Riding So High: The Beatles and Drugs | Page 6 | Fab Forum | The Beatles Bible

I got another ***** (that’s five stars, not an expletive) review on Amazon.com! Not sure if it’s by anyone here, but thanks to aussie mark if you’re reading.

5.0 out of 5 stars

Fascinating Perspective on a Familiar Story
By aussie mark on December 17, 2017
Format: Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase

This is a well written and engaging look at the Beatles and their drug use. It follows the group through their different stages as they apparently changed in reflection of the particular drugs they were taking – speed pills and booze, to pot, to LSD and heroin – and back again. The author runs the Beatles Bible web-site and this book gathers material from there as well as augments it with non-song related details and stories as well. Clearly it has been well researched. There is a nice balance between describing the positive effects each drug has – whether it helps to keep the band playing through long nights in Hamburg, or bonding the band members together on higher planes to inspiring a year of psychedelic rock – before it then shows the inevitable crash as the drugs destroy egos, relationships and eventually the Beatles as an entity. There are amusing anecdotes and dark reflections on the impact drugs had on each of the band members. The explanations as to how songs were written about particular drugs or trips indicate how large a lyrical topic drugs were for the Beatles. The lay-out of the book suits reading it section by section, but the stories tell a familiar tale in a new light which makes the book difficult to close without reading just one more section. An excellent first up effort by the author on what is clearly a labour of love.

Hey, thanks everyone for the feedback. I’m glad you’re enjoying it!

I’ve had some more 5* reviews on Amazon. Excuse the ego-stroking, but it’s nice to have these all in one place (and because reviews posted on some Amazon sites aren’t always reproduced on the others).

Rings true.

Well written and researched.

Very good, historical account of the impact of drugs on the beatles.

Great read, The beatles come out cut down to size as people (we still love them, and the talent and artistry remain). The book also goes into the chemical and historical genesis of the substances they did not as much as take, but gulped down, especially John and George. by 63, they were simply not the nice and preppy boys Brian Epstein, the medias and the record companies clothed and painted them as being. Speed, pills and alcohol were already part of their daily lives, in generous portions, from the Hamburg and cavern days. A must for anyone who loves pop music, rock, and not just the Beatles, and wants to appraise how the idealism of the sixties youth was both arguably fueled but also derailed finally, by drugs , in no small measure.

Beatles

This was a present for my son who is a great Beatles fan he was delighted with it

Illuminating

If, like me, you’ve read the Beatles books and watched the documentaries, you’ll probably feel that you (kind of) know them. You heard about the drugs. But did you realise quite how much time they spent ‘out of it’? According to this comprehensive account, a lot!

Having been a working guitarist for over 40 years, I have to say that the drug stories told here ring true, but the crucial factor is that the Beatles became hugely famous and their drug use public knowledge. Does fame bring with it moral responsibilities? Is Sgt Pepper —being possibly the most creative album ever made—the most potent advertisement for mind-expanding drugs that has ever been, and maybe ever will be? Viewed in this light, the book becomes not only valid, but also thought-provoking.

On a lighter note, Riding So High is largely well written—the prose seemed to me to pick up along with the rise in the Beatles’ fame. There were anecdotes I’d not come across before, and illuminating new details on the familiar ones. Feel like you know the story? You’ll have a broader picture after reading this.

Thank you @The Hippie Chick and @DrBeatle. I’m really glad you enjoyed it! 

Just a couple of corrections to your review, Drew. John wasn’t the only Beatle to use heroin – Paul did before him, as mentioned in the book, though Lennon was the only one to get a habit. I think that’s a distinction worth making. And you say that cocaine and heroin were the final two chapters, but there were five after that! But with a 10/10 rating I’ll let it go. Thank you so much!

I found out today that Canadian readers are a little less effusive. I have two reviews on Amazon.ca, both so-so:

3.0 out of 5 stars
By Herculeon October 23, 2017

For Beatles fans only

4.0 out of 5 stars
By Ensign Jack

This is a not surprising but interesting read.