About
Welcome to beatle.net THE BEATLES LEGACY ON VINYL, home of Beatles books from Bruce Spizer.
Bruce Spizer’s books tell the fascinating and sometimes convoluted stories behind the Beatles vinyl releases, including how the songs were written and recorded and how the various singles and albums were marketed. His first books covered the records released by various record companies in the United States, such as Vee-Jay, Capitol, Swan and the Beatles own Apple label. From the very first record bearing the Beatles name in the U.S.A., Please Please Me b/w Ask Me Why, released by Vee-Jay Records on February 7, 1963, through the last disc issued by their own company during the Apple era, George Harrison’s This Guitar (Can’t Keep From Crying) on December 8, 1975, all the way to and including the triumphant return of Apple Records and the release of Live At The BBC, Anthology and the phenomenally successful Beatles 1, Bruce documents the ins and outs of every Beatles record released in America, down to the smallest detail.
Bruce has written the definitive book telling the story of how the Beatles took America by storm in 1964, The Beatles Are Coming! The Birth of Beatlemania in America. Bruce also co-authored, with Frank Daniels, the definitive book on the Beatles British releases, Beatles For Sale on Parlophone Records, which covers all of the singles, albums and extended play (EP) discs issued by the Beatles in the U.K. in the sixties. The book discusses how the songs were written, recorded and marketed in the U.K., complete with images of all of the record sleeves, picture sleeves, album covers, EP jackets and record labels.
Bruce is presently working on a series of books on the Beatles albums. The first, The Beatles and Sgt. Pepper: A Fans’ Perspective, was published to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the album’s release. The book set the format for the album series, with chapters providing the American, British and Canadian perspective, dozens of fan recollections and chapters on the packaging of the album and the recording of the songs. His latest books in the series are The Beatles White Album and the Launch of Apple and The Beatles Get Back to Abbey Road.
His first four books are sold out, but three are now available in revised and expanded digital editions: The Beatles Records on Vee-Jay; The Beatles’ Story on Capitol Records, Part One: Beatlemania and the Singles; and The Beatles’ Story on Capitol Records, Part Two: The Albums.
As is the case with Bruce’s prior books, no matter how much you know about the Beatles, you will learn something new from the book. Bruce’s books are filled with several hundred full color and original black & white images of picture sleeves, album covers, promotional posters, rare point-of-purchase displays, memorabilia, Billboard magazine ads, company documents, 45 rpm and album labels and, of course, the Beatles themselves. Many of these images are from Bruce’s extensive Beatles collection, while others were contributed by top Beatles collectors and dealers throughout the world.
The visually stunning images alone make these books worth the price of admission; however, Bruce’s stellar research and lively writing style make these books the ultimate reference guides to the music and records of the Beatles.
Each of Bruce’s books on the American records was named “Beatles Book of the Year” by Goldmine magazine in its year of publication. They have been praised by music industry insiders and respected members of the press:
“Bruce Spizer is the ultimate presenter of the historical phenomenon known as the Beatles.” – Ken Mansfield, Apple’s first U.S. manager
“Bruce provides an entertaining journey through Beatlemania through the eyes and ears of America.” – Alan Livingston, president of Capitol Records, 1962-1968
“The Beatles Are Coming! is a thoroughly researched and entertaining account of the group’s first U.S. visit, full of interesting and little known stories about how the Beatles caught on in America.” – Walter Cronkite, former CBS News Director and anchorman
Click on book covers for more information on each of Bruce’s books or explore this site for additional Beatles history and information, including an archive of articles written by Bruce.
