Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #75597 in Books
• Published on: 2005-09-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 304 pages

Customer Reviews

Really the BEST of the Beatles Book
I have all editions of the BB so I first thought it would be a waste of money to purchase this book. Was I wrong!? This book is a heavy, hard cover, top quality edition with tons of rare pictures exclusively from the BB archives, many presented here in much better quality then in the original magazine. It is accompanied by the the very best of the articles, written at the time when things were happening. I placed this one between the 'Ten years that shook the world' and 'The Beatles Anthology' on my shelf. Since both of those are great you can imagine how good this book is.

If you have the original BBs it is still well worth buying, if you don't - you simply can not afford not having this.

Thanks 'Johnny' for putting this edition together and entertaining us fans through the decades. Top work as always!
SIX STARS!

A Part Of My Youth
I grew up with the Beatles Book Monthly, not as you might expect in the sixties but in the eighties and nineties. It was a central part of my growing-up, becoming a permanent fixture (or so I thought at the time) of my Beatles obsession which commenced in earnest at the end of 1982 when I received The Beatles 20 Greatest Hits LP for Christmas.

Suddenly, 1983 saw me buying any Beatles product I could lay my hands on, singles, eps, lps, posters and videos. I bought my first guitar because I wanted to be George Harrison (I still play to this day). My eyes caught sight of the Beatles Book Monthly in WHSmith on Fargate in Sheffield and I was absolutely hooked. I thus got my fix of Beatles news, past and present along with some glorious photographs every month until the magazine's editor published its final issue in 2003.

I was shocked when I picked up that last issue, totally unawares it was to be the very last one, looking at the wording on the cover 'Last Ever Issue' in utter disbelief and sadness. I felt like I'd lost an arm, or that an old reliable friend I had grown up with during my teen years and into adulthood had waved goodbye only to leave memories that would fade at the edges and disappear.

I found my first serious girlfriend through the Beatles Book Monthly, having placed an advert seeking Wings/Beatles mad pen-pals (in that order, with Wings first!). I received correspondence from across the world but I fell in love with a girl who lived an hour's drive away from where I lived, in the beautiful city of York.

We'd place romantic messages in the magazine's Classified Ads section. We went to two consecutive Beatles Conventions in Liverpool in the late eighties and review all the latest solo Beatles albums before rushing out to buy them, even if the reviewer didn't rate the album as that particular artist's best!

I managed to have a number of letters published in the Beatles Book Monthly and I am delighted to find that in the huge Best Of The Beatles Book tome that I purchased last week, my letter of condolence to Paul on the loss of his first wife Linda is published again in all its glory. Its inclusion is, I hope there for its honesty, it being a letter of hope as I had just lost my father to cancer a matter of weeks before Linda succumbed to the disease.

Anyway, my letter notwithstanding, The Best Of The Beatles Book was a must-have purchase, like shaking hands with an old, lost friend and having an enjoyable review of past friendships, which is what it is like to look through this book. Most of it is familiar but that's what's so appealing. I find myself back in familiar yet safe territory, retreading steps I made aged 14, 15, 16 and upwards.

I do of course, still have all my original copies of the Beatles Book Monthly safely stored away. A part of my youth indeed, a little treasure that will forever remind me of my younger days.

The Best Of The Beatles Book Monthly allows me to reflect not only on the past of the Beatles, but also my own to a time of young love, happiness, excitement and a future laid out before me.

Yes, I talk in a most personal capacity, but if you love the Beatles and want articles written whilst they were a living group and photographs taken whilst they were recording or on tour or on holiday, then this book is a must. I'd also recommend it as a great starting point for anyone starting out on the road of discovery of the phenomenon that was and remains, The Beatles.

This is the Best of all The Beatles Books!
As a ten year old I became a Beatles Fan.That was in 1964 in Baltimore,Maryland.I got my first Beatles single from Tower Department Store on Liberty Road with my lunch money my parents gave me for my school diners.My father was so angry when he found out I purchased it he threatened to smash up the single with a pipe wrench.So I hid my Beatles records in the Basement.When I was 12 my friends and I ventured from the suburbs to downtown Baltomore on the 28 bus.And thats when I found out about Beatles monthly.Shermans News Agent imported magazines from England.I was amazed to read Beatles Monthly and soon tried to make penpals with the addresses in The Beatles Book.I lost all my original copies of Beatles Book in the 1970's when our basement flooded.Until then all I knew about was the american publication "16 Magazine".It was the only Beatle friendly magazine that I could purchase on the local news stand.The Best of the Beatles Book is the best book I've ever read about the Beatles.Johnny Dean knew The Beatles and the wonderful stories he writes about in this book are priceless.This new Beatles Book is more adult and factual(less showbiz) and now I can say that The Beatles Book has come of age!All the writers in this book are great and have a genuine knowledge and affection for The Beatles.There is attention to detail that only these journalist could know about.
I emigrated to the UK in 1972 so it goes without saying, that there was a profound influence The Beatles had on me but musically and culturally.
For me coming to Britain was like discovering Aldus Huxley's "Brave New World".But now after reading this book I've got Beatlemania all over again!See you in August at The Beatles Festival in Liverpool.Gear FAB.