As Time Goes By: Living in the Sixties with John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Brian Epstein, Allen Klein, Mae West, Brian ... Los Angeles, New York City, and on the Road

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It really captures the period. The truth is that Derek Taylor was there in the eye of the 60’s hurricane and therefore has a fab story to tell. What made this book so great is the late Mr Taylor’s so entertaining natural style of writing. I would like to thank everyone responsible for the re publishing of this book!

Personally I hate the Beatles...one of the most over-rated groups of musicians of the Twentieth Century - but I'm very interested in how things work (or don't work) behind the scenes, so I found this book fascinating. It is very rambling, unstructured and anecdotal, but it only serves to draw the reader in, as if s/he is being confided to and in conversation with the author. And the new Jon Savage introduction provides some context. Excellent holiday reading if you don't like fiction. Or even if you do.

The book is redolent of the period and flows in a way which reflects the times. One chapter is as good as any that I have ever read. A fantastic personal memoir of a time to be remembered.

A clue to the books content and writing style lies within the first chapter where the author reveals that he was paid an advance to write the book by one publishing house, but had to return it as he essentially couldn't be bothered to settle down to write it. Another publishing contract a few years down the line and he picks up where he left off and it is evident he is still not really motivated enough. He worked with the Beatles - which is where most of this thin tome derives its content - with The Beach Boys, The Doors, James Taylor, Nancy Sinatra, was one of the founders of the Monterey Festival and had working relationships with a plethora of other well known musicians of the day - but despite this it is evident from his writing that he is clearly just not interested enough to tell us the full story. There are one or two places where he elaborates a little, he whets the appetite, but fails to deliver anything of any significant interest. He's so laid back, he is almost comatose. Nothing seems to be of any import - considering he was a journalist early on and subsequently the Beatles press officer among others one would expect more, but it doesn't reveal itself. he plays his cards very close to his chest. There is very little detail about his relationships with anyone on the book, he is name dropping a lot of the time, but obviously not out of any sense of grandeur - just he/she was there we did this and that and that was that, but with nothing behind the story to prop it up. Some of the chapters are extremely pithy and come across as if he was in a drug induced haze - he might have been as he refers to it often enough. He was an old hippy too stoned, I suspect, to remember the details. If you are looking for any new revelations, you won't find them here. That said, if you are a music fan, it's something to have in your collection.

An interesting read about a man who was really there when it all happened in the greatest time for music.

Derek has a very lovely quixotic turn of phase.Just loved this book.Its about The Beatles but so much more as well.Can't recommend it enough.

“There is no comparison between a mouth and a mouthpiece…”Originally published in 1973, this book is really a series of vignettes, written by Derek Taylor, Beatles publicist and insider. When Apple was crumbling, and there seemed nothing else to do, George Harrison suggested Taylor go home and write a book and this was it.In many ways, this is a disjoined affair, with dated language and snippets which jump around. As such, it shouldn’t work. However, as a Beatles fan for most of my life, it is fascinating to read of events, written down at the time, or thereabouts, with honest reactions.Much of this book surprised me. For example, I was interested to read how kindly Taylor viewed Allen Klein – in fact paving the way for Klein to find his way to the Fabs. Indeed, there is a lot about Taylor’s admittedly difficult loss of identity, with everyone wanting to know him, in order to meet The Beatles. . Although there is a lot about other stars, and his musing on fame, it is the Beatles who are central to this book.Taylor was always loyal, but he is honest about the un-sentimentality of the Beatles themselves. People, he states simply, were un-mourned when they went and Taylor himself went, after a huge argument with Brian Epstein, in the early Sixties, only to return to England, and the Beatles, almost as though he had never left. From the madness of the Apple office, through drug busts, going to record, “Thingumybob,” in Bradford, and returning through a village who opened its doors to Paul McCartney, to juggling the press, John and Yoko facing hostility on television talk shows, and more, this is a fascinating account of an extraordinary time. I am delighted to see his first book being re-printed for fans to enjoy.

Very poor book. I thought I would learn some interesting facts about the Beatles, but it was just a book with rambling text