Which Beatles Book?
Nutella
going to read a few in 2010. But, I want to read good ones.
One book from The Beatles and one book from an outsider, to start.
I was thinking:
1. Shout! The Beatles in their Generation (Norman)
2. Anthology (The Beatles)
Though, I've heard about
1. Skywriting by Word of Mouth by John Lennon.
2. Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now by Barry Miles.
3. Revolution In The Head by MacDonald, Ian.
4. The Beatles: Recording Sessions by Mark Lewisohn.
5. A Hard Day's Write, Revised Edition : The Stories Behind Every
Beatles' Song by Steve Turner
Any ideas?
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mcnews
all good - cept tell me why is better than a hard days write
Ian Bell
> I've never taken the time to read a complete book about the band. I'm
> going to read a few in 2010. But, I want to read good ones.
>
> One book from The Beatles and one book from an outsider, to start.
>
> I was thinking:
>
> 1. Shout! The Beatles in their Generation (Norman)
> 2. Anthology (The Beatles)
>
>
> Though, I've heard about
>
> 1. Skywriting by Word of Mouth by John Lennon.
> 2. Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now by Barry Miles.
> 3. Revolution In The Head by MacDonald, Ian.
> 4. The Beatles: Recording Sessions by Mark Lewisohn.
> 5. A Hard Day's Write, Revised Edition : The Stories Behind Every
> Beatles' Song by Steve Turner
>
>
> Any ideas?
>
I have not read Shout! or Skywriting but all the others are good. A lot
depends on which aspects most interest you
Cheers
Ian
Fattuchus
> going to read a few in 2010. But, I want to read good ones.
>
> One book from The Beatles and one book from an outsider, to start.
>
> I was thinking:
>
> 1. Shout! The Beatles in their Generation (Norman)
> 2. Anthology (The Beatles)
>
> Though, I've heard about
>
> 1. Skywriting by Word of Mouth by John Lennon.
> 2. Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now by Barry Miles.
> 3. Revolution In The Head by MacDonald, Ian.
> 4. The Beatles: Recording Sessions by Mark Lewisohn.
> 5. A Hard Day's Write, Revised Edition : The Stories Behind Every
> Beatles' Song by Steve Turner
>
> Any ideas?
Anthology is wonderful, but it is a large, heavy and awkward book to
handle. The print is small. It's packed with information, photos,
etc., but it's not the type of book you can read in one or two days.
Fattuchus
> Nutella wrote:
> > I've never taken the time to read a complete book about the band. I'm
> > going to read a few in 2010. But, I want to read good ones.
>
> > One book from The Beatles and one book from an outsider, to start.
>
> > I was thinking:
>
> > 1. Shout! The Beatles in their Generation (Norman)
> > 2. Anthology (The Beatles)
>
> > Though, I've heard about
>
> > 1. Skywriting by Word of Mouth by John Lennon.
> > 2. Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now by Barry Miles.
> > 3. Revolution In The Head by MacDonald, Ian.
> > 4. The Beatles: Recording Sessions by Mark Lewisohn.
> > 5. A Hard Day's Write, Revised Edition : The Stories Behind Every
> > Beatles' Song by Steve Turner
>
> > Any ideas?
>
> I have not read Shout! or Skywriting but all the others are good. A lot
> depends on which aspects most interest you
>
> Cheers
>
> Ian
I read Skywriting by Word of Mouth. It was just so so. John was
doing his thing a la In His Own Write but Skywriting was not nearly as
funny.
Rango
> I've never taken the time to read a complete book about the band. I'm
> going to read a few in 2010. But, I want to read good ones.
>
> One book from The Beatles and one book from an outsider, to start.
>
> I was thinking:
>
> 1. Shout! The Beatles in their Generation (Norman)
> 2. Anthology (The Beatles)
>
> Though, I've heard about
>
> 1. Skywriting by Word of Mouth by John Lennon.
> 2. Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now by Barry Miles.
> 3. Revolution In The Head by MacDonald, Ian.
> 4. The Beatles: Recording Sessions by Mark Lewisohn.
> 5. A Hard Day's Write, Revised Edition : The Stories Behind Every
> Beatles' Song by Steve Turner
>
> Any ideas?
Shout! is a fine outsider's view of the Beatles' career, although it
is a little unfair to McCartney at times.
An alternative to the excellent yet lengthy Anthology if you want the
band's perspective is Hunter Davies'
authorized Beatles biography. It ends in 1968, and it's a bit
whitewashed, but it was written with direct
cooperation of John, Paul, George and Ringo, and really is the kernel
from which all subsequent tellings of the
story came from.
Skywriting isn't about the band -- more an addition to Lennon's 1960's
forays into writing, while Many Years
is an excellent insight into the band, but told strictly from
McCartney's point of view (similar to Harrison's
I Me Mine autobiography). The last three, while all really good, are
not biography's, but rather technical or
analytical explorations of The Beatles' music (which is really what
it's all about in the end).
Stephen X. Carter
<amongthe...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>I've never taken the time to read a complete book about the band. I'm
>going to read a few in 2010. But, I want to read good ones.
>
>One book from The Beatles and one book from an outsider, to start.
>
>I was thinking:
>
>1. Shout! The Beatles in their Generation (Norman)
>2. Anthology (The Beatles)
>
>
>Though, I've heard about
>
>1. Skywriting by Word of Mouth by John Lennon.
>2. Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now by Barry Miles.
>3. Revolution In The Head by MacDonald, Ian.
>4. The Beatles: Recording Sessions by Mark Lewisohn.
>5. A Hard Day's Write, Revised Edition : The Stories Behind Every
>Beatles' Song by Steve Turner
>Any ideas?
Originally I intended responding by pointing you to the (admittedly) old
Beatles Books FAQ created here in rec.music.beatles long ago.
But I could not find it? Can anyone point to where it is these days -
there's not even a mention in
<http://www.faqs.org/faqs/by-newsgroup/rec/>
(The parallel one for The Rolling Stones can be found).
>--
>
>All follow-ups are directed to the newsgroup rec.music.beatles.moderated.
>If your follow-up more properly belongs in the unmoderated newsgroup, please
>change your headers appropriately. -- the moderators
--
steve.hat.stephencarter.not.com.but.net
Nothing is Beatle Proof!!
Mr Kite posters and more at http://www.zazzle.com/mr_kite*
Mr Kite posters and more at http://www.zazzle.co.uk/mr_kite*
saki
> Originally I intended responding by pointing you to the (admittedly) old
> Beatles Books FAQ created here in rec.music.beatles long ago.
>
> But I could not find it? Can anyone point to where it is these days -
> there's not even a mention in
> <http://www.faqs.org/faqs/by-newsgroup/rec/>
>
> (The parallel one for The Rolling Stones can be found).
The one you used to maintain is here:
http://www.recmusicbeatles.com/public/files/faqs/allb.html
but it's very much out of date. If you want to take on the last fourteen
years of Beatles publications and update it, I'll gladly find a place to
upload a revised edition.
----
sa...@ucla.edu
http://sakionline.net
Stephen X. Carter
>Stephen X. Carter wrote:
>
>> Originally I intended responding by pointing you to the (admittedly) old
>> Beatles Books FAQ created here in rec.music.beatles long ago.
>>
>> But I could not find it? Can anyone point to where it is these days -
>> there's not even a mention in
>> <http://www.faqs.org/faqs/by-newsgroup/rec/>
>>
>> (The parallel one for The Rolling Stones can be found).
>
>The one you used to maintain is here:
>
>http://www.recmusicbeatles.com/public/files/faqs/allb.html
>
>but it's very much out of date. If you want to take on the last fourteen
>years of Beatles publications and update it, I'll gladly find a place to
> upload a revised edition.
"out of date" - that's something of an understatement!
A proper "update" is beyond anyone (other than The Librarian of
Congress) I suspect.
I may, no promises, be able to add some to it when I have a "window" in
late January... No promises. :-))
--
steve.hat.stephencarter.not.com.but.net
Nothing is Beatle Proof!!
Mr Kite posters and more at http://www.zazzle.com/mr_kite*
Mr Kite posters and more at http://www.zazzle.co.uk/mr_kite*
--
Nutella
> Mr Kite posters and more athttp://www.zazzle.co.uk/mr_kite*
>
> --
>
> All follow-ups are directed to the newsgroup rec.music.beatles.moderated.
> If your follow-up more properly belongs in the unmoderated newsgroup, please
>
> - Show quoted text -
Thank you guys (and gals, perhaps) for the information! I made a
promise to read some
Beatle books in 2010. I spent 30 years listening to everything I could
get my hands on about
them and never read more than a newspaper article or magazine article
or liner notes. I would like to read
perhaps, one different book (12) each month next year. I've exhausted
all my other readings this year.
I am going out to the bookstore tomorrow to purchase one of these,
whichever they have, and I'll start there.
"The World Is At Your Command!"
-Steve
Skokiaan
> 1. Shout! The Beatles in their Generation (Norman)
Last read this 20+ years ago. Good book but not balanced.
> 2. Anthology (The Beatles)
The "official" story. Far from the whole truth. Watch the DVD
instead.
> 1. Skywriting by Word of Mouth by John Lennon.
John's third (and to me, best) book, written in the 70's and published
after his death. Other than being written by John, it has nothing to
do with the Beatles.
> 2. Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now by Barry Miles.
Written with Paul's approval by one of Paul's old friends. An
insider's (filtered) look at Paul up to the breakup.
> 3. Revolution In The Head by MacDonald, Ian.
Never read it.
> 4. The Beatles: Recording Sessions by Mark Lewisohn.
One of the best Beatles reference books, but if you're looking for a
general book of Beatle history this isn't it.
> 5. A Hard Day's Write, Revised Edition : The Stories Behind Every
One of the worst Beatle books I've read. Some obvious inaccuracies.
> Beatles' Song by Steve Turner
Never read it.
Nutella
This is going to one of those situations where I just take a leap of
faith. I mean, I am going to read some of these,
but they all have their negatives, I suppose. It's like being in a
terrific Italian restaurant, and you don't know whether
to order one thing or another or both and wanting to leave room for
cannoli and espresso.
thx. Happy New Year
Adam
> I've never taken the time to read a complete book about the band. I'm
> going to read a few in 2010. But, I want to read good ones.
> 4. The Beatles: Recording Sessions by Mark Lewisohn.
That's my favorite of all the Beatles books I've read. Reading about
the band's history is interesting, but what survives best is the music
itself.
Adam
Stephen X. Carter
> Reading about
>the band's history is interesting, but what survives best is the music
>itself.
>
>Adam
What a lovely sentence.
I'm working on an update to the booklist (see earlier in this thread),
may I use this in the introductory comments?
--
steve.hat.stephencarter.not.com.but.net
Nothing is Beatle Proof!!
Mr Kite posters and more at http://www.zazzle.com/mr_kite*
Mr Kite posters and more at http://www.zazzle.co.uk/mr_kite*
--
Adam
> On Tue, 29 Dec 2009 20:53:20 -0600, Adam<ad...@address.invalid> wrote:
>
>> Reading about
>> the band's history is interesting, but what survives best is the music
>> itself.
>
>
> I'm working on an update to the booklist (see earlier in this thread),
> may I use this in the introductory comments?
Sure! (And thank you too!)
Adam
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All follow-ups are directed to the newsgroup rec.music.beatles.moderated.
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Chuck Anderson
> I've never taken the time to read a complete book about the band. I'm
> going to read a few in 2010. But, I want to read good ones.
>
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. It is very well written,
contains early historical information (lives, influences), and has
especially good descriptions of the music.
"Can't Buy Me Love," by Jonathon Gould (2006).
I couldn't put it down.
--
*****************************
Chuck Anderson • Boulder, CO
http://www.cycletourist.com
Turn Off, Tune Out, Drop In
*****************************
Scott
> I've never taken the time to read a complete book about the band. I'm
> going to read a few in 2010. But, I want to read good ones.
>
> One book from The Beatles and one book from an outsider, to start.
>
> I was thinking:
>
> 1. Shout! The Beatles in their Generation (Norman)
> 2. Anthology (The Beatles)
>
>
> Though, I've heard about
>
> 1. Skywriting by Word of Mouth by John Lennon.
> 2. Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now by Barry Miles.
> 3. Revolution In The Head by MacDonald, Ian.
> 4. The Beatles: Recording Sessions by Mark Lewisohn.
> 5. A Hard Day's Write, Revised Edition : The Stories Behind Every
> Beatles' Song by Steve Turner
>
>
> Any ideas?
Another one worth considering is:
Here, There and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of the Beatles
by Geoff Emerick
Nutella
wrote:
Thanks Chuck! 'Preciate that very much. I decided to read a bunch this
year.
I'm starting off with "The Beatles: Recording Sessions by Mark
Lewisohn", see
where that takes me.
RichL
Good choice!