Ken Womack’s book on Mal Evans

[DrRobert]

He was on a podcast recently -

Volume 1 is the book

Volume 2 is basically Mal's scrapbook and finished draft etc.

[studio_two]

Thanks for that.

I just heard the podcast, and was about to answer my own question.

Thanks again.

[Mr Bump]

I went into a shop to buy it on Saturday. Had it in my hands and it said £25. I'm sure it's a good piece of work and Ken Womack is a great researcher/writer - but £25? (That's $30 US.) Just too much.

[DrRobert]

Yeah I used a book token on it. I expect it'll come down soon enough when it goes to paperback. First section has been OK, just getting up to the Please Please Me sessions.

[steve1950]

John photo from book

[ksantus]

50 Bucks on "The Fest" site signed by Ken Womack plus shipping

[Onkster II]

Just finished reading it—pretty good, a page-turner for sure, only a couple of minor quibbles and a couple bigger ones.

Minor: some things get out of order, like talking about final Abbey Road acetates before the album is finished recording. Also the use of the phrase “just deserts”—TWICE! You mean desserts don’t you?

Bigger: the whole Lost Weekend narrative keeps to the standard Lennon version that it was all debauchery, when we now have more balanced perspectives on it. Also, Womack’s assertions in the recent podcasts that Mal wasn’t lost at all during his final years is pointedly not true—he was in a real mess those last couple years, which makes for a truly sad tale.


Overall a good read though, and avoids a lot of redundancy. Wayyyyy better than his Lennon book, which was awful, if it’s the one I remember.

[Onkster II]

One other point: he goes into more detail about how scary the 65-66 tours got. Don’t think I ever read anything else quite that intense about it.

Annnnnnd…there’s a cassette of Mal on the receiving end of some fun that his kids unfortunately got ahold of. Doubt this will be making the Mal bootlegs rounds ever!

[WilliamShears]

Please do not post links to bootleg versions of this book. Its an official release and thus not allowed.

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[Lord Reith]

I'm getting this book for Christmas and am very excited about it. It's not that expensive, really. Not more than a good meal, but this will last years and not half an hour.