YOU NEVER GIVE ME YOUR MONEY

 You Never Give Me Your Money: The Beatles after the Breakup, by Peter Doggett, 2012, 386 pgs

Fab four? More like drab four. If you're a fan, this book is sure to take the group down a notch or two on your "greatest bands ever" list. Very in-depth and well-researched, Doggett's focus here is how The Beatles became less of a band and more of a corporate entity--one that they were not really ready to handle, seeing how they had little experience in business to begin with. After Sgt. Peppers, the group's solidarity is starting to fray, mostly due to creative differences, but also due to the fact that three members (minus McCartney) are doing copious amounts of drugs. Lennon seems to lose a sense of self that his best friend Paul cannot fill the void for. As a result, Lennon finds creativity and meaning in his relationship with avant-garde artist Yoko Ono. Towards the official end, the group gets a new manager that McCartney does not want. Egos get petty, insults get personal (and published in tabloids). Subsidiaries of Apple Corps are created, shell companies to help them ease the tax burden and earn more on royalties than they have before. Eventually, the friendship is in such disarray that everyone essentially goes their own way, trying to create solo music and rebuild a singular identity separate from The Beatles--which proves extremely difficult. Their entire lives, the four men are bombarded with questions about reunions. This book also helps to dispel some of the 'John as saint' myths after he was murdered outside the Dakota building where he and Ono had been living. Harrison sort of grew to despise the group, even denying the possibility for new material to be released (until he needed money from the Taxman, of course). I've often thought that they if the would have compromised in 1969--they could have stayed as The Beatles, but just release 4 solo albums all together in one package--sort of like OutKast did with Speakerboxx/The Love Below. It's fun to imagine, but it was not to be. They were the biggest band in the history of pop music, even to this day, but they still could not escape the machinations of money, lawyers and ultimately, themselves. 

JOHN AND PAUL

 John & Paul: A Love Story in Songs by Ian Leslie, © 2025, 448 pgs.

Love the Beatles but never really read a book about them before. This is less a 'Beatles' book and focuses more on the friendship of the chief songwriters, John and Paul. Each chapter is named after one of their songs and talks about what was going on for the group at the time and what the dynamic was between Lennon and McCartney. Lots of good takeaways here, but as close as the two were, they also had a continuous game of trying to out-song the other--John wrote Strawberry Fields, Paul wrote Penny Lane. Paul wrote Yesterday, John wrote In My Life. They were constantly inspiring and feeding off each other, which resulted in them becoming the greatest American songwriting duo since the Gershwin brothers. When you think about it, the amount of time they wrote together and how many hits they produced were unheard of at the time--they single-handedly changed the face of rock and roll and celebrity within a decade--they still hold the record for most number one hits on the Billboard 100. The author is very empathetic to both artists, dismantling some of the misleading myths that came to dominate the press while also detailing their struggles with drugs and depression. At it's core, this is very much a book about male friendships. Really loved this book, well-written and researched--couldn't put it down. 

The Birth of Rock n' Roll

The Birth of Rock n' Roll: The Illustrated Story of Sun Records and the 70 Recordings that Changed the World by Peter Guralnick and Colin Escott, 255 pgs. 

Coffee table books get a bad rap. Most of the time people don't want to carry them around due to their large size, but organized well, they can be works of art unto themselves. This collection focusing on the story of Sun Records in Memphis Tennessee is both alluring for music enthusiasts and historians alike. The authors dive into the very beginnings of the historic studio, with Sam Philips sussing out interesting talent in his hometown, eschewing traditional white sounds for more African-American and rhythm and blues fare. Filled with great, full-page color photos of artists, labels, and insider information, this collection is a great way to flip through and find new (albeit, old) tunes you may not have heard before. A fascinating story offered here is one of what is considered far and wide to be the first rock n' roll song titled Rocket 88 by Jackie Brenston (backed by an up and coming guitarist named Ike Turner). When the group arrived at Sun to record the song, Turner realized the speaker cone in his amplifier had a hole in it, resulting in a distorted, fuzzy, broken-up sound. Turner panicked, thinking they needed to find another amp, but Phillips actually liked the sound the broken speaker cone created. It was different than any other sound he had heard before, so they went ahead and recorded it as is. That distorted sound became a benchmark for every rock n' roll song that would come after. It's a testament to Sam Phillips and his remarkable ear for modernity and the book highlights the studios many offerings to rock n' roll.