Read the Beatles: Classic and New Writings on the Beatles, Their Legacy, and Why They Still Matter

Having recently rediscovered The Beatles (as in, I had gone a few years and not listened to their music), it's amazing to me the number of people still writing about them. The fascination is itself, fascinating. This book is yet a different approach from many others: the writings of journalists and "observers" who covered the decade, both up close and from across the ocean, as well as some recent entries. One of the elements of this book that makes it worth reading is the sense that you are not prying this time...not delving into private moments or contributing to the guilty pleasures of fan gossip. This is a true journalistic, sometimes intellectual appraisal of what happened during those ten years in and around The Beatles: a time when the world was morphing from post war aesthetics and ethics into the mind blowing sixties and all that it encompassed for the generations to come. Keep this book on a table and just pick it up from time to time. It's not a straight read, so enjoy it at a leisurely pace while you listen to some Beatles' tunes...it's all good.

I loved it. This is a collection of some of the finest writers of our time, writing about the finest group of our time. It's divided into two parts; 'Together' and 'Apart', with sub headings under each of those. Each piece is either an expose', piece of poetry, newspaper article or magazine article. The first story is appropriatly titled, 'The Afternoon Hours',from the book, 'The Day John Met Paul'. It goes from there, with a varied selection of writings from every concievable type of writer from Gloria Steinem to William Mann. Some of the writings are quite controversial like one piece by a journalist named Paul Johnson called, 'The Menace of Beatlism'. This appeared in a British journal in 1964, and it's very interesting to see how people were divided along the generational lines at that time. This leads me to the famous, William Mann article from 1963, which established the group as serious musicians and song writers when everyone over a certain age was saying they were a gimmick with no talent. Mann who was certainly over 30 was a visionary, ahead of his time. He was also a musicologist who knew what he was talking about, even if John Lennon did think he was talking about "Exotic birds". I loved that article and was glad it was included. Another facinating piece stands out. A Gloria Steinem expose' which appeared in Cosmopolitan in 1964. Most of her piece is about trying to get close enough to John Lennon to interview him during the boys' '64 North American tour. Even though she was given permission to do the interview, she finds it impossible to penetrate the Aspinall, Evans, Taylor shield that was erected around them because of their growing distrust of the media. I don't know what she had been planning to ask John because she never really gets to do a proper interview. Instead we are treated to a revealing look at the Beatles behind the scenes, on tour, complete with groupies and assorted hip friends like Bob Dylan and his manager (this was after the pot party, so Dylan had become a permanent fixture by this time.) Gloria even gets to go to the concert, a charity event at the New York Paramount, where she stands at the front of the stage with three very pretty girls from Philly who were just hanging out with them. You know like friends of the band...hmmm. Their are other groupies around also, and with typical 1964 decorum, Gloria discloses what she sees with the utmost taste, leaving the reader to fill in the spaces of what it NOT said. At one point she reports that Paul had barracaded himself in his bedroom, refusing to come out. This made the groupies from Philly cry. As you can see, I loved this article. I thought it was very revealing, and Ms. Steinem leaves you wanting more. There are other standout articles like the 'looking back' articles, "Ten Great Beatle Moments" from a 2002 news piece, and "They Were the Most Brilliant,Powerful,Lovable Pop Group on the Planet...But Now They're Really Important", from Q Magazine in 1995.

This is an extremely well-put-together anthology of writings about the Beatles, spanning their entire career as a group and then following each in their post-Beatles years. It includes most of the seminal reviews, interviews and articles about the Beatles from beginning to end (such as the Maureen Cleve/Lennon interview, the William Mann London Times reviews legitimizing the Beatles as serious musicians and songwriters, sections from the Playboy interviews with John Lennon and Yoko Ono, excellent writing on the elusive George Harrison and his musical contributions by David Simons, and much more) and essays on why the Beatles still matter. The book is set up in three distinct parts I. Articles written during the Beatles years, in chronological order. II. Articles written about individual Beatles post-Beatles, arranged by individual. III. Articles and essays about the Beatles legacy. I knew quite a bit about the Beatles before reading this book, but I learned much that was new and interesting that has heightened my appreciation of these fine musician/songwriters and their legacy. Five stars, and then some. A+

This book is a delightful Beatles' smorgasbord of their writings; articles about them and a plethora of anecdotes. Although I wish photographs of the Fabs had been included, I still really like this book and heartily recommend it. Five Stars plus and a resounding "yeah, yeah, yeah!"

Although I may be a bit biased (I'm the author of one of the books excerpted here: "Turn Me On, Dead Man: The Beatles And The Paul-is-Dead Hoax"), I thoroughly enjoyed this compendium of Beatles writings, past and present. Some really interesting articles and book excerpts are included in this tome, including many appearing for the first time in decades. My only gripe: no photos. However, for the price of a movie ticket, it's a real bargain. Andru Reeve sez check it out.