Gripping
Whether or not you are a fan of the Beatles, this book is absolutely gripping. It reads like a juicy soap-opera of drug-addiction, bitching over money, sex scandals and the messy break-up. Beware though-I came away thinking that that Beatles and their entourage of wives, girlfriends, financers, and suck-ups were a bunch of jerks.
Extremely well-written though.
I guess you had to be there
Peter Brown was one of the few guys who managed to make it out at the other end of the Beatles Blitzkrieg reasonably intact. In this book he shares his experiences and observations in a very matter of fact style. He takes on the whole Beatles madness in one felled swoop.
The hard-core fan who has read everything out there on the Beatles might not find a whole lot of new information here, but for a beginning fan (or someone who has a moderate knowledge of the Beatles) Brown's book is one of the better historical assessments of the band. This is partly because Brown is not an ego-maniac or embellisher: in fact, the writing in this book is far from flowery. It is also partly due to the fact that Brown had such a long-time working relationship with the Beatles (he was witness at both John's marriage to Yoko and Paul's to Linda, and is one of the few people immortalized by name in a Beatles' song.)
Brown essentially took over a lot of managerial duties after Epstien died and became a bigwig at Apple. In fact, he was so well respected by the Beatles that he was one of the few people to have survived Allen Klien's purges (at the Beatles request.)
But enough about his credibility.
This book provides an insider's look at the Beatles phenomenon. Brown has an intimate perspective on each of the four because he worked so close with them over the years and he is able to tap this wealth of nostalgia to give the reader a great overview of those fab years. He has co-written this book with another fellow, Steven Gaines, who does a decent job of holding the narrative together. I am always a little wary of books that are co-authored by someone (seems kind of wrong to me, like co-sex or co-taking a dump) but I suppose I can cut some slack to Brown seeing as he is not a writer by trade. Plus, it is hardly uncommon.
A unique thing about this book, also, is that its author had a close relationship with Brian Epstien. What this book is able to offer, in addition to the regular biographical stuff on the Beatles, is a fair amount of insight into what made their manager tick. This aspect of the book reminds the reader what an important factor Epstien was in the success of the Beatles.
So there it is. A little less snazzy of a read that Hunter's book, but a more thorough and well-rounded job. The right balance of detail and readability.
An entertaining book about what didn't happen
The Love You Make: An Insider's Story of the Beatles
This book was first published in 1984 which is when I first heard of it. I picked it up in 1988 and read it through so often and thoroughly, I began calling it the Gospel According to Beatles, because it was like a religious book to me. That should tell you how entertainingly Peter Brown and (I'm sure mostly) Steve Gaines relate Peter's story of the Beatles.
Sadly, so much of it is simply made up details based on some actual facts. Even worse, Peter Brown ends up (in my opinion) equating the "order" of the Beatles (John, Paul, George, and Ringo) with their worth as human beings and/or entertainers, John winning out even if it's only because Brown trashes him least.
One of the butts of this book is Ringo, and who knows what the most friendly and fun loving of the Beatles ever did to Brown. I'll just say here that except on the songs where Beatles fans KNOW Paul played the drums, Ringo pounded the skins on every lick, and he was quite capable of coming up with great drums parts for some of the greatest rock songs ever written, thank you. Was he the greatest rock drummer ever? No, but he was a great drummer for the greatest rock band ever, and that says a LOT! At one point in the book "The Beatles Recording Sessions", author Mark Lewisohn stops to acknowledge that Ringo's flubs were SO rare in the recording studio, the other members would rib him loudly because he would occassionally fall to their level.
The other butt is George. Religious zealots are easy targets because we're all imperfect, and it's hard to hold back when one of them doesn't live up to his own standards. Because of this (and because I don't believe George's religion anyway), I cut him a lot of slack where Brown tears him down. And again, George was not the best lead guitarist in the world. Far from it, but he was the lead guitarist in the best band in the world, and he came up with lines and solos that sound like they were composed perfectly for the compositions they fit into. That says a LOT!
Those points said, don't bother with this book or most other bios. Watch The Beatles Anthology, read The Beatles Anthology, read the Beatles personal interviews and discover these men for yourself! They spoke well for themselves, but they were imperfect humans, so don't expect anything more. Anyway, it's the music that they made which makes us love them! The works still stand tall! Enjoy them and admire the imperfect people who made them as great at what they did! Then go write a song of your own and see how hard they worked!
It's like watching a movie
This is one of my favorite Beatles books. Call it guilty pleasure, if you will. It was the first one I read that told the Beatles' story like a movie, where you could actually "see" what was happening to them. I read it when it had just been published. I couldn't put it down and I've read it more than once. I also remember the angry reactions it got from the most faithful fans. More than 20 years have gone by and most of the revelations contained here have been confirmed by other insiders. Even some names that the authors chose to change have been revealed (like the dentist who turned the Beatles on to LSD). Interestingly, Pattie Boyd has only kind words for Peter Brown in her recently published book "Wonderful Tonight". She never even mentions Brown's book, which Paul and Linda chose to burn without reading (and Linda "photographed it as it burned page by page", as she told Playboy).
Why did Peter Brown choose to break his code of silence? Greed? Something personal? The ironic thing is that this book may have been the reason why Albert Gouldman went too far in his book about John Lennon. Someone had beat him to the real thing, so he had to "embellish" some stories to make them more scandalous. And the outcome was that he lost his credibility as a writer.
If you feel that, as a Beatles fan, you should remain loyal to your idols, don't buy this book. But you will miss one of the best narrations of their story as it really happened.
Another round of pissed-off envy --
Peter Brown is one of those Lennon named as pissed at The Beatles because their breakup meant the end of the gravy train for such as Brown, who was a late-comer as it was.
This was originally rushed into print shortly after Lennon was murdere (as were so many others intending to capitalize) -- and, "coincidentally," no longer able to respond to the dirt Brown peddles against him. (How did Peter Brown manage to be in the room with John and Yoko when they were doing drugs, eh?) Brown was one of the "suits" who, as Peter McCabe points out ("Apple to the Core"), mostly took two-hour martini lunches.
(43 reviews)
