Comprehensive Picture of McCartney's Post Beatle Years
585814
I didn't know much about McCartney's immediate years after the Beatles broke up. Especially interesting were his self doubts about his music and touring,
1472612
seeing this book and understanding the access that linda had even before being paul's wife is pretty amzing. her photos are very intimate, especially of the beatles and her accompanying text to each photo are superb. a great photographic book.
2261633
This book is an absolute must have for any and every Beatle fan.  What a great collection of Juian's memories with his dad and Uncle Paul.
3537844
I stumbled across this book in our university bookstore sometime last year. What the brief product info doesn't say - and it should - it that half the book covers albums and half the book covers singles. You flip it over to read about each.
If you like music and reading about some of the great records of the past 60 years - for whatever reason they are termed "great" - I highly recommend purchasing this.
A bonus is a number of side columns scattered throughout that cover the production of the first LPs and 45s, the transition to digital, record labels and producers who blazed new trails, etc.
I pick this book up at least once a week. Oh, there are scattered songs and artists covered that I never particularly cared for, but what I do like far outweighs the handful of entries I skip.
2343230
Most books on the Beatles's solo careers focus on only one or they have an agenda - Lennon was a genius and a saint, McCartney a passable craftsman who ia also a pain in the a**.  Harrison's solo career is only now being appreciated and Ringo never accounted for much, musically.  These are the same simplistic shortcuts used to describe their career as Beatles - John, smart and talented if rough around the edges; Paul, the cute one who writes ballads and doesn't rock out; George, the quiet one with little to contribute; and Ringo - charming and slightly goofy.  This book reveals the musical talent which if it had belonged anyone else but ex-Fabs, would have even praised to the hilt (with some notable exceptions.).

I have a whole new appreciation for the post Beatle years.  Plus, agree they are the best songs or not, the "albums that might have been" make awesome playlists.

Bravo!
1364483
My wife bought this as a 16-year old in love with Paul. (This was before she met yours' truly, moving Paul to second place except when he's on TV). I just finished it. This was written in 1968, just after the Beatles had just quit touring for good. It offers personal perspectives of each, AND EVEN THEIR PARENTS AND WIVES from their early days. The news is that these are all ordinary working class people, not fabulous prodigies. The book is about the fab four, Brian Epstein & George Martin.
Down to earth at all times. It could not have been written at any other time.
As a Beatles fan for 47 years - a million stars!
2998126
A fascinating book about the inception of the Beatles, or "pre-Beatle" era, if you will.  The beautiful archival photographs will certainly delight all readers as well as the memorabilia.  Readers will certainly get a feel for early-1960s Liverpool (1960-62) and the environment in which the Beatles flourished.

Thanks to this book, fans can actually see the club where the Beatles' fame was soon launched.  The world's number one band cut their musical teeth in the Casbah, owned and run by drummer Pete Best's mother, Mona Best.  The club opened in 1959 when the Quarrymen-Silver Beatles were coming into their own.  This underground rock club was the precursor to its American counterparts such as the Hard Rock Cafe and the Fillmore East and Fillmore West, to name three.

This fresh perspective of Beatle history includes Mona Best's story as well as other members of the Best family.  Pete Best, the Beatles' first drummer was unceremoniously ousted from the band in August of 1962.  Ringo Starr replaced him and the rest is, well, history.  Fans will undoubtedly feel as if they are watching the Beatles evolve from relative local obscurity into the musical juggernaut they became and remain to this day.
1883814
As a longtime Genesis fan, I was delighted to discover a book of this caliber had been published. The book comes out at right as the band reunited for a world tour bringing Phil Collins together with his old pals.

The book is packed with anecdotes and photos from all periods of the band, from their school days, through their Gabriel and Collins eras, down into that time that all Genesis fans would rather forget (their last album before they dissolved as a band). The book wraps up with some fresh photos and tales as they were getting into their 2007 tour, not looking young but with their hearts and souls packed with memories of great times and even better music.

"Genesis: Chapter and Verse" is not unlike similar efforts done before with The Beatles or The Rolling Stones. It just fills a big hole us Genesis fans have had for a very long time.
4452630
Unless you live under a rock, you've probably heard of Paul McCartney, one of the members of the Beatles (along with John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr). Together, they turned the roll-n-roll genre upside down and created a world-wide appetite for the music.

Paul McCartney was born on June 18, 1942 to James and Mary McCartney in Liverpool, England. They lived a fairly comfortable life, with both parents working (his mother was a nurse and his father a cotton salesman). But when his mother died of breast cancer, 14-year-old Paul, 12-year-old Michael and their father worked together to keep things running as smoothly as possible. While there wasn't any extra money to spend on things, there was plenty of love in the household. James did a valiant job raising his two sons by himself, along with help from other family members.

Much has been written about Paul McCartney in numerous biographies. But this is the book on his life, starting before his birth (with info on his parents) and ending with an Epilogue written after author Philip Norman talked to him briefly backstage at the Liverpool Echo Arena during his Out There tour on May 28, 2015. Norman covers Paul's childhood, his fortuitous meeting with John Lennon, the formation of the Beatles, his long-time marriage to Linda Eastman, his relationship with Lennon, the bands breakup, the creation of Wings, Linda's tragic death, his short-lived and volatile marriage to Heather Mills, their nasty and hotly contested divorce, his most recent marriage to Nancy Shevell in 2011, his knighthood and his long list of music awards.

As you can probably tell, Norman leaves no stone unturned and no topic off the table. In addition to covering Pauls life, he includes a rather comprehensive history of music (particularly that of rock and pop), as his life could not be told without his influence on it and its influence on him.

I learned many things about Paul I did not know, including the fact that hes a gifted mimic, able to imitate voices easily. I also didn't realize that he could play so many instruments (guitar, drums, piano, etc.) or that he taught himself most of what he knows, with little or no formal training on any single instrument. He is also a talented artist who can draw and paint.

Be warned: Even though the book is well-written and the subject matter quite interesting, this is not light reading as there are 818 pages, not counting 32 pages of photos (some never before made public), the Table of Contents, Acknowledgements, Photo Credits and Index. It took me about a week to finish reading, but it was well worth it.

Reviewed by Christine M. Irvin
3147542
This album, like any of the immediate post-Beatle solo albums, is a must have for Beatle completists; it's much meatier than Paul's first solo offering, "McCartney", which relied heavily on instrumentals and leftovers from the Beatle days; here, Paul understands the fact that he's on his own, and looks forward to his own sterling career as a solo performer.
 In "Ram On", he sings to himself "give your heart to somebody soon"("Ram on" is a punning reference to his old stage name of Paul Ramone in Hamburg); while in "3 Legs", he throws a couple of digs to his old bandmates("Your dog's got three legs, but it can't run/My dog's got one leg, and it has fun", or something or other), same with "Dear Boy"; the two big singles that accompanied this album in its original release, "Uncle Albert/Admrial Halsey" and "Another Day", are included on this disc, the latter as a bonus track alongside the unfocused "Oh Woman, Oh Why"; "Heart Of The Country" is very pretty and shows off Paul's newfound domestic bliss, while "Back Seat Of My Car" is rightly described as the most understated song of Paul's career. With a little work, it could have broke Paul through to the buying public the way that the "Band On The Run" title track did a few years later.
 The only other song worthy of attention is "Monkberry Moon Delight", Paul's ode to moonshine whiskey(I think; I don't really know sixties/seventies slang that well); either way, this song...Wow! What can I say?
 First off, I heard some pretty bad things about this song beforehand; namely that it was a cheap, one-off similar to "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey"(which actually has its moments, I think), oh but nothing could be further from the truth; "Uncle Albert" is an innocuous song that blends styles and tempos, this one barrels straight at you and threatens to knock you off your seat! From the pounding opening chords on Paul's "boldly outspoken" piano(which continues through the entire song!), to the earthy backup vocals(which owe a bit of homage to Ray Charles' old backing group, the Raelettes) on the refrain of "don't get left behind", this is one of the best songs in Paul's repertoire.
 It also contains some of the best imagery of Mr. McCartney's songwriting career! Paul stands there "with a knot in his stomach" as he "gazes at that terrible sight" as the wind plays a "dreadful cantata"; chilling...and he really raises the bar by screaming into another register in the verse before the first chorus(right after that "terrible sight" and just before he starts "sucking Monkberry Moon Delight").
 The only beef I have is Paul's ill-chosen falsetto, which is usually put to good use, but here sounds out of range and thin. He ruins a GREAT send-up that way; four and a half minutes in, he starts doing some pretty funky vocal contortions that leads into what could have been a contender with John's "Hey Bulldog" for manic, back-and-forth fadeout chatter-"Try some of this, honey", Paul encourages; "What is it?", a gutteral voice asks. Then Paul ruins it with a return to high-pitched screaming..."MONKberry moon delight!"
 Still, this song is one of Paul's most obscure shining moments, and makes this album a keeper for anyone even moderately interested in the Beatles.
4922598
This is a comprehensive overview of the Beatles from the very beginning...full of photos and handwritten notes, school programs, and family reminises.  It follows the band through various incarnations (loved the old flyers and advertisements) and various influences. Each member has a voice, and it facinating to see each person evolve into the personalities we remember so well.  It is also a comprehensive look into the cultural changes that raced through the 60's.  Family and friends also contribute to the narritive, and it is a refreshingly honest  and uninhibited look at the band.  The eventual breakup of the band is chronicled, and it  captures the apathy and ambiguity that made the "announcement" so hard to believe, and fuled the hope the reunion was possible.  The actual book was a bit unwieldy.....not one you could cosy up on the couch with.  Don't let that discourage you..
681089
First, the album cover itself is probably my favorite image of the Beatles.  Very impressionistic, it reveals the first concentrated inkling of maturity.  Image-wise, it's as big a leap from the A HARD DAY'S NIGHT album cover as the WHITE ALBUM'S "blankness" was from the density of the more iconic SGT. PEPPER cover.

This is important, given the image-consciousness of the Beatles.  They really were making a definitive statement of what it meant to be a Beatle, a year or so into full-blown Beatlemania.  It was their first declarative turn away from the youthful vigor of their first mass-marketed image.  Pretty daring.

The originally-penned songs on the album sonically express the exhaustion and disillusionment displayed visually.  Both Lennon's and McCartney's songs are profoundly confessional, in a way I think that matches the similar subjects and sensibilities of RUBBER SOUL a year later.  One of the major revelations regarding the depth of the Beatles I've ever had was when I discovered just how dark an album RUBBER SOUL truly is (nearly every song is pessimistic about romance and relationships), while the second great revelation was to discover just how dark BEATLES FOR SALE is.  Critics tend to position the Beatles as naive idealists (especially McCartney...get over it..wrong!), but these two albums reveal otherwise (okay, "Eight Days A Week" is relatively cheery).

Perhaps the one minor drawback is the reliance on cover versions, of which there are several.  Nothing wrong with them, but the original tunes would make for an exceptional 9-song EP on their own (if EPs could run that long).  Is "Mr. Moonlight" a joke?  I've been listening for 30 years, and I still can't tell, which is at least partially what makes it so interesting.

Best song?  "I'll Follow the Sun."  Second best?  "No Reply."
879017
The transcriptions are fine, but most of all: this book is brilliantly well written, a delicious reading, and it's clear and deep analysis of Paul's bass lines (along with a lot of background information about recordings, instruments etc) will open your ears for one of the most important features in the never-ending beauty of The Beatles' music. Great job!
545459
Through descriptions only, the author traces the events that led to Lennon and McCartny's first meeting. The descriptions are amamzing. You get a very clear picture of the day. Also the book gives insight into the personalities of John and Paul. He also uses words from the time and place to set the mood. This book was amazing. He really did his research, and it shows. This is worth reading for any Beatles fan.
2471177
Exactly one month ago, I couldn't name all four Beatles. I was born a bit more than fifteen years after they split up, and I certianly wasn't around when John Lennon kicked the bucket. My belated Christmas gift was Beatles 1, and the first time I played it, I fell madly in love with their music.
This book was my early birthday gift. As everyone knows, the pictures are great. Wonderful color and quality. (I wish they had had captions, though. It took me a while to figure out who was who.) You can spend hours just flipping through the pages, looking at the pictures.
The words aren't to be shrugged off. They're small, and packed with infromation. It's great reading because it doesn't assume you know things, but it doesn't stop and explain too much either. It was also intresting to get one event in four or five different perspectives. The best thing about the text is that it isn't like really like reading at all. It's much more like listening to people talk.
My overall rating of this book, this anthology, is excellent. I'd give it a 6 if I could. Whether you've been a Beatles fan for a decade or a day, this will help you get to know the men behind the music. Buy it. It's priceless.
186991
This latest installment of Bruce Spizer's books on the Beatles American Records is another "must-have" for fans and collectors of Beatles records. Informative, entertaining and full of wonderful color pictures is how I can best describe his latest work. This edition contains a wealth of information on so many different label releases. You need this book to document the many official and "unofficial" labels. I went through the book in less than a month. Highly recommended!
3314274
As a die-hard Beatles fan (I have only Beatles albums on my iPod), I already knew the stories behind many of my favorite tunes. And yet Steve Turner managed to unearth new material and he presented it in an organized album-by-album format. Interviews with principle players are sprinkled throughout the text and I have no doubt the stories are accurate and well-researched. I learned plenty from this book and found it a most enjoyable text about the Beatles song book. The Beatles recorded 208 songs; they're all here.