Want to learn Something New About the Beatles? You can count on Kevin Roach to guide you there!
Author Kevin Roach and the Beatles. Several wonderful books by the UK author, Kevin Roach have been available for quite some time. I am the proud owner of all of Kevin’s Beatles-related titles and they are all underrated gems in my opinion.
Kevin Roach is an author that I can always be confident that he will be able to find those rare documents that cast a new or different light on events we may have taken for granted in previous publications. I can always be assured of learning something I did not know before about the lives and families of the band that we love so much from that northern English city of Liverpool. Kevin’s books can be found on Amazon and Ebay as well.
A terrific book about John’s mum, Julia.
Julia Lennon
A limited edition title which is now difficult to find. Deals with the mania of Beatlemania!!!
The Beatles and Beatlemania
An excellent book about George that deals with his spiritual roots growing up in Liverpool.
George Harrison
Kevin’s book about Ringo. You will learn a lot of new info about Ringo in this title!
Ringo Starr
A very entertaining title about the McCartney family in Liverpool!
The McCartneys
The one thing I learned from beginning a collection of Kevin’s Beatles-related books, is that once you have one, you will feel compelled to get them all!
As explained in previous feeds, APPLE records through the active minds of those who were part of the setup had many plans and ideas, but alas in this world many of them failed to reach fruition for one reason or another.
Some were just vetos at a late stage, or a United no to proceed. The shame is that many of them are lost forever, but also we must be grateful that some have indeed survived in various forms, and I am pleased to show some here from my archives.
The first three are from a set titled Apple Lost Singles. These were for the U.K. market, and artists such as Badfinger, James Taylor, Mary Hopkin, Mortimer, and Twinkle Ripley, make a rare appearance along with Roger Daltrey, Leo Sayer, Marc Bolan, all of whom recorded at the Savile Row Studios.
The Lost Apple Singles
The Lost UK Apple Singles
The Lost Apple Singles
No 4 and No 5 are CD test pressings of the mono mixes of Abbey Road and the Let it Be albums with EMI Tape Box details. A CD copy of the Revolver test pressings is also included for the record.
Mono Mix of Let It Be
Revolver Test Pressing
No 6 is the planned and projected Capitol single of Please Leave My Kitten Alone from the vetoed Sessions project.
The Beatles Sessions
No 7 is the projected Yellow Submarine EP before it was padded out to Album proportions for January 69 release.
Yellow Submarine EP
Nos 8 and 9 are both original Glynn Johns mixes for the Get Back project, both rejected and held in the can until their resurrection for Let it Be.
The Rejected Get Back Project
The Rejected Get Back Project
Most of these will appear in the next book titled Deeper Inside No. 3, which is planned for next year.
Find out more about the incredible story of Apple Records from Nigel’s book Inside Number 3.
Inside Number Three – The Illustrated History of Apple Records
Inside No3 takes you through that famous door, deep into the minds of all who worked there at Apple Records. This is done also in a very different way. This is not a kiss-and-tell diary, it is through fan adulation and understanding via a personal collection of artifacts and memorabilia that author Nigel Pearce has built up over the last 50 years.
Love reading books put together by Beatles fans as the love of the band comes shining through with their writings. Here are a couple recent examples!!!
Got these great new titles from Charles Rosenay and Michael Ventrella recently, and the books are thoroughly riveting and entertaining!!! Many celebrities give their Top 10 Beatles-related lists along with numerous interesting anecdotes in the Rosenay book! It is so nice to see Charles Rosenay, who I have known for more than 40 years, finally releasing a Beatles book. The other author featured in this post, Michael Ventrella, was involved with the layout of the Top 10 Ten Beatles lists book! Well done guys!
Beatles fans who write these books do so with the primary motive being their lifetime love and appreciation of the band!
The Book of Top 10 Beatles Lists
The Book of Top 10 Beatles Lists
The Beatles on the Charts
Another book recently arrived that fills a much needed niche in the Beatles canon and that is their chart history. The author is Michael Ventrella, and it is only fitting that the all-time most successful entertainment phenomenon in total worldwide record sales should have a book like this to document their historic achievements and accomplishments!
The Beatles on the Charts
The Beatles on the Charts
The Beatles on the Charts
So what is your favourite Beatles song and album? Let me know in the comments?
Buzz
More Great Books on The Beatles at the Beatles Bookstore
The Beatles v The Rolling Stones – THE RIVALRY CONTINUES!!!
In 2023, we have a new Rolling Stones LP, “Hackney Diamonds”, and a new Beatles track, “Now and Then.”
The whirlwind that began in 1964 may have subsided but it has never come to an end. Enjoy Martin Orkin’s new second volume of his sold out limited edition book “Rivals of the Beatles.” Here are the details of Volume 2:
Rivals of The Beatles 2
Rivals of The Beatles 2
Coming very soon: Rivals Of The Beatles 2!!
Rivals Of The Beatles
In early 2021 Martin Orkin self-published his first book, Rivals Of The Beatles in a limited numbered first edition of 500 copies. Martin’s book told the fascinating detailed stories of 20 of the groups who competed with The Beatles during that magical 1960s era. But he also showed the influence that The Beatles had on each of them: groups like The Rolling Stones, The Beach Boys, The Dave Clark Five and The Monkees. Rivals Of The Beatlescame in a glossy, hardbound cover, and contained over 800 pages. These were sewn-in, not glued, to ensure that no pages would ever fall out, no matter how much each copy was read. This was a book to treasure – and keep!
Rivals Of The Beatles 2
Martin’s first book was incredibly well received by its readership and has recently sold out. So it’s just as well that his new follow-up book, Rivals Of The Beatles 2 is coming along very soon, to fill the gap! Rivals 2 continues with the same theme as before, of telling the intriguing tales of more of the music acts who were at their peak in the 1960s, or slightly after.
This time around, 10 more groups are covered. These feature several music acts that would have been in Martin’s first book, only he ran out of space: The Who, The Animals, The Doors and Badfinger. To this renowned collection Martin has added a further six names, including Simon & Garfunkel, Love, The Small Faces and….Queen!
Limited Edition
Rivals Of The Beatles 2 will again have a limited first edition of 500 numbered copies. It will contain 528 pages and will again be presented in a glossy hardbound volume – with sewn-in pages. This book will have a recommended retail price of £15.00 + post & packing. This is a highly competitive/attractive price for a book of this length and quality.
Special Introductory Offer!
But Martin will be offering Rivals of The Beatles 2 for a limited period at a Special Introductory Price of just £10.00 + post & packing!
Copies are expected from the printers at end November/early December 2023.
So place your order on Martin’s website rivalsofthebeatles.com as soon as copies are available, to take advantage of this special deal!
Martin’s sold out first book:
Rivals of The Beatles 1
The Question:
Were you a fan of The Beatles AND the Stones?
BUZZ
Another Book with The Beatles and Their Rivals Photographed
Bill Zygmant – Where Did You Get That Shirt? (Signed Limited Edition)
Get your copy of Bill Zygmant’s portfolio book of unique photographs covering his career from the late 1960s to the 1980s.
This will be a signed, numbered edition – maximum of 250 numbered editions.
It comes with one of Bill’s signed photographs, which usually sells for £50!
Now that we all had a chance to listen to Now and Then, we can make up our minds and give our opinion. I must say, it is not bad. Not bad at all.
It is a beautiful ballad that is right there with Across the Universe and #9 Dream. It has a great melody; one of the musical elements that has kept Beatles music fresh after all these years (for other element see The Beatles Era). It is sung by John with an intensity that reminded me of A Day in the Life. And let’s not forget, Johns singing is not take 12. It is not even take 1. It is just a demo!
Paul added bass and Ringo drums. The piano accompaniment is a simple pumping piano; remember the Beatles did not take fancy piano lessons when they were young. But their playing is intuitive and creative, as can be heard after the first two lines of the third and fourth verse, where they use the piano as a rhythm instrument: a hammering piano. Somewhat like the hammering piano that starts While my Guitar Gently weeps.
Two other Beatlesque elements can be recognized in Now and Then. Strings with a bite, like Paul wanted for Eleanor Rigby, were added as well as a slide guitar in the style of George. The strings intertwine beautifully with the vocals and the interaction of strings and slide guitar combined with backing vocals take the song to a higher level after the second chorus. It is like this part provides you the opportunity to really feel the dept of Johns message. After the fourth verse and chorus, the strings playfully end the song.
If you have seen the Get Back documentary made by Peter Jackson, you will know that the Beatles not only practiced numbers that ended up on the Let it Be album, but also a dozen that ended up on Abbey Road, and quite a few numbers that ended up on the solo albums of the individual Beatles. So songs that potentially where Beatles songs ended up being solo numbers, and we learned to know them as such. Therefore it is ironic that a song that clearly was intended to be released as a John Lennon song, now ended up as the last Beatles song ever.
COLLECTORS ALERT! THE BEATLES IN ITALY PART 3 (July 1965/July 1970)
THE BEATLES IN ITALY PART 3 (July 1965/July 1970) is the third and final chapter after the two acclaimed books on the Fab Four in Italy (1963/65 and 1965/67).
It’s scheduled for release on October 27, 2023. Another Fab collection of artifacts from the era, this time on a massive 540-page photographic book. Authors and fellow collectors Fulvio Fiore and Alex Franchi have privately published this as a limited, hand-numbered edition. If you enjoyed the 1st two chapters you’ll be delighted by this one! How the Italian press reported on the Beatles, from the psychedelic era, through Apple, until the breakup. A splendid time is guaranteed for all the readers, so don’t miss this one!
Please contact the author Alex Franchi for further information. Enjoy the sample pics and email him to reserve your copy, or send him an e-mail: soundlover30@hotmail.com
Sample Pages from the Book – The Beatles in Italy 3
