Customer Reviews

Lennon & Mccartney Together Alone

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John Blaney has written a book loaded with verifiable insights, revelations and little known facts about John Lennon and McCartney. To be honest I thought I was a master of knowledge in reference to McCartney. Blaney blows me way. I had no idea how many side projects and charitable musical ventures that McCartney has engaged in. He descibes the themes and nuances of all of McCartney's lyrics and songs. For example "Off The Ground" is by far Paul McCartney's most political album as he pontificates about universal peace, animal rights, protecting the environment, idyllic love and racial harmony. Blaney also unveils that McCartney is a very spiritual individual. The Firemen CDs and Paul's vegetarianism and classical works are thoroughly discussed. As for John Lennon, this book made me feel like he is still alive. EVery significant post 1980 John Lennon media and musical development or event is discussed in detail. A must have book for people who love John Lennon, Paul McCartney, both of them or only one of them.

Mr. Blaney has previously written two excellent detailed song-by-song discocraphies, one on Lennon "Listen to this book" and one on McCartney "The songs he was singing". This new book "Together Alone" appears to be a slightly revised combination and abridgement of his two earlier titles, with somewhat less discographic detail. It is a cheaper, one-volume version, and as such is a very good buy. For those who already have the 2 earlier books, this new one is largely redundant.

Lennon & McCartney go together like peanut butter and jelly--they are complimentary but with distinct different flavors. John Blaney's critical discography will make fans both happy and mad--while he completely covers the duo's recorded output (to the time this was written after "Chaos and Creation in the Backyard")giving information on the recordings, trivia about the songs and how they charted, he also gives us his opinions some of which Beatles fans will disagree with. On the whole, though, Blaney is on the mark in his assessment of the strengths/weaknesses of their various songs and recordings.

For example, Blaney discusses Lennon's "Mind Games" assessing the final product as the type of bland music that Lennon thought fans and the record company might want. While that might be true of some of the material on "Mind Games" he also points to the stronger recordings/songs as well. Personally, I disagree with some of his critical assessments of the songs on "Mind Games" but he makes strong, valid points for his opinions. As with "Mind Games", Blaney is equally unforgiving of McCartney's "Red Rose Speedway" which he basically suggests is a half finished album lacking cohesion and capable lyrics. Again, his assessment is often on target although one could argue with him about some of the songs on the album. There are a number of opinions here that while informed a Beatles-Lennon/McCartney critical fan would disagree with. The only major flaw with the book is numerous proof reading errors aside from that, Blaney's book is well thought out, argued and intelligently written (even if you do disagree with his opinions).

Blaney has done his research and whether or not you agree to disagree with him he has written an impressive book on the post-Beatles careers both men had. Like Bruce Spizer's books on The Beatles Capitol and Apple recordings, Blaney tries to be as exhaustive and accurate as possible. He also includes bits of trivia that even I wasn't aware of for example that "Jamrag" which is credited to Lennon and Ono was actually a Frank Zappa song called "King Kong" that the two credited to themselves on the "Sometime in New York City" album. While Lennon and Ono appear on the recording itself they had absolutely nothing to do with the song which Zappa had written before their onstage collaboration.

He even discusses McCartney's side projects such as "Thrillington" (and points out that while McCartney attacked arranger Richard Hewson's over-the-top arrangement for "The Long and Winding Road" he collaborated with Hewson to create "Thrillington" commissioning him to write the orchestral arrangements of the songs from "Ram"), The Firemen and Twin Freaks.

The book comes separate discographies for both Lennon and McCartney as well as a list of collaborations that both men did with other artists as songwriters/producers/performers. You may disagree with Blaney's opinion (or not)but he's done a marvelous job of cataloging both Lennon and McCartney's post-Beatles careers and putting them into perspective by discussing the circumstances that helped create the variuos albums they made.

Oh, and I think the cover is kind of cool. I've often felt that Lennon & McCartney were a perfect compliment to each other as songwriters and this is a visual that suggests that as well.

This is a book that all will love, from people just becoming familiar with the Beatles to inveterate fans and Beatle scholars. John Blaney is a gifted writer with a perceptive mind. He has included in his work many little known facts about the world's best song writing duo, John Lennon & Paul McCartney!

In addition to recognizing the talents of these musical juggernauts, Blaney lists Paul McCartney's charitable performances. He analyzes the songs of these brilliant lyricists and Paul McCartney's spiritual side which is reflected in some of his later works. For many years, George Harrison was credited as the Beatle who wrote of spiritual matters; while true, this is not to overlook that accomplishment in Paul McCartney.

This is a book that will be cherished by all Beatle fans and people who are interested in their music.

Okay, so it's a shame that this book doesn't touch on George and Ringo's solo material, but for both die-hards and newcomers alike, this is a great insight into Lennon and McCartney's individual works. First of all, THAT cover. Wow! It may seem like such a trivial thing, and I understand that you should never judge a book by one, but that cover is terrific.

Now, I'm fairly new to a lot of the solo work of John and Paul, and have been using this book as somewhat of a buyer's guide. I even went out and bought Two Virgins after reading about it here. What I also like is that this book is in no way biased. It doesn't pitch one against the other like so many Beatles books do in reference to Lennon and McCartney. The author holds no punches in dismissing what he considers to be Paul's more lightweight work, nor does he shy away from criticizing Lennon's lesser work. If you have read Ian MacDonald's wonderful Revolution In The Head, then you will find much to admire here. This isn't a book necessarily designed to be read from cover to cover, more to be dipped into when in the mood to listen to a particular album. Included is all the requisite information on release dates, personnel, the various formats that the albums/ singles were released on, etc. All in all a fascinating read. Right now, where did I put my McCartney II CD?

The songwriting partnership of Lennon/McCartney is one of the most popular of all time and formed the foundation of the Beatles' sound and evolution: but this focus is on their independent songwriting after they broke up, and offers important assessments of their work both within and outside the Beatles. Collectors will appreciate the facts on release dates, catalogue numbers, composer credits and technical recording information, while Blaney's critical analysis and lively style peppers quotes from the songwriters along with insights. Sidebars of information accompany in-depth analysis of songs and the individual artists. A 'must' for any collection serious about a full representation of the Beatles' works.

This book is a fairly handy reference for those who want to know about the music released by Lennon and McCartney after the Beatles broke up. It's odd, in a way, to combine these two artist's discographies because they are such different sizes. McCartney's solo catalogue easily could occupy its own book. Lennon was essentially retired between 1975 and 1980, and then of course his life was tragically ended. The book covers all the various archival releases and compilations released under the Lennon name, but most of these aren't given much attention (since the songs were already dealt with earlier in the book). So McCartney really dominates this book, and if you aren't particularly a fan of his you might consider skipping it.

I am a fan of both - though with a strong McCartney preference - so I've spent a good amount of time digesting John Blaney's writings. He provides a wealth of information on every individual release - including studio albums, live albums, compilations, singles, and even non-Lennon or McCartney albums that one of them happened to contribute a song to. Release dates, recording personnel, catalog numbers, what formats each release was available in -- all that and more can be found in this book. It would be recommendable on the basis of factual information alone (though errors do crop up throughout, more on that later). Blaney goes beyond - providing background on the recording sessions and even some critical analysis (albeit very light). That is one of the negative points for me - I wanted more critical insight. Blaney too often falls back on the 'critical consensus' for a lot of these releases, dismissing or praising a given record with a sentence or two. I would've liked either deeper analysis or none at all. Blaney could have kept it purely factual if he didn't want to take the time to really examine the quality of each piece of work. I was hoping for something closer to what the late Ian MacDonald did in his superb "Revolution In the Head," which examined the Beatles discography.

As much of an expert as I fancied myself, I learned a LOT of very interesting facts about both Lennon and McCartney's solo work. Blaney covers it all - for the most part - including promo releases and even the most dedicated fans may not be aware of. That said, there were times when careless errors crept in. I don't mean to say they were major errors, but with a book this detailed - and considering how much time and research Blaney obviously invested - it seems like it could have been checked one final time for mistakes. For instance (and I know this will sound like nitpicking) the McCartney b-side "Flying To My Home" is given musician credits that are very different from the credits listed in the liner notes for the 1993 reissue of "Flowers In the Dirt" that includes the song as a bonus track. Who would you believe? I would sooner trust the actual official booklet for the CD before believing an author who doesn't list any other source. Another example: for McCartney's "Ram" album, Blaney credits each track's guitar work to either Dave Spinozza or Hugh McCracken. Yes, both men were hired for the "Ram" sessions but in the case of the opening track "Too Many People" the lead guitar work is handled by McCartney himself. No mention is made of this - even though easily accessible interviews with Spinozza and McCracken confirm that it was in fact McCartney in a one-take overdub. One more example: in the 'Collaborations' section in the index, where Blaney lists every project by another artist where either Lennon or McCartney contributed, he omits McCartney's drumming on a single released by Paul Jones. Why? Either he forgot or didn't know about it - either way it prevents this book from being definitive.

I could list more of these errors, but my examples probably already look like obsessive-fan whining to casual fans. But that's my point: this book clearly wasn't intended only for casual fans - it could've stood as THE information source for all fans, from casual to the most serious. Still worth having if you are a collector of these two artist's work.

First comment: I hate the hideous cover photo of Lennon and McCartney morphed together. Freakish. Fire the art director.

More relevant: this is a thick book, chock full of info, and accounted for an interesting afternoon or two. Part of the problem is that it discussed the relevance of particular lyrics, but doesn't include the songs' full lyrics. So I found that I had to go to Google to get the full stories behind the songs--which was why I bought the book.

The other unfortunate part--which the author can't do anything about--is that I obviously wanted to immediately hear the songs--or snippets of the songs--as I was reading about them, either to refresh my memory or because I hadn't heard them before. So you either need to read this next to your stereo--with a full McCartner & Lennon collection at hand--or while on Amazon (to hear snippets for free). That's not a fault of the book, simply the limitations of the medium.

Bottom line, a book about music is a tricky and not entirely fulfilling proposition. But on the whole it's a useful and interesting book; John Blaney has done a nice job.

One might think the cover is strange; we have the two faces of Lennon & McCartney merged into one. It's an interesting concept. These were the two that made the Beatles juggernaut move. It also highly suggests that they were the perfect songwriting TEAM. Both were better together in the Beatles than they ever were as solo artists. Sure, things change as one gets older, interests go in different directions. Both men became enamored (fell in love) with their future wives; Yoko Ono & Linda Eastman. Becoming family men does create changes in the direction of one's life. With 20/20 hindsight we can see that these two women were the soulmates of each man.

The book itself is full of information of their respective solo careers. It breaks the careers down by decade which means after 1980 we're left with only Sir Paul. Each album is dissected, each song critiqued. It's obvious that the author, John Blaney, is a fan & an informed individual. He has spent some time reviewing his product &, although a fan, he doesn't pull any punches when something is weak or lacking in the two artists repertoire. He breaks down the songs to include the writers, musicians, producers, studio locations, at times the inspiration for the song & about when the song was recorded. He lists chart positions for each album & single for both the U.S. & Great Britain. He even gives the label information, i.e., the color, wording, different variations; this last item even contains limited edition material such as promotional copies.

But, honestly, it gets a bit deep. From first page to last page, it clocks in at 303. it's a large book measuring 8 1/2 by 11 5/8. The book is informative & is useful to collectors. It's just not what I thought it would be: I thought that their might be more direct comparisons between the two artists. I recommend this book but not to the point to call it necessary. In some ways it's like a coffee table book; it's lovely to look at & snack on but don't try to make a meal of it.

John Blaney offers another tome to the over-saturated Beatles-book martket. This one is a critical discography of Lennon and McCartney's extra- and post-Beatles work. As popular and essential as The Beatles are, one wonders just how an author or his/her agent still sells the idea of a Beatles-related book to publishers. The book at hand isn't bad, aside from the editing and factual errors mentioned by other Amazon users. Another slip Blaney made was claiming that Richard Nixon was impeached in early 1974 -- actually he resigned in August of that year before he could be impeached.

Of course Blaney is focusing on the "primary" ex-Beatles, but this book would've been a real contribution to Beatles lit if Blaney had doubled its size and included the works of George Harrison and Ringo Starr. I would argue that focusing on all four members would've made the book a little less "arbitrary". I mean, if you want to present a novel look at two great pop collaborators, why not a coupling that hasn't been as extensively covered, like comparing the solo works of Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel, or Lou Reed and John Cale (I'd buy that!), or even Roger Waters and David Gilmour. As it is, John and Paul are the most frequently dissected duo in popular music.

As for the information Blaney gives us, his critical assessments are pretty much common knowledge ("Plastic Ono Band" and "Band on the Run" are legendary, "Mind Games" and "Red Rose Sppedway" are bland, etc.). His exhaustive descriptions on the details on the spindles of their singles and albums tends to make your eyes glaze over. Would've it have been easier and more interesting to just include photos of the A- and B-sides of those singles? (Granted, that might've called for a larger book, this book wasn't put together on the cheap anyway.)

Overall it's a nice reference guide if you need a deeper analysis of John and Paul's albums than you would get from your average review guide. Personally, I would have preferred either a much larger version giving space to Harrison and Starkey or a compare/contrast on a less celebrated duo.