04/01/2024

Forty years after The Love You Make, Brown, former COO of Apple Corps, the Beatles’ media corporation, and journalist Gaines reunite for a revealing oral history of the forces that spurred the band’s breakup, which was first announced in 1970. Drawing from a trove of never before published conversations with each band member, except for John Lennon, and their intimates, the account touches on shifty characters within the group’s orbit, including “Magic” Alexis Mardas, who almost talked the Beatles into buying four Greek islands; Lennon’s descent into heroin addiction; and the fraying friendship between Paul McCartney and Lennon as the two fought over shares in the Beatles’ business ventures. There are also plenty of tender moments, including Yoko Ono’s musings on the genesis of her relationship with Lennon while he was still married to his first wife, Cynthia; their love was “bigger than both of us,” Ono claims. Taken together, the interview transcripts reveal that “the time had come” for the band’s split: “Realistically, how long could they go on being a Beatle and feel creatively satisfied?” Brown and Gaines write. Nearly all the interviews were conducted in the two months before Lennon’s 1980 murder, casting a melancholy shadow over his estrangement from McCartney, who seemed to have been softening toward his former bandmate (“I still do feel for the guy.... I still see that he thinks he’s the one who was hurt”). Beatles fans will be impatient to get their hands on this. (Apr.)

Praise for All You Need Is Love:

"I can think of no one better placed to tell the story behind the Beatles than Peter Brown" —Pattie Boyd

"Brown and Gaines’s new book... goes even deeper into Beatle lore than their first." —The New York Times

"All You Need Is Love affords readers with a feast of new information... presents the band members and their circle in rare instances of unmediated frankness....All You Need Is Love proves itself to be an invaluable historical resource, presenting the Beatles entirely in their own words in a series of moments in which an unknown future was still splayed out before them, those precious last instances in which all four Fabs still safely walked the earth." —Salon

“An illuminating page turner” —New York Post

"Insider oral history... Recalled with the split still reverberating, unresolved grievances are aired and scores settled, but recrimination is tempered with perspective." —Mojo

"a valuable, historical, and utterly enlightening collection of chats about the chaps from Liverpool. The book could be twice as long and still enthrall and enlighten." —Houston Press

"For those interested in the interplay of personalities and the ambience of the Beatles era, this is a treasure trove. A rich collection of Beatles material, reported by those closest to the band during its heyday." —Kirkus Reviews

"[A] revealing oral history of the forces that spurred the band’s breakup...drawing from a trove of never before published conversations with each band member, except for John Lennon, and their intimates...Taken together, the interview transcripts reveal that “the time had come” for the band’s split...Beatles fans will be impatient to get their hands on this." —Publishers Weekly

"Want to know why the Beatles broke up? Reveal[s] previously unknown details about the band’s story, including that devastating breakup. Brown is himself a long-time Beatles insider, having known the Fab Four since their early days as a band; he was best man when Lennon and Oko married in 1969. Steven Gaines is a journalist and author. For the new book, the pair have mined archival interviews with members of The Beatles, as well as with the women who were among their inner circle, including Yoko Ono, Cynthia Lennon, Pattie Harrison Clapton and Maureen Starkey." —From the People Magazine Announcement

Praise and reviews for The Love You Make:

"Finally the real story.” —Rolling Stone

“Literate, complex…more than sensationalism…a hard-hitting yet sympathetic book that unflinchingly captures the highs and lows.” —The Boston Globe

“The best backstage memoir yet of the most amazing musical phenomenon of our times.” —The Washington Post Book World

“The definitive book on the Beatles.” —New York Post
“A gothic tale of drugs, sex, music, greed, booze, and genius…an entire generation’s loss of innocence.” —People

“Fascinating.” —The Indianapolis Star

“The most sensational Beatles biography…emotionally involving.” —Esquire

“The definitive book on the world’s greatest rock group…tells the truth with surprisingly little varnish.” —Chicago Tribune

“A dramatically good story....Peter Brown catches us with the headiness of it all.” —Publishers Weekly

04/05/2024

Brown and Gaines coauthored 1983's The Love You Make: An Insider's Story of the Beatles, and their new title is a collection of interviews conducted from 1980 to 1981 for that previous book. In light of Peter Jackson's 2021 three-part documentary series Get Back and perennial interest in the Beatles, this is a fun, deeper-cut addition for fans. From the first page, this book is chock-full of anecdotes and additional context for well-known stories in Beatles lore. Nearly all interview subjects are easily recognizable names, but a few outliers help round out the interviews and get another side of the story. The book's overarching focus is figuring out why the band broke up, how impactful the death of the Beatles' manager was, and the effects of other business decisions that culminated in the late 1960s. Some interview transcripts seem more rambling than others, but this can easily be overlooked for the trivia and reminiscences that make this an entertaining book for fans. While Brown and Gaines insert some biases and not all the participants are portrayed positively, they allow readers to judge for themselves. VERDICT Recommended for Beatles fan and for readers who want more insight into why the group broke up.—Amanda Ray

You think you know the Beatles story? When you hear this audiobook and the performances of Adam Stevens, Anthony Howell, Emma Gregory, and others, you'll be singing, "I thought I knew you, what did I know?" Based on interviews with the Beatles and their intimate associates in 1980 and 1981, the audiobook is nearly 10 hours of history, often shocking. The Beatles talk about their near arrest and narrow escape from the Philippines. They discuss the Beatles' problems with drugs, the prison of fame, and the women in their lives. There are many incredible revelations about the relationships of John and Yoko and Paul and Linda and their impact on the band. This is one of those audiobooks you can't shut off and will never forget. M.S. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine

2024-04-09
A compilation of previously unpublished interviews with members of the Beatles and those around them.

In the introduction, Brown notes that he and Gaines conducted these interviews for their previous book, The Love You Make—which makes them, in a sense, outtakes from that book, with comments by the authors. Most of them took place in the fall of 1980, shortly before John Lennon was murdered. (An interview with Yoko Ono occurred a few months after Lennon’s death.) Much of the material focuses on the business of the Beatles: their managers Brian Epstein and Allen Klein, Apple Records, and the pressures that led to the band’s eventual breakup. Epstein was originally a record store manager who took them on in their Liverpool days and managed them as they became the most famous band in the world. Klein came on board after Epstein’s death, apparently on the urging of Lennon and Ono; he was seen by many around the band as a negative force, mainly interested in lining his own pockets. Several of the subjects comment on the Beatles’ visit to the Indian headquarters of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, which ultimately led all of them except Harrison to reject the guru’s teachings. The book contains interviews with George Harrison, Paul McCartney, and Ringo Starr, none of which are especially revealing about the band’s breakup. For the most part, they suggest that the members had outgrown what brought them together, and it was time to move on. Readers primarily interested in the group’s music, what inspired individual songs, and how the music was performed and recorded are likely to be disappointed. However, for those interested in the interplay of personalities and the ambience of the Beatles era, this is a treasure trove.

A rich collection of Beatles material, reported by those closest to the band during its heyday.