Love Me Do! The Beatles' Progress Kindle Edition

Any Beatles fan needs to read this. It's short and sweet, honest, real, entertaining, eye-opening, after all these years! (Who knew George was sort of a jerk?)

Loved it. Best Beatles book I’ve ever read. So atmospheric.

Fascinating glimpse into that early year, but the way it is written makes for a difficult read on Kindle. There are scraps of quotes and dialogue. Maybe in the paper version these are separated but on the Kindle they run together. Still, it’s worth a read and does give insight into the madness these kids were dealing with.

I've just finished this book and loved it. Although published in 1964 (and I read it after "all" the others), the book has a freshness, candour and objectivity that make it timeless. I understand why Mark Lewisohn said in the preface to the 1995 reprint that this is maybe the best book ever written about the Beatles. "A true book," said John in his 1970 Rolling Stone interview. "He wrote how we were." Right.The author, an American writer who spent three months with "the boys" in 1963-1964, covered their 1963 six-week tour in Britain, the 1964 tour in Paris and the first trip to the Unites States (February 1964).It's a written report with live glimpses. Michael Brown tells it like it happened and/or it was said, without parti pris and without any embellishment.Its author's blank neutrality and insight, as well as the authenticity of the reported events and dialogues (I recognized all the clichés, stereotypes and even syntax!), its conciseness (141 pages, small format) make it a real reference book--*the* reference book for those years, its reality being surpassed only by the video/tape recordings.Part of the text appears in oral style--short dialogues with rapid switches from the Beatles to the people around them. The other part consists of succinct summaries of facts and events, as well as letters from fans and press cuttings. This way, we hear the Beatles, Epstein, Sommerville, Murray the K, different journalists, photographers, policemen and fans, but also have relevant, coherent and cohesive details of facts, and the mix is really consistent. And there are photos, of course; en noir et blanc.As a whole the volume is a gem: a rare insight into the Beatles personalities, conception of life, attitudes towards one another, entourage, press, fans. We have access to their opinions and explanations about their success, what meant Hamburg or being from Liverpool, parents and education, about being young and getting old, their life or life in general.It's pricey but it's really worth.

It’s a short book and quick read. Covers a period time. Not exhaustive. And somewhat fragmented. With letters from fans. And some typos.

The author had unprecedented and extended access to the Beatles during the cusp of their fame and writes a refreshingly honest portrait of them and their lives. John Lennon said it was “a true book. He wrote how we were, which was bastards.” They don't come across nearly that bad, but the book shows them as real and flawed human beings. This is much better than the authorized Hunter Davies biography. Highly recommended.

I've read LOTS of Beatles book including "Tune In" by Mark Lewisohn and books by George Martin, Geoff Emerick, Philip Norman, Peter Brown, and many others. "Love Me Do" provides a unique inside look at the Beatles, individually and collectively, as they coped with their newfound fame, loss of privacy, and expectations for the future. I was impressed by the group's outspokenness and honesty even in the early days of 1963-1964 that are covered in this book.

Michael Braun witnessed the Beatles at the cusp of Beatlemania and was given access to parts of tours from 1963 to 1964. Because his account is not authorized, and because at that time he saw no reason to treat them with kid gloves, he provides a far less whitewashed account of The Beatles than other books written about them. He wouldn't have seen everything - Mal Evans and Neil Aspinal saw to that, but he saw them drinking and smoking, as well as hearing and writing down honest comments from them. This is a highly valuable book portraying the Beatles as they were during those days. Lennon even complimented the book's honesty and endorsed the authenticity of their portrayals.

A snapshot of the Beatles in a transitional phase as they progress from UK stardom to fame in the US, this is a refreshingly candid and unvarnished account of the band’s life on tour, with some excellent insights into the hysteria of Beatlemania. The power of the book lies in the neutrality of the reportage - it’s a deadpan depiction of the insanity surrounding the group - and the telling vignettes: a particular highlight is the series of excerpts from fans’ letters. Also Brian Epstein is glimpsed as a lonely figure on the fringes of fame: successful beyond his wildest dreams, but somehow isolated in the eye of the storm he helped to create. Mandatory reading for all Beatle fans...

The books best part covers the beatles first American visit. But on the whole it's often fragmentary and fails to capture their transition in the space of a few weeks from being part of a multi act tour headed by Helen shapiro to a national phenomenon. Poor Helen found herself upstaged by her support act... Kids just came to see the beatles, not her. And the rest is history. But this book skims over events. Easy reading but the serious beatles fan will go elsewhere for depth and analysis.

Was pleased to discover this was available on Kindle. However, the Kindle version is teeming with errors (in one instance 'Ringo' is referred to as 'Bingo'). Normally I can overlook one or two but this was a pretty frustrating read. The book's good, though

....when he said this was the best and truest book written about the Beatles at the height of their popularity. It captures not only the individual characters of the group, but the character of the time in which they flourished. Michael Braun's style is succinct, which makes a refreshing change from the over-padded brick-sized biographies which have appeared of late. This should be on the bookshelf - or i-reader - of anybody who is remotely interested in the band.

This is not the best Beatles Book in my view, just the earliest and thus written without any expectation of being read by millions of people. It is a "must read" but a bit of a rambling and incoherent narrative perhaps reflecting, to be fair, the chaos of that time and of their lives in particular.