Customer Reviews

The Beatles

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Thank heaven for Beatle scholarship that this book was written. Competent journalist Hunter Davies spent a year observing the Beatles and interviewing them in their own homes during the heady, fascinating year of 1967. He emerged with a time piece: the Beatles as they were at that time, reflecting on what came before and unaware of what was yet to come. A chapter describing the writing and recording of "With a Little Help From My Friends," "Getting Better," and "Magical Mystery Tour" offers unique and especially valuable glimpses of the Beatles at work. Chapters depicting the home life and personal outlook of each Beatle are also very interesting. I must also say that for an authorised biography, this is remarkably honest. Perceptive readers will be able to detect the whole truth here, and a fine introduction written by the author years later helps fill in any gaps. Apart from being hugely entertaining, this book is a tremendous boon to historians interested in the Beatles.

This is a fabulous evocation of the fab four's rise to greatness, written with just the right amount of reverence and objectivity. Davies manages to ellicit some great anecdotes from people who were closest to The Beatles. Mimi, Paul's dad, the Harrisons, close friends, Fred Lennon (John's dad), Pete Best; they all get to have their say. The book is especially strong during the Hamburg years (loosely 59-62). Davies captures the growth in their popularity, attracting interesting characters along the way, yet having no fan base outside Liverpool and Hamburg. He demonstrates so vividly the growing desperation of the boys to make it big. Once the rollercoaster took off then the book is on trickier ground. Davies clearly wants to divulge stuff which The Beatles were not keen on him revealing (Davies was writing the book during 1967/early 68). For instance, Lennon was heavily into drugs at this time and Hunter Davies refers to John as being in a daze. Yes, you have to read between the lines! One of the strengths of this book is its matter-of-fact delivery. Although Davies is clearly a fan he still keeps his feet on the ground. The death of Brian Epstein is well-handled. Remember, this was written before all the Klein, Apple, Ono nonsense hit the fan. Yet Davies manages to convey a growing sense of isolation amongst the group. His pen-portraits of each member is uncannily (eerily) accurate, bearing in mind the general public thought The Beatles were a rock-solid national institution. The book is a cracker and loses a star of its rating only because of a rather mysterious lack of detail around Rubber Soul and Revolver. The rest is gear!

I finished reading this book recently and I have to say it is an excellent book. When Hunter Davies first interviewed the Beatles for this book from 1967-1968, it was before all the bickering and fighting started and before Yoko came into the picture. Davies takes an inside look in thier home and family life, the songwriting process, and recording sessions. It also gives a pretty good background on their childhoods and how they all met. Not to mention a lot of great pictures, including some I never seen before. The only reason I didn't give it five stars was because it is not a totally definative bio. Lots of things were left out because it upset thier family members. For example, it is not mentioned that Brian Epstein was homosexual because it upset his mother at the time. And some things were left out of John's childhood because it upset his aunt Mimi. Other than that, I reccomend that you read this book. It is smart and thouroughly researched. A must have for all Beatles fans!

As a fan of nearly 30 years, this was one of the first Beatles books I ever bought, and it remains a worthwhile buy for today's new fans. It may not be as detailed or as enlightening as the Mark Lewishon-type of books, but it benefits greatly from being written in the sixties - and having a firsthand access to the band. Hunter Davies includes many stories and insights that would simply not be available to today's writers - because they weren't there. The chapter that describes them writing 'With A Little Help From My Friends', for example, is as amusing as it is amazing. And I very much enjoyed the prologue, where Davies explains the difficulties he had with Queenie Epstein and Aunt Mimi. And his meeting with Pete Best in the mid-sixties is as poignant a scene as you will ever get in a Beatles book. It is stories like those that make the book worth buying.

I was too young to remember much of the Beatles in their heyday, and although I was familiar with a lot of their songs, I did not know a lot about them as individuals. Two things happened towards the end of last year to arouse my interest. The first was the death of George Harrison, with all the media interest it generated. The second was when I asked my niece Imogen (then aged seven) what she wanted for Christmas. "A Beatles CD" came the reply. And this from a little girl whose parents are too young to remember much of the sixties. So much for those who say that the Beatles are only relevant to ageing ex-hippies, not to modern youngsters.

I decided to look for a book which gave the full story of the group. this was surprisingly difficult to find in the shops, but I eventually came across Hunter Davies's book on Amazon. This was just what I was looking for. Most biographies of popstars and showbiz celebrities are very lightweight affairs, but Davies's book is solid and workmanlike and full of useful information, despite having first been published in 1968 at the height of the Beatles boom.

The sections about the Beatles' early years are excellent. My only criticism is that their later years are not covered in such detail, although there are possibly reasons for this. When the book was first published, Davies may well have thought that the events of 1966-68 (when the Beatles did much of their best work) were too well-known to be retold in great detail. The book also includes a postscript dating from 1985; I would have liked this to have been more detailed, but perhaps the author, who knew the Beatles personally, felt that it was not appropriate to go into detail about the events surrounding the group's break-up in 1969-70. He may also have felt that the details of their post-1970 careers were beyond the scope of his book.

All in all, I felt that this was an excellent book which I could recommend to anyone looking like me for an introduction to the Beatles' lives and work.

I own the 1996 version of this book. It's fun to read--not because you will discover anything new about The Beatles.This book is a time capsule of the type of book you'd read in the 60s that wasn't written to embarrass it's subjects. It's how The Beatles wanted their fans to view their lives--as "normal" working guys with wives and kids! The Beatles were music visionaries but they did not foresee the future of tabloid publishing where all-things-Beatle would be exposed by anyone who came in contact with them because it is a cash cow. Mr. Davis updated the orginial book with his later experiences with the Beatles up to 1985 in my version.Those updates start to reflect the current "tell all" bios. The most famous story in the updates, is a recounting of Paul calling Mr. Davis in 1981 and ranting about things Yoko said about him (Paul) after John's death -- exposing Paul's insecurities and (I thought) his obvious grief over John's death. It is hard to believe after all The Beatles have accomplished that anyone of them could be insecure but that is one of the themes of this book. They are after all, human and Mr. Davies succeeds in showing that side of them.

This is a great book. It is good to read one that was written by someone who actually knew the Beatles. I get sick of authors who think they know everything about the Beatles writing books about them. Hunter Davies truly knows the fab four as people, and his book is great from cover to cover. Cheers to Davies!

This is an essential document for Beatles scholarship. At the time it was simply a pop bio by a competent writer, but it depicts the Beatles at a fascinating juncture in their career. It is particularly notable for its accounts of songwriting and recording sessions, for a glimpse of their home lives, and for their opinions about life in general at the time. Since this is an authorized biography, critics may complain that it is whitewashed - but one can read between the lines and gather the full meaning of everything pretty well. All in all, it is remarkably honest. This updated edition features a sterling introduction by the author about the writing of the book and offers further insight into the personalities of the Beatles.

This book is a fun read! Full of wonderful photos (including plenty of young pre-fab Four and Hamburg days) AND even a few letters (hand-written notes to the author from John, Paul's teenage-years letters hyping up their band, etc)

What really sets it apart from other Beatles books is the author having an amazing opportunity to talk to his subjects back then and there (and their parents! and Astrid!) Before the "ugly divorce" breakup, before John was ret-conning his life every-other interview, before "everyone knows my history better than I do" set in on Paul's memory, before George got extra bitter & "didn't wanna be a star, wanted just to play guitar" set...

_ahem_ where was I, oh yes, this book! Its full of interesting notes about their childhoods, some rather silly fly-on-the-wall descriptions of how certain songs were written and came to be, a great new chapter written in 1985 looking back and another in 2002 on how the Fab Four fandom just keeps getting bigger and bigger. Plus a few notes on why the biographies aren't as complete as current ones. Everyone involved back in the day wanted certain negative bits removed (John's auntie Mimi was SICK with worry over John's childhood memories coming off too wicked or bad. Of course she had her say in some edits too)

Bonus points for having plenty of Ringo chapters. Somehow, most Beatles books focus 75% on John/Paul with 20% of George and barely 3 sentences of Ringo. Not Mr Davies, oh no! Ringo gets equal billing of childhood stories, home tour and the like

about The Beatles, this is one. Excellent and balanced. Another is "Shout! The Beatles in Their Generation". Both -- note -- were written by journalists who actually knew The Beatles over years, and were appreciated because they weren't sensationalizers or backstabbers.

Those two stand head and shoulders above the trashy "The Love You Make," the author of which Lennon said only came in at the tail end, took three-martini lunches, and was one of those angered by the break-up because it ended the "gravy train".

Those sorts of realities about books about The Beatles are essential for those who don't realize the relative qualities of the books and authors of them, and as result fall for the Browns, Goldmans, and Guilianos. Do a little additional research and determine, for example, how many authors of books about The Beatles claim to have been "insiders" but in fact could not have been. (How many "fifth Beatles" were there? One would guess "One," right? It must be hundreds by now, most of whom never even met The Beatles, let alone got their autographs.)

This is one of the few essentials. Read it and rely on it as a measure against all the others.