All you need is love The Beatles in their own words

Forty years after The Love You Make, Brown, former COO of Apple Corps, the Beatles' media corporation, and journalist Gaines reunite for a revealing oral history of the forces that spurred the band's breakup, which was first announced in 1970. Drawing from a trove of never before published conversations with each band member, except for John Lennon, and their intimates, the account touches on shifty characters within the group's orbit, including "Magic" Alexis Mardas, who almost talked the Beatles into buying four Greek islands; Lennon's descent into heroin addiction; and the fraying friendship between Paul McCartney and Lennon as the two fought over shares in the Beatles' business ventures. There are also plenty of tender moments, including Yoko Ono's musings on the genesis of her relationship with Lennon while he was still married to his first wife, Cynthia; their love was "bigger than both of us," Ono claims. Taken together, the interview transcripts reveal that "the time had come" for the band's split: "Realistically, how long could they go on being a Beatle and feel creatively satisfied?" Brown and Gaines write. Nearly all the interviews were conducted in the two months before Lennon's 1980 murder, casting a melancholy shadow over his estrangement from McCartney, who seemed to have been softening toward his former bandmate ("I still do feel for the guy.... I still see that he thinks he's the one who was hurt"). Beatles fans will be impatient to get their hands on this. (Apr.)

A compilation of previously unpublished interviews with members of the Beatles and those around them. In the introduction, Brown notes that he and Gaines conducted these interviews for their previous book, The Love You Make--which makes them, in a sense, outtakes from that book, with comments by the authors. Most of them took place in the fall of 1980, shortly before John Lennon was murdered. (An interview with Yoko Ono occurred a few months after Lennon's death.) Much of the material focuses on the business of the Beatles: their managers Brian Epstein and Allen Klein, Apple Records, and the pressures that led to the band's eventual breakup. Epstein was originally a record store manager who took them on in their Liverpool days and managed them as they became the most famous band in the world. Klein came on board after Epstein's death, apparently on the urging of Lennon and Ono; he was seen by many around the band as a negative force, mainly interested in lining his own pockets. Several of the subjects comment on the Beatles' visit to the Indian headquarters of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, which ultimately led all of them except Harrison to reject the guru's teachings. The book contains interviews with George Harrison, Paul McCartney, and Ringo Starr, none of which are especially revealing about the band's breakup. For the most part, they suggest that the members had outgrown what brought them together, and it was time to move on. Readers primarily interested in the group's music, what inspired individual songs, and how the music was performed and recorded are likely to be disappointed. However, for those interested in the interplay of personalities and the ambience of the Beatles era, this is a treasure trove. A rich collection of Beatles material, reported by those closest to the band during its heyday. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.