As long as this thread has been bumped, I’ll take the opportunity to say I picked up the Spitz book myself based on the recommendations in this thread and just finished it a couple of days ago. I will concur that it’s very good and very close to definitive. The material concerning the formative days of the Quarrymen is quite exhaustive, almost ridiculously so at times. It feels like Spitz manages to document just about every gig John Lennon ever played, before and after hooking up with Paul and George. There were details about Hamburg I’d never read before either and some good background on the writing and recording of a lot of the songs.
I still think the Davies book is worth reading as well and it contains some material and perspectives that the Spitz book does not but reading both books would give anybody just about all they want to know about the Beatles.
Thanks to those who recommended the Spitz book.
Cool! Glad it worked for you!
Fair enough, but don’t discount Brown’s perspective. He was in the room for the goings-on at Apple Corps.
And while we’re on the subject, I don’t recommend “The Longest Cocktail Party”, by…some hanger-on at Apple. He was there, too, but he had no ghost, and can’t tell a story for beans.