Beatles Biography by Mark Lewisohn (fifth edition)

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by MilesSmiles, Nov 24, 2013.

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  1. Bill

    Bill Senior Member

    Location:
    Eastern Shore
    Same here, but only one dented corner, which won't show when and if I ever finish these books and put them on a shelf. For what it charges for shipping, it's unconscionable that amazon.uk couldn't spring for some bubble wrap and more box. Bezos, you fantastic bastard!
    Great books, though.
     
  2. mrjinks

    mrjinks Optimistically Challenged

    Location:
    Boise, ID.
    I actually reconsidered on returning my set. Amazon told me they would pay full return shipping and expedite a replacement copy, but I really wanted to start reading over the 4-day weekend, and I just couldn't justify the $60 return (USPS charge) when the next box might show up in WORSE condition! That had happened with the pricey Apple box set (Badfinger, Preston, etc.) and I worried that amazon might cancel my account if I keep sending pricey things back. Plus this is a BOOK, and not MUSIC, so I've gotta be less obsessive about that. Ironically, my damaged set was packed WELL. I suspect the thing was banged up prior to leaving amazon, because the only dented bit was the interior box, which was a sealed box from the publisher (Little Brown).

    Now if my BBC1 set from amazon doesn't arrive in mint condition, we gonna have us a problem!
     
  3. HarvG

    HarvG Senior Member

    Location:
    Chicago Suburbs
    I too received mine within the last few days from Amazon UK, and my slip case box also has one dented corner. Mine also came in a shipping box within a shipping box as mrjinks noted, so while no bubble wrap, it was better protected than I expected. Does seem like Amazon is either getting them that way from the distributor, or if they are getting damaged in Amazon's warehouse before shipping....still happy to finally have them to read!
     
  4. Trixie Jones

    Trixie Jones Raining in my heart

    Location:
    L.A.
    Forgive me if this has already been discussed, but do any of you wonder why this invaluable work is not a NYT bestseller? Do you think the publishers undervalued/underestimated Lewisohn's expertise and importance as a Beatles historian or that Lewisohn himself didn't want to go on major promotional tours? I went to a signing event here in L.A. that was really under-publicized (which I spoke to his lovely wife Anita about). He should have been at Barnes & Noble at The Grove (a major site for book signings) and doing interviews on national tv... not just YouTube stuff for geeks like us. If Keef's autobio was #1 on the NYT Bestsellers list, surely regular folks would be interested in reading a well-researched book on the boys, no?
     
  5. Arnold Grove

    Arnold Grove Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    Here's my take:
    No one (except diehards) wants to read a 900-page book.
    No one (except diehards) would even read a book of any length on the band if it only ends on December 31, 1962.
    And if you do start this book, you'll have to wait another 5-7 years for Volume 2 and then another 5-7 years for Volume 3. No one wants to invest that amount of waiting time (except diehards).
    So no matter how much Mark Lewisohn would have done in promotion, it basically would only have been preaching to the already converted.

    After all 3 volumes are finally published, maybe there will be some type of condensed and combined version of all 3 parts, so you get their whole history in one 600-page edition. And that will be a big seller in the year 2030 or so.

    Arnie
     
  6. Bill

    Bill Senior Member

    Location:
    Eastern Shore
    Reviewed in the NY Times Book Review section today by Tim Riley.
    He likes it!
     
  7. Driver 8

    Driver 8 Senior Member

    Because the average person has zero interest in a thousand page book about the Beatles that doesn't even get to the part of the story where they made the records that the average person remembers?
     
  8. rswitzer

    rswitzer Forum Resident

    Location:
    Golden, CO USA
    A question that I didn't answer reading the book; Did George ever meet Paul's mother? They seem to have known each other while she was alive, but my impression is that they were not good enough friends yet.
     
  9. Gigbag

    Gigbag Forum Resident

  10. Marvin

    Marvin Senior Member

    Either that, or they don't like the cover.
     
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  11. Trixie Jones

    Trixie Jones Raining in my heart

    Location:
    L.A.
    Thanks for the response. All of your reasons make a ton of sense, but what got me thinking was remembering when Keith's autobiography came out and everyone I know was reading it and it made it to #1 on the bestsellers list. A lot of my musically knowledgeable friends don't even know about Lewisohn's book, and though it's 900 pages many have shown a great interest in reading it once I've told them about it. There's a lot of good will out in the general public for the Fabs (the iTunes sales alone are staggering), so I'd think a fair number of casual fans would be interested. At the party I went to last night, I probably sold at least 5 copies for Mark!
     
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  12. Yorick

    Yorick Senior Member

    Location:
    the Netherlands
    An incredible find. Wouldn't the fact that it's EMIDISC indicate that it's not an alternate take from the Decca Sessions (as the seller suggests) but a true EMI outtake? Someone better make a deal before Apple bites.
     
  13. ssmith3046

    ssmith3046 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Arizona desert
    I might be wrong so I hope someone will correct me if I am wrong but I don't think it's mentioned in the book that they met.
     
  14. PhilBorder

    PhilBorder Senior Member

    Location:
    Sheboygan, WI
    I'm about halfway through. Frankly, the first couple hundred pages ranged from fascinating to tedious. But as John, Paul, George and Pete gradually coalesce into the Beatles, a really powerful momentum takes over. Even incidental encounters with Ringo are described with wry portent. The grungy, dangerous crucible of Hamburg, where they became actual musicians, and they learned to project their personalities, is vividly conveyed, as the ground zero of Liverpool's Cavern. He clarifies, as well as it's ever going to be, the Decca-EMI 'rejection'. And he doesn't dance around the Beatles flaws either.

    Regarding the extensively detailed narrative, Lewisohn wrote what he promised - an explanation of what caused these guys, the definitive biography. I won't mind this amount of insightful detail at all when he gets around to, say, 1968.

    I wonder what it was like to be Mike McCartney, or one of Harrison's siblings.
     
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  15. jjh1959

    jjh1959 Senior Member

    Location:
    St. Charles, MO
    Same here. I had Amazon UK ship me another copy, which they did express (at their expense) so i got it in about 3 days. I've got the dented copy up for sale in the classifieds if anyone is interested before I send it back.
     
  16. vinylman

    vinylman Senior Member

    Location:
    Leeds, U.K.


    Never recorded LDD at Abbey Road. There was a demo disc of LDD sold quite a few years ago at Sotheby's but I'm sure it was a 7'' disc.
     
  17. Mine shipped 3 weeks ago. Nothing received although I got two other items from the UK that only took a few days. I just wrote to them.
     
  18. maywitch

    maywitch Forum Resident

    See this is one of the problems of not going very in depth on their childhood, I seem to recall in another book reading that George had met Paul's mom and that his mother's death scared George a little. Maybe scared is the wrong word, but it kind of made him think about the mortality of his own parents a little.
     
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  19. District 97

    District 97 Forum Resident

    I've been lurking on this thread (and some others) with great interest. Now that I've got my account up and running again, I plan to chime in. Firstly though, I just wanted to say that I'd be happy to take a dented version of the extended Tune In off of anyone's hands! PM me if anyone is interested.

    Jonathan
     
  20. steve_miller

    steve_miller Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago,IL
    Can't keep up with this thread. I'm sure someone has already commented that this thread will end up longer than the book, perhaps the ESE edition.

    Found this site while searching the web. I'm sure many of you know the photos.
    I only have the Kindle edition and have not seen many photos referenced in the text, so this site makes for a nice companion for me.

    https://picasaweb.google.com/gabyfiszman5/TheBeatles#
     
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  21. RayS

    RayS A Little Bit Older and a Little Bit Slower

    Location:
    Out of My Element
    The "George feared that his mother might die too" is in "Tune In", although I think it is after Julia's death.
     
  22. Bruce

    Bruce Senior Member

    Location:
    Florida
    Up to page 180 and loving every bit of it.
     
  23. Frank

    Frank Senior Member

    That's correct, and I remember it distinctly because Paul's mother doesn't die in Tune In.:D
     
  24. DrBeatle

    DrBeatle The Rock and Roll Chemist

    Location:
    Midwest via Boston
    In a word, it's too niche.
     
  25. Bill

    Bill Senior Member

    Location:
    Eastern Shore
    I agree. We all believe that this is like the tablets from Mt. Sinai (except for the author's unconscionable omission of any reference to Paul as the fourth Beatle: the bass player, I am told) but, face it, we're all a little bent here.
     
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