4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Far More Credible Than A Black Carnation, March 17, 2000
This review is from: Turn Me On, Dead Man: The Complete Story of the Paul McCartney Death Hoax (Rock & Roll Remembrances) (Hardcover)
Beatle fans always knew that someday there'd be a whole book on the subject, but this book surpassed my expectations. Before reading this book, every written account of the 'Paul Is Dead' rumor seemed the same to me...not much more than a list of the 'clues' and the Beatles' explanations. But Andre Reeves' book is not just a listing of clues...in fact, he saves that for the very end of the book. Instead he wisely gets behind the origin and evolution of the rumor, showing how a college student's tongue in cheek newspaper article snowballed into a national obsession, almost like a small fire gradually getting out of control and turning into an inferno. Reeves puts the reader right into those crazy weeks of October 1969 so that he/she can get a glimpse of a world unsure if the baby-faced Beatle was still walking the Earth, barefoot or otherwise. The accounts from the rumor's key players provide information previously unavailable in any Beatle books, and shed new light on many areas. Those who continue to profess that the Beatles concocted the whole thing really need to read this book before uttering another word about it. If you just want a fun-to-read listing of clues, there are many web sites that provide one. But if you are looking for some true stories behind the rumor that put it in a whole new perspective (in other words, if you truly wish to learn something,) 'Turn Me On Dead Man' more than satisfies.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
AN IMPORTANT PART OF A COMPLETE BEATLES LIBRARY, December 12, 1997
By A Customer
This review is from: Turn Me On, Dead Man: The Complete Story of the Paul McCartney Death Hoax (Rock & Roll Remembrances) (Hardcover)
Well, first of all, this book is a bit overpriced---it should be in the $24-26 range (though many of the books offered by this publisher---mostly books about rock music, television and Stephen King---are similarly priced) and the cover art is bland and prosaic (or as my wife put it, it's "butt ugly").
However, let me say that if I were stranded on the proverbial Desert Isle and I could take only 10 Beatles books with me, this would be among the lucky dozen (I always pack intemperately). I have accumulated quite a healthy library of Beatles books over the years (at last count, I had 194 tomes devoted to the Fab Four).
"Turn Me On, Dead Man" is oddball fun, giving a delightfully askew glimpse of Paul McCartney and company during the band's final days at Abbey Road. As each Beatle wandered off to find personal fulfillment outside of the band during the summer of 1969, a rumor began circulating among the college kids and radio disc jockeys of the midwestern US. They all began to notice that McCartney was presented somewhat "differently" on the Beatles' album covers (barefoot on the obverse of *Abbey Road*; with his back turned toward the camera on the *Sgt. Pepper's* back sleeve). But it was the discovery of several backwards "messages" in the songs that really got this urban legend going (e.g., if the end of the song "I'm So Tired" is spun in reverse, a mysterious voice mumbles, "Paul is a dead man---miss him, miss him"). Spooky stuff!
Of course, all of this was (and is) a wicked brew of nonsense, coincidence and wild speculation. But therein lies the strong sociological aspects
of this mere rumor. People need to believe in something: a hero, a martyr, a deity. People look for guidance in "times of trouble" (see McCartney's own composition, "Let It Be"). Besides Reeve's layman discussion of this factor, the author also includes a more professional essay by Barbara Suczek among the hefty collection of post-text appendices.
There's even a compendium of the visual and auditory "clues" to McCartney's death that were discovered during the heyday of the rumor. All in all, a fun and spirited little book.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good, But Get the Newer Version..., November 11, 2005
This review is from: Turn Me On, Dead Man: The Complete Story of the Paul McCartney Death Hoax (Rock & Roll Remembrances) (Hardcover)
This book was completely overhauled and re-published in 2005 under the title TURN ME ON, DEAD MAN: The Beatles And The "Paul-Is-Dead" Hoax, and it is much improved and expanded over this older volume. Both books are great, but the newer one is...well, newer. It's available here at Amazon.com for around $15. Highly recommended.
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