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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Frozen in time, it offers a one-of-a-kind perspective,
By Mark Wolf (Farmington, NM United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Beatles: The Authorized Biography (Hardcover)
I read this book with great enthusiasm. Its age gives it a unique and fascinating historical perspective. John and Cynthia were still married, Apple was a brand new venture, the Apple Boutique was still in business, "Magic" Alex was still an "electronics expert," Jane Asher had not yet consigned the early Lennon-McCartney notebooks to the trash, and Brian Epstein was still in the closet. The narrative is obviously sanatized, but it also contains interviews with Aunt Mimi and Fred Lennon and others. At times it reads like a well-researched term paper, but the frozen-in-time point of view gave it a special charm that any fan will enjoy and appreciate.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sanitzed Beatle Biography - Still Life of the Beatles,
By
This review is from: The Beatles: The Authorized Biography (Hardcover)
Although this book captures the Beatles like a still life, it is an excellent starter biography of the World's Best Band. This book takes readers down the Long & Winding Road of each Beatle; readers learn about the Beatles' origins and immediate families.
The photographs are delightful; one smiles at young John Lennon, instantly recognizable. Paul with his younger brother is easy to identify as is Ringo as a very young boy. George, a winsome lad with thick, wavy hair is readily recognizable - a picture of George at his first dance in 1958 shows a well groomed boy with the trademark smile and profusion of wavy hair. Readers are treated to the "maturation" or progression of each Beatle. The book dodges many a sharpened dart; there are no salacious stories or affairs reported in this Beatle biography. It is a cleanly framed portrait of the boys who formed the World's Greatest Band and readers will undoubtedly enjoy this one.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Just a Gem of a Book,
By
This review is from: The Beatles: The Authorized Biography (Hardcover)
The title page identifies the author as "the man who traveled with the Beatles for sixteen months to write their authorized story in 1968, [who now in 1978] brings old and new fans up-to-date with this revised edition of the best-selling biography." And that is precisely how this book reads--like the work of someone who really spent time with the boys, who took the time to know them early in their famous career, and who can quote them and their parents, friends, and wives from unguarded, taped interviews. Thank goodness for Hunter Davies, otherwise much of this youthful innocence might not have been captured.
The book is written in three parts. The first, Liverpool, traces each member of the group from family roots, through their growing up and meeting each other, until Ringo finally joins the Beatles just on the brink of first fame. Davies is to be credited for his adept portrayals of each personality, not just of the "Fab Four" but of those who surrounded them. You get vivid depictions of John's preening absentee father Fred, for example, and his stern but loving Aunt Mimi. Equally, you get a sense of their lower-to-middle-class upbringing, which helps to set the book in context as the lads adjusted--or refused to conform--to the new standards expected of them once fame hit. Just one instance is when Ringo and his wife were seated far apart at a posh dinner, as per the style of the upper class: "I said oh no. Come over here, luv. Very funny people [them]." The second part, London and the World, chronicles the era that was Beatlemania at its peak: #1 hits one after the other, touring and playing to record-breaking crowds and profits, fans who never left them in peace, seeking enlightenment with the Maharishi, and Brian Epstein's untimely death. Readers these days might think that this era was sanitized a bit, as the group's drug use and promiscuous sex and Epstein's being gay are all just mentioned in passing. But I disagree; it was simply not the style in 1968 to promote such details as it is today. They are in there, but not glaringly so. But my absolutely favorite section came at the end, called simply 1968. Keep in mind, this was while they were all still with their first spouses (if you give Paul credit for his long-but-unmarried relationship with Jane Asher) and had just barely started leading independent lifestyles. The author explores in depth what they did for their parents once they could afford to do anything, how they hoped to expand their empire through Apple and making movies, and even how they wrote their timeless music. And a full chapter of character sketch is given to John, Paul, George, and Ringo at this turning point in their lives. It's the quotes that make each come to life. A few examples: (J) "I'm an expert at [not communicating]. I can get up and start doing nothing straight away. I can just sit on the step and look into space and think until it's time to go to bed [never having said a word to anyone, even my wife and child, all day]." (P) "The thing is, we're all really the same person. We're just four parts of the one. We're individuals, but we make up together The Mates, which is one person." (G) "I don't personally enjoy being a Beatle anymore. All that sort of Beatles thing is trivial and unimportant. I'm fed up with all this me-us-I stuff and all the meaningless things we do." (R) "I don't think women like to be equal. They like to be protected and in turn they like looking after men. That's how it is." Davies' update of the book in 1978 is short (just 10 pages) but very interesting. By then, the Beatles had broken up but he can't tell us which one left "first," because they all took a walk at one point or another. As to why they broke up? He fingers Yoko Ono as the main cause. Paul, perhaps unfairly, was blamed in the dust-up over who would oversee their business affairs, Allen Klein or Lee Eastman (Paul's new father-in-law). The other three backed Klein, although "in the end they appear to have agreed with Paul about Klein" as not having their best interests at heart. Paul married Linda, John went avant garde with Yoko, George got more religious, and Ringo kept trying to find his niche (which came later with Barbara Bach). Davies identifies Paul at the one who, up until the end, tried hardest to keep the group together and who had the most success in the initial years after the break-up. But we are now 30+ years past all that, and this book is lovely as a time capsule. Knowing that John and George died tragically, that Paul suffered through Linda's death and his later debacle with Heather Mills, and that Ringo battled addiction--well, this is just a lovely still life, a happy moment in time when all of that was yet to come . . .
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