Way Beyond Compare: The Beatles' Recorded Legacy, Volume One, 1957-1965

By John C. Winn

An answered prayer for Beatles fans and collectors, the first ­volume of a unique work that exhaustively chronicles all known and ­available Beatles recordings! Have you ever watched a Beatles film clip and wondered: * Where was that filmed? * Is any more of that footage available? Have you ever heard a Beatles interview and asked: * When was that taped? * Where's the best place to find the complete recording? Way Beyond Compare has the answers to these and thousands of similar questions. It's the key to unlocking the secrets behind every known Beatles recording in circulation through 1965, telling you where to find them, what makes them unique, and how they fit within the context of the Beatles' amazing musical and cultural journey. Author John C. Winn has spent twenty years (twice as long as the Beatles were together!) ­sifting through, scrutinizing, organizing, and analyzing hundreds of hours of audio and video recordings--and putting them into a digestible chronological framework for Way Beyond Compare and its companion volume, That Magic Feeling: The Beatles' Recorded Legacy, Volume Two, 1966-1970. "It takes a rare and special kind of mind to sift through it all, to research and enquire, catalogue and chronicle, assess and contrast, identify and label, and to fit all the myriad pieces into the vast jigsaw puzzle that is the Beatles' career. John C. Winn is that person, and he's done it with a rare skill and intelligence." --Mark Lewisohn

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0307451577
• ISBN13: 9780307451576
• Release Date: December 2008
• Publisher: Crown Publishing Group
• Length: 416 Pages
• Weight: 2.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 8.4" x 10.6"

Customer Reviews

Comprehensive. Authoritative. Invaluable.

"The Way Beyond Compare" is the definitive, most accurate, thorough, helpful, and authoritative document study of The Beatles' complete output, including official releases, outtakes, live performances, broadcasts, compositional drafts and much more. It is also the ONLY credible source on spoken-word recordings such as press conferences, interviews, skits and unscripted banter. John Winn's two-volume set (the other being "That Magic Feeling") is indispensible for any collector of Beatle recordings. It is highly recommended for anyone wishing to learn more about what the Beatles played, sang and said, and the release history footnotes tells where the material first appeared. The book is also very entertaining and easily read, and it is as important as books like "The Complete Beatles Chronicle" and "The Beatles Recording Sessions" by Mark Lewisohn. If you're into collecting Beatles this is a book you cannot do without!

Beatlefans...Buy this book!

I've been collecting Beatles recordings for years, and read many books about them. Apart from Mark Lewisohn and Doug Sulpy's, this and Vol 2 really stand out. You get details about the recording session outtakes that many of us have collected over the years, as well as concerts, TV shows, BBC radio shows, etc. Painstaking research is obvious here. Well done, John. These books will be part of my reference library, and I hope that you'll continue to update them as the years pass. Hopefully, someday, Apple and EMI will release some new stuff for us to hear!

Excellent overview of all Beatles' recordings

Way Beyond Compare is a very thorough description and analysis of all the recordings by and of the Beatles. It includes not only their studio work, but also deals with recordings made for broadcasting and of live performances, interviews, press conferences and even home demo tapes. If it is "out there", it's in John Winn's book. For Beatle-collectors, this is an essential read. But, because it is not only very well researched but also nicely written, I can recommend it to the more casual fan as well.

Simply Put: ESSENTIAL !!

I write essential because I mean it. To start: A foreword from Mark Lewisohn!! But John Winn deserves it and Lewisohn hits the nail on the head in the opening pages. This book is a wonderfully massive undertaking detailing the fascinating story behind each and every television, radio appearance, press conference, studio recording etc (and where you can find them!). I am biased because i'm a huge Beatles fan, but to me it is still a wonder after reading so many books on or about The Beatles that you can be knocked off your feet by a new book that is as fun, fascinating, and historically accurate as one could imagine. In my opinion there are essential Beatles books you should own if you're a hard core fan or casual fan alike: The Beatles Anthology, by The Beatles Shout, by Phillip Norman Many Years From Now, by Barry Miles The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions, by Mark Lewisohn and...Way Beyond Compare, by John Winn I can only hope that volume 2 is as comprehensive and thoroughly enjoyable. Well done! Five Stars

Absolutely Essential to Understanding The Beatles

There are so many Beatles books out there. Yet there are very few authors who can chronicle the band's recording history with accuracy, authority and style. Mark Lewisohn certainly can. John Winn demonstrates once again that he can as well. Winn earned the absolute trust of the international cadre of rabid Beatles enthusiasts with his first release of Way Beyond Compare. This second edition includes more than a hundred new entries that detail The Beatles' recordings, interviews, concerts, and appearances. His book captures and skillfully details the entire known visual and audio record of the band through 1965. Winn also identifies the release histories and best sources for all these sound recordings and videos. His work deserves a broader audience. Buy it for yourself or give it to the Beatles lovers you know.