The Beatles : The True Beginnings

Rating:
Summary: invaluable piece of history!
Review: as the title refers, this book is an invaluable piece of history. a must for any beatles fan, a treat for any music fan! the book is visually beautiful and roag best has a real talent as a writer. his idea to alternate the text with his words followed by quotes from those who lived the experience, make the history come alive even more.

Rating:
Summary: invaluable piece of history!
Review: as the title refers, this book is an invaluable piece of history. a must for any beatles fan, a treat for any music fan! the book is visually beautiful and roag best has a real talent as a writer. his idea to alternate the text with his words followed by quotes from those who lived the experience, make the history come alive even more.

Rating:
Summary: A Dream Book
Review: I love this book! Makes me want to fly to Liverpool now and visit. Pete Best, who was drummer for the Beatles before they kicked him out with no explanation, gives us a fabulous treat. His mother ran the Casbah Club in Liverpool in the family home's basement. After Pete was booted out, the club sort of died down and was closed. It remained sealed up for many, many years, until it was opened. Original murals done by the Beatles still on the walls, microphones, and other items were found, and the club reopened to people who wish to come and see the only remaining original club, with even the original walls! Let the Cavern try to claim that! Color photos, inside stories, more make this a sensational book. Beatle fans, Merseybeat fans, music historians, Scousers, etc...BUY IT!

Rating:
Summary: Your Casbah Coffee Club souvenir programme....
Review: No other group in rock and roll has seen their history explored, literally dissected, as thoroughly as that of the Beatles. Niche titles continue to be published that spotlight a particular period or topic, as here, where focus is played in equal parts on the history of the Casbah Coffee Club and on its founder, Mona Best, mother of Pete, Rory and Roag. The authors clearly wish the reader to be left with the impression that Mona was (rightly) "the Mother of Mersey Beat."

Roag's text starts out well, and the Fab scholar will glean many new insights into the early history of the Best family and of the Casbah Club's creation, the venue where John, Paul and George reformed as the Quarry Men in August 1959, enjoying a seven-week Saturday night residency that was the launching pad to everything that would follow. Once the Beatles acquire Pete as their drummer and move on to Hamburg, the narrative quickly wanes into a familiar procession of facts that the studied fan knows forwards and back from other books (notably the two previously co-written by Pete). "Some of the best stories (X-rated) we couldn't put in print," note the Bests on their Acknowledgments page, "but they were still great to hear." Doubtless they were. I would've liked to have heard them - they certainly would've added much needed character and period flavour to the text. This was a missed opportunity to chronicle not just the Beatles' appearances (which amounted to just over forty), but of the other groups who played there as well.

"True Beginnings" is a slick book, the majority of its 200 pages given over to dozens of one and two-page spreads of period photographs, vintage memorabilia and club interior shots, all photographed to perfection by Sandro Sodano, whose CV includes ads for corporate clients like Calvin Klein, Diet Coke, Sony and Smirnoff. But really, a two-page layout devoted to a Casbah microphone? One almost expects to see a caption like "Absolut Best" or "Fab Obsession." The photos do an admirable job of padding the text, but I can't help but come away viewing the end product as a very elaborate program that doubtless sells very well in the Casbah's gift shop. For those of us who can't make it to Liverpool to tour this important Beatles venue, Sodano's photos are the next best thing. Beatle scholars and hard core fans will want to make space for this in their library. Casual fans may opt to give this a pass.

Rating:
Summary: Your Casbah Coffee Club souvenir programme....
Review: No other group in rock and roll has seen their history explored, literally dissected, as throughly as that of the Beatles. Niche titles continue to be published that spotlight a particular period or topic, as here, where focus is played in equal parts on the history of the Casbah Coffee Club and on its founder, Mona Best, mother of Pete, Rory and Roag. The authors clearly wish the reader to be left with the impression that Mona was (rightly) "the Mother of Mersey Beat." Roag's text starts out well, and the Fab scholar will glean many new insights into the early history of the Best family and of the Casbah Club's creation, the venue where John, Paul and George reformed as the Quarry Men in August 1959, enjoying a seven-week Saturday night residency that was the launching pad to everything that would follow. Once the Beatles acquire Pete as their drummer and move on to Hamburg, the narrative quickly wanes into a familiar procession of facts that the studied fan knows forwards and back from other books (notably the two previously co-written by Pete). "Some of the best stories (X-rated) we couldn't put in print," note the Bests on their Acknowledgments page, "but they were still great to hear." Doubtless they were. I would've liked to have heard them - they certainly would've added much needed character and period flavour to the text. This was a missed opportunity to chronicle not just the Beatles' appearances (which amounted to just over forty), but of the other groups who played there as well. "True Beginnings" is a very slick book, the majority of its 200 pages given over to dozens of one and two-page spreads of period photographs, vintage memorabilia and club interior shots, all photographed to perfection by Sandro Sodano, whose CV includes ads for corporate clients like Calvin Klein, Diet Coke, Sony and Smirnoff. But really, a two-page layout devoted to a Casbah microphone? One almost expects to see a caption like "Absolut Best" or "Fab Obsession." The photos do an admirable job of padding the text, but I can't help but come away viewing the end product as a very elaborate program that doubtless sells very well in the Casbah's gift shop. For those of us who can't make it to Liverpool to tour this important Beatles venue, Sodano's photos are the next best thing. Beatle scholars and hard core fans will want to make space for this in their library. Casual fans may opt to give this a pass.

Rating:
Summary: Great combo of art and history
Review: The Beatles: True Beginnings is the latest installment in the ever-growing genre of Beatles histories and essential collectibles for diehard fans. Where some of these, though, seem like quick cash grabs, this book is truly an incedible document of the Beatles early years at the Casbah Coffee Club in Liverpool.

Filled with hundreds of beautiful archival photos of the lads and brand new, full-colour arts shots of memorabilia and the club's interior, The Beatles: True Beginnings is the authoritative work on the club that launched the Mersey Beat.

For the first time in forty years, Beatles fans can finally get an inside look at the club where the Beatles became the world's greatest rock band. Originally started in 1959 by Mona Best (mother of former Beatles drummer Pete Best), the Casbah Coffee Club was an underground rock club in the heart of Liverpool where everyone who was anyone went to see the city's greatest bands.

Written by the Best family, this new book is both the story of a remarkable woman and a celebration of forty years of Beatles history, from their earliest days as The Quarrymen up to their crowning as the kings of rock. Alternating between illustrated narrative and beautifully shot, full-colour art photographs, The Beatles: True Beginnings is an essential part of any Beatles fan's library.

Rating:
Summary: Neil Aspinall's son with Mona Best
Review: The story behind this book is one of the secrets in the Beatles tale. Neil Aspinall, who still works for the Beatles as director of Apple Corps, looking after their legacy and business interests, classmate of Paul McCartney's at the Liverpool Institute, was Pete Best's good friend. When the band needed someone to help them move their equipment from gig to gig, Neil was hired because he had a car. Throughout the band's story, Neil was the road manager.

Neil lived with Pete's family for a while in the early years. He had an affair with Pete and brother Rory's hip, relatively young, Indian mother, Mona. They had a child together, Roag.

When Pete was tossed out of the Beatles, he told Neil to choose between the job with the band and his living with the Best family. Neil chose the Beatles. He was not allowed to see his son grow up.

This is that son's book.

Rating:
Summary: Great book but...
Review: This is an outstanding book. Until recently I was like many others educated on the Beatles "Post Ed Sullivan". It wasn't until recently that I began surfing Amazon.com for another book besides Anthology to learn something new about the FAB FOUR. I purchased two books: The Beatles True Beginnings and more recently THE BIRTH OF THE BEATLES, by Sam Leach. This book is well written and provides an insight into the group that few authors have. I have only given this book four stars because THE BIRTH OF THE BEATLES, by Sam Leach is so much better. Not only was Sam Leach the Beatles first major Promoter (before losing them to Brian Epstein) but he is much more objective in his observations and his book places you into the "Beat scene" of 1960-1962 Liverpool with such force that after reading a chapter it leaves you exhasuted and wanting more!

Rating:
Summary: Great book but...
Review: This is an outstanding book. Until recently I was like many others educated on the Beatles "Post Ed Sullivan". It wasn't until recently that I began surfing Amazon.com for another book besides Anthology to learn something new about the FAB FOUR. I purchased two books: The Beatles True Beginnings and more recently THE BIRTH OF THE BEATLES, by Sam Leach. This book is well written and provides an insight into the group that few authors have. I have only given this book four stars because THE BIRTH OF THE BEATLES, by Sam Leach is so much better. Not only was Sam Leach the Beatles first major Promoter (before losing them to Brian Epstein) but he is much more objective in his observations and his book places you into the "Beat scene" of 1960-1962 Liverpool with such force that after reading a chapter it leaves you exhasuted and wanting more!

Rating:
Summary: An Unfocused Book with Two Slender Ideas
Review: Will any true Beatles fan ever admit that there is no need for any further information regarding the Fab Four? Absolutely not --- the strong popularity of THE BEATLES ANTHOLOGY is evidence enough that a voracious audience still exists for Beatles lore in all shapes and sizes.

THE BEATLES: THE TRUE BEGINNINGS really encompasses two book ideas: the Merseybeat music scene in Liverpool from which the Beatles developed, and Pete Best's experiences as an early Beatle. Either of these ideas, developed fully, would make interesting reading. As they are, however, two slender ideas are crammed into one unfocused book with big pictures and sparse text. Even so, I get the impression that this book was a stretch --- does any fan, no matter how obsessive, really require a picture of the case in which Pete Best carried his drums? How about a shot of the spare guitar strings he found inside?

A prominent outpost of the Merseybeat scene was Mrs. Best's Casbah Coffee Club, owned and operated by Pete Best's mother, Mona Best. This book is in large part a tribute to the remarkable Mona Best from her sons --- Roag, Pete, and Rory. Mrs. Best pawned her jewelry, placed a bet on a horse, and won the money to buy Number Eight Haymans Green, a giant house whose cellars were transformed into the Casbah when the Best boys discovered rock-and-roll and needed a place to perform and listen to music. The Beatles first performed at the Casbah as the Quarrymen. They played to a crowd of 1,500 and received three pounds as payment.

You probably know how the story goes. The Beatles were a huge success and got a gig playing in Hamburg, Germany where they endured a horrible, grueling performance schedule and living conditions like something from a Dickens novel (assuming Dickens might ever have written about a German red-light district). In short, the Hamburg experience was destined to make or break the Beatles. It made the Beatles, but Pete Best was not invited to continue their success.

Is the Best family bitter? Maybe a little; it is their theory that Pete Best was simply so much better looking that he was a liability to the other band members. Also, the title THE TRUE BEGINNINGS seems to imply that they are setting the record straight, but there isn't very much new information here and it's unlikely to change anyone's mind about the Beatles as individuals or as a cultural phenomenon.

--- Reviewed by Colleen Quinn