Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #990825 in Books
• Published on: 2006-08-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 365 pages

Customer Reviews

Ultimate Chronicle
It's really the Best book about the Beatles recordings. Many other authors have made great jobs. Most of them worked on available bootlegs, but EMI allowed Mark Lewisohn to listen to the Abbey Road masters and mixes. Therefore, his work is no guess.

encyclopaedic, but not dull
If anyone wants to know the Beatles story, they should read this tremendous monument to the group. Granted, there is no real detail about the artistry of each song (for that, look to Ian MacDonald's marvellous "Revolution in the Head"), nor is there much biographical and psychological detail about the four individual members (Hunter Davies' or Philip Norman's biographies of the band are a safe bet here). However, Lewisohn's weighty tome gives such a detailed chronicle of the band's entire career, that it is easy to feel as if you are reliving it and experiencing it for yourself.

Certainly, it explodes the myths somewhat, and the reader is left under no illusions that the group's countless wonderful songs simply floated from the ether, fully-formed.

It would have been nice to have had more information about how and when the songs were written, and a bit of biography would have been a bonus (for instance, Brian Epstein's homosexuality is only mentioned once, rather gauchely, when this was clearly central to the personality of a man who so shaped and influenced the band). Sometimes Lewisohn can be somewhat over-polite, and may fail occasionally to capture the fact that really, the Beatles were much rougher than their image often suggests.

However, all of this is minor quibbles when one realises just how much Lewisohn has achieved here - as a comprehensive record of the group's studio and concert career, it could hardly be bettered, and as a chronicle of the group's Liverpool and Hamburg days, it is highly impressive.

Lewisohn's Life Work!
Lewisohn first came to attention as Philip Norman's researcher on the acclaimed Beatles' biography Shout!, then went on to become the definitive chronicler of their work in his own right. This chronicle is a must for any serious student of Beatles' history and a mine of information for fans or those with a reasonably strong interest in the group's professional work. It incoporates details of their live work (which Lewisohn previously documented in the groundbreaking and now rare 'The Beatles Live!') plus all the gist on their radio/tv appearances and, most importantly, recording sessions. The memorabilia scattered throughout makes for fascinating reading but what impresses most is the accuracy of detail, gleaned from countless exclusive interviews, memos, obscure clippings and so much else. Even the notes at the rear are a revelation. Who else but Lewisohn would throw in chart positions in every music paper in the UK and US, for instance? Brilliantly annotated and expertly laid out, this must be the ultimate Fab Four reference book and crucially, it's one you can completely trust. Applause!