Customer Reviews

Beatle!: The Pete Best Story

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Pete Best occupies a place in history worthy of a great Shakespearian character. He was the Beatles' original drummer who was sacked in favor of Ringo Starr at the precise moment the band was offered a recording contract by George Martin of E.M.I. Records. Best and co-author Patrick Doncaster tell the whole early Beatles saga, sparing us few details of the carousing, pranks and debauchery, but also imparting the fun, cameraderie, and musical growth of the Fab Four in those heady Mersyside days. I was expecting a fun read when I bought this book, but never expected the haunting, spooky feeling that remained after I finished the last chapter entitled "Down Among the Ghosts." In this short final chapter, Pete describes his emotions today when he wanders down into his mother's basement, the site of the former Casbah Club, one of the original Beatles venues. Here he lets himself travel back in his mind's eye to the rollicking days when Liverpool's musical explosion was going full tilt; and the bands, the screaming girls, the laughter, and dreams of glory were his everyday reality. In these visits, he conjures up the many departed people and former friends who poured downstairs each night. He sometimes takes a few whacks at his little brother's drum kit which sits by the old coffee bar. Then, he lets the cloud of memory evaporate, and climbs back up the stairs as today's Pete Best, a civil-servant living not far from his old home. Really a unique and amazing read!

The Beatles' drummer of two years, Pete Best speaks from the heart in this book. He recalls the phone call from Paul McCartney that changed his life, the audition with The Beatles that he passed, finding himself in Hamburg 10 days later, working long hours and living in horendous conditions. Pete's love of the band and of band life as a young man is very obvious, and he gives the reader a whole new understanding of the Beatles' genesis, from their first days in Hamburg Germany, to the first Beatles recordings, their initial successes as a band, the easy women, the run-ins with German authorities, the personal jealousies that crept in, the early rumors that Beatles' new manager, Brian Epstein was replacing Pete as drummer, to the dark day when Pete was blindsided by the news of his dismissal. Also covered are Pete's recordings and tours with his own band and beyond. This is probably the best book written about the early Beatles, full of information, great stor! ies about the original "Fab Five", including Beatles original bassist, artist Stuart Sutcliffe, all told from the fascinating point of view of the most popular Beatle in Hamburg and Liverpool in the early 60's, Pete Best.

Wow. I read this book and enjoyed it immensely. It is the most honest account I have read in years.
Pete Best was with the Beatles during the early sixties, when they had yet to hit the big time. They spent several months in Hamburg, just learning their trade. He was with them through the Cavern Club years and the Decca audition. But just when things started to go right for the band, he was sacked.
Why?
We don't know. Pete says that he still doesn't know after all these years.
You may expect the book to be bitter about the Beatles success - but it isn't. You may expect him to bad mouth the band throughout - but he doesn't. He paints them in a remarkably nice light, that comes across as both honest and believable.
He recounts tales about drugs, drink and girls - and describes the personalities of the big bands they met - Tony Sheridan and Gerry and the Pacemakers for example.
And he also gallently talks about the day he was sacked, and the reasons why he thinks they did it.
The prologue at the end that describes his subsequent career shows that we shouldn't be sorry for him at all... What we wouldn't give to be at the heart of that!

Almost everyone knows the story of the beatles from 1964 on.In my opinion, the story of the years that they spent trying (& succeeding) to make it big is more interesting.Lennon himself agreed with this. By the time that Epstein got them, their stage presentation became tame compared to their Hamburg days- when they played 6 hours + a night!This fine book, & others dealing with the same period, will make you wish that Astrid was a filmmaker as well as a photographer so that we could have had films of the Beatles onstage performing their music in a manner that they would never be allowed to after Epstein signed them.

In a sense Pete Best was a winner of another kind.
He made a succesful marriage for one thing and after 1995 a lot of money.
His recording career in the States came to nothing and yet the songs were typical Merseybeat,mostly written by Waddington and Bickerton who would achieve success in the 70s with a string of hits by the Rubettes.
Also overlooked is the fact that he was the only one of the 1962 Beatles who got a Decca recording contract

Highly recomending this book for any Beatles Fans.
Anyone who is interested in the early Beatles History
this is a must read....
I finished reading this book in just under two days.
And like another reviewer I also found myself unable to put it down! It just drawns you in.
I came away with a different prospective on Pete,
really not knowing much about him or his life except that he was the original drummer for the Beatles.
I actually bought this book to be autogrpahed as I was going to see him the following week and lucky the book arrived in time..
A must have!!!!!

This story is a well written account of the early days of the Beatles. It appears to be extremely honest, something that is always suspect when reading about entertainers. The description of the window fronts of the St.Pauli District kept my imagination going wild for many days. The end turns dark but comes back around to describe a truly couragous man. This book is well worth the time!

Just by chance, I picked this book up at a Tower Records, and found myself unable to put it down! Pete Best sounds like a true, honest to goodness gentleman, and I must admit that his firing is by far one of the more seedier, dirtier chapters of Beatle lore. Pete gives excellent insight into these first few years that helped bring rise to Beatlemania. I especially found his story about the George Harrison illness episode to be utterly haillarious! I won't tell anymore about it; read for yourself. The reader is given a very there-as-it-happened feeling. As far as Pete's drumming goes, a Keith Moon he was not, but he did what was required and being a drummer myself, I think the whole thing about not being good enough was a wrong assesment. I was very pleased to read this book and know that Pete has handled himself in his later years very well after the incident involving his being fired from the group. I understand he's now doing the lecture circuit routine. Good for you Pete; you deserve your fair share of acknowledgement; you helped get the Beatles to the level of success they achieved. Highly recommended!

I had the pleasure of seeing Pete Best in concert on 26 September 2008 in Lincoln, Nebraska. He and his band put on an amazing show and he was very friendly and gracious as he signed autographs chatted with us later. A week later I ordered this book because I wanted to know his side of the story. I was not disappointed. He certainly got a rotten deal, but he has remained remarkably sane throughout the years (I think his long marriage to Kathy has had something to do with it). He has achieved the recognition and success he deserves. He's 67 now and he looks like a 60-something-year-old man but you can tell he's taken care of himself over the years. Yes, he whined a bit after he was kicked out of the Beatles but he moved on with his life and he's done very well. Thank you, Pete, for this book. I'm definitely a Pete Best fan!

Call me crazy, but this is one of the most important rock biographies - perhaps THE most important - ever written. All I can say is, 'totally cool!' I couldn't put it down.