The Unknown Paul McCartney
THE INDEPENDENT
"The Unknown Paul McCartney by Ian Peel is the only Beatles book that might make you actually reassess what you think about them... This is an even handed and scholarly, though still fairly lively, read that probably won't get the attention it deserves. Which appears to be just how Paul would like it..."
MOJO
"The Unknown Paul McCartney ferrets out all the adventurous side-projects Macca has involved himself in (Carnival of Light, Ginsberg, Super Furry Animals etc.). Ian Peel intelligently asses them, links their impact to Paul's mainstream output and garners favourable comments from left-field luminaries like Youth and Nitin Sawhney. Erudite and persuasive enough to have this writer trawling Ebay for Thrillington..."
UNCUT
"The central thread of this unashamedly eccentric book is the extracurricular music McCartney has been making, every so often, since 1966 and his unreleased Beatles freak-out Carnival of Light... Peel has read and listened to an extraordinary variety of sources in piecing this book together, and this justifies itself in the intricate stories he documents... . And any book with a chapter entitled Real Gone Dub Made In Manifest In The Vortex Of The Eternal Now' can't be at all bad."
MUSIC WEEK
"It is a sort of tribute to the carefully cultivated obscurity of Paul McCartney's experiments in the avant-garde that Ian Peel is the first writer to give them any serious consideration... Where many Beatles books can only add dashes of original insight to well-worn tales, this one does find an unheralded side to this enormously well-documented individual."
TIME OUT
"The Unknown Paul McCartney explores the less celebrated side of McCartney - his many and varied avant-garde side projects. Interviews with Super Furry Animals, Youth, Nitin Sawhney and more explore the relative value of Macca's adventure from 'Carnival of Light' and 'Percy Thrillington' thorough to his more recent Fireman releases. Not one for the idle Beatle nut, perhaps, but a book worth writing on a subject of some note."
RECORD COLLECTOR
My God, a genuinely inventive book about the Beatles - cause for celebration in itself. Better still, Ian Peel's entirely left-field history of Paul McCartney will spark the open-minded listener to reconsider the man's thumbs-aloft, light and easy image, and file his name alongside such aural explorers as John Cage and (oops) Yoko Ono. Although Peel sometimes reads more genius into McCartney's experiments than in apparent in the musical evidence, his reading of the way in which the man's midle-of-the-road and avant-garde impulses have operated in tandem for nearly 40 years is quite fascinating. If this doesn't get the author an invitation to lunch at McCartney Towers, then nothing will.
OXFORD TIMES
Apart from its enthusiasm, the book's great strength is that it doesn't judge McCartney for having the courage to try something new. Consequently, it avoids the smarmy sniping of so many trendy critics, who dismiss his mainstream material as `pop du papa' and denounce his techno output as the inept samplings of an aging rocker trying to be cool with the kids. Peel's Macca is a maverick with a genuine interest in all types of music, who allows his curiosity to take him where it will. In other words, he's an artist who is true to his compulsions and not his reputation and if Fabs fans feel that's a betrayal then that's their problem.
RADIO
BBC Radio 4 - Pick Of The Week
BBC Radio Scotland - "Definitely the music book of the year"
BBC Radio London - interview with Danny Baker
BBC 6 Music - interview with Liz Kershaw
BBC Radio Wales - "A thumping good read"
BBC Radio Jersey - "fascinating"
Dublin NewsTalk 106- "curious and enthralling"
OTHER REVIEWS IN BREIF
"This scores a bullseye. Ian Peel has conjured up a brilliant exploration of a side of Paul McCartney that is mostly unseen. A side even Macca himself has taken pains to keep well hidden.. Paul McCartney is a complex and multi-faceted musician who is not afraid to take a chance. Whatever your feelings toward him since the halcyon days of the Beatles, Ian Peel will convince you to appreciate him in a new and different way..." - Bookmunch, December 2002
"A unique insight into an otherwise over-familiar public figure..." - The Beatles Monthly, January 2003
"The Unknown Paul McCartney is the result of exhaustive research... This book attempts to redress the balance, to try to counter the middle-of-the-road , ballad, cutesy, pop image that has accumulated over the years..." - East Anglian Daily Times, 7 December 2002
"Interesting and well researched..." - Jockey Slut, January 2003
"Crucially, the book allows itself to use McCartney as a sort of centre in which to further explore the styles of music in which he dabbles... The Unknown Paul McCartney could be ideal for the person in your life who's either a McCartney nut, or even just interested in the more challenging aspects of music. Of course, you could just buy it for yourself... " - No Rip Chord, 26 November 2002
"This eye-opening book will enlighten as well as entertain music lovers..." - Hartlepool Mail, 11 January 2003
"A valuable insight..." - Liverpool Echo, 9 November 2002
"Peel makes an important point..." - The List, 28 November 2002
"A well accounted and thorough look at an intriguing side to someone we all think we know..." - Barnsley Star, 29 November 2002
"Ian Peel's user-friendly alterna-biography might sway your thoughts..." - Sleazenation, December 2002
"Fascinating..." - South Wales Argus, 14 December 2002
BRITISH BEATLES FAN CLUB
“Long-overdue… in-depth… Ian Peel has done our hero no harm by looking at his non-commercial work from the eye of someone obviously knowledgeable in the esoteric side of music…”
BEATLEFAN
“Peel deserves props for getting beyond the short-sighted "silly love songs" stereotype that many observers have of McCartney… When future writers examine these, "The Unknown Paul McCartney" will serve as a starting point…”
