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List Price: $50.00 | | Publisher: Four Ninety-Eight Productions
Salesrank: 1600967
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| Media: Hardcover |
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Editorial Review:
Foreword by Perry Cox.
Complete story of the Beatles records on Vee-Jay - how creative marketing turned 16 Beatles songs into a comprehensive catalog of multiple 45, EP, and album releases that, taken together, are worth more today than all other American Beatles records combined.
DID YOU KNOW... Capitol Records initially passed on the Beatles 4 times?
When the Beatles first two US singles were released by Vee-Jay Records in 1963, they were virtually ignored?
When Vee-Jay released Please Please Me as the first Beatles single in the US, the group's name was misspelled as "The BEATLES"?
Learn all this and much more in Songs, Pictures and Stories of the fabulous Beatles Records on Vee-Jay. This entertaining and informative book compiles the history and images of the most misunderstood and colorful period of the Beatles American records.
Hundreds of color pictures, including all known variations of album covers, picture sleeves and record labels, Billboard and Cash Box trade ads, royalty statements and checks issued to Capitol Records, promotional mailers, catalogs, posters and other cool stuff!
Contributors include Dave Askamit, Jason Anjoorian, Dale Aronson, Jeff Augsburger, Bob Avellino, Deborah Bonhart, Frank Caiazzo, Mike Calahan, Lou Calitri, Betty Chiapetta, Ken Clee, Sherman Cohen, Thomas Cook, Perry Cox, Andy Davis, Vance DeGeneres, Ricki Filiar, Chris Fonvielle, Rob Friedman, Mark Galloway, John Guarnieri, Jim Hansen, Gary Hein, Dan Hildebrand, Lin Holland, Pete Howard, Phillip Hunott, Matt Hurwitz, Todd Jackson, Gary Johnson, Christopher Kennel, Mark Lewisohn, Carol Luna, Phillip Marks, Susan McDaniel, Mitch McGeary, Tim Neely, Bob Nichols, Jerry Osborne, Martin Paul, Stanley Penenka, Casey Piotrowski, Marina Poch, Debra Poe Cary Pollack, Simon Postbrief, Shirley Rambeau, Rick Randell, Chris Ridges, Kate Riley, Wayne Rogers, Tom Schalk, David Schwartz, Jan Seltzer, Barry Spizer, Julie Stein, John Tefteller, Rebecca Tran, Enrico Venuti, Michael White, Craig Winston, Gordon Wrubel, Cliff Yamasaki, Robert W. York.
Songs, Pictures and Stories of the Fabulous Beatles Records on Vee-Jay Reviews:
Bruce Spizer: A League of His Own 
2008-04-28 - New Orleans resident and attorney, Bruce Spizer, has accomplished what no other Beatle fan and/or author could ever. Using his legal knowledge and access, has shed the ultimate light on the Beatles brief but fascinating time spent on Vee-Jay records. Congratulations to Mr. Spizer for cornering the market on what would otherwise be a mere footnote in the Fab's career, and for making it a wonderful read.
Vee Jay Story
2007-03-21 - This is for all the beatle fans who wanted to know everything about vee jay. I do believe the Beatles on Vee-Jay is just a sentence or two in most biographies. Vee-Jay was something that the Beatles were picked up by before Capital came to their senses. However, if you want to know everything about it from the physical shape of the records in detailed description, from which warehouse a disc was manufactured, to the details of the royalty rates and how vee jay got hold of the beatles recordings and how they chose to release them. Only a lawyer can be this detailed and this good at describing the legal issues of the Beatles various contracts. The Beatles on vee-jay is a complicated matter, something someone from today wouldn't understand but the rock and roll business wasn't always so organized or money oriented, it was a much different world. A world of Singles, which don't exist anymore, a world of EPs which never caught big in America. The story how veejay marked down an ep to a singles price to help sell copies is priceless. Not only is this a book on the beatles it gives a grand idea on how rock and roll was marketed in 1963-1964. Initially you might think these are books are dull and obsessive but these books are essential, the pictures alone are worth the price of each book in the series, never mind all the text, the text is also detailed and through, remember if there's something that doesn't interest you, you may skip over that part i'm sure they'll be plenty in this book and the others that will interest you.
Real fans and collectors will love it
2005-08-28 - Wow. A great book about a little known part of the Beatles history. Most British fans will probably never even heard of the Vee-Jay records - so for that reason I suggest they well steer clear of this book. It tells the history of each record in so much detail that it is almost exhausting. Most fans will probably not care about the different labels designs and misprints on the sleeve... and which record processing plant they were made in... but to all of the Beatles collectors out there who want to know every possible thing about the band, then this book is a dream.
Not only does it cover all the ground in exhaustive detail, but it is also accurate - a not inconsiderable detail when you read about Vee-Jay in other books. For example, Bruce lays to rest some of the fables about the Introducing The Beatles album.
It is also lavishly illustrated.
Well worth the high asking price.
VJ stands for Very Jumbled
2004-06-15 - The story itself is absolutely mind boggling. This incredible tale has more loose ends than a rastafarian hat factory, and just as incredibly, Mr. Spizer pulls all of the threads together into a coherent whole and ties it up in spectacular fashion. The bumbling, cheating, lying, greedy characters that make up the story of how a record company missed the brass ring and lost the Beatles almost plays out like a soap opera....but it's all true! This is one of those cases where the truth is stranger than fiction. And while the story plays itself out, one is overwhelmed by the shear volume of product that an albums worth of songs engenders. If you think that Capitol "Butchered" the Beatles, you ain't read nothin' yet. The book is replete with scads of dazzling pictures of everything from record labels to court documents and everything in between. If you're a dihard Beatles fan or a just interested in stories with a twisted plot, you won't be disappointed with this book.
BEATLES ON VEE-JAY - AN AMAZINGLY AUTHORATIVE WORK
2003-07-19 - I received my copy of this book a couple of days ago with the similar Apple book (see my seperate review of that one). I bought it on the strength on the Author's similar Capitol volumes and boy it's amazing how much research this guy puts into his work. The Vee-Jay story was pretty much an unknown quantity to us Aussies so it's all the more fascinating to read the twists and turns of Vee-Jay's involvement in Beatlemania back in 1963-64. The chapters are mind-boggling to read. All 4 Capitol & Others vs Vee Jay legal cases are thoroughly detailed though I have skimmed through these because it's just so much to take in. The chapter on "Introducing The Beatles" was my main interest because I have a copy of the Mono Version #1 LP which I bought in an Auction here over 10 years ago. I have verified that it's the real deal thanks to this book + Perry Cox's "Beatles Price Guide". No, it's not for sale either!! The label representations and pictures of old original 45's are amazing and enough to drool over. I can't add much more than my colleague reviewers here other than you must have this and the Author's other books (On Capitol #1 & 2 & On Apple) if you're a serious Beatle nut like me. Even if you're not it's a wonderful addition to any Rock Music book library.
