The Beatles and Me On Tour by Ivor Davis

In the summer of 1964, the Beatles took America by storm and changed rock ’n’ roll forever. In this first-ever chronicling of that revolutionary tour from the inside, author Ivor Davis serves up the stories behind the stories as only an insider can. In the rowdy and riotous recollections of The Beatles and Me On Tour, Ivor Davis, then a reporter for the London Daily Express, shares his unrestricted access to the Liverpool lads as a member of the Beatles entourage. 

From inside the band’s hotel suites to the concert arenas to the private jets, the madness and magic plays out through Davis’ personal accounts of hanging with the Beatles for thirty-four jam-packed days. Go behind the scenes for all-night Monopoly games with John Lennon, witness the Beatles’ legendary living-room jam with Elvis, and be there the night Bob Dylan introduces the band to pot. Roll up for this definitive account of the legendary band at a critical moment in the history.

The Rocking City: The Explosive Birth of The Beatles by Sam Leach

If you ever wondered about the origins of Merseybeat and just how the Beatles exploded onto the Liverpool scene before Brian Epstein cleaned them up to conquer the world, then THE ROCKING CITY (the Explosive Birth of The Beatles) has the answers for you! Sam Leach tells it like it really was and succeeds in encapsulating all the energy, humour, generosity, and unconventional ways which are so characteristic of Liverpool. He not only puts his finger on the exact moment when Merseybeat was born, he lived and breathed it as one of its leading promoters. Sam's barn-storming bills not only featured The Beatles, whose sheer power and energy in their early days rocked the city to its foundations, but also groups such as Gerry and the Pacemakers, The Searchers, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes and Kingsize Taylor and the Dominoes. 

And Sam was almost directly responsible for Brian Epstein's fateful visit to The Cavern one Friday lunchtime to watch a performance by the group he was to make the biggest ever... John Lennon once said "Sam Leach was the pulse of Merseybeat. What he did the rest copied". Paul Mccartney on BBC Radio Merseyside in 1984 called those early days "The Sam Leach Era".

Here, There and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of the Beatles by Geoff Emerick and Howard Massey

This is a fascinating memoir featuring never-before-told stories from the Beatles' recording engineer. The first biography from industry legend Geoff Emerick tells the story of his life as the Beatles' recording engineer. As a man who helped make history by working on the group's groundbreaking sound, including such albums as Sgt Pepper, Revolver and Abbey Road, this a story that all music fans have been waiting for. Joining forces with the Beatles for the recording of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, hailed by Rolling Stone as the greatest album ever made, Geoff Emerick has been at the creation of music history for much of his career. In conjunction with the Beatles' constant quest for experimentation and new sounds, Emerick developed a slew of innovative recording techniques, many of which are still in use today. In "Here, There and Everywhere", Emerick tells his story for the first time, taking the reader through the hallowed corridors of Abbey Road Studios to give rare insights into the Beatles' unique creative processes and personalities and provides a behind-the-scenes look at how the greatest band of all time made their greatest records.

Emerick provides a startling picture of the Fab Four. Fascinating and moving, "Here, There and Everywhere" also illuminates the creative tensions within the band that fuelled their early success, but would ultimately lead them to record in separate studios while the partnership was disintegrating.

Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties by Ian MacDonald

As dazzling as the decade they dominated, The Beatles almost single-handedly created pop music as we know it. Today, their songs are cited as seminal influences by stars like Oasis and Blur. Eloquently giving voice to their time, The Beatles quite simply changed the world.

Fully updated to include material from The Beatles Live at theBBC and the Anthology series, this acclaimed book goes back to the heart of The Beatles - their records. Drawing on a unique resource of knowledge and experience to 'read' their 241 tracks - chronologically from their first amateur efforts in 1957 to 'Real Love', their final 'reunion' recording in 1995 - Ian MacDonald has created an engrossing classic of popular criticism in which the extraordinary songs of The Beatles remain a central and continually surprising presence.

The Complete "Beatles" Chronicle by Mark Lewisohn

This much-acclaimed chronicle covers every working day of the Beatles' career, and author Mark Lewisohn, who is recognized as the world's leading authority on the subject, also includes track-by-track details of every Beatles recording session.

Lewisohn first came to attention as Philip Norman's researcher on the acclaimed Beatles' biography Shout!, then went on to become the definitive chronicler of their work in his own right. This chronicle is a must for any serious student of Beatles' history and a mine of information for fans or those with a reasonably strong interest in the group's professional work. It incorporates details of their live work (which Lewisohn previously documented in the groundbreaking and now rare 'The Beatles Live!') plus all the gist on their radio/tv appearances and, most importantly, recording sessions. The memorabilia scattered throughout makes for fascinating reading but what impresses most is the accuracy of detail, gleaned from countless exclusive interviews, memos, obscure clippings and so much else. Even the notes at the rear are a revelation. Who else but Lewisohn would throw in chart positions in every music paper in the UK and US, for instance? Brilliantly annotated and expertly laid out, this must be the ultimate Fab Four reference book and crucially, it's one you can completely trust. Applause!

  

Updated version (incorporating "Beatles Live" & "Recording Sessions"

The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions: The Official Story Abbey Road 1962 - 1970 by Mark Lewisohn

After years out of print, an updated edition of this hotly sought-after classic is available again. Mark Lewisohn's definitive guide covers every recording session done by the Beatles at EMI's famed Abbey Road recording studio. It includes the number of takes for each song; who contributed what; previously unpublished studio documents and interviews with many of the key recording personnel; and facsimile reproductions of Abbey Road recording sheets, tape boxes, album sleeve roughs, memos, contracts, press releases and more. 

Lavishly illustrated with over 350 photographs (rare images by Linda McCartney among them), this must-have volume also features an exclusive introductory interview with Paul McCartney.

 

                                                                               2013

               
1988

                             

                     

The Love You Make: An Insider's Story of the Beatles by Peter Brown

Here is the national bestseller that Newsday called the most authoritative and candid look yet at the personal lives of the oft-scrutinised group. In "The Love You Make," Peter Brown, a close friend of and business manager for the band and the best man at John and Yoko s wedding presents a complete look at the dramatic offstage odyssey of the four lads from Liverpool who established the greatest music phenomenon of the twentieth century. Written with the full cooperation of each of the group s members and their intimates, this book tells the inside story of the music and the madness, the feuds and the drugs, the marriages and the affairs from the greatest heights to the self-destructive depths of the Fab Four.

In-depth and definitive, The Love You Make is an astonishing account of four men who transformed the way a whole generation of young people thought and lived. It reigns as the most comprehensive, revealing biography available of John, Paul, George, and Ringo. Includes 32 pages of rare and revealing photos.

The Beatles Lennon and Me by Pete Shotton

The standard Beatles history posits the star-crossed Stuart Sutcliffe as John Lennon's best friend, until his tragic death in 1962, whereupon Paul McCartney became Lennon's chief mate, but Pete Shotton better fit the bill. He was there first, romping with Lennon as schoolboy tearaways, and in on all the things that boys do with each other: lots of circle jerks, incidentally, in this candid, and very Northern memoir. Lennon later bought Shotton a supermarket, and the latter was awfully adept at telling Lennon when the rocker was full of shit, which was often enough. Bracing, ribald and infused with love. Shotton regularly visited Lennon's house (Kenwood) on weekends to keep Lennon company, leaving his wife and young son at home, or to escort Cynthia Lennon for a night out when her husband was busy with band matters or songwriting.

Shotton had a minor, but uncredited, role in the Beatles' songs: he was occasionally invited to observe them recording at Abbey Road Studios, and played percussion (maracas, tambourine) on a few records. 

(Originally published as John Lennon: In My Life)

        

                                             1984                                1983

The Longest Cocktail Party by Richard DiLello

The Longest Cocktail Party is one man's account of the history of the Beatles' company Apple Corps, the break-up of the Beatles, and the beginning of their solo careers. The title is a reference to the press office's habit of entertaining members of the media, and the company's potential business partners, with expensive drinks, luncheons and perks – which ultimately led to a financial and spiritual hangover, as did the unrealised potential of the company.

DiLello served as the "house hippie" (formally termed Client Liaison Officer; a sort of in-house youth consultant and gofer) at Apple's Savile Row headquarters, from 1968 until 1970, becoming one-on-one acquainted with each of the Beatles, many of their wives and girlfriends, and also the inner circle of agents, managers, and others who worked for and with Apple. These included business manager Allen Klein, attorneys Lee Eastman and John Eastman, road managers (and Apple directors) Mal Evans and Neil Aspinall, press agent and author Derek Taylor, members of Apple bands Badfinger and White Trash, the staff, and the countless visitors to the office.

DiLello covers events including the launching parties for Apple Records and artists like White Trash and Mary Hopkin, the ill-fated Apple Christmas party in 1968 (with two Hells Angels as guests), the Beatles' rooftop concert appearing in Let It Be, the lawsuits that began as the Beatles grew apart, and finally the closing of the Apple press office. His reports are described first-hand, always with a sense of humour, and a sense of hope.

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1972

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John by Cynthia Lennon

Cynthia and John Lennon's relationship spanned ten crucial years of the Beatles phenomenon. But as well as new insight into the Beatles years, Cynthia has a compelling personal story of marriage, motherhood and the man who was to become the most idolised and admired of all the Beatles.

Cynthia is candid about the cruel and the loving sides of John. (Her previous book was more guarded as it was written during John's lifetime). She tells of the end of their marriage and the beginning of his relationship with Yoko Ono in more detail than ever before, and reveals the many difficulties estrangement from John - and then his death - brought for herself and Julian. Cynthia is a remarkable survivor and this is her extraordinary story and unique insight into a man loved and idolised all over the world.

             

The Beatles: The Ultimate Recording Guide by Allen J. Wiener

 "A dream-come-true for any Beatles fan or collector, this is the only up-to-date, complete, accurate Beatles record reference published to date. The only books in the Beatles literature that can compare with the quality and value of this volume are those written by Mark Lewisohn, particularly his "COMPLETE BEATLES CHRONICLE." 

Wiener's book, unlike Lewisohn's, includes every recording the Beatles ever made, both as a group and later as individual solo artists. It also includes all of their unreleased recordings, of which there are hundreds ranging from studio outtakes to crude home demos, rehearsals, concerts, radio and television appearances, and even recorded interviews. Of even greater value is the listing of dozens or bootleg records and CDs on which these rarities and curiosities can be heard. With the exception of the recent "ANTHOLOGY" releases, the book is a complete, accurate guide to all known Beatles recordings, and at an incredibly low price."

The Beatles - All These Years: Volume One: Tune In by Mark Lewisohn

Mark Lewisohn's three-part biography is the first true and accurate account of the Beatles, a contextual history built upon impeccable research and written with energy, style, objectivity and insight. This first volume covers the crucial and less-known early period - the Liverpool and Hamburg years of a hungry rock and roll band, when all the sharp characters and situations take shape.

The product of at least eight years' writing and research, and full of information sourced even before that, it runs from the band members' family prehistories to the release of their first proper single in 1962. 

For avid Beatlemaniacs, this meticulously researched account will be hard to beat because of its high level of detailed trivia, and is worthy of re-evaluation, on its publication in paperback. It has new interviews from old girlfriends, family, friends and teachers, weighed up against well-worn quotes from archived essays and magazines. Lewisohn is like a detective, taking all the information available surrounding a particular moment in the Beatles' history and then deducing which is most likely to be the genuine reality when those versions of events don't match up. 

       
                                            Extended Version