The Beatles Box

by Alan Clayson

A four-part boxed set dedicates a volume to each of the Beatles, discussing their lives and musical backgrounds while drawing on interviews with fellow artists, family members, and friends to provide insight into the unique contributions that each made to the band. 50,000 first printing.

Genres: Nonfiction, Music

1600 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Alan Clayson (Dover, England, 1951) is of a late 1970s vintage of composer-entertainers that also embraces the likes of Wreckless Eric, Tom Robinson, Elvis Costello and John Otway. While he is still making regular concert appearances, he has become better known as an author of around thirty books - mostly musical biography. These include the best-sellers "Backbeat" (subject of a major film), The Yardbirds and The Beatles book box.

He has written for journals as diverse as The Guardian, Record Collector, Ink, Mojo, Mediaeval World, Folk Roots, Guitar, Hello!, Drummer, The Times, The Independent, Ugly Things and, as a 'teenager, the notorious Schoolkids 0z. He has also been engaged to perform and lecture on both sides of the Atlantic - as well as broadcast on national TV and radio.

From 1975 to 1985, he led the legendary Clayson and the Argonauts - who reformed in 2005, ostensibly to launch Sunset On A Legend, a long-awaited double-CD retrospective - and was thrust to 'a premier position on rock's Lunatic Fringe' (Melody Maker).

As shown by the existence of a US fan club - dating from an 1992 soiree in Chicago - Alan Clayson's following grows still as well as demand for his talents as a record producer, and the number of versions of his compositions by such diverse acts as Dave Berry (in whose backing group, he played keyboards in the mid-1980s), New Age Outfit, Stairway - and Joy Tobing, winner of the Indonesian version of Pop Idol. He has worked too with The Portsmouth Sinfonia, Wreckless Eric, Twinkle, The Yardbirds, The Pretty Things, Mark Astronaut and the late Screaming Lord Sutch among many others. While his stage act defies succinct description, he has been labelled a 'chansonnier' in recent years for performances and record releases that may stand collectively as Alan Clayson's artistic apotheosis were it not for a promise of surprises yet to come.

Reviews

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fairly interesting read. I didn't really learn much I hadn't known before, but there were a few tidbits. The most satisfying parts were volumes dealing with Harrison and Starr. The book on McCartney was decidedly "off". Clayson seems to disdain the bassist for wanting to be an entertainer. If one knows nothing of the Beatles, there are several other biographies of the principal players that would better serve as an introduction, but this one certainly captures the flavor of Liverpool in the fifties and early sixties.

[Googoogjoob · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not great. Clayson is sort of a musician first, a music journalist second, and a biographer third in these books, and his personality, tastes, and prejudices consistently get in the way of himself across these biographies; his style would be engaging if you were reading an article of it a month in a magazine, but can be aggravating when stretched to book length. They've been described as "Beatles-flavored teabags in a cup full of Clayson," which is a pretty succinct way of putting it.

The books on Harrison and Starr are better, with the Ringo biography being useful largely because of the dearth of other books committedly about Starr as an individual, and his solo career. The Lennon and McCartney books have a rushed, perfunctory feel (and they must have been written to fill out Clayson's coverage of the band), and are irrelevant given the voluminous literature on each of them.

[Zebulun · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a biography of some of the most famous men in history I was a little disappointed in these books. First off, the book was very, very dense. Tons of information was packed into each and every page, and I couldn't help but feel that the casual reader would feel a little overwhelmed with this type of sensory over load. However, with the amount of information contained in these books, you can't help but learn little things you never knew about. Even the most seasoned Beatle connoisseur might be surprised to find out that John Lennon was bisexual, or that Ringo Starr almost died as a young buy because of his penicillin allergy. Obviously this books has redeeming qualities, but if you're just looking to casually dive into the lives of The Beatles then these are not the books for you.

[Clif · Rating 1 out of 5]

Worst series of Beatle books ever. Author uses "thick as a paving slab" in all four books to describe the Beatles anthology. Lazy.