lives of each Beatle since 1970, the year they split. (I have noticed that the British edition of YOU NEVER GIVE ME YOUR MONEY has a different subtitle, if the edition your reading doesn't say "The Beatles After The Breakup.")...more
Robert Whitaker was hired by Brian Epstein to photograph the Beatles on their 1966 world tour. This account not only contains a lot of great pictures Robert Whitaker was hired by Brian Epstein to photograph the Beatles on their 1966 world tour. This account not only contains a lot of great pictures of the Beatles, it is one of the few really straightforward written accounts by any eyewitness. I estimate this book is about 140 pages. (The pages aren't numbered.) The photos take up the majority of the space, but the explanations of the photos are direct and very informative. While most of the pictures are in black and white, there is a sudden burst of color about two-thirds of the way through the book, when the Japanese government gives Whitaker a color camera. He documents, in color, something I'd never read about before. The Beatles sat in their hotel room in Japan one night and, together, took some paint and created a painting which they donated to charity. In this phase of the tour they appear as relaxed as they ever would in front of a lens. This book may have been published in the UK first, but the only hint that might be the case is this cryptic line on the copyright page: " This 2008 edition published by Metro Books by arrangement with Endeavour london Limited." Metro Books is based in New York. The lack of page numbers is typical of a book designed to be a "remainder." This book is currently being displayed prominently at almost any Barnes and Noble store in the country. It was just published and is designed as a remainder. Some bargain books are books which haven't sold well and which, therefore, have been marked down, but this is a book which came out as a bargain book. This means you probably won't see reviews of it, ads for it, or, otherwise, any indication of its existence. I had to put all the information I could into the Goodreads listing, which I created, I being a Goodreads Librarian. As a professional bookseller, I can tell you that this remainder will probably drop out of circulation in two or three years. So, if you're a Beatles collector, snap it up while you can. This book has a co-author, Marcus Hearn. The back flap describes him as a journalist who has written about classic rock musicians and also about George Lucas. I gather Hearn wrote some of the background material about the tours and Whitaker provided the reminiscences. Whitaker's Australian. (G'day, Mr. Whitaker.) He did some album covers for bands Brian Epstein managed and then got the '66 Beatles tour assignment. The pictures are basically behind-the-scenes images. Whitaker explains that pictures of the Beatles on stage would have required him to get far into any given audience in order to take them and he felt he might get lost in the shuffle; a very reasonable assumption. The result is he gets a look at the beatles even the best photographers didn't generally get. They never do that Richard Lester jumping up and down stuff for him. They do some humorous posing, but not in the way they usually did. Whitaker seems to have had a pretty good eye for the one-on-one moment. He saw each Beatle as an individual, a good four years before they split into solo acts. I don't usually take to the photographic record of the Beatles. It's the music I like. I've gotten weary of the biographies. Burt EIGHT DAYS A WEEK: INSIDE THE BEATLES' FINAL WORLD TOUR caught my eye and did something most Beatle books can't do anymore: It held my interest, told me more about The Beatles and caused my already high respect for them to increase....more
This is, essentially, a document of who played what on which track and which parts of which songs were recorded when. It is this aspect which makes itThis is, essentially, a document of who played what on which track and which parts of which songs were recorded when. It is this aspect which makes it the single most informative book ever put out about the Beatles as musicians. While it is not incredibly easy to follow the fate of any particular song here, reading this from front to back will give you a sense of how the Beatles, their producer George Martin and the engineers at EMI went about their work.
Here's a good example of the contrast between the Beatles' music and their extracurricular activities. The music stands the test of time. The movies, Here's a good example of the contrast between the Beatles' music and their extracurricular activities. The music stands the test of time. The movies, interviews and other nonmusical activities get very boring. "I, Me, Mine" is a really good song. I bet Shakespeare would have written a pretty boring autobiography. The play was the thing, after all. With the Beatles, it was the songs. Give me "Savoy Truffle," "Something," "I'd Have You Anytime" or "The Light That Has Lighted the World." But don't give me as-told-to books. I'll read other people's books about the Beatles phenomenon. But keep me from THE ANTHOLOGY, LENNON REMEMBERS or the Barry Miles as-told-to which Paul did. The closest thing to an autobiography by a Beatle is Ringo's book, POSTCARDS FROM THE BOYS, which is a collection of postcards sent to him over the years by each of the other Beatles. He comments on the cards. There's no third party filtering his thoughts, directing his words or shielding us from truths. It's a pleasant book. But it is not an autobiography. It is definitely not an auobiography in disguise. It's a coffee-table book. I, ME, MINE will please a certain readership. I've put it in the "I Will Never Read This Book" category. I've flipped through it. But now it's time to tune to that station which plays songs like "Handle With Care" and "Fish On the Sand." That's where George can be heard; where his artistry resides....more
This book is not well known. I was given a copy of it in 1983, three years after it was published. While it is exactly what the title describes, allowThis book is not well known. I was given a copy of it in 1983, three years after it was published. While it is exactly what the title describes, allowing you to look up a song or a name associated with the Beatles and getting some information, it is more than that. The entries are unusual. There's one for "Boogaloo," for example. It turns out "Boogaloo" was a name John, George and Ringo used to refer to Paul when they didn't want people around them knowing who they were talking about. So, from this, a reader can conclude, as I did, that Ringo's 1971 single, "Back Off Boogaloo" is addressed to Paul. "Wake up, meat-head, don't pretend that you are dead..." (You'll recall the whole "Paul Is Dead" thing.) Given that the Beatles, immediately after the break-up (which was in 1970), wrote a lot of songs faintly and/or pointedly about each other, I don't think my idea about "Back off, Boogaloo" is at all far-fetched. And I have THE BEATLES A TO Z to thank for planting it in my head. There is no entry for "Back Off, Boogaloo," but the "Boogaloo" entry, just by the fact of its being there, helped me put some things together. I found myself wondering about another instance of the word "Boogaloo" in a song. The lyric, "All I wanna do is boogaloo," in the 1973 song, "I'm the Greatest," which John wrote for Ringo to record, seems to me to be a tip of the hat from John to Paul, through Ringo. This was at a time when the tensions between the solo Beatles were beginning to ease. I used to get in arguments with a fellow Beatles fan over various entries in THE BEATLES A To Z. I was always saying this book gave tremendous insight into the Beatles and he always said it was full of misinformation. I still think this book is a compendium of insider information. Goldie Friede, the author, doesn't seem to have written anything else. I'm not sure she ever existed. (Get on Goodreads, Goldie, and tell me otherwise.) I contend that this book was put together by somebody with genuine access to the Beatles. And if there was a Goldie Friede: Please write another book. There are entries in here which help you put together vast puzzles about the Beatles. One reason the book doesn't seem ever to have caught on is that it does not come out and say, "Put these little facts together, connect the dots and get a very focused picture." A lot more people know a lot more about the Beatles than in 1980, but this book still seems fresh to me. It's a fun book. It's an oversize paperback. the edition I have has a picture of the Beatles from the MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR era, standing there, looking mod. One of them is holding a teacup. They've got the handlebar mustaches and look like the dreamy, creative geniuses they were.
I read this in 1972, when I was 12 years old. I believe this book came out in 1971 or even 1970. I have not read it since, but I have to testify to thI read this in 1972, when I was 12 years old. I believe this book came out in 1971 or even 1970. I have not read it since, but I have to testify to the influence this book had on my thinking about the Beatles. I am of the opinion that if I hadn't read this when I did, I'd have been at a major disadvantage when puzzling over the Beatles' dynamic. To put this in historical context, this book came out in the immediate wake of the Beatles' breakup. It's hard to remember what a shocking thing it was for rock fans, even, or especially fans who were not obsessed with the Beatles, to believe that not only had they broken up but that there was tremendous bitterness in the breakup. APPLE TO THE CORE (a pun on Apple Corps., the record label the Beatles created) makes a very strong case that what broke the group up was the thing which usually breaks up showbiz teams: money. Toward the end of their days as a group, the Beatles decided to create their own record label. The plan was to sign new artists and promote Beatles projects and projects by individual Beatles. Inexperienced in business, the Beatles oversaw a very poorly run company. Of course there were artistic differences and the pressure of fame as well as the fact that they'd spent their days as young men inextricably tied to each other. The Beatles probably would have broken up, anyway. But the fact that they tried to manage their own company, according to this book, is what splintered the group. I no longer think the creation of Apple played a very significant role in the Beatles' breakup. But Apple as a factor in the destruction of the group has been underplayed in books which came out after APPLE TO THE CORPS. A more lasting impression this book gave me is the idea of the Beatles as a tug-of-war between John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Again, focusing on John and Paul's interdependence does not quite explain other things about the Beatles' appeal. George Harrison always provided an ironic edge ("Don't Bother Me," "Love You Too" and George's masterpiece "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" are perfect examples of a dark sensibility which, nevertheless, veers away from Lennonish mockery or the deliberate ugliness of "Helter Skelter," Paul's answer to his own penchant for sentimentality.) But this book definitely points out that, with Paul and John at odds with each other, the Beatles had to collapse. It makes the argument that, with the death of the Beatles' manager, Brian Epstein in 1967, the Beatles had lost their protector. I really think Shakespeare could have invented the Beatles. That they united in real life for any amount of time, let alone eight years,* is a miracle. APPLE TO THE CORPS points out the sadness of their broken friendship, something which caused sorrow around the world. * Ah, you've read as far as the asterisk. Let me say I know that the Beatles, in one form or another, lasted something like thirteen years, but I date their beginning to the year they signed with E.M.I., 1962. ...more
This, literally, is a collection of postcards sent by either John Lennon, Paul McCartney or George Harrison to their bandmate Ringo Starr, before, durThis, literally, is a collection of postcards sent by either John Lennon, Paul McCartney or George Harrison to their bandmate Ringo Starr, before, during after the breakup of the Beatles. The first printing of this was for charity and priced accordingly: It was very expensive. In its present form it's priced at about what most hardcovers are priced at. It's a relatively short book, but as coffee table books go, it's average length. The real reason to have this is to get a sense of the genuine bond between Ringo and the other Beatles. I believe Ringo was moving from one house to another when these postcards were found in a shoebox. These cards are not particularly detailed. Because they are not letters, but postcards, with the texts visible to any postal worker handling them, they do not disclose anything earth-shattering. But this may be why they are perfect souvenirs of the sort a Beatles fan would share with the public. After all, Ringo has always said he is a Beatles fan himself....more
I'm nothing if not a Beatles fan, but I find this book mind-numbingly boring, as I did the ANTHOLOGY TV special. My problem may arise from the fact thaI'm nothing if not a Beatles fan, but I find this book mind-numbingly boring, as I did the ANTHOLOGY TV special. My problem may arise from the fact that we do not have the interviewer's questions, just the interviewees's answers. I think this means reading this book (or watching the DVD) is comparable to watching a dubbed movie: Something crucial is missing. The context in which each answer is given has been removed. The interviewers clearly have put some words into each Beatle's mouth. The Beatles are, in effect, reacting to prodding. A much better picture of the Beatles is provided in Rngo Starr's book POSTCARDS FROM THE BOYS, in which the various postcards George, Paul and John sent him are reproduced. There's no middleman....more
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