Overview

On March 22nd 1963 the album Please Please Me by The Beatles was released and a worldwide, multi-cultured phenomenon exploded with Beatlemania. This landmark long-player was created by four street-wise lads from Liverpool; one classy producer and one publicity savvy manager. The album was only the first in a long line of record-breaking hits from this incredible collaboration, a collaboration responsible for completely re-writing the music-business rule book. The Beatles, George Martin and Brian Epstein were destined to become the most successful entity in the history of the entertainment business. During those ten years they broke every performance and sales record in the book. Most noticeably was in March 1964 when the top five singles in American where Billboard's top hundred sales chart were: No 1. Twist and Shout The Beatles No 2. Can't Buy Me Love The Beatles No 3. She Loves You The Beatles No 4. I Want To Hold Your Hand The Beatles No 5. Please Please Me The Beatles In addition to those five singles (four of which were original Lennon & McCartney songs) they also had singles at Nos 16; 44; 49; 69; 78; 84 and 88. This is a never-bettered feat. No other artist has even come close. Now nearly 60 years later The Beatles still remain the most recognisable group on the planet. In this fact-packed book, musicologist Paul Charles examines only the years The Beatles were writing, recording, performing and making movies together. Using their singles, albums, live appearances and films, as signposts, he examines the songs, the records, their colleagues and stories behind the official releases and of their decade long career as a group. He also endeavours to explain the mystery and magic of the Beatles art and their unique artistic and commercial success. Originally from Ireland Paul Charles has been working in the music business since he was 15, as a manager, agent, promoter, publicist, journalist and lyricist. In The Essential Beatles Book he celebrates a truly unique career that produced certainly three, perhaps even four, of the best albums ever released.

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9781912587568

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Reviews

Author and musicologist Paul Charles has his excellent Fab Four primer, The Essential Beatles Book, reissued by New Haven Publisher. A treasure trove of information, it examines every aspect of their remarkable chart topping years... -Hot Press Magazine (Dublin).

Author Information

All is Not Well in Vibrant Camden Town. Paul Charles managed his first group, The BLUES by FIVE, when he was fifteen years old and his business card listed the number of the local telephone box in his native Magherafelt, Northern Ireland. He moved to London in September 1967 when he was seventeen years old and studied to be a civil engineer, but the music business was his real distraction and he was more interested in writing about the London scene for Irish music papers than surveying, planning and drawing. His real education began when he took on the multiple role of manager, lyricist, roadie, sound-engineer, agent and the last one to be paid for the Belfast band FRUUPP. Fruupp signed to Dawn Records and worked touring around the UK and Europe for several years in the early seventies. Sheba's Song, with one of several sets of Paul Charles' lyrics from that period (the fine music was from band member John Mason) was sampled and recorded with the original lyrics as Soon The New Day by American Rap artist Talib Kweli with Nora Jones guesting on vocals for Talib's Warner Bros album, Ear Drum. The album entered the Billboard USA top 200 at #2 on 2nd September, 2007. Norah Jones also featured Soon The New Day on her Featuring album, released on Nov 16th 2010 on Blue Note Records which was also a USA Billboard Top 20 album. Fruupp eventually spilt up after four albums but by that point Paul Charles had met Paul Fenn and they became firm friends and, eventually partners in the Asgard Agency where, over the last 30 years, Paul Charles has been agent for a wide range of quality music acts including: Tom Waits, The Kinks, Jackson Browne, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Ray Davies, Lonnie Donegan, Gerry Rafferty, The Blue Nile, Christy Moore, Paul Carrack, Don McLean, Lisa Ekdahl, Elvis Costello, John Lee Hooker, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, Rory Gallagher, Gordon Lightfoot, Nick Lowe, Ry Cooder, Robert Plant, Planxty, Van Morrison, The Waterboys, The Undertones and the Buzzcocks. He's also programmed the Acoustic Stage at Glastonbury Festival for the last 25 years. Music has always been a major force in his life: I have a need for the music of The Beatles, Hank Williams, Nick Drake, Otis Reading, Bob Dylan and the artists we've been lucky enough to work with. But as well as all of that he's also a committed book reader-and collector-particularly British Detective fiction. I have always loved writing, anything really, shopping lists, lyrics, sleeve notes, short stories, etc., so in 1996, inspired by Colin Dexter (the creator of Inspector Morse), I attempted my first Detective Inspector Christy Kennedy Mystery, I Love The Sound of Breaking Glass, which was published the following year. November 5th 2019 marks the publication of Departing Shadows the 11th mystery in the critically acclaimed Christy Kennedy series. DI Christy Kennedy returns in Departing Shadows, a deceit-laden tale of intrigue, which takes him from London to Brighton and back, and into the arms of the West End's most celebrated up-and-coming actress, Nealey Dean. But all's not well in vibrant Camden Town, as Kennedy investigates a death just outside a diplomatic compound, and finds his investigation immediately stymied by the invocation of diplomatic privilege. The deceased, an actress of a different sort, hostess and social media influencer Gabriella Byrne, left behind a world of mystery, where even those who knew her best did not know her well. As Kennedy interviews witnesses and checks alibis, his investigation brings him from London's hallowed palaces of power to seamy lap-dance clubs, each with smoke and mirrors of their own. Along the way, he discovers just how far some people will go to protect their darkest secrets. www.paulcharlesbooks.com

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