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Riding So High: The Beatles and Drugs
17 October 2017
11.18am
Ms. Lane
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Zig said

That was a great read, Joe. Nicely done.  

Yes! But the headline was somewhat unfortunate:

Beatles and Drugs Author on Pills, Pot and LSD

 

as it could read as if Joe is on pills, pot and LSD… Surely not the intended meaning.

 

Sorry; I’m a writer/editor : )

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17 October 2017
2.58pm
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IAmTheLongbus
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Great book! Easily a 9/10. It’s very easily read and contains loads of information. I would highly recommend it to others.

However, there were some typos. I think there was something about Revolver where the year of release was misspelled as 1996 instead of 1966. There were also some other small errors but I don’t exactly remember which pages it were or what subjects.

But overall, great book and great price!

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17 October 2017
3.30pm
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Ahhh Girl
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IAmTheLongbus said
Great book! Easily a 9/10. It’s very easily read and contains loads of information. I would highly recommend it to others.

However, there were some typos. I think there was something about Revolver where the year of release was misspelled as 1996 instead of 1966. There were also some other small errors but I don’t exactly remember which pages it were or what subjects.

But overall, great book and great price!  

I found that section. I’ll email it to Joe.

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18 October 2017
4.08am
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Joe
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IAmTheLongbus said
Great book! Easily a 9/10. It’s very easily read and contains loads of information. I would highly recommend it to others.

However, there were some typos. I think there was something about Revolver where the year of release was misspelled as 1996 instead of 1966. There were also some other small errors but I don’t exactly remember which pages it were or what subjects.

But overall, great book and great price!  

Thank you @IAmTheLongbus. I’m fixing the 1996 error for all future copies – I can’t believe that slipped through. If you find anything else please PM me or send an email, via the Contact link at the foot of the page.

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19 October 2017
9.15am
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Joe
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@The Hole Got Fixed sent me a PM asking if there was a way to avoid high postage costs to Australia (and, by extension, other non-Amazon countries) for the paperback edition.

I’m pleased to see that the Book Depository is now listing it, and they have free worldwide delivery. Their prices are slightly more than Amazon’s, which owns the Book Depository anyway. I assume any orders placed with the BP result in Amazon/Ingram printing a new copy and sending it out, so they’re just the middle-men. It might still work out cheaper than ordering from Amazon if you don’t have Prime.

It’s A$21.09 on the Book Depository. I think The Hole Got Fixed said it was over A$40 shipped from Amazon, so it’s quite a saving.

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1 November 2017
2.01pm
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georgiewood
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I just finished the book, @Joe.  It is a great read, meticulously detailed and beautifully written, as we would all expect.  Here is my Amazon review; hope it helps to get the word out:

“The mark of an engaging work of nonfiction is the ability to personalize the subject for the reader. This book has that quality in spades. Through the use of quotes, dialogue and detailed anecdotes, the reader is taken inside the world of the world’s greatest musical group and exposed to the most intimate details of the lives of John, Paul, George and Ringo. While the nominal subject matter is the Beatles’ drug use, there really is much more to this book. Casual fans will experience a host of revelations, but even the most ardent Beatleologists will discover new and remarkable facts about their idols. The narrative is presented in a straightforward and nonjudgmental fashion and it is obvious that it is exhaustively researched and annotated. The book is highly recommended for anyone who loves the Beatles or who is intrigued by the most inspirational time of modern music history.”

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I say in speeches that a plausible mission of artists is to make people appreciate being alive at least a little bit. I am then asked if I know of any artists who pulled that off. I reply, 'The Beatles did'.
Kurt Vonnegut, Timequake, 1997

2 November 2017
4.13pm
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Martha
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I’ve also read the book in my holiday and found it fantastic! Normally, I have my problems with informative books because they are written so dryly, but not Riding So High. It is so lively written and contains so many funny, surprising, and, above all, intimate facts and anecdotes about the Beatles that I rather had the feeling I was sitting at a fire with the Fab Four while they are telling stories out of their life. It is also crazy how well researched this book is, at some point, I just wondered where on earth one gets information like that from (due to the great list of references this question could easily be answered though 😉 ). Thanks for writing such an awesome book! I gave it five stars on both the German and the general Amazon.

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Not once does the diversity seem forced -- the genius of the record is how the vaudevillian "When I'm 64" seems like a logical extension of "Within You Without You" and how it provides a gateway to the chiming guitars of "Lovely Rita. - Stephen T. Erlewine on Sgt Pepper's

2 November 2017
9.18pm
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Does this book include the fascinating detail that for a long time (maybe a couple of years) while Lennon was in England (post-Beatles), James Taylor was effectively his “drug mule” bringing him a pharmacopia of drugs he got from the US?  I only learned this last year when I saw a video of JT describing that period to an interviewer.

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6 November 2017
6.45am
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Joe
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Thank you @georgiewood and @Martha! You’re so kind. Those reviews are really, really lovely. It’s so good to see people respond positively, after all those months of research and writing.

I got an OKish review on beatles-freak.com – she seemed to like it, but was bored in the first couple of chapters. Oh well, can’t win ’em all. At least she said it was “very, very well written”, and that it got better later on. Phew.

If anyone else has read the book and would be able to review it on Amazon or elsewhere, please do. I know @DrBeatle is planning something, and Erin Torkelson Weber, author of The Beatles and The Historians, really likes the book and will do something on her site.

@Pineapple Records No, I didn’t include that snippet, of which I wasn’t aware. The subject of drug suppliers was a really tricky one to get to the root of (facts are hazy at best), and if I’d had more time I’d have tried to dig deeper, though I did manage to dig up some info (eg Dan Richter, Kevin Harrington). Some things got left out because they didn’t easily fit in with the narrative flow, such as BP Fallon being the Beatles’ marijuana tester at Apple. It’s a great story but finding room for everything was a challenge, although on reflection I probably should have had BP in there. 

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6 November 2017
8.07am
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meanmistermustard
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Joe said
Thank you @georgiewood and @Martha! You’re so kind. Those reviews are really, really lovely. It’s so good to see people respond positively, after all those months of research and writing.

I got an OKish review on beatles-freak.com – she seemed to like it, but was bored in the first couple of chapters. Oh well, can’t win ’em all. At least she said it was “very, very well written”, and that it got better later on. Phew.

If anyone else has read the book and would be able to review it on Amazon or elsewhere, please do. I know @DrBeatle is planning something, and Erin Torkelson Weber, author of The Beatles and The Historians, really likes the book and will do something on her site.

@Pineapple Records No, I didn’t include that snippet, of which I wasn’t aware. The subject of drug suppliers was a really tricky one to get to the root of (facts are hazy at best), and if I’d had more time I’d have tried to dig deeper, though I did manage to dig up some info (eg Dan Richter, Kevin Harrington). Some things got left out because they didn’t easily fit in with the narrative flow, such as BP Fallon being the Beatles’ marijuana tester at Apple. It’s a great story but finding room for everything was a challenge, although on reflection I probably should have had BP in there.   

Three out of four is good and your book has to cover Dylan, prezzies and all the other familiar stuff as without there would be glaring omissions. I found it surprising she didn’t know the Royston Ellis information as it was one of the more memorable new pieces of information for me in Lewisohn’s book (tho it may have been out there before that time).

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7 November 2017
1.39am
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Joe said
Thank you @georgiewood and @Martha! You’re so kind. Those reviews are really, really lovely. It’s so good to see people respond positively, after all those months of research and writing.

I got an OKish review on beatles-freak.com – she seemed to like it, but was bored in the first couple of chapters. Oh well, can’t win ’em all. At least she said it was “very, very well written”, and that it got better later on. Phew.

If anyone else has read the book and would be able to review it on Amazon or elsewhere, please do. I know @DrBeatle is planning something, and Erin Torkelson Weber, author of The Beatles and The Historians, really likes the book and will do something on her site.

@Pineapple Records No, I didn’t include that snippet, of which I wasn’t aware. The subject of drug suppliers was a really tricky one to get to the root of (facts are hazy at best), and if I’d had more time I’d have tried to dig deeper, though I did manage to dig up some info (eg Dan Richter, Kevin Harrington). Some things got left out because they didn’t easily fit in with the narrative flow, such as BP Fallon being the Beatles’ marijuana tester at Apple. It’s a great story but finding room for everything was a challenge, although on reflection I probably should have had BP in there.   

It could be that James Taylor only revealed this recently.  The YouTube interview with the BBC may be very recent, perhaps the last year or two.  I just transcribed the relevant portion from it:

“We [James and John] partied a lot… and a lot of it had sort of a chemical focus… you know, tripping, trying to find substances to… I had friends in London who were basically smugglers, and you know, so, he thought that I might have access to stuff he wanted to get… it didn’t really go that far, but, that was one side of it, for sure…”

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9 November 2017
7.21am
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Ahhh Girl
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A nice review from the person who runs the Meet the Beatles for Real blog.

http://www.meetthebeatlesforre…..w.html?m=1

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9 November 2017
10.55am
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I bought my copy.

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9 November 2017
11.00am
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Von Bontee
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I guess all good reviews are welcome, but that was…not well written. Was it translated from another language?

Paul: Yeah well… first of all, we’re bringing out a ‘Stamp Out Detroit’ campaign.

         

9 November 2017
6.14pm
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georgiewood
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Von Bontee said
I guess all good reviews are welcome, but that was…not well written. Was it translated from another language?  

I thought the exact same thing when I was reading it. It seemed even sloppier than the usual online article full of grammatical/spelling/homonymal errors which could have been discovered by the writer on a casual re-reading before posting. 

I say in speeches that a plausible mission of artists is to make people appreciate being alive at least a little bit. I am then asked if I know of any artists who pulled that off. I reply, 'The Beatles did'.
Kurt Vonnegut, Timequake, 1997

9 November 2017
6.56pm
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Ahhh Girl
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Well, at least the reviewer liked Joe’s book.

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10 November 2017
9.37am
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Joe
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Here’s part one of Erin Torkelson Weber’s piece. She says it was only supposed to be a short introduction but turned into a mini-essay, so she’s saving the review for the next part.

Beatles history and historiography cannot be clearly understood without acknowledging the pivotal role played by drugs, and their impact on the band’s artistry, relations, characters, decisions and statements. Certain authors such as Doggett and MacDonald provided a beginning: by devoting an entire book of informed, objective analysis to the subject Joe Goodden’s Riding So High: The Beatles and Drugs (2017), proves itself to be an essential new work in Beatles historiography.

https://beatlebioreview.wordpr…..-part-one/

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11 November 2017
4.23am
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ewe2
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How exciting to have your work treated with proper seriousness and focus on an oft-neglected subject! I’m thrilled for you @Joe!

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12 November 2017
5.43am
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Zig
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Joe said

Beatles history and historiography cannot be clearly understood without acknowledging the pivotal role played by drugs, and their impact on the band’s artistry, relations, characters, decisions and statements. Certain authors such as Doggett and MacDonald provided a beginning: by devoting an entire book of informed, objective analysis to the subject Joe Goodden’s Riding So High: The Beatles and Drugs (2017), proves itself to be an essential new work in Beatles historiography.

@Joe, those were the exact thoughts I had while reading your book. Your mastery of the topic substantiates this as a work that truly stands on its own and is a must-read for all Beatles fans. It is so worth the wait.

Well done, my friend.

apple01heart

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14 November 2017
3.49pm
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Joe
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Thanks @ewe2 and @Zig!

All positive reviews have been a joy, but this, by Erin Torkelson Weber, is probably my favourite so far. I’m fairly blown away by what she wrote. Please do take the time to read it.

https://beatlebioreview.wordpr…..e-goodden/

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