Way Beyond Compare: The Beatles' Recorded Legacy, Volume One, 1957-1965

John C. Winn

Crown Publishing Group, Dec 9, 2008 - Music

An answered prayer for Beatles fans and collectors, the first ­volume of a unique work that exhaustively chronicles all known and ­available Beatles recordings!

Have you ever watched a Beatles film clip and wondered:
• Where was that filmed?
• Is any more of that footage available?

Have you ever heard a Beatles interview and asked:
• When was that taped?
• Where’s the best place to find the complete recording?

Way Beyond Compare has the answers to these and thousands of similar questions. It’s the key to unlocking the secrets behind every known Beatles recording in circulation through 1965, telling you where to find them, what makes them unique, and how they fit within the context of the Beatles’ amazing musical and cultural journey.

Author John C. Winn has spent twenty years (twice as long as the Beatles were together!) ­sifting through, scrutinizing, organizing, and analyzing hundreds of hours of audio and video recordings—and putting them into a digestible chronological framework for Way Beyond Compare and its companion volume, That Magic Feeling: The Beatles’ Recorded Legacy, Volume Two, 1966–1970.

“It takes a rare and special kind of mind to sift through it all, to research and enquire, catalogue and chronicle, assess and contrast, identify and label, and to fit all the myriad pieces into the vast jigsaw puzzle that is the Beatles’ career. John C. Winn is that person, and he’s done it with a rare skill and intelligence.”
—Mark Lewisohn


From the Trade Paperback edition.

What people are saying

Review: Way Beyond Compare: The Beatles' Recorded Legacy, Volume One, 1957-1965

User Review  - Kurt - Goodreads

This is a thoroughly researched volume on the recordings of the Fab Four on audio and video tape during the first half of their career. It's a wonderful companion to Mark Lewisohn's and Bruce Spizer's ...

Review: Way Beyond Compare: The Beatles' Recorded Legacy, Volume One, 1957-1965

User Review  - Jeff - Goodreads

The updated 2nd edition provides an excellent chronological guide to the first half of the Beatles' career, including recordings, concerts, and radio and television broadcasts.

About the author

JOHN C. WINN was born one year after the Beatles disbanded. He has dedicated most of his life to collecting, studying, and enjoying their music. His second volume, That Magic Feeling: The Beatles’ Recorded Legacy, Volume Two, 1966–1970, is forthcoming from Three Rivers Press.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Way Beyond Compare: The Beatles' Recorded Legacy, Volume One, 1957-1965
• Author: John C. Winn
• Publisher: Crown Publishing Group, 2008
• ISBN: 0307452387, 9780307452382
• Subjects: Music / General