Ticket to Ride: Inside the Beatles 1964 & 1965 Tours That Changed the World

Rating:
Summary: The 15th Beatle
Review: A blonde in a low-cut dress presses $50 into Larry Kane's hand. "I will do anything to meet the Beatles," she purrs. "Anything." Kane shoves the money back in her purse, and then scarpers. Just 21, he is lucky enough to be the only US journalist accompanying the Beatles on their tumultuous 1964 US tour, and he is growing up fast.
Nearly 40 years later, the Miami radio news reporter has written an account of the tour and he doesn't seem to have lost that ingénue air he had while witnessing utter mayhem. Maybe it's this charm that persuaded Brian Epstein to extend the invitation to Kane - though the Beatles manager later made a pass at him - because Kane retains a wide-eyed bemusement and naivety in this breathless memoir. Not even a year into Beatlemania "the boys" are already world weary and wise to the tricks of pushy promoters and obsessive fans. If in 1964 Kane was shocked by the fans running onto tarmacs, rushing the stage, invading his bedroom, and crushing a car roof in a Beatles motorcade, he still conveys surprise at the seamier goings-on: the band's fondness for pot once they were introduced to it by Dylan, at the roadie Mal Evans's deftness at procuring appropriate women among the nutters, the jailbait and the prostitutes making themselves available to the band, and at the inner management circle's slickness at avoiding scandal.
Despite all-areas access during the tour, Kane manages to miss (or turn a blind eye) to the "Fellini's Satyricon" described by Lennon. He was trusted then and isn't going to betray that trust now, two dead Beatles and a dead manager later. There's a nudge-nudge hint of Lennon's possible flings with Jayne Mansfield and Joan Baez, and he firmly asserts that any road girlfriends were strictly over the age of consent.
All these years later, Kane still gets asked, "What were they really like?" His verdict: Lennon was outspoken (particularly on Vietnam), Harrison serious but the friendliest, Starr's genial nature masked an inferiority complex, and McCartney's "suspect superficiality" made him a "PR delight".
Compared to classic on-the-road books such as Michael Braun's Love Me Do (re-issued by Penguin) and Robert Greenfield's Stones Touring Party (also recently re-issued), this is poorly written and heavily padded. A CD of Kane's contemporary interviews with the Beatles is, like the text, repetitive and banal: just like much of life on the road, no matter whose tour it is.

Rating:
Summary: Author's Personality Overshadows Book
Review: A moderately interesting book about the 1964 and 1965 U.S. tours. Some cool behind the scenes moments recounted. However, the author's incessant self promotion is obnoxious. I'm certain that the most common words in this book are "Larry Kane", the author's name. He reminds us on every page that he, Larry Kane, had unprecedented and incredible interaction with the Beatles which was even more amazing than the many, many other famous people that he, Larry Kane, had met. It would seem that every interaction he had with the Beatles involved them invoking his name several times. Sure.
Ok, Larry, maybe you've had a sucessful life. Likely your self promoting personality has served you well in broadcasting. You sure don't sound like someone I would want to be stuck on a plane with, though!

Rating:
Summary: Great Beatles Book and CD
Review: I 've read almost every Beatles book out there, and this one ranks at the top. It's one of the few written by an insider, and you get to experience the Beatles N. American tours as real events and not just as hype.
Larry Kane does a great job of capturing the daily madness of the tour, and adds interesting commentary about the sixties himself and in quotes by the band. Unlike all the other reporters, Kane got the Beatles to talk openly about issues besides their hairdos and jellybeans, so you get a sense of what they were really all about. And they way they goofed on Kane is hilarious!
The bonus CD is amazing, filled with Kane's radio interviews with the Beatles in '64-'65. I've never heard any of this material before, and I thought I had heard it all.
Overall, an excellent book and CD package.

Rating:
Summary: An incredible book...and CD!
Review: I 've read almost every Beatles book out there, and this one ranks right at the top. It's one of the few "Beatles books" that give a true insider's account, and for the first time I feel I experienced the Beatles tours of America as real events and not just as hype. Amazingly, the daily reality of the tours was even more outrageous than the hype!
One of the most interesting things about this book is the author's relationship with the Beatles and his interaction with them throughout the tour. When most reporters and deejays were asking the Beatles about their hair and jellybeans, Larry Kane thankfully took another route. He managed to get the Beatles to trust him, and they clearly responded by talking candidly about a range of issues that give you a deeper sense of who they really were.
As a bonus, the CD that comes with this book is a rare treasure, filled with the author's interviews with the Beatles from the '64-'65 tours. I've never heard any of this material before, and I thought I had heard it all when it comes to the Beatles!
If you're a Beatles fan, check this package out.

Rating:
Summary: good book....
Review: I really liked this book. It really held my attention the whole way through. This book is about The Beatles tour of 1964 and 1965 tour and their relationship with radio news guy Larry Kane. Larry built a relationship with The Beatles and even after The Beatles broke up he still stayed in touch and would see them occasionaly. The tour stories are very interesting.
You really get an inside look at how The Beatles really were.

Rating:
Summary: Ticket to Ride Review
Review: In reading this book, I was expecting more stories involving the Beatles. It was full of facts and lots of repetition about each city in the tour. Kane tries to use eloquent language but it comes out as cliches and stories with no relevance to the interest of the reader. There wasn't much new information and the interviews became dull after the first few chapters, because of the recurring information. It seemed that the interviews were just a different way of retelling what Kane wrote about in the previous text.



Rating:
Summary: Behind the Scenes with a PG Rating.
Review: It isn't the Led Zeppelin tell-all, but this great book takes you inside the behind-the-scenes life of being a Beatle (or in their entourage) during their early tours of the U.S.A. New tid-bits about 'the boys', and how hard it was being in that blinding limelight that was Beatlemania!

Rating:
Summary: A cut above the rest
Review: There are some reviewers who missed the main point of Kane's book: The things that happened on the 1964 tour never happened before on the scale that it did - the beyond insane antics of obsessed fans, the hysteria, the mayhem. People here are comparing the stories they've heard over the years of the antics of pop stars to this and what happened then pales in comparison to what goes on today. People have to remember that Kane grew up in the 1950's and what was going on in the early-to-mid 1960's was never seen before (and hasn't been seen since). It was like living in another world and time period.

This all happened in 1964 at a time when people held way more conservative views and the slightest bit of impropriety would have destroyed an act and blackballed them from show business. Singing acts, solo artists and groups, also avoided the taboo subject of politics, especially the undeclared war in Viet Nam.

Larry Kane did a very good job of taking you backstage to the then-longest tour in rock history and bringing you front row and center and explaining the mindset of the obsessed Beatles fan - the women who felt that their favorite Beatle was singing to only them and the men who felt they were related to one of them and were entitled to be in their presence.

This book is a cut above the rest because Kane was actually there and had almost unlimited access to the boys (unlike others, whose books are basically compilations of everything they've ever read about the boys).

Rating:
Summary: Interesting material, but...
Review: While I certainly would not classify myself as a Beatles fanatic, I like millions of other teens who grew up in the 1960's certainly enjoyed their music. It was such a fresh sound and there was just so much energy in the music. As the only American reporter to travel with the group both on the '64 and '65 American tours, Larry Kane was in a unique position to report the inside story of what was really happening on those tours. As some of the other reviewers have observed, it's really too bad he didn't write the book 25 years ago. Memories fade as time passes and I found myself questioning some of his facts as I read the book. Other reviewers have criticized Kanes writing style. I would disagree. This was never intended to be a work of literature. Taken for what it is this is a fun read. I really never knew the particulars of those tours. I had no idea how extensive they were and what cities were on the itinerary. It is certainly much clearer to me now some forty years later why the Beatles stopped touring after 1966. There were so many obstacles to overcome and it had become such a grind. I also enjoyed Larry's one-on-one conversations with each of the Beatles. These were quite revealing to me. I suspect that casual Beatles fans like myself will enjoy this book more than the die hard fans. For those folks this book probably breaks little new ground. I usually read books about far more serious subjects. For me, this was a pleasant diversion and a book I really enjoyed.