"Beatles '66: The Revolutionary Year" by Steve Turner- author interview*

I posted my interview with Steve Turner, author of the new book "Beatles '66," on my Glass Onion Beatles Journal blog. It includes a discussion of when Paul McCartney really tried LSD, among other topics.

Hope you'll have a look.

The Glass Onion Beatles Journal: Interview: Author Steve Turner discusses "Beatles '66" »

 

Very very surprised to find there hasn't been a long anticipation thread about this book.
I've been drooling for it ever since the Amazon preview file was added and heavyweight luminaries including Tony Bramwell, Patti Boyd and Philip Norman have offered up jacket blurb which seems to promise us a classic addition to the canon.

For me, Steve Turner's books have always been workmanlike and satisfying, he being a guy who seems to have focus sharp enough to warrant different projects in Beatles contexts, to which he's certainly added contribution or consolidation.

This one has contemporary resonance in its general theme, with recent year-focus the fad in magazines like Mojo 60's and The History of Rock as well as in two books which set up Turner's approach - Andrew Grant Jackson's 1965 -The Most Revolutionary Year in Music and Jon Savage's 1966 -The Year The Decade Exploded , both of which lead naturally into Turner's Beatles '66: The Revolutionary Year with its tight focus on that period of transformation from touring mop-tops to psychedelic overlords, in all of the detail and context that has been suggested by myriad magazine features but not taken all the way. *drools*

I'm starting up the thread because I was dismayed a couple of days ago that I'd been awaiting the UK publication with bated breath, expecting to buy it this week, but discovering in the shop where I asked for it, that it's not out here til early November.
You Americans though have had it available since Tuesday and not a single review as yet

For those that haven't heard about the book or hadn't been drooled up, here's my snip of the synopsis that's out there:

'Steve Turner slows down the action to investigate in detail the enormous changes that took place in the Beatles’ lives and work during 1966. He looks at the historical events that had an impact on the group, the music they made that in turn profoundly affected the culture around them, and the vision that allowed four young men from Liverpool to transform popular music.'


Now in case this has read as an advert, let me restate that I'm looking for USA people who have READ the thing already to offer up their verdicts!

 

USA Today did a write-up on this over the last few days or so.

 

I've been reading it this week (about half-way through) and am very impressed. It's an extremely well-written, thoroughly researched book. Recommended!

 

Thanks for posting the interview link.

Looks worth seeking out.

 

Very interesting, thank you!

So... if it wasn't about LSD, what was the argument about that made Paul stomp out of the She Said She Said sessions? Hmmm...

 

So how is the book, basically? Very good? I'm interesting how he handles first three months and later half of 66 when Beatles were basically inactive (save for SFF sessions)

 

I'm liking the reviews as they come, including Mike Dow's!
Here's one in Paste:

In Beatles '66, Steve Turner Explores a Revolutionary Year in the Band's Life »

 

Oh and I KNEW there couldn't be zero about this on SHTV.
In fact, there's already an interview about the forthcoming book between SHTV member jfire and the author...

Beatles '66 book - author interview »

 

Nice! I missed that thread. Thanks for the link!

 

Sounds like a damn good read.

 

Found it. Thanks for the heads-up

For The Beatles, 1966 sparked a revolution »

 

So if the story is accurate, Paul first took LSD with Tara Browne, who died in a car crash in December 1966 and is presumed to be the man who 'blew his mind out in a car' in A Day in the Life.

 

I like the cut of this authors jib

 

If Got To Get You Into My Life is about a drug, LSD makes more sense. Especially with Paul's later comments about how profound his LSD experiences were.

 

Never understood how Got to Get You into My Life was about pot - they were all smoking pot regularly during the Help movie, why two albums later write a song about how you need some pot in your life? He'd been there, done that.

On the other hand supposedly during the Revolver sessions John and George would gang up on Paul about his reluctance to try LSD, so I'm not convinced Viv Prince's recollections are accurate, particularly after all this time. I guess we need to wait for Lewisohn's Turn On in ten years or so to find out the definitive story.

 

Turn On " Not as long as that ( I hope).

 

about 1/3 through, so far not bad. Little tidbits I never knew - like the proposed Motown collaboration - and Turner is adept at conveying the constant frenzy of their existence during the year it was starting to get old. It is odd to think that even in 66 some thought (before Revolver) their career was in the final stages because 'We Can Work It Out" only went to #3.

Remarkable how gracefully and astutely they carried themselves. There was no precedent for that type of crushing, omnipresent fame

 

I've read dozens of Beatles-related books - good, great, average, mediocre, poor and excellent. This book by Steve Turner is one of the very best. Do not hesitate to purchase this one. "Beatles '66 - The Revolutionary Year" is magnificent.

 

Seconded. I thought that on first read but then decided I'd have to check after quite a pause.
But I'm doubly sure now that this one will slowly ascend to a status accorded the likes of Revolution In The Head and be a slow seller but never out of print. It's one of those books, too, that will influence musicians because it allows you to visit the period in immersive style. As this was a very rich creative period for them and many others, it's always going to produce new results in those exploring it.

 

I'm almost finished with it and have thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

I hadn't heard of it, but will check my local library catalog. Thanks!

 

How does it compare to Ray Newman's Abracadabra? I have the new Turner book, but have only just started it. I completely enjoyed Newman's book, so looking forward to this one.

 

Well they have similar core and approach on matters Beatle but Turner's is more ambitious and wide-ranging and takes in a bigger field of view than just The Beatles (which is far from a distraction, it brings you back to them knowing why they did things that year).

If you ever read Derek Taylor's It Was Twenty Years Ago Today (1987), which does the same for 1967, you'll recognise it as the possible template for many of these recent 'yearbooks' but nobody has got with it quite as well as Turner.
I'm going to re-read Abracadabra now because you've brought it up but leafing through and recalling an earlier reading, I would say that Turner owes and pays debt before moving it up a gear into something really special and, in that, he surpasses Derek Taylor because you really get a feel for the band as if you're one of them in 1966.

 

Great, thanks very much Klassik. Looking forward to Turner's book.