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New Beatles books
13 October 2018
3.48pm
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Tony Japanese
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I forgot to thank you for the above @Ahhh Girl sorry.

I’ve read a few more reviews and it appears the book’s target audience is the casual or newer Lennon fan. Perhaps it’s one to wait for until it comes out in paperback.

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Ahhh Girl
15 October 2018
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Leppo
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Google Play store (UK) are offering £3 off any ebook over £3 at the moment.

EDIT: Which makes Joe’s book 9p and I guess he still gets his royalty. ahdn_john_08_gif

Pivotal Moments in Beatles History No.118:  Yoko helps herself to one of George's digestives. 

21 October 2018
12.50am
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Timothy
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So I was in Dymocks and saw a new book, Being John Lennon . Bought it and started reading. I was so excited to see this. 

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RobGeurtsen

1.The Beatles 2.Sgt. Pepper 3.Abbey Road 4.Magical Mystery Tour 5.Rubber Soul 6.Revolver 7.Help! 8.Let It Be
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13 November 2018
5.43pm
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Ron Nasty
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Two new books…

Published recently is Bob Smeaton‘s autobiography, From Benwell Boy to 46th Beatle…And Beyond. Smeaton was the series director for Anthology, for which he was awarded a Grammy, accepting it at Madison Square Garden in front of an audience of 15.000, he mused, “It’s a long way from Newcastle in the North of England to New York. I would like to thank John, Paul, George and Ringo.”

Published today is The Roof: The Final Concert by Ken Mansfield. Mansfield is the former Capitol employee (first working with them during their August 1965 US tour) who they poached to become the manager of Apple Records US division and their personal liaison between England and America.

He can be seen in the white jacket between the guy sitting on the wall and George…

Ken-Mansfield-white-jacket-left-of-George.jpgImage Enlarger

There were only a few of us who witnessed the concert on the roof up-close that day, each leaving that place with deep, life-long impressions that no biographer or researcher can understand or portray in distant words. My intent is for you to experience the depth of those feelings through my eyes.

Another book using forty-plus minutes on a London roof as the central scene to look at the last days of a band whose Legend has lasted “more than a lunchtime”…

Not that I’m criticising, just noting this is the third “rooftop” book in about as many years.

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The Beatles Bible 2020 non-Canon Poll Part One: 1958-1963 and Part Two: 1964-August 1966

14 November 2018
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Leppo
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Not specifically a Beatles book but Billy Bragg has written a book on the history of skiffle “Roots, Radicals and Rockers: How Skiffle Changed the World”. I’d never understood the appeal of skiffle and how it would have caught the attention of kids like John and Paul untill I heard Billy Bragg’s excellent discussion on it in a Word podcast.  Well worth a listen http://wordpodcast.co.uk/2018/…..tish-rock/

 

There’s also a really interesting discussion about Kenneth Womack’s books on George Martin http://wordpodcast.co.uk/2018/…..ge-martin/

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Pivotal Moments in Beatles History No.118:  Yoko helps herself to one of George's digestives. 

17 November 2018
2.33am
RichardE79
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Hi

I am an author and genealogist. I have this week published ‘Inside the Beatles Family Tree’, the result of over a decade of research into the genealogy and family trees of the Fab Four, with additional input from cousins and other relations, some of whom gave permission to use never before seen family photographs and documents.

https://www.richedmunds.co.uk/…..amily-tree

 

 

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3 February 2019
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Ahhh Girl
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THE DAKOTA WINTERS
By Tom Barbash

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/0…..nters.html

“A Novel Set at the Dakota Imagines John Lennon as a Neighbor”

If anyone reads it, give us a review.

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14 February 2019
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Timothy said
So I was in Dymocks and saw a new book, Being John Lennon . Bought it and started reading. I was so excited to see this. 

  

I saw this book in Dymocks the other day. I didn’t buy it but I am interested how this book is any different to other Lennon books. 

What did you think of it? 

And in the end the lunch you take is equal to the lunch you bake.

12 April 2019
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I am soon going to buy my first Beatle’s related book, does anyone have any good recommendations for newer Beatles books I should get? I was thinking at first of getting The Beatles: The Biography by Bob Spitz, but I heard that some of the information in the book is not true.
 
 
 

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50yearslate
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13 April 2019
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If you haven’t read The Beatles Anthology, I’d definitely recommend that one. It’s a gargantuan book written by the Beatles and it’s got tons of great stories and pictures. It’s my favorite Beatles book by far.

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13 April 2019
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50yearslate said
If you haven’t read The Beatles Anthology, I’d definitely recommend that one. It’s a gargantuan book written by the Beatles and it’s got tons of great stories and pictures. It’s my favorite Beatles book by far.

  

I still haven’t finished it. Been reading it for years…off and on.

"If you're ever in the shit, grab my tit.” —Paul McCartney 

14 April 2019
9.13am
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50yearslate
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^it’s certainly long but it’s SO WORTH IT.

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14 April 2019
11.28am
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Ron Nasty
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I wouldn’t recommend Anthology as a first biography though, if that’s what’s being sought.

It’s a great book if you know the story well, but it’s the story told mainly by extensive quotes from quite a small cast, with little bits of narrative to join them together.

All Beatles biographies are flawed to a greater or lesser degree (excluding ML from that judgement as we’re yet to see 2/3’s of his).

The Bob Spitz has it’s faults, but so long as bits are taken with a pinch of salt.

The Hunter Davis Authorised is always worth a read, less compromised than many think, memories relatively fresh (Hamburg was only five years behind them). Some great reportage on watching them write songs and record songs during Pepper, always perceptive postscripts, whatever edition.

And for all the flaws and bias, and with the caveat already given, Philip Norman’s Shout! did set the bar for a reason.

You just have to remember there are flaws in all, including Anthology.

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The Beatles Bible 2020 non-Canon Poll Part One: 1958-1963 and Part Two: 1964-August 1966

14 April 2019
11.30am
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vonbontee
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Ooh, I’d like to get that one someday myself someday! I’d never seen an actual copy all these years until just after Xmastime, when I visited my sister’s friend and next door neighbour Debbie, the 70ish Beatle fanatic, who owns like 8000 items of memorabilia (and a coupla autographs!). Only after I’d thumbing through her actual copy did I realize just how huge and dense that thing is. (Must be a huge pain to read the damn thing; coffee-table books are awkward.)

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14 April 2019
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The Hunter Davies book is pretty good. It was written in 1967, so there’s the interesting perspective of what feels like the calm before the storm that was the death of Brian, the arrival of Yoko and Linda, Apple and the eventual breakup. However, although it has been updated since then, it loses the advantage of how it personal it is after that. 

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21 July 2019
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Leppo
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This looks interesting out of the fairly recent releases: And In The End -The Last Days of The Beatles: Ken McNab

https://louderthanwar.com/and-…..ok-review/

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Pivotal Moments in Beatles History No.118:  Yoko helps herself to one of George's digestives. 

1 August 2019
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Tony Japanese
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^ The above does look interesting actually. I’ve an idea to create a thread where we discuss the definitive books about the Beatles (i.e. best band biography, best Lennon biog, best music criticism etc)

16 August 2019
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Ron Nasty
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Looks like Paul is getting a major multi-volume solo career biography/overview beginning in Autumn 2021:

PRESS RELEASE – MCCARTNEY LEGACY BY KOZINN & SINCLAIR
31 JULY 2019

VP, Editorial Director of Dey Street Books Carrie Thornton has acquired World Rights, in a pre-empt, to the first two volumes of a definitive biography of Paul McCartney . MCCARTNEY LEGACY will be written by Allan Kozinn, a former music critic and culture reporter for The New York Times, and Adrian Sinclair, a renowned British researcher, and documentarian. Kozinn and Sinclair are crafting the first in-depth examination of McCartney’s post-Beatles life and work. Charting McCartney’s split from the Beatles, his blockbuster success with Wings, his 25 solo works, his prismatic collaborations with everyone from Allen Ginsburg to Kanye West, and his forays into classical music, visual art, film, poetry and children’s books. MCCARTNEY LEGACY Volume One: Beyond The Beatles, 1969-73 (working title) will be released on Dey Street Books in the Fall of 2021.

The deal was negotiated by Matthew Elblonk at DeFiore and Company Literary Management.

Already has a website, which is how I stumbled on it.

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17 August 2019
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Yes I saw a post about this from Mark Lewisohn and he rated the authors highly so this is one to look forward to.

Pivotal Moments in Beatles History No.118:  Yoko helps herself to one of George's digestives. 

7 November 2019
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I’ve been reading a new book called The Beatles by Ear by Kevin Moore. It’s sort of a dissection of how they wrote brilliant songs without knowing music theory. He argues that they were able to be so innovative and creative because they weren’t trained musicians, not despite it. He organizes the chapters by chords: “Songs with C in the bass,” “Songs with D in the bass,” etc. I’ve really been enjoying it. Knowledge of music theory isn’t necessary because he pretty much takes the layman’s approach.

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