It Was Twenty Years Ago Today: An Anniversary Celebration of 1967

by Derek Taylor

Book Overview

The press agent for the Beatles presents this account of the turning point in the counterculture of the 1960s, a celebratory feast of images and recollections that is also the focus of a June 1987 English television documentary, covering Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Summer of Love, Monterey Pop, the Psychedelic Explosion and the Raising of the Pentagon. Color and black-and-white photographs.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0671642014
• ISBN13: 9780671642013
• Release Date: January 1987
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 1.08 lbs.

Customer Reviews

A Real Insider's View Of The Amazing 60s---But What About The Companion VIDEO?

This is one of the best chronicles of that 60s social phenomenon known as the Counterculture ever, and there are many. I'm so very glad that it is still available after all these years, and you can't beat the price. Amazing, considering what you are getting. If you have an interest in that period, by all means order this book! It's sure to delight. I got mine (several, in fact) back sometime soon after '87 as a cut out for about $1.99 or so. There were a lot of them then. The cover price was $9.95, so it was a deal. I guess they didn't sell so well, maybe. It's a fine book, for those who wish to study and/or relive that time, and for collectors alike, and contains plenty of photos. It even has two sections in glorious color. I don't know if it was ever released in large, coffee table size, but it should have been. But what I really want to know is---what happened to the companion VIDEO? It seemed to have been a one-time thing. About 1 hour 40 minutes in length, it was shown on PBS in 1987 and, to my knowledge never again on any other station, nor was it ever (again, so far as I know) offered commercially. Those who were lucky enough to know copied the broadcast on their primitive (probably monaural) video cassette recorders. Otherwise, it seems to have been lost to time. This video by the same name as the book so much should be reissued and made available to the public. It contains many by now classic interviews with the movers and shakers, such as: George, Paul, Ringo & John, Timothy Leary, Allen Ginsburg, Abbie Hoffman, etc.,---plus vintage be-in, rally and concert footage, more interviews, philosophizing, a fantastic animation and 3D zoom of the iconic images of the Sgt. Pepper album cover, not to mention song by song analysis of the lp, etc. It swirls with color and presents an intellectual side of the 60s counterculture not often covered. We've had The Beatles Anthology, and it was great. Why not this?

Fantastic

I bought this book in '87 when I was 20 years old living in L.A. What a great introduction to the Beatles and the impact of Sgt. Pepper's. The book mostly quoted other people; big names and people who where involved in the making of Sgt. Pepper's and other cultural wittness. D. Taylor never got bogged down in the quotes. Instead, you get quick little excerpts of people's thoughts. You can easily open to any page and read incredible happenings/thoughts - that was how I read the book the first time. As the years went by, I read it cover to cover. Every page is LOADED with pictures. If you got a teenagers or young adult who is getting into Sgt. Pepper's, I highly suggest this book. This will be required reading in my house as my children come of age.

Nearly 40 years ago now, yet always timely

There are countless books about the 60s, but only a few which really capture the feeling of limitless possibilities & potential as we experienced it then. This is one of those books, written by someone who was there on the inside, participating & observing in delight & wonder ... & perhaps a litle bit of bemused trepidation, too. For younger generations, the 60s are often just a flashy mass of superficial cliches, co-opted by commercial culture & stripped of any deeper meaning. Derek Taylor reminds us that it was a period of yearning, of searching, of exploration ... and yes, sometimes youthful folly. But that was part of the journey, for as William Blake told us nearly two centuries before, "If the fool would persist in his folly, he would become wise." What's especially enjoyable about this book is that it covers a lot of ground that gets overlooked by the usual 30-second clips & sound bites of this era. The London poetry scene, the synergy in the arts -- it's all here, with tidbits of unexpected information. For example, the Beatles mulling the possibility of starring in a film adaptation of "The Lord of the Rings," with Paul as Frodo, Ringo as Sam, George as Gandalf, and John as Gollum? Could there have been better casting? :) Such was the colorful, absurdly wonderful reality of that brief moment in time, when it truly seemed possible to tear down the "dark, Satanic mills" & build a better world. It must seem utterly unreal & impossible to a younger generation, but yes, the everyday world wasn't always such a dark, cynical, despairing place ... and maybe it offers hope that we can outlive these current bleak times & eventually build something better one day. Definitely recommended!

You wanna understand the sixties?

... Sure ya do. Yer a kid, and you're surfing the net and I've seen you, outside, in your bell bottom pants. Bell bottoms. Oh god. *grin* But fashion isn't the point here; nor the drug culture, nor the music, nor the being-in, nor the Be-ins. There were truths being explored and exposed about this world we lived in then--truths you have profited from--oh yes, you have. And Derek Taylor let me in on a few. And he does it wonderfully, as only a real insider can. With respect and concern and some sadness, for a time that passed away too fast. I grew up in that era--okay, I didn't; I was just a tad too young, just a tad too scared, just a tad too unable to completely grasp what was happening in places I never really knew the geography of--inner, or otherwise. Though, to a degree, being eleven made it easier for me to grasp some of the new ways--whether I realized it or not. Being young is like that, lemma tell you or you can tell me. *grin* No past to climb on. Searching for clues. Listening to rock stars. Following your muse. But the inner geography still exists--whether it died a slow, external, corporate death, or not. And Derek was there. Just like he was there, in the car with the Beatles being crushed with the mobs of Beatlemania, in 1964. He was there and it scared the hell of out him too. But in a way, that it's okay to be scared; in a way, that makes you sit up and think. And he did some and he did some drugs and he'll tell you about it, so that you understand why, and he cleared his mind and so did a lot of people.. during that view. That view? The Summer of 1967. Or thereabouts. This book is filled with quotes and facts and people and music and people and ideologies and people and no one has a franchise on what the 60's was selling. You dig? So take a look and be amazed and learn where you're headed. Cos this is where you came from. Try this book. It's good. I thank you.