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[Normandie]

I'm plodding through Joshua M. Greene's Here Comes the Sun: The Spiritual and Musical Journey of George Harrison, which is so-so. (I've already complained about the author's errors in a different thread.) I'm enjoying learning about Hinduism and George's experience of same; it's always great to expand one's knowledge base. The pace of the text, however, is slow; the book could benefit from stronger verbs and text that is a little more sprightly. I'm nearly done and am glad to have read it, especially given that it's my first George bio.

I'm not sure if I'd recommend this one or not given my lack of experience with George books.

Has anyone read this? Thoughts?

[Moogmodule]

I Haven’t seen that one. I looked it up in kindle and it’s currently unavailable. I’ve mentioned elsewhere that George is yet to get a really good biography. It would be good to see an accomplished biographer take on the job. Instead there’s several average (or worse) efforts by people who simply might not be the greatest of writers.  Sounds like this could be another example.

[Normandie]

I’ve mentioned elsewhere that George is yet to get a really good biography. It would be good to see an accomplished biographer take on the job.

Sure would. I'll keep my fingers crossed. At least I do now have a bit more knowledge of George.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Moogmodule.

[Normandie]

Just ordered And in the End by Ken McNab, from a third-party seller on Amazon, and on the basis of the Amazon reviews, because I was concerned about pestering for more specific reviews (i.e., from posters on here). So . . . fingers crossed, twice: that (a) it'll arrive on time and (b) be worthy.

[Hello Goodbye]

Give us a review after you've finished reading And In The End, Kathy.

This video has commentary but it gives a more complete dialog that occurred during the Get Back Sessions in January 1969.  We saw just a part of it in the Let It Be movie.  The Beatles were working on Two Of Us and I've Got A Feeling.  Let's try to ignore the commentary and concentrate on how Paul, George and John were interacting...

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwdX2-FRRE8" target="_blank" class="aeva_link bbc_link new_win">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwdX2-FRRE8</a>

[Normandie]

This video has commentary but it gives a more complete dialog that occurred during the Get Back Sessions in January 1969. 

Interesting, Barry; thanks for sharing that.

[Moogmodule]

“Try washing it” 

[Normandie]

Give us a review after you've finished reading And In The End, Kathy.

Will do. The book just now arrived. I see the author is listed as "Ken McNab, Record Collector."    Well, heck, I'm a record collector, so that doesn't inspire much confidence. No author bio. An online search revealed he's a Glasgow-based journalist.

I've made some lousy Beatles book choices lately. I hope this isn't another one.

[Normandie]

OK, Graeme Thomson's Behind the Locked Door just arrived, so I'm reading that instead.

[Normandie]

I'm not a big fan of best-of lists, but just stumbled across this and thought I'd throw it out there:

https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-lists/10-best-beatles-books-73116/

I'd never heard of their No. 1 pick.

OK, Graeme Thomson's Behind the Locked Door just arrived, so I'm reading that instead.

I've actually shoved both tomes aside in favor of something more escapist.

[Moogmodule]

I'm not a big fan of best-of lists, but just stumbled across this and thought I'd throw it out there:

https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-lists/10-best-beatles-books-73116/

I'd never heard of their No. 1 pick.

Love Me Do is great.  As the review says it’s unique as it’s an unfiltered look at them by a good writer/journalist when they were in the initial Beatlemania stage. There’s lots of reporting of the banter between them and with fans. And the mundanity of lots of it. Such as Paul and Ringo in a hotel dressed in those old flannel pyjamas.  Like kids on a sleepover. It’s before all the myth making started and is only a year or so on from when they were unknown so you have a sense of getting closer to their real personalities as young men..

I wouldn’t have Shout on that list. How you could put that on and leave off Lewisohn’s Tune In is beyond me.

[Normandie]

Love Me Do is great. 

I think I'm gonna swap out And in the End for that one. And in the meantime I'll stick with ocean liner books. I can vet the authors much better.

I wouldn’t have Shout on that list. How you could put that on and leave off Lewisohn’s Tune In is beyond me.

Agreed.

[Moogmodule]

I think I'm gonna swap out And in the End for that one. And in the meantime I'll stick with ocean liner books. I can vet the authors much better.

Love me Do is pretty short too. Not much of a time commitment. I noticed also that there’s quite a few quotes pulled from it for other Beatle bios. Including Lewisohn’s.

[Normandie]

Just realized I have Ian Macdonald's Revolution in the Head (No. 2 on this list) in my Beatles collection. And Peter Brown's The Love You Make (No. 3) on the list) was the first Beatles book I read, after my aborted attempt at The Lives of John Lennon. I believe it was Brown's book that said John definitely was intimate with Brian on their trip to Spain. I recall raising my eyebrows at that, and now, 30 years later, I'm even less inclined to believe it. In fact, I don't believe it. Unfortunately I no longer have the book in hand because, given that it was during my impoverished-student days and I was still a new fan, I borrowed it from the library. 

I have my fingers crossed that Macdonald's book won't be too technical for me.

[Normandie]

I have my fingers crossed that Macdonald's book won't be too technical for me.

That's immaterial now because the formatting is so annoying. Every song name is in smallcaps. Very distracting.

[Normandie]

I ended up keeping and reading And in the End, and I'm enjoying it so far. I just came across the following sentence about Timothy Leary:

In 1966, [Leary] had declared Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, and Starr to be like the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse who would usher in a new world order. His precise words were: "I declare that The Beatles are mutants. Prototypes of evolutionary agents sent by God, endowed with a mysterious power to create a new human species, a young race of laughing freemen."

I always thought that the whole "Four Horsemen" thing was Charles Manson's schtick. I specifically recall reading in Helter Skelter that he believed that he and the four Beatles were actually the alleged "Five" Horsemen who would usher in a new world order. I suppose Manson got that from Timothy Leary, but I don't believe Vincent Bugliosi (author of Helter Skelter) ever mentioned this, which, if true, is an editorial oversight. I did not keep my copy of the book, so I can't verify this.

I just thought I'd throw that out there and see if anyone wanted to share their thoughts.

I'd highly recommend Helter Skelter (the book not the movie) to any Beatles fan. Despite its unsettling, tragic nature, the descriptions of Manson's twisted interpertations of the White Album songs would intrigue any Beatles fan, I believe. They certainly fascinated me.   

[Moogmodule]

Thanks for reminding me of Helter Skelter (the book). I need reading ideas.

Timothy Leary’s quote does suggest he had taken his experimentation with LSD a little far.

[Normandie]

Timothy Leary’s quote does suggest he had taken his experimentation with LSD a little far.

   That's exactly what I was thinking.

[Normandie]

Love me Do is pretty short too. Not much of a time commitment.

This just now arrived. It does look like an easy read, which is good because I have quite the stack of books waiting to be read.    I'm looking forward to reading it.

[Normandie]

This just now arrived. It does look like an easy read, which is good because I have quite the stack of books waiting to be read.    I'm looking forward to reading it.

I just started this, and it's great. An easy, but kind of choppy, read. I love the candor. I keep having to remind myself of when it was written (i.e., in the early days of Beatlemania). I laughed out loud from this quote from John in Chapter 1: "Women should be obscene and not heard."    As a woman, I should probably take umbrage at that, but it cracked me up.