The blog is designed to feature both old and new Beatles-related print material including books, magazines, posters, or correspondence with people that have a Beatles connection or association. The blog will also feature books from people that have worked with the individual members of the group during their solo careers! Looking forward to seeing you here! Looking forward to your participation and feedback on the blog!
John “Buzz” Bezzini has one of the world’s largest collections of Beatles books and he will share his thoughts and opinions on some of the more rare and unusual Beatles titles.
John taught a course in 1984 called “The Beatles in Retrospect” marking the 20th anniversary of the Beatles’ arrival in America.
John also holds a Master’s Degree in Communication.
Enjoy Buzz’s Beatles Book Blog.
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Often a book that is of interest to Beatles fans and collectors is not always issued in the desired print format. The following book was written by the Lennon’s Spanish housekeeper who worked for the Lennons during the John Lennon house-husband years after the birth of their son, Sean.
Rosaura Lopez Lorenzo worked for John and Yoko and supplied a few nice stories and photos from the years that very little was known of what was transpiring in the Dakota. Her book was published only in a Spanish print edition. Eventually, the book appeared in English but only in the kindle format. Hope to one day see an English print edition of this book. Rosaura speaks fondly of the Lennons but she is also honest about a few problems that occurred in the household as well during her tenure there.
As you can see from the dates below the Spanish print edition appeared 8 years before the English kindle edition of the book!
At John Lennon’s House (Spanish Edition)
At John Lennon’s house
by Rosaura Lopez Lorenzo and Eduardo Romero Lapidnot
The print version of the book was published in Spanish-Hércules; 1st edition (April 15, 2005)
Kindle English language book by one of John Lennon’s Dakota housekeepers
Kindle Edition, 128 pages, Published September 9th 2013 by Hércules de Ediciones
A story about the business problems of Apple or perhaps we can call this post: An Apple a day keeps the accountants in the fray!
The Beatles Apple and Me
This black covered book is the rare print version of the title by a former accountant for the Beatles, named Stephen Maltz. I was able to find a signed copy on the book search service called “Abe Books” several years ago. However, the book is virtually impossible to find in print now! There is a kindle version with a green cover shown above. Another Apple accountant, Harry Pinsker was also reported to have written a book about the business problems of Apple, but I have never seen a trace of the book and Mr. Pinsker passed away at age 90 in 2021.
How reference books can help you to find very obscure items-in this case a very rare Paul McCartney rarity!
Below are listed three excellent Beatles reference books by author, Kristofer K. Engelhardt!. Kris is directly responsible for adding a very rare item to my collection. Kris’s investigative talents are both superb and legendary. For example, in the first book shown here, Beatles Undercover, in the early copies of the book, Kris uncovered a rare 1970’s era recording on cd of a co-written song where John Lennon helped write the lyrics to a song originally written by sound engineer Roy Cicala. The tune with John’s rewritten lyrics became a song based on a native American that John Lennon had met and the song was to be called “Incantation.”
Beatles Deeper Undercover Paperback – March 1, 2010
Kristofer K. Engelhardt
Beatles Deeper Undercover
In the second volume of his trilogy Beatles Deeper Undercover, I learned of another fabulous Kris discovery and I was able to acquire the item from him in a negotiation. The item I was able to secure are two very rare Paul McCartney penned tracks that he wrote in the mid 80’s and he brought the songs with him to Barbados and a group called Ivory were given permission by Paul to record the two numbers on their rare album called Print Out. The tracks that he provided to the band were called “Runaway” and “Freedom Land.”
The fantastic surprises that Kris covered in his earlier two works makes you wonder what may be lurking in the new volume entitled “Beatles Fully Uncovered.” This book was issued in September of 2022.
The above titles, I believe are still available on Amazon. They are all certainly valuable reference works for the discerning Beatles collector.
Beatles Fully Uncovered Perfect Paperback – September 19, 2022
by Kristofer Engelhardt (Author), David Fishof (Foreword)
The Beatles Fully Uncovered
The rare LP issued only in Barbados featuring the two rare McCartney-penned tunes that he gave to Ivory to record is shown below. It is through the efforts of the author of the above books that I was able to obtain a copy of this rare LP for my collection, and I will always be grateful.
Ivory
Print Out – Ivory
Print Out – Ivory
Buzz
Featured Book
Just Like Starting Over: John Lennon and The Quarrymen
When John Lennon and his group The Quarrymen stepped onto the back of a wagon in Rosebery Street on 22nd June 1957, Charlie Roberts borrowed a camera and took a few photos of the event. It was just a group of friends having fun at a street party.
What Charlie didn’t know at the time was that he was capturing a piece of Beatles history. This was the first time that John Lennon had been photographed performing with his group. Skiffle was the new music and soon, John would meet Paul McCartney who would then introduce George Harrison to John.
Though not a book these items present an interesting Beatles-related story and collecting rarity. There were rumors that Julian had consulted with George Harrison about suggestions for the guitar work on the song Saltwater for Julian’s album “Help Yourself.” Unfortunately, that rumor has not been given adequate substantiation, though I believe George receives a thank you note on the credits if memory serves me correctly.
Julian Lennon released the album “Help Yourself album back in 1991 which featured the hit single “Saltwater” which was a hit in both Australia and the UK, but did nothing in the US, largely through poor promotion by his record company in the States
Little is known that in 2 countries, there was a rarity issued of Julian Lennon singing three songs in the Spanish language on the special edition of the album called “Help Yourself.” One country that issued the vinyl LP with the 3 songs in Spanish was Venezuela. The ultra-rare version on cd was issued in Spain.
The cd which was available in Spain with the three Spanish songs is even rarer than the Venezuelan LP with the same contents. I have known many people that live in Spain that have a cd of the album but it is not the version with the 3 songs in their native language. If you find one of these rare CDs you have quite the rarity. I had spent 8 years looking for a copy before a European friend helped me locate a copy for the collection
These are the songs that appear in Spanish on the Venezuelan LP and the special edition of the cd appearing in Spain:
Saltwater = Creo Que Voy A Llorar (Spanish Version)
Maybe I Was Wrong = Es Tarde Ya (Spanish Version)
Take Me Home = Corazón De Palmera (Spanish Version)
Julian Lennon canta tres canciones en español en la edición especial de su álbum llamado “Help Yourself”.
Contents of the Venezuelan LP and the rare version of the cd appearing in Spain
1
Rebel King
2
Saltwater = Creo Que Voy A Llorar (Spanish Version)
3
Get A Life
4
Would You
5
Maybe I Was Wrong = Es Tarde Ya (Spanish Version)
6
Help Yourself
7
Listen
8
Other Side Of Town-Lead vocals=Paul Buchanan
9
New Physics Rant
10
Take Me Home – Corazón De Palmera (Spanish Version)
11
Imaginary Lines
12
Keep The People Working
The Songs on the Album
Help Yourself by Julian Lennon
Buzz
Featured Book – Cavern Club – The Inside Story
Cavern Club – The Inside Story
This first-hand account of Debbie’s teen years frequenting and eventually helping to run the original Cavern Club is the authentic inside story of the Beatles launch pad, full of triumphs and failures – and surprise celebrity encounters.
£17.25Original price was: £17.25.£13.50Current price is: £13.50.
This series of books which originally was intended as a 6 volume series to tell the fascinating story of the Beatles company is now, according to an insider, being considered as an expanded 10 volume set. Four completed volumes have been issued up to this point and buyers wait in eager anticipation for the next book in the series.
A is for Apple 2
A is for Apple Volume 3
A is for Apple Volume 4
The research on these volumes is impeccable and intense. The three authors, Ed Dieckmann, Axel Korinth, and Antonio Caroselli never disappoint in uncovering troves of information about the Apple organization that was not previously known. The books also feature guest presentations by other authors and contributors. The volumes are truly works of art, each boasting between 700 and 800 pages with beautiful color photos throughout.
Each volume is limited to 500 copies and are a must-own for Beatles collectors everywhere. The books, like most limited-edition books, are on the higher expense side of things, but the end result truly makes it worth the additional expense. In the future, this complete series of books may be known as the bible of Apple information.
Published by MonHunProd Media Group, 1990, 1991-2, 2006. Multiple dates refer to multiple editions of the book.
This is a superb collecting guide for both the U.S. and Canadian Apple Records collector! This special slip-cased boxed set collected the earlier of Jeff”s previous volumes of his Apple Records discography as well as listings of Apple albums, singles, E.P.’s, compact disks, cassettes, 8-tracks, reel-to-reels, reissues, Apple Ads, and many other items. One does not exaggerate to say this was a fabulous boxed set. Unfortunately it is out-of-print and is both expensive and difficult to find!
The Applelog Boxset
If I was recommending to collectors about what books to collect for knowledge and expertise of Apple-related product, I would recommend three sets of books:
1) The A is For Apple series by Ed Dieckmann, Axel Korinth, and Antonio Caroselli-expected to be 10 volumes when completed
2) The Jeff Levy Apple Log Series of books-he was one of the first individuals to attempt this mammoth task of cataloging this material
3) The proposed series of 6 Apple-related books by author Nigel Pearce beginning with his first volume- Inside Number 3 Number’s 1 and 3 will have their own features in future blog submissions.
Buzz
Categories of Books at The Beatles Bookstore – Which Will YOU Choose?
