This is volume one of a planned three of what is expected to be the definitive Beatles biography. Mark Lewinsohn is a master of their music, their lives and clearly, the most qualified person to write their story. In his introduction, he points out the obvious: how they changed the world of pop culture, music and entertainment. But more importantly, their music was masterful, unique, and could only have come from these four bold, brazen, hard working and committed poor young men from Liverpool. Born between July, 1940 and February, 1943, Richy, John, Paul and George were defined by their very similar backgrounds. All lived in a world of bare subsistence that is hard to comprehend. Austerity was a way of life during and after the war. Indoor plumbing was a luxury; clothes were second-hand. Radios were few and cars fewer. All were loved, but for John, it was an aunt and uncle who stood in for his parents. All showed a very early interest in music and virtually no interest in school. All were mesmerized and inspired by the music coming from America. Paul was just 15 when John, just shy of 17, asked him to join his band, the Quarrymen, in the summer of 1957. George joined them the following January. One of the most significant events during their formative years was the death of Julia Lennon in 1958. "John was scarred for life, and more embittered, more cynical, more harsh, more uncompromising, more edgy, more volatile than ever." The band was a loose alliance of shifting personalities lacking equipment, gigs, a bass and a drummer. By the time of a name change to the Beatles in 1960, they were still struggling with jobs and families urging them to get on with their lives. Meanwhile, Richy, now Ringo was the regular drummer for the most popular rock band in Liverpool. They desperately wanted to be musicians, but their efforts to obtain bookings and find a "fuckindrummer" showed their youthful ineptitude and lack of sophistication. At John's insistence, his good friend, Stu Sutcliffe, bought a bass guitar, started to learn to play and became the 4th Beatle. After three groups declined an offer of a two month, 18 pounds per man per week Hamburg gig, they accepted it and had two days to add Pete Best as their drummer. Hamburg was their defining experience - the place they became individual showmen and a band. While performing at the Kaiserkeller, they actually shared the stage, alternating nightly, with Rory and the Hurricanes, Ringo's group. After three months in Germany and endless arguments with their local bar owner, the Beatles were fired and deported to England. As 1961 dawned, they were once again without a clue where they were headed. Back in Liverpool, things were heating up, there was a newly vibrant rock scene, plenty of bookings and a busy few months. They went back to Hamburg, where they solved their bass problem. In love with a local gal and fully aware he was not a musician, Stu moved on. As the most gifted musician in the group, Paul bit the bullet, and bought a left-handed bass guitar. Now George played lead and John rhythm but the drummer problem remained unresolved. Pete wasn't very good and never fit in with the other three. His days as a Beatle were numbered. Playing lunch-time shows and a few nights a week at the Cavern and playing other venues, the Beatles were becoming a Liverpool sensation. They were packing the house, bringing in revenue and were making a better living than they would have as electricians, fasteners, fitters or any of the other apprenticeships their families tried to get them to pursue. A curious young man, bored managing his family's downtown department store but enthralled with its record department, stopped by the Cavern for an afternoon show in Nov. 1961. Within a month, Brian Epstein was their manager and already pursuing record opportunities in London. On March 7, 1962, in Manchester before a live audience, the Brian Epstein version of the Beatles, cleaned up, in custom suits, with mop-top haircuts, recorded three songs that were played on BBC radio the next day. A springtime engagement in Hamburg followed. They returned to England in June after receiving a telegram from Brian - they had a recording contract with EMI. The record arranger George Martin was one of the first Londoners they had ever met. They liked him and he liked them. It was, however their charm and charisma, not their music that grabbed him on June 6th. He and the music business had to adjust. There were soloists, some groups with a frontman and some backers, but there were no groups with three quality guitar payers, all of whom could sing and who wrote their own songs. The only problem was Pete, who EMI immediately concluded could not be used in studio recordings. On August 16, Brian fired Pete and hired Ringo. The Beatles, Brian Epstein, and George Martin - six men who would change the music world - were now on the same team. Love Me Do/ P.S. I Love You, both written by Paul, were released on Oct. 5. Love Me Do rose in the charts, George Martin proposed a Beatles LP, predicted Please Please Me would be a surefire #1 in the new year, their music publisher offered them one-half of the copyright, and they were getting TV and radio air time. Brian Epstein's first year with the Beatle had been magical. However, it was John Lennon who summed it up as 1962 ended: "We were the best fucking group in the goddam world. We thought we were the best in Hamburg and Liverpool - it was just a matter of time before everybody else caught on."
In so many ways, this is an extraordinary book. For Beatles fans who can handle 800+ pages, this is a must read. The amount of information is overwhelming and for some of their teen years, excessive. Lewisohn is an insider, someone who actually worked for them. He is one of the few who has ever listened to the entirety of the tapes at Abbey Road. I cannot wait to see what he has to say about their later years in the studio. He also has an eye on the economics of it all, a side of the rock biographies that I've always thought was missing. His prose style can be flat at times, but this is a masterpiece about four lads from Liverpool who have added so much to all of our lives.
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