Rating: 
Summary: McCartney unusually candid and open.......
Review: John Lennon's untimely death was one of the great tragedies of Paul McCartney's life.Not only did he lose a former best friend and half of the best songwriting team of all time, but the resultant rush to eulogise Lennon was often done at the expense of McCartney, whose own contribution was often trivialised. This is McCartney's version of the history of the Beatles and their music. It is hard to imagine McCartney being insecure about anything, but he certainly seems territorial, protective and sensitive of his own legacy. Perhaps the greatest injustice to McCartney was being inducted to Rock and Roll Hall of fame seven years after Lennon, in spite of being an equal contributor to the Beatles, and having a far more commercially successful solo career. As far as the Lennon McCartney compositions go, there are a few surprises, for instance, he says he wrote the music to 'In My Life' a song which is obviously very Lennon but this actually makes sense. On many of the other Lennon songs he wrote the middle eight or the words of the last verse and vice versa. At times this seems petty, but to be fair he does give Lennon credit on some songs that are obviously strongly McCartney compositions such as the middle sections of Michelle and She's Leaving Home, and a 50/50 credit on I saw her standing there. On Eleanor Rigby he credits Lennon some of the lyrics to the final verse, although in the Anthology documentary he says the song is 100% his. The key to crediting any Lennon McCartney song is he who sung it wrote it or most of it. The most interesting portions of this book are the direct quotations by McCartney about his life, his relationship with John and the other Beatles and his relationship with Linda, and his insights into John and the meaning of many of his songs which are the best I've read. He is surprisingly candid and open, compared to tv interviews where he has rarely allowed interviewers to get behind the McCartney persona. Some of his comments about John are quite touching. The history of how he met Linda, and how their relationship developed is a compelling love story. For instance we get to hear about the death of Paul's mother when he was 14, the tragic death of John's mother the business relationship with Brian Epstein, the Apple fiasco,the wrangling, the naivety of the Beatles in business matters, the loss of ownership of their songs and so forth. As for Mr Miles himself, he is not the world's greatest writer, which is why I only give it 3 stars. The chapter on avantgarde London is the most boring thing I have ever read. He could easily have edited 100 pages out of this book without compromising the content. In addition, he is obviously biased towards McCartney and disses Lennon by act and omission. He zeroes in on McCartney as a painter making him out to be a better artist than Lennon, and making the most pretensious comparisons between McCartney's art and classic painters. He doesn't seem to understand that by undermining Lennon he is also undermining McCartney's credibility. Fortunately, McCartney's own comments are far more respectful, and seemingly objective. In Mr Miles favour, I must say there are very few questions about McCartney that are left unanswered, and in spite of all its obvious flaws this is still the best psychological insight into Paul McCartney and John Lennon that I have read, so I would recommend this book. I would strongly recommend the books by Hunter Davies and Philip Norman.
Rating: 
Summary: Tarmal? You better believe it!
Review: I loved the Beatles. There were the first tarmal rock band, in my opinion. Paul was the most tarmal of them all, and writing is fun.
Rating: 
Summary: A must for Beatles fans
Review: So much has been written about The Beatles over the years and more still about Lennon and McCartney. It's a rare treat, however, to actually read material that is sourced straight from the central characters. This book is a readable and puts the record straight on many of the stories we've heard over the years. It is also gives a very interesting and entertaining account of how both songs and albums have been produced and developed.
Rating:
Summary: Well worth the read
Review: This book was much better than i thought it would be. It's as close as you'll get to a McCartney autobiography. I'm more of a Lennon fan, so there was a lot I didn't know about McCartney's life. There IS new information here. One must give him credit for being so open and honest! His frankness resulted in a much more interesting and revealing piece of work than perhaps the anthology TV series. McCartney covers his personal life and the music equally. Perhaps there are a few factual errors, but this doesn't weaken the book. A few criticisms: he uses percentages when discussing songwriting, which is a bit clinical. He also doesn't cover the pre-fame period too well. I also think Barry Miles could've pushed him to reveal more. Still, this book is one of the most interesting rock biographies I've ever read and as a result I quite like McCartney now...
Rating:
Summary: If you're a fan you'll love it
Review: I admit -- at times it gets a little wordy -- and the Chapter on Avant-Garde London is a yawn. But the explanation of the Beatles break up and the following legal entanglements gave me a new understanding of the situation. And the many direct quotes from Paul were great! The idea that Paul McCartney feels he has to explain himself and his talents is really laughable. After all, in addition to being one of the most prolific songwriters of all times, the man has been knighted! I enjoyed the book; and for a true fan it's a delight.
Rating: 
Summary: Paul McCatney: Many Years from Now
Review: What can I say about a book that has resparked my long dormant interest in the Beatles music and Sir Paul's solo work? I was such a huge fan some 20+ years ago, but I had come to accept the line that Paul's music w/o the Beatles and even w/i the Beatles was silly and light weight. I just thought of it as my guilty little pleasure. This book completely changed my image of the man and his music. First, I am not bothered by the minor factual errors sightee by others here. Maybe in my more ferverant fan days I would have been. Second, it provides a real insight into his music. I always assumed the medlies on his solo albums were a way of recording unfinished songs. But, in the book he talks about making tape loops (and using them on Tomorrow Never Knows) and how he likes to put together very different bits of music and string them together as a whole unit. This knowlege has given me a great deal more appreciation of his solo work (and has lead me to replace the old LPs with CDs with zeal!) Paul has fallen under John's long shadow. Too bad. I don't think even John would appriciate that. He was a great artist and genius and no saint, but the same can be said of Paul. Their magic works in different ways. "And what's wrong with that? I'd like to know..."
Rating: 
Summary: PAUL Did it ALL
Review: I'm very surprized how bamboozled people are by this book. I love this group and always will. However I'm very dismayed at Paul's childishness here. He tells us that he "Did it all" and we are supposed to take his word at face value just because he says it is so. People are unquestionably believing everything he says as gospel. Factual errors aside, and there are many of them, why should we believe everything he is telling us? He writes in a very self serving manner by trying to lessen John's contributions to the group at every turn while continually building himself up. What he is doing is so transparent, I don't understand why more readers can't see through it. He should have left it up to biographers and musical historians to decide what his contributions are. HISTORY will decide Paul--not you! No matter how important you say you are over the rest of the members of your group, history will be the real judge. He is obviously still bothered by John's reputation as an innovator and wants to set the record straight that he, Paul, was the one who was the true genius and great innovator--NOT John.
Rating:
Summary: one og the best books ive ever read
Review: wow, I must say this book is great, its a book that takes a look at all of Pauls life from childhood up to after the beatles, and it has Pauls comments on most of it, almost an auto biography, lots of great moments, I luv it
Rating:
Summary: Very unecessary
Review: Hardly any we didnt know yet. The books mostly a book on Lennon, whose biography by Albert Goldman is by far superior and more objective. We all know by now that Macca was mostly responsible for Revolver and Sgt.Pepper (the two records which are easily hiscreative peek, his white album material was horrible(only 3 good songs out of 12) and, he "forgets" to mention Lennon come-back round then was easily superior to his), while john died the well-knows ego-death. Thanx for reminding us though, Paul.nevertheless maccas claim to be as arty as Lennon doesnt gell completely; none of his songs have the same avant-garde approach of, say, I Am The Walrus or Happiness is A Warm Gun. Not one new, or deeper, insight here. Read Albert Goldmans Lennonbio instead!
Rating:
Summary: Paul's (Way Too) Long and Winding Road
Review: Let me save you the trouble of wading through more than 600 pages of unbearable tedium: "I was the cool one, the avant-garde one. John was out in the suburbs, wasted all the time." For Pete's sake, even McCartney's paintings are held up as far superior to the famous Lennon stick men. It's all a petty bid for hip credibility, and unbecoming of the most talented songwriter in rock history. After so many years, the fan-and-media-created comparisons between McCartney and his late, equally brilliant partner still rankle, obviously. The off-putting agenda might be less noticeable if the book weren't such a colossal bore. If you're looking for page after mind-numbing page about Swinging 60s scenemakers and artists who had absolutely nothing to do with the Beatles, maybe this is for you. Those seeking musical insight, however, should look elsewhere: even the entertaining anecdotes are canceled out by outrageous factual errors ("Eleanor Rigby" as the opening track on Revolver, "I Don't Want To Spoil the Party" and "Little Child" as songs written for Ringo, the wrong birthdate for George. "Yes It Is" as a song on Beatles For Sale) --- an unforgiveable flaw in an authorized book. Any sense of objectivity in this 600-plus page marathon dies in the pen of McCartney's biographer buddy Barry Miles, who gratuitously and irritatingly sneaks his own presence into the proceedings from time to time. But in a book that thrives on pretentious name-dropping and absurd comparisons (Magical Mystery Tour and Jean-Luc Godard? ), you'd hardly notice the liberty being taken anyway. And why would McCartney lend his support to a book that blows off his entire post-Beatles career in 30 pages or so? In the end, it takes some doing to make such a dull book out of such a compelling subject. Paul deserves way better.
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