Beatles biographies?

Like, I pretty much know how they met and I was still excitedly anticipating the moments when they meet up in the book.

That was a big part of what I loved about the book, too. But also, there were the parts of the story I thought I knew being turned on their head, e.g., "George Martin heard them and said, 'not great, but not bad, I'll sign you'" is now "George Martin was having an affair with his secretary, which his bosses punished him for by forcing him to record a band EMI had only signed for songwriting publishing purposes."

To say nothing of "Japage 3" and all those other band names that pre-date the Qs

I thought the story in Lewisohn of "Love Me Do"'s climb and run on the charts was equally compelling and shocking in how much it had never been told before.

yeah i agree

https://open.spotify.com/episode/66u8d0xhy1mDMAxzpYkibZ?fbclid=IwAR0aRIrcVwMRiRfN27c9qX1LlkS2DTvzk82QTnt081KFJ2sKNd_tBNj2BXg

There's a first part to this, too, but I was just listening to this.

(Lewisohn on Beatles '69)

Thanks a lot for that! It's hard enough to wait for the next volume, much less whichever one will cover the final years, so that was a nice taste. I too tried to go through all the Nagra tapes but fell behind a day or two and never caught up. Here's hoping whatever companion to the Jackson film or anniversary sets will cherry pick the best of it (including conversations). Some incomplete but pretty interesting efforts here: Get Back to Let It Be Dissected and They May Be Parted. Definitely for the hardcore only, but I found it engrossing.

Thanks so much for that! I love Dutch radio DJ voices!

i think of myself as fairly hardcore in terms of the beatles, but close readings of the nagra tapes are just too much for me. can't get past the writing style on "they may be parted" or the appalling web design on "dissected".

Yeah, the web design on "dissected" is like a peek into a world where GeoCities still rules the net. And those goofy images!

fbclid=IwAR0aRIrcVwMRiRfN27c9qX1LlkS2DTvzk82QTnt081KFJ2sKNd_tBNj2BXg

I teetered on the edge of exploring those nagra tapes and then said fuck it I'll let the hobbit guy explain it all to me later

Lewisohn's narrative is kinda interesting, he's examined the nagra reels and suggests that the Twickenham sessions (and by extension, most of the events of '69) weren't at all as gloomy as history has made it to be, far from it, in fact.

i don't know, maybe it wasn't! what i've heard from the sessions is dire, miserable music, but they certainly could have been enjoying themselves while indulging in those terrible aimless jams! i mean i guess it's not actually _worse_ than "thanks for the pepperoni"...

kind of curious as to what lewisohn makes of "a toot and a snore in '74"

I enjoyed that They May Be Parted site but lol that 7+ years later and he's still only covered the first week of recordings