The Beatles Down Under: The 1964 Australia and New Zealand Tour (Rock and Roll Remembrances Series, No 7)

Rating:
Summary: THE GREAT UNTOLD STORY
Review: In all the books written about The Beatles, the Australian tour of July 1964 is usually dismissed with the three word reference "Far East Tour". This book was the first attempt to redress that injustice. Quite simply, the Beatles tour turned Australia upside down. In Adelaide 600,000 people gathered outside the hotel where they were staying (Adelaide had a population of 1.4 million). John Lennon told reporters "This is the greatest reception we've had anywhere in the world". In this book, acclaimed rock historian Glenn A. Baker chronicles the tour, and the visit to New Zealand. There is one glaring inaccuracy - it is claimed that the group slept with hundreds of young girls during the tour. This has been discredited by Ringo and George. Anybody familiar with the group would know that there was simply no time for this type of funny business, besides Brian Epstein kept them on a tight reign and wouldn't have allowed it. This part was probably included to get some cheap headlines in Australia's more salacious tabloids. One interesting section is the information on Jimmy Nicol, the stand-in drummer who filled in for Ringo during the first half of the tour. There is also the devastating photo showing Nicol sitting in a deserted airport terminal waiting for the flight back to England. All in all this book is a must for any serious Beatle afficionado. It gives a stark illustration of a country still coming to grips with not only a rock tour but a whole social phenomenon.

Rating:
Summary: THE GREAT UNTOLD STORY
Review: In all the books written about The Beatles, the Australian tour of July 1964 is usually dismissed with the three word reference "Far East Tour". This book was the first attempt to redress that injustice. Quite simply, the Beatles tour turned Australia upside down. In Adelaide 600,000 people gathered outside the hotel where they were staying (Adelaide had a population of 1.4 million). John Lennon told reporters "This is the greatest reception we've had anywhere in the world". In this book, acclaimed rock historian Glenn A. Baker chronicles the tour, and the visit to New Zealand. There is one glaring inaccuracy - it is claimed that the group slept with hundreds of young girls during the tour. This has been discredited by Ringo and George. Anybody familiar with the group would know that there was simply no time for this type of funny business, besides Brian Epstein kept them on a tight reign and wouldn't have allowed it. This part was probably included to get some cheap headlines in Australia's more salacious tabloids. One interesting section is the information on Jimmy Nicol, the stand-in drummer who filled in for Ringo during the first half of the tour. There is also the devastating photo showing Nicol sitting in a deserted airport terminal waiting for the flight back to England. All in all this book is a must for any serious Beatle afficionado. It gives a stark illustration of a country still coming to grips with not only a rock tour but a whole social phenomenon.