BEATLES FOR SALE > How Everything They Touched Turned to Gold by John Blaney

If we didn’t know it before, we now are privy to every business blunder and nakedly greedy decision Brian Epstein and other handlers made at the expense of the Beatles, portrayed here as poor naifs ripe for exploitation. Unfortunately, like most young talents, they were.Label: JAWBONE
[RATING: 3]

If we didn’t know it before, we now are privy to every business blunder and nakedly greedy decision Brian Epstein and other handlers made at the expense of the Beatles, portrayed here as poor naifs ripe for exploitation. Unfortunately, like most young talents, they were. But Blaney spends a lot of time excoriating Epstein for being too money-hungry or too inexperienced, while somewhat shortchanging his role as the Neil Armstrong of rock and roll, going where almost no man had gone before. Some of his decisions were short-sighted, uninformed or selfish. That seems to be the case with almost everyone who had any control over the band, except George Martin. But clearly, Epstein had enough genius to earn them international stardom and success, even if he didn’t fill their bank accounts fast enough. The book’s message is mainly that the Beatles could have been far richer far sooner. But who among them would be able to say they didn’t come out all right, financially at least, in the end?