A Secret History [Illustrated] (Hardcover)

He was Epstein's assistant and even signed The Beatles' management contract on Epstein's behalf. He continued as one of the band's inner circle until Allen Klein brought the chaos that was Apple to an end and sacked Taylor - along with almost everyone else.

Ominously, Taylor's contribution is absent from The Beatles Anthology book - even though he's famous as the one-man band in the, "this man has talent", Apple advert requesting the public to send in tapes and scripts.

Unfortunately, Taylor's book is badly written.

Bizarrely - for a man who's had thirty years to reflect on and refine his story - it comes across as rushed and badly planned.

Any new information isn't quite as sensational as Taylor probably hoped it might be - calling his book 'A Secret History'. Suggestions that Epstein blackmailed Parlophone into giving The Beatles a deal simply ignores George Martin's genuine desire to record a pop group for his label.

Taylor's annecdote about The Beatles "resting their voices" for short periods during their shows by "miming" to their records is undermined by Taylor citing Michelle as the song and 1964 as the year. It hadn't been written then. So what's he wrong about? The year or the song or the miming? With thirty years to think about it I hoped Taylor might have made his story water-tight.

After Goldman's The Lives of John Lennon - of which - if 25% of that is true, is quite sensational, and McCartney's recent 'autobiography' Many Years from Now (albeit attributed to Miles) openly talking about sexual antics and drugs, Taylor needed to have something we didn't already know. Thankfully he treats Epstein's death with the dignity and reserve (not to mention straightforward honesty) that many - who weren't there - have not, in search of something sensational to shift their books.

I wish Taylor had had a better editor and I wonder who turned his story down before he agreed a deal with John Blake - not a great publishing house.

His comments on Linda Eastman made the book worth buying. Someone needed to say it, although many have commented on a tension between McCartney and Jane Asher during their relationship that was never apparent with Linda. Taylor has nothing but compliments for Asher - and, as McCartney's drinking partner after Asher left him, Taylor possibly feels a degree of sympathy for the girl who's family had made McCartney into the 'man about town' that he wanted to become. As the sixties progressed McCartney fed edited highlights from his experiences of swinging London to an increasingly lethargic Lennon who had been badly advised to buy an old man's house in Weybridge. Lennon took this material and gave it his own twist, pushing himself, McCartney and Harrison to new heights of creativity. The Asher family have more to do with the development of The Beatles' music than many acknowledge. Taylor could have made more of this, instead of saying just how nice Jane was.

Alistair Taylor was there. I'd love to buy him a couple of pints and ask him about things he must know, but hasn't been able to express in print.

In one sentence? Worth a read, but not before Shout and Revolution in the Head.