Customer Reviews

Behind Sad Eyes: The Life of George Harrison

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(20)

 

 

This is one of the worst Beatle books I've ever read.
The inaccuracies are shameless.
The writing is poor and spotted with grammatical errors.
The vision is superficial and doesn't ad one bit to the Beatles story.
It is incredible that there is not one good biography of George Harrison.
Unfortunately I bought this without waiting for the Beatlefan review of the book. I could have saved the money.
If you are a Hard Beatle fan looking for something new and fresh, I recommend buying Beatles Gear here...

This is a mindlessly bad book, I'm only giving it a generous 2 stars because of the chapters on George's solo career. Amazingly, George has yet to attract a quality biographer or someone who will put in diligent research to capture his essence and character. Shapiro conducted one (you read it correctly) interview and has no understanding whatsoever of the Beatles or their incomparable history together. The errors are contiunous throughout, some of the minor, some of the them not, but their collective weight dooms this travesty.

Everything in the book up until 1970 is merely re-hashed from previous, superior, Harrison biographies. There's nothing new, no novel analysis, nothing. The same trite stories we've heard since 1963 are repeated, with the mistakes intact. Shapiro does improve somewhat after the Beatles demise and George's solo career is not glossed over. Still, there is an absence of any depth throughout. What did George think of Lennon's assassination, how did that tragic event unfold in George's mind? You'll get no answers here, except to say George was paranoid about his security after 1980. What about George's relationship with Clapton after Eric married Harrison's ex-wife, Pattie? Again, nothing.

George Harrison was one-fourth of the greatest musical group in the history of man. That alone makes him a compelling subject, but you'd never know it from reading this dismal book.

I wrote a review of this book a few weeks ago and it was never posted. I guess I was so harsh the censor trashed it. That in itself should indicate clearly how little I think of this book.

I'd give "Behind Sad Eyes" a negative 4 rating if it were allowed.

Beyond the odd title--everyone I've mentioned it too assumed it was a book about Pete Townshend--the book is just slapped together. It is filled with factual inaccuracies, it is poorly written and, frankly, it is boring.

'Nuff said.

Where do I start... This book may be entertaining to someone with no more than a 2nd grade grasp of grammar and spelling or someone who knows nothing of the beatles and thier respective careers, but for people who dont fall into those categories, this biography is ridiculous! spelling errors aside, that is the copywriter's responsibility, but grammatical errors? come on man!!

1. His use of the word literal bugged the hell out of me, apperently George had a meeting with "a literal army of lawyers" hmmmm and he "literaly got his arm caught in a cookie jar" right.

2. Mr. Shapiro used the name "Primal Scream" for Lennon's debut "Plastic Ono Band" on more than 1 occasion.....c'mon man.

DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK FOR THE LOVE OF GOD

First of all, who says George had "sad eyes"? I received this book as a gift from my Mom, who knows I love the Beatles, but knows next to nothing about the Beatles themselves. Still, she probably knows more than the author of this awful book, which was obviously written for no other reason than to exploit. Save your money. You can learn more about George Harrison by simply listening to his music and reading his lyrics.

The writer tells us "Norwegian Wood" is on Revolver. A great deal is made of Harrison's off and on drug use and infidelities, most of which comes from Giuliano's biography, Dark Horse. Introducing the writing of I Me Mine, Shapiro briefly touches on other biolgraphies that sickened George with their sensationalist attention to scandalous topics but this book is no better than any with its rush to be published since Harrison's passing. So many factual inaccuracies along the way make a Beatles fan reader wonder whether any knowledgeable editor even proofed the copy in its dash to the bookstores. Harrison's profound spirituality is tossed off with many mentions of Krishna but not a single exploration of his religious beliefs. Likewise, and embarrassingly so, there are no musical critical comments other than passing references to record releases and a large (but error filled) discography appendix. Only news here is that Delaney Bramlett told Shapiro that he wrote "My Sweet Lord" and that Harrison never gave him co-writer's credit, at the least.

Why is it that George Harrison has attracted such awful biographies? Marc Shapiro's attempt had me thinking, which is worse, his book or the book written by Elliot J.Huntley (Behind That Locked Door). After much rumination on this pointless topic I believe Shapiro's book is worse. Like Huntley, he has not undertaken any research (other than an interview with Delaney, who somewhat modestly appears to take the credit for writing My Sweet Lord and being the object for Patti Harrison's affections). Whereas Huntley is so overawed by his subject that he rates any of George's contemporaries as being "B list" musicians (see his description of the Concert For Bangladesh), Shapiro does not disguise his contempt for George and at many junctures criticizes George's work and says stupid things such as George work, unlike John's, was inconsistent. The book has nothing new to say, no incisive or imaginative criticism/review of George's work and is, if truth be told, merely a cash in on George's death.

This book has lots of grammar and spelling errors. I repeatedly wondered if the author had an editor to check the errors. And some facts are wrong. For example, I think he says "Rubber Soul" was released in 1966, or "Norwegian Wood" was on "Revolver," or something like that. The only good parts are the chapters on his solo career. And the discography.

Thank heavens I checked this book out of our library before I wasted my money. I probably could have written a better book about George Harrison. Even though the author admitted that no interviews were conducted by any remaining Beatles, it is my belief that if you write a biography about someone, you'd better darn well check your "facts" (and I use the word losely) before committing it to print, or just save it for the gossip rags! Example: Shapiro's account of George finding out about John Lennon's death; I got the feeling Shapiro wanted to make this sad incident more dramatic or mystical or something. Every other account I've ever read has said that George's wife Olivia received a phone call and had to break the news to George. Shapiro's account states that Harrison had a strange foreboding or some other such nonsense. Another example of "poetic license" was Shapiro's recounting of George and Olivia's meeting: Shapiro says that George is so paranoid about people's intentions that he has Olivia "checked out," in other words, INVESTIGATED. This is nonsense. Having spoken on the phone with Olivia, he was having her checked out (what does she look like?) by a friend, much like a smitten teenager. Olivia Harrison herself has retold their meeting in an interview, saying, "He was flirting!"
Besides the factual errors, I found editing errors, which is pretty awful for a legitimately published book: as I was reading I double-checked to see if this was a "vanity press" book! Yiiikes!
All of this aside, it is obvious that Shapiro really didn't have a feeling at all for George Harrison's personality, only the preconceived NOTION of it. By all other accounts, Harrison was a witty, multi-faceted man who packed a whole lot of living into his short life. If he was as dour and one-dimensional as Shapiro portrays him, there is no way he would have made as many friends from all over the world as he did, let alone be as loved by his them as he was. Shapiro should have interviewed them instead of concocting such a tale.

FULL OF GRAMMAR ERRORS & WRONG HISTORY DATES. THE BOOK CO. & AUTHOR SHOULD BE IN DISGRACE!!!