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60 of 62 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Sad Life (and sometimes death) of Richard, George, Paul and John, July 28, 2010
This review is from: You Never Give Me Your Money: The Beatles After the Breakup (Hardcover)
I've probably read a couple hundred books about music and musicians, but only about 15 or 20 on the Beatles. Out of all those books I can't say that this one was the most enjoyable, but it was certainly one of the most profound, the one that made me think the most about the vast chasm between myth and reality. Peter Doggett has been researching and writing and living the Beatles for decades so he is as qualified as anyone to write this book. It is the story of the actual men behind the phenomenon, what they have had to live (or die) through day by day and year by year. I'm not an expert but I don't suppose that there is much in the way of new revelations here but the presentation is certainly different. It doesn't spend a lot of time in exaltation of the music. We all know, the author as much as anyone, what this music and this band has meant both to popular culture and to us individually. We all understand, and there have been countless books and articles detailing it, the sense of joy, freedom, and hope that came from those songs. That's not discussed much here. What is discussed is the day to day reality of these men (flawed as you and I), the repercussions of being one of THE BEATLES, the unrealistic hopes and dreams of millions constantly laid on their all too mortal shoulders over decades. Seen for what it is, stripped of the myth, I often found it more brutal than desirable. Doggett simply reports what happened. He doesn't often draw conclusions for us.
From the beginning the Beatles were a vast source of untold wealth and everybody wanted a piece. Bad business decisions abounded from the beginning. The worst was probably turning things over to Allen Klein after Brian Epstein's death. Much of this book is given over to the repercussions of this action and the subsequent fallout between McCartney and the others. It was tedious to just read about all the lawsuits and legal maneuvers over many years. I can only imagine the stress living through it, month after month, year after year.
We get a sense throughout the book how ill equipped the individual Beatles were to deal with their lives - the insecurities mostly hidden from the public. Ringo struggling through decades battling alcohol and drug addiction, all the while creating work that no one really noticed except as nostalgia because he was a Beatle. Paul - constantly insecure by the comparisons between him and Lennon in which he always seemed to come up short (often unjustly). This was only magnified by John's death and Yoko Ono's constant subtle, passive aggressive comments that put Paul second to John in everything. John - fearful and directionless, subject to following his whims to ridiculous extremes in both his personal life and recording career. George - holding a grudge against Paul for years because he felt slighted and controlled for most of their time in the Beatles. After John's death in constant fear for his safety - a fear that turned out to be all too justified when a man broke into his fortress and tried to take his life. George's deliberately humorous comment was that the man wasn't there to try out for the Traveling Wilburys. The harsh reality was that George came very close to death that day, being stabbed 40 times in a brutal attack. This is exactly the thing that the author ably reveals - the vast difference between the carefree fantasy perpetuated and believed, and the truth of their lives. The constant questions and speculations about a Beatles reunion, even after John's death. It's all quite relentless and, when presented in this manner, seems to indicate the fame of these 4 men was more of a burden than a blessing. But that's just my impression; as I said the author doesn't draw conclusions or tell you how to feel. The most heartbreaking thing to me was how George could not even get any peace during his actual time of dying. One of his medical staff insisted on subjecting him to a song played by the man's son on guitar. He then practically forced him to sign an autograph and had to hold his hand since George didn't have the strength to sign by himself.
I think we have all, to some extent, looked at The Beatles through rose colored glasses - as if their lives were lived in some kind of golden haze, that anyone lucky enough to be in their inner circle was blessed to dwell among the gods. This book certainly shows how wrong we were.
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50 of 53 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Beatles, the business and how it tore and kept them apart, June 11, 2010
This review is from: You Never Give Me Your Money: The Beatles After the Breakup (Hardcover)
Mojo and Q writer Peter Doggett tackles one of the most difficult subject in The Beatles mythology in You Never Give Me Your Money: The Beatles After the Breakup. Doggett focuses on the hurricane of success that led to the band's break up and kept these four friends who went through the excitement/hell of Beatlemania together apart--the business of The Beatles, their own egos and all the baggage they carried into and out of their relationship(s) as former partners. The Beatles was truly always bigger than all of them separately and for them to carry on in the shadow of a monster was difficult--they were always individually measured against the sucess of The Beatles something much bigger than John, Paul, George and Ringo individually.
The first third of the book is devoted to The Beatles before and on the cusp of the break up including a discussion of Allen Klein, the Eastmans and the legal issues/conflicts between those outside of the Beatles camp and inside. The majority of the book though focuses everything from the petty (George stating sarcastically suggesting that Paul talked about recording some of John's songs because he ran out of good ones himself) to the major (the conflict between George, Ringo and Yoko when Paul set up a higher royalty rate that tied into his solo career but also effected his Beatles recordings as well that the other three weren't privy to).
"You Never Give Me Your Money" focuses on the legal squabbles and difficulties that John, Paul, George and Ringo faced in the aftermath of their massive success. The band faced friends who robbed them, each other in courtrooms,EMI the company they recorded for and their own personal demons of living up to the reputation that was bigger than all of them. Dogget documents McCartney's struggle with standing in the shadow of a former collaborator who suddenly became an icon; Harrison's attempt to escape being just a Beatle and Ringo surfing on his charm only to fall into a pit of drugs and alcohol. This isn't the first book to focus on the business/legal/ego issues that surrounded the Beatle money making machine (The Longest Cocktail Party and Apple to the Core both did to some degree) but this is the first one to give us a comprehensive look into their post-Beatle lives/business dealings with each other.
Doggett's book is well researched covering everything from the difficult conflict for control of the band between business savvy Allen Klein and the Eastman family to Harrison's financial troubles and McCartney's massive publishing empire. He details the cold/warm relationship between McCartney and Ono quite well. While Doggett does discuss the music he doesn't focus on it--instead he focuses on the people who made it and how they struggled to survive in the wake of one of the most successful and ripped off bands of all time.
Even though it is well researched there are a couple of minor errors that weren't corrected from the British edition--former Wings member at one point is referred to as a guitarist (he was the drummer and later is referred to in another section as the drummer for Wings), "The Beatles-Alpha & Omega" which had commericals airing on TV in 1973 in the U.S. is referred to as "The Beatles Story" (an album title for a 1964 Capitol Records release)and the ads are mentioned as airing on ABC-TV (it wasn't on the networks but on the affiliates). There's also no mention of the lawsuit that George Harrison filed against Ringo Starr related to Ringo recording his song "I'll Still Love You" or the fact that Ringo razzed George about it in an interview. It's possible that these might have been dropped for one reason or another during the editing stage of the book) but on the whole Doggett does an excellent job.
There's a mix of new and older information that's collated nicely by Doggett. Doggett brings it all together with some new insights into the situations The Beatles faced. You Never Give Me Your Money gives us a peek into the insanity (sometimes of their own making sometimes not)that continued to surround The Beatles after their "divorce". Recommended.
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20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Already a classic, July 23, 2010
This review is from: You Never Give Me Your Money: The Beatles After the Breakup (Hardcover)
This book is so well written, so well documented, so succinct, relevant and consistent, it's instantly and already a reference book both for the Beatles scholars and fans.
The author's dedication and knowledge is obvious: in 350 pages he sums up facts, observations and (conclusions of mature) reflections around the main themes related to the Beatles breakup, in a perfectly cohesive and easy-to-read narrative.
I read it in a hard day's night. Why "hard"? Because of the content's inherent sadness. The speedy read is due to the book's obvious qualities and interest, but also to the general lack of serious, reliable current literature related to the subject. This one is serious. And reliable.
The note of skepticism of the last pages (referring to the latest Beatles "products" like the LOVE or Let It Be... Naked releases) is understandable: nothing can level the original releases; nothing compares to the fever of unpacking the latest Beatles vinyl LP, to the first (ever) listening to the Abbey Road album, or Let It Be, or Revolver or...
I look forward to re-reading this book with a cooler head, now that curiosity is fulfilled.
I also want to thank the author for his dedication. It's a rare thing.
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