Category: Buzz’s Beatles Book/ Print Blog

John Buzz Bezzini

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.

The images shared here are part of John’s private collection and are shared under Fair Use/ Fair Dealings. If you have any questions, contact the administrator.

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Don’t forget that there are hundreds of Blog Posts here, so check them out on the Index at the bottom of the page!

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Posted on 22/02/202408/07/2024 by Buzz — 1 Comment

ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE – THE LOVE YOU MAKE!!!

Author Steven Gaines who co-wrote the book “The Love You Make” with Peter Brown, the longtime Beatles associate, has disclosed that he has numerous hours of unreleased interviews from his research conducted for the original best-selling book from the 1980’s. Steven has expressed the desire to be able to eventually leave the actual audio tapes to a research based institution like a university library or a museum.

This book seems to be a bonus release for Beatles historians to use as research source material. It also creates the unique opportunity for a book that deals with the creation of a best-seller which was also a biography that was tinged with controversy upon it’s release. Having the full transcribed interviews rather than an author’s editorial choice of what to print from the interviews can help to lend credibility to the conjectures presented by an author writing a biography. For researchers of the future having access to the actual audio interviews from these tapes would also be fascinating because one’s tone of voice often adds credibility to what one is saying, or often it strips that credibility away. History’s best-selling musical entertainers deserve the most accurate portrayal possible.

This is Steven’s partial list of the audio interviews that he has transcribed and will be publishing in the book. Perhaps the complete interviews with these individuals will help to shed some distinct credibility to those who criticized the authors for relying on controversy to sell the original book.

The tapes are approximately 80 hours of interviews with Paul McCartney, Yoko Ono, George Harrison, and their families, friends and business associates. The tapes were recorded in 1980-1981 during the preparation of the international bestseller, “The Love You Make.”

The full transcription of these interviews have never been seen by the public.
Here is the partial list of the tape archive that the April 2024 release contains the transcribed interviews of the participants with:

Brian Epstein (from a tape discovered in the closet of Nat Weiss, it’s only one paragraph)

Paul McCartney

Alistair Taylor

Queenie Epstein

Nat Weiss

Alistair Taylor on Brian’s Death

Peter Brown on Brian’s Death

Allan Williams

Bob Wooler

Dick James

Geoffrey Ellis

Peter Brown on Manila

Vic Lewis

George Harrison

Alexis Mardas

Peter Brown on Maharishi

Pattie Boyd Harrison Clapton and Jenny Boyd Fleetwood

Neil Aspinall

David Puttnam

Martin Polden

Peter Brown on Apple

Alistair Taylor on Apple

Derek Taylor

Peter Brown on “Hey Jude”

Robert Fraser

Ray Connolly

John Dunbar

Cynthia Lennon Twist

Ron Kass on Yoko Ono

Yoko Ono

May Pang

Peter Brown on Allen Klein

Dick James II

Ron Kass

John Eastman

Alistair Taylor on Allen Klein Having Him Fired

Allen Klein

Maureen Starkey

Ringo Starr
US COVER TO THE APRIL 2024 RELEASE OF THE BOOK

All You Need Is Love: The Beatles in Their Own Words: Unpublished, Unvarnished, and Told by The Beatles and Their Inner Circle Hardcover – April 9, 2024
by Peter Brown (Author) Steven Gaines (Author) Published by St. Martin’s Press

UK COVER TO THE BOOK

All You Need Is Love: The End of the Beatles – An Oral History by Those Who Were There Hardcover – 11 April 2024

Published by Monoray

You can pre-order the book at Amazon now! Click the link below:

All You Need Is Love

Did you read “The Love You Make”? What did you make of it? Let me know in the comments below.

Buzz

Posted on 20/02/202408/07/2024 by liddypool — Leave a comment

Beatlefan for a Beatles Fan

Six times per year I eagerly anticipate the new issue of Beatlefan magazine to appear in my mailbox. Even in the digital age in which we live, with information being conveyed instantly across the internet, it is Beatlefan magazine which I rely on for my major source of Beatles news. It is one of only a few print magazine sources about the Beatles that I own a copy of every issue since issue #1.

Bill King, the editor, and his excellent staff of writers, including Brad Hundt, Al Sussman, Kit O’Toole, and Bruce Spizer, among many others, make it an absolute pleasure when every issue arrives, as new and exciting Beatles-related information is always provided to the viewer. The editorials about new releases are wide-ranging in their perspectives and present new ways to perceive the merits (or lack thereof) of the respective releases!

New Beatles books are reviewed as well as dvd releases and underground recordings as well. Bill King, with his journalistic background, has found the perfect formula to satisfy the insatiable appetite of Beatles fans for new information about their idols. The news section not only reports the news but it often puts the information into the proper cultural context and meaning.

Shown below are a few sample issues of the magazine. Following the sample issues are the hard-to-find hardcover books of early Beatlefan issues published by Pierian Press many years ago. I sincerely hope that publisher and editor Bill King decides to publish the entire run of Beatlefan magazine in the hardcover format one day as they richly deserve to be permanently preserved for their quality and insight concerning the Beatles phenomenon. For informational or subscription inquiries, you can contact Beatlefan at beatlefanmagazine@gmail.com

Beatlefan with Paul McCartney on the Cover

Beatlefan about John Lennon's Last Sessions — Beatlefan about John Lennon’s Last Sessions

The two hardcover editions of Beatlefan magazine’s early issues, published by Pierian Press many years ago.

Posted on 16/02/202428/06/2024 by liddypool — Leave a comment

THE BEATLES IN AUSTRALIA – TO THE TOPPERMOST OF THE POPPERMOST

The Beatles in Australia? Hamburg has often been credited as the birth of the Beatles as it was the place where they honed their musicianship there with long 7 or 8-hour sets. Fans in the UK and Liverpool specifically, would probably object to that description because the hysteria surrounding Beatlemania occurred when the Beatles returned to their native England after their Hamburg stint. It was after the Beatles had returned to the UK that their songwriting skills also began to flourish. Most Beatles scholars would state that once the Beatles came to America, they conquered the world.

However, the Australians will point out proudly that the largest Beatles crowd and reception to view them during 1964, was not in any of those countries. The biggest crowd to attempt to see the Beatles was in Australia and this book published in Australia is a historical photo essay of the Beatles’ 1964 trip to that country. It is estimated that more than 300,000 fans came to welcome the band In Adelaide, which was the largest crowd seeing them in their touring career.

The Beatles must have been in shock for such a large crowd to view them along a 10-mile route that day. Another reason the book holds a special place in my collection is that the drummer pictured on the cover is not Ringo Starr, it is Jimmie Nicol, who substituted for Ringo while he was ill for 13 days during the Beatles playing in the Netherlands and in Australia. Ringo was to rejoin the Beatles in Melbourne, Australia in June of 1964.

The book was put together by noted Beatles photo collector Mark Hayward and the photos in the book are fantastic. New Holland Publishers Pty, Limited-2005.

The book is occasionally featured on Ebay and on the book search service at Abe books.

A sad newspaper article which details what happened to Jimmie Nicol” a man that had seen the mountaintop but only for a very short time. “Fame” can certainly be fleeting. Author Jim Berkenstadt has written a superb book about the Jimmie Nicol story and that book is pictured below

Paul Harris wrote this story for the Daily Mail.

The superb book written by Jim Berkenstadt, deals with Jimmie Nicol’s story with the Beatles.

Hope you enjoy it.

Buzz

Discover Books on Ringo and The Beatles Drummers

Ringo Starr

Books about Ringo Starr

Shop now

Posted on 14/02/202408/07/2024 by Buzz — Leave a comment

LIMITED EDITION SGT PEPPER BOOK

I just got this note from Alex Franchi about a new Sgt Pepper book. I love these independently produced books that highlight items acquired by collectors for their personal collections over the years. Part of the attraction of these books is the very few copies that are actually made and years later they become increasingly more difficult to find and somewhat akin to the feeling of being in a treasure hunt!

Here is Alex’s note:

THE BEATLES – THE SGT. PEPPER’S ERA
by Fulvio Fiore and Alex Franchi
(295 pages, Isla Publishing)

This is the fourth chapter in a successful new series of photographic publications retracing the myth of the Liverpool quartet in the international printed paper weekly. 1967 was a fantastic and a very innovative year for the Fab Four!!!
Rare newspapers, promotional posters, charts, rare covers relating to record publications, charts, and other international press finds. Much of the material from the authors’ personal collection is unpublished or rarely seen before testifying a collecting interest which, after more than 50 years, has not shown signs of decreasing, indeed… Available in a limited edition of 50 hand-numbered copies:

A SPLENDID TIME IS GUARANTEED FOR ALL!

Enjoy the previews and contact Alex Franchi to get a copy Soundlover30@hotmail.com

The cover of the book:

A few sample pages:

The real Sgt Pepper as speculated by a newspaper

The back cover

Posted on 07/02/202428/06/2024 by Buzz — 2 Comments

COME AND GET IT IF YOU WANT IT

A MAGIC CHRISTIAN MYSTERY and BEATLE CONNECTIONS GALORE

According to reports, this version of the Paul McCartney song was released around the same time as the Apple Badfinger version. The Magic Christian version was not a hit. Produced by the late keyboardist, Gary Wright, who was to back both George Harrison and Ringo Starr in their solo careers.

Ex-Move guitarist Trevor Burton was supposedly involved with this recording and speculation abounds that Denny Laine and Steve Gibbons also played a role in the record. I believe Beatles associate Tony Bramwell has mentioned at one time that Denny Laine had a role in this recording. I was able to find a copy of this recording at the DISCOGS site. Some of the 45’s issued had the song title listed as “If You Want It” rather than “Come and Get It.” The first pressings had the publisher listed as Apple. Later copies had the publisher listed as Northern Songs!

A different title is used on this McCartney tune as well as having a different publisher listed.

If You Want It by The Magic Christians

THE MAGIC CHRISTIANS

There is another connection. The Magic Christians were supposedly made up of some of the members of the group Balls which included Denny Laine who was with the Moody Blues and later with Wings and the flip side of one of the 45’s by Balls was written by both Denny Laine and Alan White who was to join the Plastic Ono Band and later the group Yes. Alan and Denny both passed away a while back. Because of the scarcity of a Denny Laine/ Alan White co-authored track and the multiple solo Beatles and McCartney connections, I bought a copy of the 45 at the Discogs site.

BALLS

This is the rare Denmark picture sleeve to the Balls 45 which contains the obscure Denny Laine/ Alan White co-authored track called “Janie Slow Down.” Odd that Denny Laine would play with Wings and Alan White would end up being in a band with John Lennon and also backing George Harrison!

Here is a brief history of the group Balls provided by this internet link:

Balls, a Birmingham supergroup of the 1960s (brumbeat.net)

Balls also did an Apple acetate of the song “Fight For My Country.”

Great Book About Badfinger

Posted on 04/02/202408/07/2024 by Buzz — Leave a comment

EASY RIDER WITH A LENNON MAGAZINE IN THE HOPPER

REBELS WITH A CAUSE “GOING AGAINST THE GRAIN”

I recently obtained the late actor Dennis Hopper’s copy of this magazine featuring Mr. Lennon and Miss Ono on the cover. The issue of the magazine is from 1969. Got it for a very reasonable price, on eBay!

EBay description of the item fiba: Actualite, Issue #1, 1969. Side-stapled, 56 pgs. Includes articles on Turkish & Greek cinema, the fiba award for best films (8-page section on winning films No5 & Two Virgins by Yoko Ono, with brief article by Ono), poem by Lionel Ziprin, Zeffirelli’s Romeo & Juliet, and more. From a collection of publications obtained from the estate of Dennis Hopper.

There are a couple of Beatle/Lennon connections with the late Dennis Hopper. He co-starred with Peter Fonda in Easy Rider and Fonda turned out to be the inspiration for the Beatles tune, “She Said, She Said.” The late Terry Southern, who helped to co-write the screenplay for “Easy RIder” also wrote “The Magic Christian” and “Candy,” which were film vehicles for Ringo Starr. Terry Southern also taped an hour-long cassette of John Lennon jamming with Mick Jagger during the “Lost Weekend.”

Dennis Hopper

Background of Dennis Hopper from Wikipedia–Dennis Lee Hopper (May 17, 1936 – May 29, 2010) was an American actor and film director. He is known for his roles as mentally disturbed outsiders and rebels.
Hopper made his directorial film debut with Easy Rider (1969), which he and co-star Peter Fonda wrote with Terry Southern. The film earned Hopper a Cannes Film Festival Award and a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. Hopper was also in a few films associated with another prominent rebel, James Dean, “Rebel Without a Cause” and “Giant”!