Quarrymen

Rating:
Summary: The Pre-Fabs
Review: Anyone who has ever read Hunter Davies' authorized 1968 biography of The Beatles (-and it's worth noting that its 1996 revised edition contains many very good pages of added preface, additional writing on 1968-1996, and appendices-) knows that he is a good writer, not just another silly fan writing another Beatles book. The Quarrymen is the story of John Lennon's first band told with interviews with all of the other musicians as we follow their lives, as well as those of John and later Quarrymen Paul and George, over the many years. The regrouped Quarrymen were quite the rage at 90's Beatles conventions around the world and the book tells that tale too. Normal Liverpudlian blokes whose lives were brushed by fame and passed by all those years ago. Only Pete Shotton, Lennon's best friend from childhood, kept up with the Beatles over the Fab years and this too adds entertainment to his life story. Rosencrantz & Guildenstern to the Fabs, normal folk with normal lives, who just happened to play in Lennon's skiffle band. A fun read for any fan.

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating and fun
Review: Hunter Davies doesn't take the Beatles phenomenon nearly as seriously as most writers, despite the fact that he wrote the only authorized biography of the Fab Four back in the 60s. This book is part biography and part personal memoir by Davies (recalling the times and some of the fibs surrounding the Beatles).

The Quarrymen were John Lennon's skiffle band, the group Paul McCartney went to see on July 6, 1957 (when he first met John) and that Paul and George subsequently joined, which changed everyone's life forever. The book focuses on the original Quarrymen (Rod Davis, Len Garry, Eric Griffiths, Collin Hanton, Pete Shotton and John Lennon) and follows them through to their "reunion" minus John in the 1990s. It is principally interesting for (1) placing the Beatles' phenomenon in the context of the place and times, and (2) illustrating the amount of hysteria that continues to cling to the Beatles' legacy to this day. It is NOT a prequel to Davies' Beatles book, nor is it "essential reading," but it is definitely fun.

Plus, it's interesting to look at the Beatles' vague memories of the Quarrymen in Davies' Beatles book and then to compare those with the vivid memories that the Quarrymen themselves have of their close brush with fame (including the fact that they couldn't afford to have a tape made of their 1958 record (which everyone except Quarryman Duff Lowe, who had it, had forgotten about) -- it cost about one pound more than they could scrape up between them!).

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating and fun
Review: Hunter Davies doesn't take the Beatles phenomenon nearly as seriously as most writers, despite the fact that he wrote the only authorized biography of the Fab Four back in the 60s. This book is part biography and part personal memoir by Davies (recalling the times and some of the fibs surrounding the Beatles).

The Quarrymen were John Lennon's skiffle band, the group Paul McCartney went to see on July 6, 1957 (when he first met John) and that Paul and George subsequently joined, which changed everyone's life forever. The book focuses on the original Quarrymen (Rod Davis, Len Garry, Eric Griffiths, Collin Hanton, Pete Shotton and John Lennon) and follows them through to their "reunion" minus John in the 1990s. It is principally interesting for (1) placing the Beatles' phenomenon in the context of the place and times, and (2) illustrating the amount of hysteria that continues to cling to the Beatles' legacy to this day. It is NOT a prequel to Davies' Beatles book, nor is it "essential reading," but it is definitely fun.

Plus, it's interesting to look at the Beatles' vague memories of the Quarrymen in Davies' Beatles book and then to compare those with the vivid memories that the Quarrymen themselves have of their close brush with fame (including the fact that they couldn't afford to have a tape made of their 1958 record (which everyone except Quarryman Duff Lowe, who had it, had forgotten about) -- it cost about one pound more than they could scrape up between them!).