Here are a few of Peter Brown's Photos from the book. In the bottom photo, Peter is with Queenie Epstein. |
One of the most controversial Beatles books of the 20th Century is The Love You Make by Steven Gaines and Peter Brown. I reviewed it in 2016. I wanted to review it through a modern eye and found it to be a bit outdated and confusing. It was sensational with gossip, but at the end of the day, it was a truthful book (all except that silly claim that Paul re-recorded Ringo's drumming on Beatles songs and Ringo didn't care).
The new book All You Need is Love: The Beatles in Their Own Words is full of transcripts from interviews with most everyone Brown and Gaines interviewed to write the first book. I have to thank them for doing this for Beatles historians. I wish ALL of the major Beatles books that were written in the past 60 years would release the interviews. Gaines and Brown interviewed insiders such as Maureen Starkey, Queenie Epstein, John Eastman, etc., etc., etc., that I don't recall ever being interviewed before. The only thing better than reading these interviews would be to hear them (more on that in a bit).
I have always been critical of the original book. This book helped me understand more about that book from the early 1980s. As many of you told me in the comments of the book review, it was written by Gaines and Brown was part of the book, but did not have anything to do with the writing of it. You quickly learn that Gaines conducted the meat of these interviews, with Peter Brown chiming in when he could add to the narrative because he was there.
Gaines did his research before he spoke to the insiders. He knew the gossip about who slept with whom, who sued whom, drug usage, and the breakdown of Magic Alex's lies. Being familiar with the material in the book, I was fascinated to see how the interviewees told the stories that were so shocking in 1983. And let me be honest -- I am here for it. I really enjoyed reading these interviews and, at times, couldn't put the book down.
All of the interviews (except for the one with Yoko) were conducted in 1979 and 1980 before John died. Many of the people (especially the former Beatles) were brutally honest about their feelings about John. There is no way they would have been so honest about John if these interviews had been conducted after his murder. I thought George's interview was sad when it came to John. I really enjoyed Ringo's interview because what Ringo says hasn't faltered at all through the years. But he states that he and Paul weren't on speaking terms. I wonder what had happened in 1980 that put their relationship in turmoil. I would suppose that John's murder was part of them becoming friends again because, in early 1981, Paul invited Ringo to record with him.
This all goes back to my original thought about this book -- did we need to read all of this gossip in the first place? Should Gaines have published all of these juicy bits of information? At the end of the day, all of the gossipy information from the Beatles story would have come out with or without Gaines' interviews. At least Gaines received the information directly from the mouths of those that were there, and it was 2nd or 3rd hand information. So, while initially I disliked The Love You Make, after reading All You Need is Love, my mind has changed. If you are a fan who does not care about the personal lives of The Beatles, then like the original book, this book is not for you. If you focus just on the music, then you will be highly disappointed. However, if you like to know about the ins and out of the business and personal issues of the Beatles, then I highly recommend this book. So many great interviews and nuggets of information.
I also want to recommend the latest episode of Robert Rodriguez's podcast, Something About The Beatles. He interviewed Steven Gaines, and this interview also helped me re-think the original book. Many of the things I disliked about the original book were choices made by the publisher and not Gaines. He actually disliked the same things. In the interview, he states that he wants to donate all of his interview tapes to university archives so that fans can hear them. He understands the historical significance of interviews and wants them to be available for Beatle researchers. I look forward to the day when we all can listen to the full interviews and thank Steven Gaines for working so hard to preserve them for future Beatles historians.
The link below is an affiliate Amazon link. If you decide to buy this book or anything else through this link, a small percentage goes to Sara. She uses the money earned from the affiliate Amazon link to pay for the upkeep of this site. Thank you for your support.
Peter Brown is the one who had the telegram from Jimi Hendrix inviting Paul to come to NYC to record with him and Miles Davis in 1969/1970 - unsure of the date. Peter buried that information and I am sure it hurt Paul and still does to this day. Jimi and Paul were good friends and musical geniuses. Can you imagine the music they would have made!?!?! Peter Brown is a snake and did other things that were incredibly self serving and shady. Paul and Linda did not liek this man at all!
ReplyDeleteSeveral reviews are on Amazon. Ranging all over the board.
ReplyDeletethe inside gossip in Brown's original book was welcomed by fans who wanted to know everything personal about the lads then rather than Hunter Davies log
ReplyDeleteExactly and this new books shows you the sources that gave him that insider personal information. Many people do not want to know about the personal stuff and do not think it is our business to know about it. I want to know anything and everything, so I welcome the book.
Deleteta for your honesty
DeleteExcept there never was and never has been any interview with Jane Asher, a major player in the Beatles soap opera as far as the 'personal' stuff went. Totally lopsided accounts for 60 years.
DeleteJane Jane Jane! Oh my🙄😁
DeleteRight??? This book has an interview with Maureen. That should impress people because I don't recall her ever giving interviews after the Beatles. This might be the only one.
Deleteam very impressed that the classy lady Jane has never spoke about her long ago time with Paul
Delete6:31...agree
DeleteAnd I'm impressed that both Paul and Jane moved on with their lives, were/are happily married, and continued pursuing their careers. Not all relationships end up in marriage, and anyway this has been over sixty years ago. Let's talk about their present, not their past.
DeleteUnfortunately Sara, a group of people come here to only talk about Jane, and not the Beales per se.
Deletepersonally don't mind nice comments on Jane as she was a big part of Paul's history and frankly I liked her
Delete4.28am. That's nonsense. What proof do you have? There are a lot of interesting comments on this site about many people connected to the Beatles and not necessarily about the Beatles per se.
Deleteme too
DeleteGreat review, Sara - I think your observations are spot-on! These interviews are so fascinating, and I would definitely listen to all of the actual recordings if they were made available in the future. I also agree that the Gaines interview on SATB's podcast is a worthwhile listen - it added a whole new layer of understanding about the original book and how it was shaped by the publishers.
ReplyDeleteGaines is blaming the publisher for some of the trash found in the 1st book? What? He and Brown originally defended that book as a refusal to bow down to Beatles legend, and write "the truth". Thank you but NO THANK YOU. Not putting any more money into these guys' pockets. LOL, they waited a whopping 40 years to address all of the crap they dumped on JPG&R? What martyrs. Like with the first book, I'm sure they'll enjoy cashing the checks from this one. Hey Paul, get a copy of this thing and then find the matches and fire pit.
ReplyDeleteAgree completely with you.
ReplyDeleteNew comments on the page 'My brother was a Beatle' are not allowed anymore, but we need to respond on that 'grass' comment. It's not fair.
ReplyDeleteJane is as human as the rest of humanity and admitted recently that in her youth an actor she was working with told her she could be less defensive. Jane admitted that she could be "prickly" but with humor and honesty, as she knows she's a flesh and blood creation, not at all a saint.
DeletePeter Brown has described himself as a loyal confidant to the Beatles. Yeah, if you call running them over them with a bus, and then putting it in reverse to run them over again? Then yeah, what a loyal confidant.
ReplyDeletepeople will always make a buck on the lads no matter who they are
DeleteAbsolutely agree 100%. All one has to do is to look at the reviews of this book from that period. Even non-Beatles obsessed writers were opposed to this one-sided, gossipy beatdown of the group. It is what it is. Trash. Trash does not change over time, nor does it improve upon itself. It stays as trash.
DeleteI appreciate the review and everyone's comments. I'm pleased that after so long I was able to publish these transcripts. Actually, there is much more. I also want to say that Peter Brown remembers things very differently than others do, including his role
ReplyDeleteThe reason the tapes were kept locked up for 40 years was because Peter Brown thought it would be unseemly of him. This wasn't his concern 40 years before when I did the interviews. Releasing the interviews now was not for money, trust me, not many publishers saw any value in publishing them. I've been telling anyone who will listen that the tapes were historic and needed to be released. I offered to bequeath them to Liverpool College but P. Brown wasn't agreeable. If there was "trash" in the first book it was 100% true. Paul hates hates Peter Brown.
ReplyDeleteThank you Steven for your comments. And again -- thank you for sharing these interviews with us. As a "Beatles historian" (that is what others call me -- I don't know what I really am) I appreciate the information. As the years have gone on, I have discovered what I once though of as "trash" from the first book is true. And I apologize for anything negative found online from years past that I said about the book. My mind has completely changed. I still hope to hear all of the interviews someday.
DeleteAnd Peter hates Paul. Why didn't he give him the telegram from Jimi Hendrix?
DeleteI never heard of this telegram story before. Are you certain Peter Brown had the telegram? Is that one of Peter's claims? If he did have the telegram and didn't give it to Paul it wasn't because he hated Paul. Quite the contrary. When Peter published the first book it infuriated the Beatles and their friends and family. Paul stopped talking to Peter, which has stung Peter ever since. I don't know what else he expected.
DeleteThe above comment was from me, I prematurely pressed enter.
DeleteHi Steven,
DeleteCan I ask if the interviews in your recent book were published in full or if you just used extracts? They all seemed quite short. I’d also be interested to know the dates on when some of them took place, particularly Paul’s, as his relationship with John was clearly very fragile and distant. I would hazard a guess that Paul’s interview was conducted in September or October 1980, but it would be interesting to have confirmation.
Thank you in advance!
Read it in an article years ago. See the first comment on this page.
Delete