A great taste of Beatlemania from the inside

It's obvious Larry Kane thought quite highly of The Beatles, although it is equally obvious that John was his favorite, Paul his least favorite (contrast that to Geoff Emerick, who wrote "Here, There and Everywhere," who favored Paul over John). You definitely get the flavor of the whole Beatlemania thing, and a highlight is listening to the actual tapes at the end of the audiobook and hearing the Beatles in their own words. Kane's reading is a little dry, but overall a fascinating listen. Beatles fans will love it.

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Great Read Very Interesting

Would you listen to Ticket to Ride again? Why?

No I do not listen again I have a good memory but I do recommend this book,especially if you are a Beatle fan and want to up close and personal with the group.5 stars a must listen.

What did you like best about this story?

Everything very personal and just like I was there.

What about Larry Kane’s performance did you like?

5 Star

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

yes but was bot able too.

Any additional comments?

no

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Veteran journalist remembers the Beatles' tour

If you could sum up Ticket to Ride in three words, what would they be?

Larry Kane was a 21-year-old radio journalist working out of Miami when his station sent him to report on this British music sensation called the Beatles. Kane had no interest in covering this boy group. Back in 1964, no one knew the lads from Liverpool were the BEATLES in capital letters. As far as anyone knew, they were just another flash in the pan. Something for the 13-year-old girls to pant over, which they did.

Larry Kane had bigger ambitions. He wanted to be a serious journalist and the Beatles were bubblegum. Added to that, Kane had just lost his mother.

But this assignment would alter the course of Kane's life. He says in the book that the Beatles tour was one of the defining stories of his career, which has been long and successful.

As a reader, I wasn't expecting to like this book. Larry Kane is a broadcaster and I noticed he was reading his own book. I thought, great, he might have a good story but he's going to ruin it by sounding like someone reading train wrecks for the five o'clock news.

Okay, Kane does sound like a broadcaster. But I got over that quickly. Because the story is so enchanting. It's hard to ruin a Beatles story (though some have made strenuous efforts). And this is a very specific story about a specific and crucial period in the Beatles career--when they finally have that big number one single in America that opens the door for their first U.S. concert tour.

Kane's book, as the title suggests, recounts the 1964 and '65 tours. He meets four young men--John, Paul, George and Ringo--who are still wide-eyed with their enormous success. But these boys are far from innocent. Kane opens the door a crack so we're let in on some of the perks of success. There's a scene in Las Vegas (I think it's Las Vegas) when hookers are lined up in a hotel room and the Beatles are told to "take their pick."

Fortunately, Kane doesn't bog down in detailing all the romping naughtiness. If you want that, read Hammer of the Gods about Led Zeppelin or Let's Play House about Elvis Presley. (The Presley book is plain depressing.) He just lets you know it was going on.

Kane was one of a handful of journalists embedded (to use an anachronistic 21st-century usage) on the tour. Now I always miss a few bits when I'm listening to an audiobook and I don't know when Kane joined the tour. But I got the impression he hopped on right after the Beatles' historic appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show. From New York, they flew to Miami, where Kane was stationed.

So by this time American Beatlemania was in full uproar. And that's one of the significant contributions of Kane's on-the-ground account. He witnessed Beatlemania from the inside, inside the limos and the planes and the hotel rooms with the Beatles, but with the outsider perspective of an observer.

Many was the time Kane was go in his hotel room only to find some luscious girl camped out on his bed and promising to do whatever he wanted if only he'd get her an audience with brainy John, cute Paul, happy-go-lucky Ringo or shy George. The young journalist was a gentleman, but some of his fellow journalists, not to mention members of the Beatles entourage ( Mal Evans and Neil Aspinall) took advantage of the windfall.

A lot of the story takes place on airplanes or in cars going to and from airplanes or in hotel rooms. In New York, Kane gets the task of running downstairs to retrieve one of the Beatles' musician friends, a scruffy kid with a guitar, who turns out to be Bob Dylan. This is the night Dylan introduces the Beatles to hardcore marijuana smoking, and Paul McCartney discovers the secret of the universe.

Other big names weave in and out of the tour. Joan Baez turns up in one of the Beatles' rooms without clothes, if I remember that part correctly. Maybe she was taking a bath. There are American concert promoters, radio DJs and loads and loads of young fans who will do anything--and do--to get to the Liverpool boys.

Kane's observation of the fan phenomenon--Beatlemania--is absorbing. I never really thought about it before, but Beatlemania was restricted to the early years when the Beatles were touring. Kane meets and talks with a lot of the fans. He is the go-between, carting weird fan gifts to the boys, including a bagel inscribed with Ringo's name.

So the Beatlemania portion of the book is great. But every reader is coming to this book for insight into John, Paul, George and Ringo. Kane gives you his take on each of them. He remembers special moments with each of them and unlike some biographers seems to genuinely like each one. John Lennon, even then, was strongly interested in social issues, though he wouldn't become vocal until later. Paul was the gregarious, always charming one. Ringo took simple delight in nearly about this new world opening up to him. George was the down-to-earth guy who wasn't writing many songs yet but wanted to.

Kane also shows us a thoughtful and suave Brian Epstein, the Beatles manager. Epstein, a closeted gay in the '60s, makes a pass at the young Kane, who turns him down with grace.

What other book might you compare Ticket to Ride to and why?

I'm probably preaching to the Beatles choir here. But if you're new to Beatles bios I've got some suggestions. You can't go wrong with Geoff Emerick's Here, There and Everywhere. He was a recording engineer on many of the Beatles' albums. He takes you inside the recording studio with anecdotes about the creative decision-making and technical innovations that went into songs like "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Day in the Life." He's one of the biographers who likes Paul. (So many of them seem to dismiss him as a big plastic smile.)

Mark Lewisohn's Tune In: All These Years is my favorite Beatles bio to date and the narrator does a superb job. (But how do you pronounce Brian Epstein's last name? I hear it pronounced both ways.) Tune In is a mammoth listen but so engrossing you'll forget you're only getting the first third of the Beatles' history. It ends in 1962 just as the Beatles finish their first album with producer George Martin.

Lewisohn digs deep to give you the ancestral heritage for each Beatle, back to the great-greats in some cases. He also spends a lot of time giving you the social history of the 1940s and '50s and laying out the plan of Liverpool. There's so much talk about the early rock-n-roll and skiffle that influenced the pre-Beatles--Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Arthur Alexander, Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, Lonnie Donegan--that I really wished the audio had come with music excerpts. Wouldn't that be great? But getting copyright permission would be daunting, to say the least.

Anyway, Lewisohn's book is an in-depth look at the four boys and their families. This is the first book I've read (Okay, listened to. But you know what I mean.) that tries to spend equal time with George and Ringo and not just lavish pages on the "important" Beatles, although John and Paul's boyhood forays into songwriting are significant.

I could say more but you don't want me to. You want to get the book, which will occupy the next several weeks of your life--or days if you are hopped up on caffeine, don't need to work or do anything distracting like earn money, and if you have the stamina to listen to 24-plus hours in one long Beatley session. If you do, Audible should give you an extra-special listener badge. And have fun.

Have you listened to any of Larry Kane’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Audible has two other Beatles books by Kane, one on John Lennon and one about the Beatles' years in Liverpool. The latter came out the same year as Mark Lewisohn's Tune In, also covering that time period, and was overshadowed by it. I have both but haven't given them a listen yet. On my to-do list. How 'bout you?

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Ticket to Ride was one of those books I listened to until it was finished. I didn't jump around to other books. I put it on my iPod so I could take it on jogs. I took it in the car with me. And I put it on my iPad so when I was buying baby carrots at Target it had it piping in my ears. Guessed I must've liked it.

Any additional comments?

Thanks, Larry Kane. You made me happy.

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Top of the List Read

What made the experience of listening to Ticket to Ride the most enjoyable?

The fact that it was read by the author.

What did you like best about this story?

Because the author was a reporter, it is very believable. So many books are second and third account references and you are unsure of the authenticity.

Which scene was your favorite?

The whole book was memorable, beginning to end.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

I was there, really!

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A Ticket To Ride

This is an account of the Beatle's '64-'65 USA tour from a reporters perspective. He does a good job overall. I wish he would have given more detail of how the beatle's changed in appearance. He talks much of how they matured and came into their own in attitude and confidence and opinions, but how did their hair change, who grew facial hair, how did they dress, etc. The final hour of the book is actual tape recordings taken by the author during the 2 tours. This is the most delightful thing of the book, hearing their young voices and responses to his questions. Many simples answers, but a real bonus. I highly recommend this book to any nostalgic Beatle's fan.

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4 people found this helpful

Great introduction into the mania of the Beatles

This has been my first look into a sound I grew up with playing from the stereo of our home. I was born in the eighties but had parents with a strong affiliation to the classics. I fell in love with the sound first. Now as an adult and mother, I sing Hey Jude to my son and revel deeply in the joy when I hear him sing it back. This book was my first journey into the Beatles. I love that it wasn't all about the band, but a potpourri of each member. My favorite part is hearing them in the end. A true amazement.

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Fascinating Glimpse at Tour Life

This is the best account of the touring days I’ve read, it’s thorough and detailed like a news report, yet it’s personable, not overly dry. The narrator present himself as a reliable, neutral and even narrator — a man who’s primary role is as an upstanding journalist with integrity. He recorded details each day during the tour and shares audio recordings he kept, so it feels far more reliable than books based on memory recollections 20 years later, which is most Beatle books. The only drawback is the narration which he reads like a newscaster giving a news report. The flat, over emphasis of every word makes it hard to follow over long stretches and takes the personal touch out of the story. I think they should redo the audio with a professional narrator for this.

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Great Book

This was just an amazing book. From the stories of the road to what went on behind the scenes, the author makes you feel like you're right there on the Electra as the Beatles criss cross America in the mid sixties. Loved every minute.

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3 people found this helpful

Fun First Hand Account of Being with the Beatles

Larry Kane reluctantly joined the first Beatles tour. He learned to love their music and performances. He soon learned that the crowds of adoring fans were dangerous due to the sheer numbers.
Although I heard most of the stories before, I still enjoyed this book.
Nice reading of the book too.

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Captivating Insiders View

Larry Kane did an exceptional job in writing this book! I was surprisingly impressed with his professionalism and positive attitude in this truly amazing audiobook. There are several actual interviews with each Beatle included at the end of this book. It was an especially nice treat to listen to!

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