Lennon Revealed

Former Philadelphia newscaster Larry Kane scrapes the bottom of his memories of covering The Beatles and few encounters with Lennon afterward to pad this combination of memoir and hagiography.

Kane covered the Beatle tours as a radio reporter and his book about them, "Ticket to Ride," is considered an excellent fly-on-the-wall account. Here, he takes his material, what little information he's gathered, padded it with bombastic praise for the group and nearly everyone who knew or worked with them then tacked on 33 pages of fan letters. Kane is besotted with Lennon and uncritically takes his side whether John is using his rough tongue on his friends, cheating on his wives or behaving badly while taking copious amounts of drugs and alcohol.

Kane wraps the Beatles in fulsome prose that would embarrass the most hardened egotist. The Shea Stadium concert? "An epic moment in contemporary entertainment" Onetime band mate Stu Sutcliffe? "In the formative years of John's march to eternal greatness, Stu Sutcliffe was a colossal figure." Even Beatle experts aren't spared this trowelwork, with one authority called "the world's greatest scholar" on the group. This fulsome praise makes for hard reading.

Kane's prose settles down when he describes the private moments he shared with Lennon while on tour, and there's a wonderful section describing the weekend Lennon spent in Philadelphia helping Kane's station with its telethon in 1975. The accompanying 40-minute DVD mixes a promotional interview with Kane with a 13-minute interview from 1968 with Lennon and McCartney, and a few seconds of Lennon giving the weather report as part of the telethon promotion. So while there are some interesting bits, it wasn't enough to justify a book. As they say in the record business, I didn't hear a hit.

Love That Lennon! (0/0 people found this helpful)

I have had the pleasure of meeting Larry Kane at the 2003 Beatles convention in Chicago and am the proud owner of an autographed copy of his previous book, "Ticket to Ride." This book, as does the earlier work comes with a CD. No Beatle fan will want to be without this book to add to their collection.

Kane had the distinct privilege of traveling with the Beatles in 1964 and 1965 as a radio news reporter. I have heard him speak several times and each time he has made no bones about John being his favorite Beatle. This book stands out among the countless works about the Chief Beatle.

I like the objective tone Kane takes in "reporting" his favorite Beatle; at no time do readers get the impression that he is a Lennon sycophant.

Although there are others I wish had lent their voices to this book, such as John's fellow bandmates and others who knew him personally, this is still an excellent book.

Love That Lennon! (0/0 people found this helpful)

I like the objective tone Kane takes in "reporting" his favorite Beatle; at no time do readers get the impression that he is a Lennon sycophant.

Although there are others I wish had lent their voices to this book, such as John's fellow bandmates and others who knew him personally, this is still an excellent book.

Larry Kane

Reader Reviews:

I Don't Hear A Hit (0/0 people found this helpful)

Love That Lennon! (0/0 people found this helpful)

Love That Lennon! (0/0 people found this helpful)

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