In previous books, Lewisohn documented the Beatles’ live performances (“The Beatles Live!” 1986) and their studio activity (“The Beatles Recording Sessions: The Official Abbey Road Studio Sessions Notes, 1962-1970,” 1988), for which he was granted unprecedented access to archival materials held by EMI Records and their Abbey Road studio where the Beatles made the vast majority of their records. To capture the sense of urgency about what he’s taken on, he invoked a song title, and not of one of the more than 200 songs in the Beatles’ oeuvre but that of one of their biggest heroes: “It’s now or never.” Initially, they were part of a world in which they were reacting to things around them, and when we get to volumes two and three, they’re very much shaping what’s going on around them.” “It’s a biography with the Beatles at the center and everything else that’s happening around them. “I call this a biographical history,” said Lewisohn of the book, published Oct. Lewisohn, in fact, initially conceived of his grand-sweep exploration of the Beatles as a six-volume project - approaching Martin Gilbert’s celebrated eight-volume Winston Churchill biography - but his publisher convinced him that it would be too much of an uphill battle to market. “But it’s all true and therefore the best story of all.” “It’s a story so fantastic you’d think it’s all been made up,” he said on a recent trip to Los Angeles from his home base near London.
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