The Beatles: Off The Record
by Keith Badman

No longer off the record, on the QT, nor very hush-hush

You’re going to ask, so we’ll address it: With every new Beatles book just rehashing old ground, why reprint the old ones to underscore that? Well, since a good deal of new books pilfer RC contributor Badman’s work here, it’s worth returning to the source for a truly in-depth rendering of an incredible tale. Ironically, when originally published in 2000, Off The Record lost out in the popularity stakes to The Beatles’ authorised Anthology. The world bought the sanitised tale, while the one that cast group members in a questionable light and had all the swear words in was mainly picked up on by scholars. With barely any editorial input, this is the tale from The Beatles, told totally through quotes given at the time, without any hindsight-aided revision. No quote is too small, nor any source. While others run for big quotes that underline salacious stories, Badman also turns to film-set make-up artists and Apple receptionists, making sure that the all-too-telling minutiae are recorded in detail, almost day-by-day, until the official split in April 1970. It might actually make you dislike Paul and John at points. It will certainly open your eyes. This is truly one Beatles book you need.

ISBN 9781847721013

Reviewed by Jason Draper
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