Product Description

The first and best Beatles biography, Norman had close working relationships with each of the Fab Four, having interviewed them many times since 1965 and observed first hand the events that led to the split during 1969-70. The resulting book contained unique insights into the rise of the Beatles, their final years, the chaos of Apple and the collapse of hippy idealism.

Now fully updated, and written with all of Norman's trademark verve and skill, this is an essential book for anyone with an interest in pop music, the Sixties and the pleasures and perils of god-like fame.

'Nothing less than thrilling . . . the definitive biography' New York Times

'This stands as the first (and still the best) collision of Beatles history and literary depth . . . just about everything is rendered with beautiful prose and laser-like insight' Q

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #170897 in Books
• Published on: 2004-06-18
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 528 pages

About the Author

Philip Norman is the author of classic rock biographies The Stones and Sir Elton and the highly-acclaimed memoir Babycham Night . He is also an award-winning novelist and writes regularly for the Sunday Times and the Daily Mail.

Customer Reviews

It's OK, But Spoiled by Pro-Lennon Bias
The author sets out his stall early on, declaring that for him Lennon was three-quarters of the Beatles. So the McCartney that emerges from the book is a bitter, jealous wannabe, Harrison an untalented, charmless duffer. Lennon alone is the charismatic driving force behind the group.

The odd thing is, that Lennon seems to have been a deeply unpleasant personality. (Norman recounts without criticism his appalling treatment of his first wife, Cynthia, and his sneering mockery of those around him. He repeats without comment a story that Lennon may have brought about his friend Stuart Sutcliffe's death by repeatedly kicking him in the head one time. And when Lennon urinates from his Hamburg balcony onto the heads of nuns passing below we're obviously supposed to laugh at the laddish high jinks.)

It's as if Norman is at some level aware of how ghastly his hero really is, and as a result has to denigrate the other Beatles by comparison. (He reminded me of a small kid sycophantically sucking up to the playground bully in this book.)

It's a shame too that the prologue tries to connect the murder of Lennon with the terrorist attack of 9/11 - a serious error of judgement - and I didn't like the smug way the author reckons his is still the best biography of the Beatles.

So, in short, well researched and a good read, but in no sense impartial.

One to Avoid
"Shout! The True Story of the Beatles" is essentially a 400 page fan letter to John Lennon, with Paul McCartney cast as a pantomime villain and poor old George and Ringo barely getting a look in. Norman's argument, repeated ad nauseum and at every opportunity, is that the Fab Four consisted of one musical lightweight plus two lucky bit-part players who all rode to success on the back of John Lennon's genius.

Not only is this an idiotic position to adopt but it also means that "Shout!" is such a wasted opportunity; Norman must have spent years researching this book but he just doesn't seem to 'get' the Beatles at all, still less to understand that they were perhaps the ultimate musical proof of that old adage about the whole being greater than the sum of the parts. It's no wonder that nobody connected with the band would co-operate with Norman when he was writing the first edition of the book in the early 1980s; the only interview that he did manage to secure (for subsequent editions) was with Yoko Ono and this is so fawning that it would be more at home in "Hello!" magazine.

In fairness, Norman isn't bad on 1950s-60s period detail and he does produce a few entertaining set pieces (the band's first BBC tv appearance, for example, or their arrival in the States in 1964), but overall this is one to avoid; an unbalanced view of the Beatles dominated by an endlessly bitter and petty-minded sniping at McCartney and an uncritical and sycophantic hero-worship of Lennon. A pity; this could have been so much better.

Biography of the Beatles? More like slag off Paul McCartney.
For the positive points, this book will fascinate the reader, if you're a Beatle fan or not. Its got interesting facts (and opinions) on the music, the band and the living times of the 60s in the mayhem of Beatlemania - on both sides of the Atlantic. Also does Norman go into great detail of the relationship between the Beatles and Brian Epstein.

The best part is in the first section "WISHING" where the reader gets to know how two of the most prominent figures in music history meet up after when Paul sees John playing in his old school skiffle group "The Quarry Men". You feel like your there witnessing it all happen.

In the prologue Philip Norman clears up the criticism he received from reviews of Shout, most claiming his bitterness of Paul McCartney. This 'dislike of Paul' was what let down the book for me. Being a "John-person" than a "Paul-person", Norman constantly shows hatred of him - particularly in chapter 21.

The Book had little information on the songs and didn't go into great detail - since i'm a music student, i would have preferred this.

I also didn't like his criticism of Heather Mills and Paul's marriage with her. His attitude and his self-centred remarks appalled me and left the tone all a bit sour towards the end of the book.

This biography is 'conscientously researched' - a really good aspect of the book, but at times, it is let down by the authors sneering remarks.

So finally... Buy it if you don't like Paul McCartney either... buy it if you love John Lennon and the Beatles... and buy it, simply because this is the definitive Beatles biography.