Dimensions
235 x 13 x 236mm
Pete Best was the original Beatles drummer. During their first wild years, he and the leather-clad group ripped the cellars of Liverpool and the clubs of Hamburg apart with their blistering live shows. The thousands of youngsters who saw them play recall that the Beatles were at their best as live performers between 1960 and 1962 - their sound enhanced by the "atomic beat" created by Pete Best.
The Beatles then were a rough, tough, anarchic bunch, drinking, fighting on stage, pounding out a red-hot brand of rock 'n' roll that electrified audiences. Pete Best, dubbed "mean, moody and magnificent", was acknowledged in Liverpool as the most popular member of the Beatles; fans used to sleep overnight in his garden just to be near him.
Then Brian Epstein smoothed out their roughness, fitted them out in mohair suits and sacked Pete Best from the group just as they were on the brink of worldwide stardom. After Pete left, the Beatles no longer played so many hours on stage, and their repertoire was continually drowned out by screaming fans.
Pete Best recalls with affection those two magical years when the music of the savage young Beatles stirred the crowds in Liverpool and Hamburg. The words and evocative photographs in 'The Best Years of the Beatles' re-create the birth of a phenomenon. You'll wish you'd been there.
