Customer Reviews

Beatles Deeper Undercover

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Kris Englehardt's new book, Beatles Deeper Undercover, gives Beatle fans a fascinating look into the unfettered musical lives of these four gifted musicians and songwriters.

Englehardt's passion for The Beatles flies off the pages as he delves into each studio session, live performance and songwriting collaboration. His investigative journalism is concise and his breadth of knowledge concerning the history of British and American Pop, Rock, Blues and Jazz is outstanding.

After reading this book I am amazed as to how these four musicians from Liverpool, who literally changed the world, found the time to jam and collaborate with such a diverse cast of singers, musicians and songwriters.

Thanks Kris - for another great book.

A brilliant job, a massive undertaking. There are so few books regarding the Beatles that literally start on the 7th floor, bypassing the mandatory lobby summations of Hamburg, Martin's Goon Show experiences, Epstein's sexuality, Shea, etc... Kristofer once again packs an insane amount of detail in for the reader while managing to keep all this uncharted territory fascinating for the novice and connoisseur alike.


Books like this are the future of Rock writing. The 400 page biography adds so little in 2010 that it's the specific, the "niche" collections that further thought, discussion -- and ultimately -- history. I recommend this book to anyone who's hip enough to realize that the Beatles didn't "end" with the finale of 'Abbey Road.'

I have just finished reading Kristofer Engelhardt's new book. I loved it. Not only is it interesting but it is a great reference book.It's a bit more compact, easy to follow and Kris has still managed to include a good collection of photos.I can recommend this book for the novice & serious Beatles collector alike. I often wondered what John, Paul, George & Ringo did in their spare time. It's all here!

No matter how thorough you knowledge of The Beatles and their recorded music may be, you are sure to find many gems and pearls of previously unknown information generously scattered throughout the pages of this newly updated and remarkably well researched work. At the same time, the text is fun and enjoyable to read, since many of the musicians interviewed here share their personal memories of what it was like to work professionally with one or more of The Beatles. If John, Paul, George or Ringo played a musical instrument, sang, composed, arranged or produced for the benefit of another artist you will find the information at your fingertips within this volume. Each performer is represented alphabetically by a brief chapter so you pick up the book, literally open it anywhere and begin learning more about the subject. For everyone from the most dedicated scholar and collector to the more casual Beatles fan and reader, "Beatles Deeper Undercover" is indispensable.

The book is very interesting but it isn't what you may think. The author did a fantastic job of chronicling the guest work of the Beatles on many things. But I think that the book has a lot of entries that are reaching and prove to be annoying and filling the book with unecessary detail that muddy it up.
A lot of the book uses Ringo's All Star Band to create entries that I don't think fit in. Ringo has had many members of this band over the years but I don't think that they count in this list per se. So if there is a bootleg somewhere of, let's say, the bands appearance in Chicago, he will list them as an appearance for each member. So if you do the math, this fills up a lot of the book. I would rather keep it to only appearances he made on their official recordings, if any. I also would leave out the appearances on award shows and the RRHOF. There are also a lot of listings of "unauthorized releases" (ie bootlegs) which are very interesting. The illustrations are mainly pictures od the author with the various artists covered in the book, and some letters too. Although cool I think it is more him showing off and it adds to the books annoyance factor after a while. If it were me I would leave out the pictures and edit out all of the inecessary details from the All-Star band.

So few books about the Beatles are "automatic" adds to the essential shelf of your Beatles library, but "Deeper Undercover" quite rightly earns this distinction.

Here, Kris Engelhardt updates his definitive take about the fabs' work outside the group and their collective solo catalogs (1998's "Beatles Undercover"), and in doing so, uncovers recordings even the most seasoned Beatle enthusiast / collector / scholar will find "new" (just check out the section on the group "Ivory"). His exhaustive work and meticulous research will no doubt add to many fans / collectors enjoyment as they, too, discover the many gems in this arena - from the common (with Denny Laine, Billy Preston, etc) to the obscure (how about Ringo providing the voice of Jesus for a Kinky Friedman record ?).

Debuting the book at the recent Fest for Beatles Fans in NJ, examples of such recordings evidenced just the tip of the iceberg in this arena, up to and including Paul & Ringo's work on Klaus Voormann's new album. On this and so many others, the Beatle (or BeatleS) make the recordings their very own.

And don't be jaded into thinking this is some kind of checklist on steroids; the accompanying stories of how the recordings came about provide a fascinating insight to the individual Beatles' working relationships and dynamics, making for very enjoyable & easily digestible reading.

This one deserves a home next to Lewisohn, Spizer, and other great references on your Beatle bookshelf.

This book is addictive, at least to folks like me addicted to the music these four guys produced. As for fans who have not yet heard--or heard of--the McCartney composition, "Runaway," or both versions of the first recording to feature Lennon lyrics ("I've Just Fallen for Someone"), this book will prove invaluable. Get it. Read it. The detail is impressive, and better yet, it's fun to read.

My eight-year old daughter won't stop listening to the "Help" album I bought at Starbucks a month ago (sorry Amazon, it was a pure impulse buy), and not only that, she's learning all the words while singing along, right on key. What does that tell you? The Beatles are forever - even children love them, kids for whom the 60's are a half century in the dim past. While we watch, the Beatles are making deep links into the hearts of the next generation, entering that charmed circle of what we used to call 'classical music' - music that people love, and will keep alive into the far distant future.

So it's important that the Beatles' history for that far distant future is being written right now. Kris Englehardt's BEATLES DEEPER UNDERCOVER is a unique addition to that work, looking deeply into an astonishing range of musical activity by the four Beatles which isn't available elsewhere - documenting music the Beatles played and performed on other peoples' records, usually working anonymously or under false names to avoid contract problems. Because of that, the information here is very hard to get, sometimes available only via fading memories, obscure clues, or tell-tale vocal and instrumental signatures on the tracks themselves, revealing the unexpectedly wide range of Beatle contributions to other musician's tracks.

Kris's book is unusual because, to an astonishing degree, it's A) utterly accurate and B) written with all the love and care of a devoted Beatles fanatic of many years - with far more care lavished on it than most professional writers could afford. Okay, there are some rough edges - Kris puts himself in a *lot* of photos (Hi Mom) and hey Kris, why no index or table of contents? But none of that really matters - the stuff here is what counts, and it's really solid.

And this new second edition is rewarding in surprising ways: along with dates and specifics in the alphabetical catalog of artists and groups the Beatles recorded with, Kris fills out his text with accurate thumbnail descriptions of critical events in Beatle history, plus some history of the artists they worked with. So there's a lot more here than just the Beatles - it's a birds' eye view of an entire, worldwide network of musicians active in the 60's and later, reaching out in so many directions.

Did you know that Steve Miller's godfather was none other than guitar legend Les Paul? And that he taught Steve some pointers when the kid was young? Me neither. And did you know that on the night when Paul McCartney says the Beatles really broke up (on 05/09/69), Paul spent the rest of the night at the Olympic studios jamming with Steve Miller, where they laid down the track "My Dark Hour"... ?

Me neither - and from now on I'll hear that track in a very different way.

Or that McCartney was aware that Michael Jackson was interested in buying the Beatles publishing catalog (owned by Northern Songs Publishing, which had slipped away due to mismanagement by Brian Epstein and Allen Klein)? Paul himself could have purchased the catalog for $20 million, but he was understandably irritated at having to buy back the songs which he wrote for what seemed like a huge amount, so instead he followed Yoko's advice to wait until the price came down.

It never did, and it never will - Michael Jackson's sale of his publishing holdings to Sony brought him a hundred million in cash, while his remaining ownership is worth many times that. And his friendship with Paul broke over the use of Beatle songs in commercials, an unimaginable fate for music which, when it came out, expressed the essence of a new, idealistic generation throwing off materialism, war, alienation and so many other attributes of mainstream society, venturing into new spiritual and musical territory which is still astonishing to hear and experience.

My daughter's deep response and reading Kris' book got me listening to the Beatles all over again, buying remastered versions in stereo (and I predict the complete mono box will appear at the kid's next birthday). It hits you in a new way every time - this time I was struck by the assurance and mastery of their songwriting in early mid-career, the string of effortless masterpieces in Help! including "The Night Before," "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away," "I Need You," "Ticket to Ride," "It's Only Love," and the immortal "Yesterday."

It's wonderful music, that's the important part, softening the heart, making you dance and stirring emotions in ways we might never have experienced otherwise. To honor all that we're lucky to have Kris and his work, taking us a few steps further toward understanding and marveling at what happened, how they did it, and who they really were. They were great musicians first and foremost, and this book goes a long way toward filling out that picture with a panorama of their friendships, accomplishments and spontaneous musicality.

For all lovers of Beatles music, this book adds something you won't find anywhere else. Five stars, a gift for all Beatle fans, present and future.

Kris Englehardt takes the ultimate Beatles Reference Guide, Beatles Undercover, and adds additional updates and enhancements. What is clearly the definitive Reference book for The Beatles, just became better.
A must for the serious Beatles Fan. Bravo!

in this long awaited follow-up to his earlier book (beatles undercover, 1998) author engelhardt does not disappoint. he has created an essential reference work for fans of the fab four who wish to know the who, what, where, wnd why of how john paul george and ringo spent their musical freetime when not tending to their own solo careers. no artist was too big (elton john, rolling stones, cat stevens) or too small (people you've NEVER even heard of) for the former fabs to share their musical largess.impeccably researched and extremely well written, this book will give hours of reading pleasure to the most casual fan, whether as a atraight read, or as an open-to any-page-and-be-surprised type read. it is highly recommended. an essential addition to understanding the beatles story.