Customer Reviews

The Lost Lennon Interviews

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Geoffrey Giuliano must be suffering writers' block. Or else he just prefers to not do much heavy-lifting, because once again this so-called, self-appointed "expert" has tossed out another slap-dash collection of common old interviews.

Isn't it nice that a clerk can make such a good living?

The most interesting (and complete) parts of Giuliano's compilation are candid interviews given by John & Yoko during the 1969-1971 era 'bed-ins.' Beyond that, don't bother. The rest of the "lost interviews" are of irrelevant characters that may have, at one time or another, had contact with Lennon at some point in his life.

The most disheartening aspect of Giuliano's work lies in his wholly uneven treatment of Yoko Ono. He speaks warmly with her and Sean in one section, then brands her an egomaniacal, pennypinching witch a few pages later. Utterly shameless.

Geoffrey Giuliano has made a career of writing dubious books about the Beatles. He strikes up a friendship with, say, McCartney's ex-Wings sidekick Denny Laine, and suddenly there's a lot of bitter material for a lurid look at the rich and famous. Geoffrey's books are littered with factual errors, and he's the kind of guy who loves to place himself in the narrative of his books in any way possible. Soon we'll have an account of the time Giuliano bumped into the back of Ringo's automobile and got a chance to talk to his chauffeur. Unfortunately, his books have some exclusive axe-grinding, but it seems a shame to support his particular brand of self-promoting hack job. The interviews in this book weren't actually lost, you understand, it just took this enterprising fellow to cull them all together, with a few new interviews of his own thrown in. If you'd like to see this collection of Lennon and Lennon-related interviews and press conferences, try to find this book at a library. Or better yet, seek out the primary sources. That goes for any of his books. And stay away from Giuliano's "biographies," unless you must know Denny Laine's wife's favorite hairdresser.

When I read Geoffrey Giuliano's other books, I found them to be full of factual errors, typos occasionally, and long, drawn-out sentences. However, I was impressed with the style of his writing. I thought it gave a new perspective on the story. Beyond that, however, there is little that interests me. I understand that Giuliano is not very well respected in the literary world. But this book is the stand-out exception; all I had to do was read the first 10 or so pages out of this book to think, "Is this even the same author?"

Maybe it's because this book isn't really written by Giuliano, it is merely a collection of interviews. Straight interviews in the "Question / Answer, Question / Answer" format. No drawn-out writing in between. I especially liked the December 6(?), 1980 review with John and Yoko. John discussed his then-recent album "Double Fantasy," and his plans for the future. (Of course none of his future plans saw completion; he was assassinated two days after that interview.)

I have the "Beatles Celebration" DVD made by Giuliano. He explains in that film that he has traveled the world searching for Beatles interviews. The film contains several interview excerpts, but I'm happy to have this book with more complete segments.

Lennon was a very thoughtful, intelligent, and insightful man. This book is proof.

This book was real good and thorough especially when talking about John and Yoko's peace campaign and bed-ins. Through this book I found a lot of information I have never heard before which is hard to find in many books on John. However, the only problem I have is the author seems to make clear his dislike of Yoko and it is upsetting. He includes his own digs at her as well as others he interviews throughout the book. But all in all it is great for all Lennon fans, with good never before seen photos.

Believe me, when they say these interviews are lost, it is no lie! I have been ready Beatles books for years and many authors just seem to cut and paste their books together with no thought of orginality, or rarity. Geoffrey Giuliano however is the exception packing this book with interviews I bet John Lennon himself has never seen.

Lennon and Yoko's lost interviews it should be more like. This is a great book with many interviews with john and yoko in their bed-in's etc. In this book it shows john's humorous side, whitty side and of course his deepness. I loved the clippings of the news in the beginnning of the book and learned things i didn't know (like yoko was to divorce john before he died. though it sounded like tabloid talk it probably was real) I love interviews with john because we get to know the real him and learn a lot about him. This was really a great book and it did have good pictures in them most of them unpublished.
A really, really GREAT interview book (besides this) I MUST recommend is The Playboy Interviews With John Lennon and Yoko Ono. That is really the best interview book out there.

Here is John Lennon the poet, composer, humorist and humanitarian, and, oh yes, Beatle. These interviews are indeed lost treasures from an author who obviously knows and loves his subject. Congrats to Mr. Giuliano for offering these rare gems to an ever Beatles hungry world. Packed, too, with dozens of unseen photgraphs.