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Beatles For Sale

by David Rowley

Mainstream Publ. (Softcover, 223 pages, $16.95)

Beatles For Sale is yet another take on the group's music, from "Love Me Do" through the songs on Anthology 3 . But though the cover promises "something new and revealing about every song they ever recorded," it's really just a rehash with a few questionable interpretations dropped in.

For example, the book says the recording of their debut album, Please Please Me , was a "straight copy" of Cliff Richard's 1959 effort Cliff . Because Richard recorded Cliff in front an audience in Abbey Road, producer George Martin considered recording The Beatles live at Liverpool club The Cavern, and both albums were largely recorded in one day. In fact, most pop albums of the time were recorded equally quickly.

Yet Rowley writes, "That no one ever openly admitted the link between the two albums is revealing of the antipathy felt by the Beatles for Cliff Richard." Maybe no one "admitted the link" because it doesn't exist. Elsewhere, he seems confused by what he perceives as lyrical ambiguities, saying "I'll Be Back" has "the appearance of a word game about hating to leave, coming back and then promising to go!" (Apparently he's never heard of the phenomenon of the "extended break-up.") While the lyrics of "This Boy" aren't overly brilliant, are they truly so "bland" that they make the song "a waste of energy"?

Though Beatles books with genuinely new info do appear on occasion, this isn't one of them. One can read better analyses (and better writing) in A Day In The Life , The Complete Guide To The Music Of The Beatles and A Hard Day's Write , to name a few. Beatles For Sale is for completists only.

-- Gillian G. Gaar

Liverpool Fantasy

by Larry Kirwan

Thunder's Mouth Press (Softcover, 310 pages, $14.95)

Liverpool Fantasy centers around a Beatles reunion in 1987 but with a twist. In Larry Kirwan's vision, it's a reunion that's not awaited by anyone. For The Beatles as we knew them never came into existence but broke up when Parlophone insisted on releasing "Till There Was You" as the group's second single instead of John Lennon's choice, "Please Please Me."

So Lennon, George Harrison,...

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