Review - "Shake It Up Beverly" fun Beatle Fiction

SHAKE IT UP BEVERLEY

Suzan Holder.
One More Chapter Publications.
ISBN 9780008522087.
£8.99 

The first novel by Suzan Holder is about Beverley Wilson, Beatles fan and a widow with three children.

She lives in Paul McCartney’s former childhood home in the suburbs of Liverpool (not Forthlin Road I should add).

After many years as a widow, she decides to approach a dating agency and “Get Back” to life with a partner.

There are many disastrous dates, some of which are particularly funny to read.

There are lots of Beatle song references in the book “I Should Have Known Better” she says after one disastrous date. After many dates, she meets a fellow Beatle fan called Scott. He reignites her love for The Fab Four.

It sets her off on a journey to find her mother, who she had thought was her elder sister as a child and had been a girlfriend of Ringo Starr. Her friend Tanya had met Paul McCartney a couple of times through her work, but nothing could prepare her when Paul himself turns up at her home. Paul helps her come to terms with the press who are camped outside her home following a piece on the local news.

The story is very well written, easy to follow, romantic and humorous.

Will she find love? Will she find her mum?

You will have to read it to find out.

We don’t normally review novels, but this one is worthy of a review.

~Ernie Sutton.

Review: Soho Hustle by Gordon Lewis

 Gordon Lewis- self published

ISBN 9788428504316

£12.95

Available on Amazon, and Kindle.

https://www.sohohustle.com/

 

The story is set in 1980s London.

Still a great hub for the music scene Cyril Gold has an office in Soho. Time is running out for him. The bills are building up and there is no money coming in.

Cyril is a distant relative of Brian Epstein, who built a vast music empire with stars from Liverpool in the 1960s. Cyril wants to emulate Brian and build a large empire of music stars. However, no one is coming through the door.

Working as a DJ at weekends to try and make ends meet.

His luck is about to change when Roxy goes to his office. Suddenly he’s making money and taking on more artists. Meanwhile Roxy is struggling to deal with her overnight success and falls into the drug scene.

Cyril has to use all his skills and keep his nerve to keep his empire together.

Whilst not a book about The Beatles, and the only reference is to Brian Epstein (the main characters a distant relative), it is a very good read and captures what the 1980s music scene was about in London.

Very well written, with each chapter making reference to various songs from the 80s.

If you want to know what the music business was about in the 1980s, just read this book.

~Ernie Sutton.

 

 

 

Review: GET BACK-THE EXTRAORDINARY ADVENTURES OF DESMOND JONES

GET BACK-THE EXTRAORDINARY ADVENTURES OF DESMOND JONES

By Michael Leavy.

ISBN 9798839469068

£8.99 Available on Amazon. (Search Beatles Michael Leavy).

 

This new novel combines fact with fiction.

The book centres around the character Desmond Jones (not the same Desmond as in the song ‘Ob-La-Di-Ob-La-Da), who discovers a time travel device taking him back in time to places where he can visit The Beatles.

The book starts in 1980 with Desmond at Bath University where he meets a Stevie Nicks (Fleetwood Mac) lookalike called Molly!

Desmond loves The Beatles and chats to Molly on their first date about them and how he hoped they would re-unite. Molly talks about global warming. They continue to date for a while before Molly leaves which breaks Desmond’s heart.

We then move forward to the year 2000 where Desmond and his brother look at The Beatles Anthology book. Michael isn’t that keen!

Desmond is then off on his adventures after finding a time machine.

He ends up in Hamburg in 1960 and meets The Beatles. The chapters move between current day (where his friends and family initially wonder where Desmond is) to where he has travelled to back in time.

The time machine brings him back to the current day, before he is off again with more Beatle adventures, ending up at Shea Stadium, Abbey Road Studios, Tittenhurst Park and more. The scene is dependant on what music is playing at the time.

Molly re-appears as a time traveling agent who has to ensure that Desmond, or any time travellers, do not change the course of history.

Brilliantly written. For those who like The Beatles, a bit of sci-fi and who generally like interesting stories, this book is for you.

I could go on, but don’t want to spoil this for our readers.

 

~Ernie Sutton

Review of BEAT ARCHIV 30th ANNIVERSARY SINGLE

 BEAT ARCHIV 30^th ANNIVERSARY SINGLE

This single has been kindly sent to us by Beat Archiv, in Germany who are celebrating their thirtieth anniversary.

They have had a long association with artists connected to The Beatles, such as Klaus Voormann, Tony Sheridan, and The Quarrymen.

This one-sided single was recorded in Germany on 2 October 2020 and features Chas Newby on bass and Rod Davis on guitar. They are joined by Edmund Thielow and Karsten Stewart on washboard and drums to play ‘Lost John.’ The single was recorded live at Stadttheater, Glauchau, Germany.

The recording is excellent quality with Rod in excellent voice.

The song was recorded just six days before what would have been John Lennon’s 80^th birthday and one I think John would have enjoyed very much.

The single itself is available as a limited edition of 250 copies and released on 10 January 2022.

Check out Beat Archiv at www.beatarchivgc.de

 

~Ernie Sutton

Yellow Submarine Fans - this book is for you!

IT’S ALL IN THE MIND
Inside The Beatles’ Yellow Submarine – vol.2

By Robert R. Hieronimus, PHD., and Laura E. Cortner
Published 2021- Hieronimus & Co., Inc. Publications
Price: UK £38.89
ISBN: 978-0-9675363-0-9

This book is one of the more unusual books I’ve reviewed and is a very interesting read.  First, although it is volume two, you don’t have to have read volume one.  At the beginning of the book, the author explains that several events happened that ended up providing enough material to write volume 2.  First, the publisher of volume one, insisted on removing some of the more interpretive sections preferring that the book stick to facts rather than opinions.  Secondly, although the authors interviewed everyone they could find who was connected with the film for the first volume, after publication, other artists reached out wanting to share their thoughts and stories.

So if you are looking for a complete history of the film, read volume one.  If you are looking for the layered stories beneath that history, the theories of the authors about underlying themes that are there even though probably not intentionally, and more personal anecdotes from artists who worked on the actual film about the process, this is the book to read.

Because of how the chapters are designed, you don’t have to read the book in order or even every chapter.  It is a bit like a meal on menu.  Choose what you are in the mood for on a given day.  There are 15 chapters but here are few to show you how varied they are:

·         Chapter two: A Most Unusual Plot Summary which is Robert Hieronimus’ thoughts on the unintentional meanings in the plot.

·         Chapter 5: Hijinx on the High Seas which was mostly written by Cam Ford, one of the film’s artists, detailing the pranks and other shenanigans that occurred throughout the film’s development.

·         Chapter 13: George Martin: the quiet trailblazer in which the authors explain how George Martin was so influential and helpful in their quest to document the film.

The book is peppered with photos and behind the scenes imagery.  I honestly think this book has to be read slowly as courses to be savored as it is so calorific with facts and content that it is not something I could sit down and digest in one long read.

I would recommend this for the fan who has everything already and loves Yellow Submarine.

The book is available for distribution through Ingram so if you ask your local bookstore or library to order it for you, they can do that.  Or direct sale from their website www.yellowsubmarinebook.com which comes with bonuses. Or from amazon.com in both a color and a cheaper black and white edition.  ALL TOGETHER NOW!

~ Michele Copp

Review - The Beatles Era by Peter Eijgenhuijsen

 

The Beatles Era

A Quest for the Secret of The Beatles

By Peter Eijgenhuijsen

Published January 2021

Price: UK £5.88 US $7.99 

ISBN-13: 979-8563229259 

This enjoyable book is not long, just 104 pages, but I found it an interesting read. Really, it is a collection of five essays about the Beatles broken down by five eras defined by the author.

The first, “Before the Beatles”, explores the forces that came together to create the magic that produced The Beatles and their success. Some of this has been written about before, but I found Peter’s take on it a bit broader than usual incorporating facts about the vinyl record production process, for example, and its impact on their rise to fame.

The second section, “The Beatles Years”, focuses on more subtle impact The Beatles had on the world. As the author states, in the first paragraph, there are many other books that will tell you the facts and timelines about The Beatles from their time in Germany to their breakup. In this section he explores impacts of their fame on other artists, album cover imagery, religion and more.

The next two sections cover the solo careers of the Beatles broken into “The Solo Years” and “The Reduced Solo Years.” In these chapters the author attempts to determine if The Beatles maintained the same level of creativity as solo artists or was the magic of the foursome more than the sum of the parts. It also touches on the fact that despite the fact that they broke up years ago, the have somehow become bigger rather than fade away.

The final section is titled “After the Beatles”, and interestingly states that the “after” has not yet begun. Interest in The Beatles is still huge and with Paul and Ringo still producing great music 5o years later, they are still huge. He wonders will the after period happen gradually as the remaining two Beatles age or will it begin suddenly where there are no more Beatles left to make new music?

I’ve deliberately not given away too much since the book is not long. This is a wonderful book to sit down with on a rainy day that will get you asking yourself questions. It would be a great book for a book club discussion as it poses great questions for debate, rather than just detailing timelines and documenting facts that we’ve all read before.

~ Michele Copp

Book Review - Rivals Of The Beatles

 Rivals Of The Beatles

MHO Press - Hardback - £30.00

by Martin Orkin

Only available direct from the author at https://rivalsofthebeatles.com/

With probably well over 2000 books published about The Beatles since 1962 (not even allowing for those published in other languages) do we need yet another book about them?  Maybe, maybe not.  But Rivals Of The Beatles is not the story of The Beatles as such.  It is the story of some of the other groups who were affected by them along the way.  All these acts in one way or another were influenced by, or owed a debt to, The Beatles.

Rivals Of The Beatles is an excellent piece of work, and would be a worthwhile addition to the libraries of Beatles fans.  It is interesting and well written and, although it contains a lot of information, Rivals Of The Beatles is a highly entertaining read.

Martin Orkin has always loved 1960s music and has a large record collection, accumulated since 1962 (when he was nearly a teenager!).  Following his retirement in 2010 from a small bank based in the City of London, Martin turned to his love of 1960s music.  A few years later, he came up with the idea of this book, and he has spent the last 4 years writing it.

Martin’s book (a weighty tome of 808 pages) tells the stories, one chapter each, of 20 of the groups who were around at the same time as The Beatles in the 1960s, some of them famous, some more obscure.  But additionally, and the ‘glue’ which holds the book together, is that he tries to relate each group’s story to that of The Beatles, and to show The Beatles’ big influences on others, and indeed the help they gave some of the acts.

He has attempted, through variety, to keep things interesting, so the deeply knowledgeable reader will still find something to challenge them beyond the more obvious names like The Rolling Stones, The Beach Boys and The Monkees. The Mothers Of Invention?  The Grass Roots?  He has endeavoured to make a case for each of them.  In his Preface, Martin tries to encapsulate some of the magic that the Fab Four shared with us all.

Rivals Of The Beatles was self-published on 15 April 2021, and is available initially as a hardback in a limited edition of 500 numbered and signed copies from Martin’s dedicated website www.rivalsofthebeatles.com.  This is the only place from which the book can be purchased.

There are some controversial views expressed in places in Rivals Of The Beatles, but throughout the book they are the author’s true opinions, based entirely on his love for the music and the era.

~ Reviewed by Peter Sims

Peter is a contributor and moderator at www.45worlds.com as JPGR&B and is currently creating an online bibliography of The Beatles