The Beatles Are Coming!: The Birth of Beatlemania in America
Longtime Beatle authority Spizer's oversize tome covers the Beatles' first American appearances in near-absurd detail. Concentrating on 1963 and the first two months of 1964, Spizer exhaustively recounts the Beatles' recording sessions during the period, the fight between giant Capitol Records and tiny indy label Vee-Jay over the rights to release the group's early recordings, and the hysterical coverage of the first visit. Informative as the text is, the more than 400 record jackets, advertisements, consumer and trade magazine articles, concert photos, and record labels that only the most obsessed collector knows about, reproduced in the original color or black and white, constitute the book's raison d'etre. If the minutiae may become oppressive for all but the most fanatical Beatlemaniacs, the latter still comprise a big, eager market for further books on their idols, especially those as lovingly produced as Spizer's overwhelmingly comprehensive volume.Gordon FlaggCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved