This dude knows of what he writes
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Because as neat as it is for many get-a-life, please! Beatle fans-and sometimes I even stray into that ZIP code-the greater music-book reading
public rarely does, causing many books with something to say to languish as curios, and for collectors only.
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But not Fab Four Faq 2.0.
And for those who like rare and hard to find/see Beatle solo career pics, this is the book for you.
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Especially interesting are Rodriguez's insightful and often humorous captions on some of the many pictures in the book.
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My fave is the one concerning John Lennon's Jet magazine cover in 1972.
This is the kind of non-politically-correct telling it like-it-is writing that most scribes today are too gutless to type.
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Supposedly, there are over 20,000 books on the Beatles.
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Probably at least a couple hundred are good ones, and here's another-good one, that is.
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And what makes Chicago native Robert Rodriguez's effort a good
-Probably at least a couple hundred are good ones, and here's another-good one, that is.
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And what makes Chicago native Robert Rodriguez's effort a good
one is that unlike some other "pop culture" writers and "historians," this guy obviously knows the music, and therefore does not have to fake it, which real Fabs' fans can spot on a dime.
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So in this fine follow-up to RR's Fab Four Faq, FFF2.0 on the lads' individual endeavours continues the style of fact-driven, critical narrative that does not descend to Geek 2.0 hell.
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So in this fine follow-up to RR's Fab Four Faq, FFF2.0 on the lads' individual endeavours continues the style of fact-driven, critical narrative that does not descend to Geek 2.0 hell.
-Because as neat as it is for many get-a-life, please! Beatle fans-and sometimes I even stray into that ZIP code-the greater music-book reading
public rarely does, causing many books with something to say to languish as curios, and for collectors only.
-
But not Fab Four Faq 2.0.
-
Rodriguez keeps it for the most part just a shade off the mainstream so that rabid fans can still find something they may have missed, whilst new-
Rodriguez keeps it for the most part just a shade off the mainstream so that rabid fans can still find something they may have missed, whilst new-
comers or 2nd Gen Beatle lovers will go, "WOW, I never knew that!"
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And for those who like rare and hard to find/see Beatle solo career pics, this is the book for you.-
Especially interesting are Rodriguez's insightful and often humorous captions on some of the many pictures in the book.
-
My fave is the one concerning John Lennon's Jet magazine cover in 1972.
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"Not a complete fool,John tried to inoculate himself against charges of racism for the feminist manifesto, 'Woman Is The Nigger of the World,' by giving interviews to African-American forums like Jet magazine."
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This is the kind of non-politically-correct telling it like-it-is writing that most scribes today are too gutless to type.-
Because even today, you may hear Woman Is the Nigger of the World on the radio, but I'd bet you'll never hear an announcer announce the title unless it comes via a BET-like media forum.
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Another great part of this book is the chapter on rarities.
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Again, Rodriguez does not wimp out with words when discussing the (in)famous Beatles Alpha-Omega TV mail-order phenom, which eventually
forced Capital/Apple off their arses to provide product.
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Another great part of this book is the chapter on rarities.
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Again, Rodriguez does not wimp out with words when discussing the (in)famous Beatles Alpha-Omega TV mail-order phenom, which eventually
forced Capital/Apple off their arses to provide product.
-"It took a certain testicular effrontery to flagrantly pirate copy-
righted Beatles (and solo) recordings...marketing them as legitimate releases," notes Rodriguez.
righted Beatles (and solo) recordings...marketing them as legitimate releases," notes Rodriguez.
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And the Beatle writer is right!
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If you were lucky enough to grab one of these sets before the old
"cease and desist" was issued, hold on to 'em!
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And the Beatle writer is right!
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If you were lucky enough to grab one of these sets before the old
"cease and desist" was issued, hold on to 'em!
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Rodriguez also notices that despite the success of the 1977 release of The
Beatles At The Hollywood Bowl on record, 8-track and cassette, the rocket scientists at Apple have "indicated no plans to reissue the album on CD."
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Beatles At The Hollywood Bowl on record, 8-track and cassette, the rocket scientists at Apple have "indicated no plans to reissue the album on CD."
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Yeah, that makes great sense; just leave it to the Russians to regularly
put out CD variations of the album, some with extra material.
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Perhaps Rodriguez's next book should be entitled, "Rotten Apple:How To Wreck The World's Biggest Rock Band's Catalogue!"
put out CD variations of the album, some with extra material.
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Perhaps Rodriguez's next book should be entitled, "Rotten Apple:How To Wreck The World's Biggest Rock Band's Catalogue!"
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Barring that, Fab Four Faq 2.0, The Beatles' Solo Years, 1970-1980, 474 pages, $20, from Backbeat Books, is available at http://www.backbeatbooks.com/ And if you just need even more, here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Fab-Four-FAQ-20/249609304243?ref=nf
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OI!
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MORE, Brit Invasion:
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