Retro Roundup looks at The McCartney Legacy Vol. 2 1974-1980

Retro Roundup will continue its look at 1970s hits outside the Billboard top 10 next week, but this week I want to offer praise to a book I read voraciously during my vacation in Florida.

When it comes to chronicling the Beatles and their recording career, author Mark Lewisohn is the most acclaimed by fans — his books on the band's recording sessions, with lots of interesting information on how the songs were put together, and the atmosphere in the studio, were revelatory. Lewisohn has also put out the first in a series of massive books combining Beatle biography with recording details. The first of these books, Tune In, goes up to 1962, and the second volume, which will dig in to the Beatles' most famous recordings, is being anxiously awaited by Beatles fans, including myself. Sadly, the author has been hobbled by a rift with the Beatles' organization, Apple.

In the meantime, authors Allan Kozinn and Adrian Sinclair got the jump, in a manner of speaking, on Lewisohn. They released, almost exactly two years apart, the first two volumes of The McCartney Legacy. Unlike Lewisohn's work, McCartney's early life and his work with the Beatles are not tackled. Biography and recording details are combined to wonderful effect, but the focus is only on McCartney's post-Beatles career, solo and with his group Wings.

Source: Joel Goldenberg/ The Suburban

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