a list, part 4: in which dr. bob k. picks his favorite music books
yo nerds, the super-awesome book list is back. in part 4, dr. bob k. from bob's bloggery lists his favorite music books. bob's list puts the focus on the beatles.
previously:
part 1: my u2 reading list
part 2: best rock bios (says jukebox graduate)
part 3: music-related books that heather likes
below are bob's picks, along with snippets of his thoughts on the books. for complete reviews of the books, visit bob's bloggery.
part 4:
Here, There and Everywhere
by Geoff Emerick
I have a friend whose family has a story of when her sister fell out of the car. What’s fascinating about this story is that every member of the family has a different version of the story. In fact, some have her never falling out of the car and others have the family driving off without her.
Sometimes I feel like Beatles books are like that. I know that we all remember things differently and it’s no surprise that those involved with the Beatles story do too. For example, Paul McCartney said that U2 had to teach him how to play “Sgt Pepper” at Live 8 because he hadn’t played it since he recorded it. That’s just silly. I have recordings of him doing it. I often wonder about the memories of McCartney about such things. It seems like he reinvents history a bit. I guess I do too and I’d hate to have rabid fans checking my facts all the time – that can really wreck a good story.
So Geoff Emerick, engineer for many of the Beatles albums including my favorites, Revolver, Sgt Pepper and Abbey Road has written a book about his memories. Predictably, some Beatles fans (including others who were in Abbey Road studios at the time) claim that there are all sorts of inaccuracies in the book. Sometimes “all sorts” means, like, six. I’ve read more than a couple of books about the Beatles and I can usually tell if “new” information is in conflict with existing information or not...By this time a Beatles book ought to either bring a new first person perspective...or just be so good that we can’t resist it.
[This] book indeed has that new first person perspective that I look for. It is well written (due, no doubt to his collaborator) and brings new insight into the part of the Beatles story that I’m especially interested in – the music making...
read the full review here
The Beatles
by Bob Spitz
This is a LONG book and covers the career of the Beatles from the earliest days in Liverpool to their breakup...I was skeptical because of some of the buzz on the net about this book reporting errors but Spitz has carefully researched and noted all of his sources so I think he’s done his homework and, for the most part, got it right...
When I read Tony Bramwell’s book (see an entry about that here) it seemed clear that he had an agenda – Yoko messed up John and Linda saved Paul. While that may be true, Spitz’ book does not seem to have such an agenda although we might connect the dots ourselves. Spitz seems to present the story in a way that explores the meaning behind the events without unnecessary editorializing. There are many books about the Beatles' lives and many others about their music. This one manages to be about both and it's one of the few that do both well. I highly recommend it.
read the full review here
The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions: The Official Story of the Abbey Road Years 1962-1970
by Mark Lewisohn
This book chronicles every Beatles recording session from the beginning in 1962 to the end in 1970, lists when they happened, what happened there and other interesting facts and tidbits. Since it first came out , things like the Anthology recordings have made them even more valuable.This is, simply, a must-own book for serious Beatles fans. It accomplishes everything it set out to do. Since then a few new things have come to light thanks to McCartney’s authorized Biography and other recent excellent Beatles books which I have noted here before but the sheer amount of data in this book makes it well worth the effort. You’ll want to read it with your CD collection close at hand!
read the full review here
bob also likes u2 by u2. read his review of that here
[mp3] in my life - u2
beatles-cover snippet. it's just bono. elevation tour, buffalo, 2001.
for more: visit bob's bloggery
suggestions requested! beware, my friends, there will be a part 5.....
previously:
part 1: my u2 reading list
part 2: best rock bios (says jukebox graduate)
part 3: music-related books that heather likes
below are bob's picks, along with snippets of his thoughts on the books. for complete reviews of the books, visit bob's bloggery.
part 4:
Here, There and Everywhere
by Geoff Emerick
I have a friend whose family has a story of when her sister fell out of the car. What’s fascinating about this story is that every member of the family has a different version of the story. In fact, some have her never falling out of the car and others have the family driving off without her.
Sometimes I feel like Beatles books are like that. I know that we all remember things differently and it’s no surprise that those involved with the Beatles story do too. For example, Paul McCartney said that U2 had to teach him how to play “Sgt Pepper” at Live 8 because he hadn’t played it since he recorded it. That’s just silly. I have recordings of him doing it. I often wonder about the memories of McCartney about such things. It seems like he reinvents history a bit. I guess I do too and I’d hate to have rabid fans checking my facts all the time – that can really wreck a good story.
So Geoff Emerick, engineer for many of the Beatles albums including my favorites, Revolver, Sgt Pepper and Abbey Road has written a book about his memories. Predictably, some Beatles fans (including others who were in Abbey Road studios at the time) claim that there are all sorts of inaccuracies in the book. Sometimes “all sorts” means, like, six. I’ve read more than a couple of books about the Beatles and I can usually tell if “new” information is in conflict with existing information or not...By this time a Beatles book ought to either bring a new first person perspective...or just be so good that we can’t resist it.
[This] book indeed has that new first person perspective that I look for. It is well written (due, no doubt to his collaborator) and brings new insight into the part of the Beatles story that I’m especially interested in – the music making...
read the full review here
The Beatles
by Bob Spitz
This is a LONG book and covers the career of the Beatles from the earliest days in Liverpool to their breakup...I was skeptical because of some of the buzz on the net about this book reporting errors but Spitz has carefully researched and noted all of his sources so I think he’s done his homework and, for the most part, got it right...
When I read Tony Bramwell’s book (see an entry about that here) it seemed clear that he had an agenda – Yoko messed up John and Linda saved Paul. While that may be true, Spitz’ book does not seem to have such an agenda although we might connect the dots ourselves. Spitz seems to present the story in a way that explores the meaning behind the events without unnecessary editorializing. There are many books about the Beatles' lives and many others about their music. This one manages to be about both and it's one of the few that do both well. I highly recommend it.
read the full review here
The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions: The Official Story of the Abbey Road Years 1962-1970
by Mark Lewisohn
This book chronicles every Beatles recording session from the beginning in 1962 to the end in 1970, lists when they happened, what happened there and other interesting facts and tidbits. Since it first came out , things like the Anthology recordings have made them even more valuable.This is, simply, a must-own book for serious Beatles fans. It accomplishes everything it set out to do. Since then a few new things have come to light thanks to McCartney’s authorized Biography and other recent excellent Beatles books which I have noted here before but the sheer amount of data in this book makes it well worth the effort. You’ll want to read it with your CD collection close at hand!
read the full review here
bob also likes u2 by u2. read his review of that here
beatles-cover snippet. it's just bono. elevation tour, buffalo, 2001.
for more: visit bob's bloggery
suggestions requested! beware, my friends, there will be a part 5.....
posted by c at 6:00 PM
5 Comments:
Around age 12 I went through a huge Beatles phase. I was stoked to learn that my mom had some old Beatles LPs.
One of the first Beatles books I bought was Lewisohn's "Recording Sessions". I'm a musician, so I thoroughly enjoyed tedious details such as how many joints John Lennon smoked at 2am between takes of "Tomorrow Never Knows"
yeah i got into the beatles at around age 11-12, too, and i remember at that age reading the book john lennon in his own write which has all these poems and drawings by john. it made ZERO sense to me. i was 11 and totally pretending i understood what the heck that crazy man was talking about.
i also started the bob spitz book bob mentioned, but i left it in the trunk of someone's car a few weeks ago. need to get back to that one...
Where is The Beatles Forever by Nicholas Schaffner? The first rock book I ever owned, bought at the old Barnes & Noble outlet on 5th avenue, when I was about 12 or 13 years old. That book was (and to my mind, still is), IT.
I actually have The Beatles Forever too! And I also bought it cheap, perhaps at the same outlet - I remember going there a few times. It was one of the first Beatles books that I owned but it doesn't hold up compared to the others on the list. Sorry, Caryn :)
The Beatles Forever is AWESOME! I checked that thing out of my local library endless times. Is that one out of print? Or maybe I'm thinking of another one I loved that's now out of print.
Glad to hear the Spitz book is good, because it's taking up loads of space on my bookshelves.
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