The Beatles -- and more specifically John Lennon and Paul McCartney -- are rock and roll's very own civil war. Not only because a union so fundamental to rock was cleft in 1970, but because in the ensuing years, authors and scholars have dissected nearly every facet of the band's existence.
There have been books documenting every Beatles recording session; one analyzing and cataloging the minutiae of the equipment the Fab Four used; and dozens and dozens more volumes.
British art historian and technology museum curator John Blaney has set his sights on tracing and comparing the trajectories of Lennon and McCartney's careers outside the Beatles and his observations are collected in "Lennon and McCartney: Together Alone, A critical discography of their solo work" published by Jawbone, distributed in the U.S. by Milwaukee-based Hal Leonard Corporation.
The 304-page, oversized softcover has a freakish dual portrait of two personalities that, like Chang and Eng, many have been unable to separate even nearly 40 years after they went their separate ways.
The book is an exhaustive discography of the former collaborators' solo output and alongside the hit records and the pretty well-known obscurities, there are some esoteric things -- like John and Yoko's four-track record given away free with Aspen Magazine in 1969.
Blaney's text is rife with the most minute details of releases, right down to the placement of the text on record labels in some cases. In at least one case he points out that glossy versions of a label indicate original pressings and matte ones shout "bootleg!"
Trainspotters and Beatles addicts rejoice!
But for those less interested in the nuts and bolts, Blaney is most engaging when he takes a comparitive approach, explaining how their years of working together continued to influence the music of both these musical giants.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
