All you need is love : the Beatles in their own words /

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

An oral history of The Beatles from never-before-seen interviews.

All You Need Is Love is a groundbreaking oral history of the one of the most enduring musical acts of all time. The material is comprised of intimate interviews with Paul McCartney, Yoko Ono, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, their families, friends and business associates that were conducted by Beatles intimate Peter Brown and author Steven Gaines in 1980-1981 during the preparation of their international bestseller, The Love You Make , which spent four months on the New York Times bestseller list in 1983 and remains the biggest selling biography worldwide about the Beatles

Only a small portion of the contents of these transcribed interviews have ever been revealed. The interviews are unique and candid. The information, stories, and experiences, and the authority of the people who relate to them, have historic value. No collection like this can ever be assembled again.

In addition to interviews with Paul, Yoko, Ringo and George, Brown and Gaines also include interviews from ex-wives Cynthia Lennon, Pattie Harrison Clapton, and Maureen Starkey, as well as the major social and business figures of the Beatles' inner circle. Among other sought-after information the interviews contribute definitively as to why the Beatles broke up.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Introduction (1)
• Brian Epstein (15)
• Paul McCartney (17)
• Alistair Taylor (47)
• Queenie Epstein (52)
• Nat Weiss (58)
• Alistair Taylor on Brian's Death (62)
• Peter Brown on Brian's Death (65)
• Allan Williams (66)
• Bob Wooler (70)
• Dick James (73)
• Geoffrey Ellis (77)
• Peter Brown on Manila (84)
• Vic Lewis (89)
• George Harrison (93)
• Alexis Mardas (107)
• Peter Brown on Maharishi (119)
• Pattie Boyd Harrison Clapton and Jenny Boyd Fleetwood (120)
• Neil Aspinall (130)
• David Puttnam (142)
• Martin Polden (149)
• Peter Brown on Apple (156)
• Alistair Taylor on Apple (158)
• Derek Taylor (160)
• Peter Brown on "Hey Jude" (171)
• Robert Fraser (174)
• Ray Connolly (181)
• John Dunbar (190)
• Cynthia Lennon Twist (198)
• Ron Kass on Yoko Ono (208)
• Yoko Ono (209)
• May Pang (230)
• Peter Brown on Allen Klein (238)
• Dick James on Northern Songs (240)
• Ron Kass (246)
• John Eastman (255)
• Alistair Taylor on Allen Klein Having Him Fired (263)
• Allen Klein (265)
• Maureen Starkey (290)
• Ringo Starr (301)
• Afterword (321)
• Acknowledgments (323)
• Index (325)

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

Forty years after The Love You Make, Brown, former COO of Apple Corps, the Beatles' media corporation, and journalist Gaines reunite for a revealing oral history of the forces that spurred the band's breakup, which was first announced in 1970. Drawing from a trove of never before published conversations with each band member, except for John Lennon, and their intimates, the account touches on shifty characters within the group's orbit, including "Magic" Alexis Mardas, who almost talked the Beatles into buying four Greek islands; Lennon's descent into heroin addiction; and the fraying friendship between Paul McCartney and Lennon as the two fought over shares in the Beatles' business ventures. There are also plenty of tender moments, including Yoko Ono's musings on the genesis of her relationship with Lennon while he was still married to his first wife, Cynthia; their love was "bigger than both of us," Ono claims. Taken together, the interview transcripts reveal that "the time had come" for the band's split: "Realistically, how long could they go on being a Beatle and feel creatively satisfied?" Brown and Gaines write. Nearly all the interviews were conducted in the two months before Lennon's 1980 murder, casting a melancholy shadow over his estrangement from McCartney, who seemed to have been softening toward his former bandmate ("I still do feel for the guy.... I still see that he thinks he's the one who was hurt"). Beatles fans will be impatient to get their hands on this. (Apr.)

Kirkus Book Review

A compilation of previously unpublished interviews with members of the Beatles and those around them. In the introduction, Brown notes that he and Gaines conducted these interviews for their previous book, The Love You Make--which makes them, in a sense, outtakes from that book, with comments by the authors. Most of them took place in the fall of 1980, shortly before John Lennon was murdered. (An interview with Yoko Ono occurred a few months after Lennon's death.) Much of the material focuses on the business of the Beatles: their managers Brian Epstein and Allen Klein, Apple Records, and the pressures that led to the band's eventual breakup. Epstein was originally a record store manager who took them on in their Liverpool days and managed them as they became the most famous band in the world. Klein came on board after Epstein's death, apparently on the urging of Lennon and Ono; he was seen by many around the band as a negative force, mainly interested in lining his own pockets. Several of the subjects comment on the Beatles' visit to the Indian headquarters of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, which ultimately led all of them except Harrison to reject the guru's teachings. The book contains interviews with George Harrison, Paul McCartney, and Ringo Starr, none of which are especially revealing about the band's breakup. For the most part, they suggest that the members had outgrown what brought them together, and it was time to move on. Readers primarily interested in the group's music, what inspired individual songs, and how the music was performed and recorded are likely to be disappointed. However, for those interested in the interplay of personalities and the ambience of the Beatles era, this is a treasure trove. A rich collection of Beatles material, reported by those closest to the band during its heyday. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Author notes provided by Syndetics

PETER BROWN is the former COO of Apple Corp, the Beatles' financial empire. He's been a Beatles intimate since their earliest days in Liverpool. Their passports were locked in his desk drawer. He was best man at John and Yoko's wedding, he introduced Paul to Linda Eastman, and perhaps the most charming of his credentials is that he's the only real person ever mentioned in a Beatles song, "Peter Brown called to say, you can make it okay, you can marry in Gibraltar near Spain," from the "Ballad of John and Yoko." Mr. Brown is now chairman of the international public relations firm of BLJ Worldwide.

STEVEN GAINES is the New York Times bestselling author of Philistines at the Hedgerow: Passion and Property in the Hamptons and The Love You Make: An Insider's Story of the Beatles (with Peter Brown). His journalism has appeared in Vanity Fair , the New York Times , and New York magazine, where he was a contributing editor for 12 years. Mr. Gaines is the co-founder and a past vice-chairman of the Hamptons International Film Festival.