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vonderbash's review
4.0
This book is a marathon, not a sprint. (Plus, you’re going to want to stop and listen to the songs referenced.) It is incredibly well written and researched.
suebrownreads's review
4.0
Whew! Done! This was a long one. I have to say it was very compelling. I found it fascinating and sad. I have never been one to follows stars, their stories, etc. so I was surprised to find that I got so very involved in this book. Kudos to the author for that! But it ends at the end of the Beatles, and I am wondering what happened to John mentally? Did he ever get off the hard drugs before his untimely death? He seemed a very unlikable person, but it was because he was so messed up emotionally and from the drugs. He certainly found love with Yoko (another terrible character from the book's perspective), but I hope he also found peace.
It is easy to read this book and think these guys were not very nice people a lot of the time, but I couldn't imagine living the life they lived, and having the fame they had at such a young age. Would any of us have handled it any better? And the drugs...OMG, I suppose they were lucky to make it past age 25.
I certainly would have never wanted to be a Beatle, but I sure am glad that they did. How fun it was to find out more behind the music and individual songs. While reading this I went back and listened to many of the songs. I forgot how much I really like so many of them.
The Beatles were amazingly talented, and this is a fascinating and in-depth story of "all of it."
It is easy to read this book and think these guys were not very nice people a lot of the time, but I couldn't imagine living the life they lived, and having the fame they had at such a young age. Would any of us have handled it any better? And the drugs...OMG, I suppose they were lucky to make it past age 25.
I certainly would have never wanted to be a Beatle, but I sure am glad that they did. How fun it was to find out more behind the music and individual songs. While reading this I went back and listened to many of the songs. I forgot how much I really like so many of them.
The Beatles were amazingly talented, and this is a fascinating and in-depth story of "all of it."
erboe501's review
4.0
Ever since I could first listen to music and dance along, I have loved the Beatles (thanks dad). I have nearly 200 of their songs on my iPod and have watched two of their movies. Nevertheless, I didn't know too much about their lives other than the run of the mill facts. I picked up this book because I wanted to learn more about how the band formed, made history, and broke up. I found what I was looking for, and a whole lot more...
This was a mammoth book to get through. The chapters are super long, but, thankfully, they're broken up into sizable sections and subsections. In my opinion, this book could have been pared down a bit. I didn't need so much background on so many of the satellite characters, but I did enjoy the descriptions of how the band's songs were composed and recorded. I appreciate the narrative tone of the chapters, but sometimes I wondered if Spitz was making up some of the narration. I know most of the sources he drew from weren't the most reliable, but I still wonder if such a dramatized, and often sentimentalized, approach was appropriate. All of that being said, Spitz's writing style was not dry, and it was not difficult to read quickly. Spitz definitely sympathized the most with Ringo and then George, with John and Paul both getting it when they deserved it. Spitz is definitely not a Yoko Ono fan, as I think most Beatles fans aren't. The biography ends with the band's breakup, with a short endnote summarizing the paths each Beatle took afterwards.
I would recommend this book to anyone who is still in the throes of Beatlemania and prepared to read nearly a thousand pages on his/her idols. If you can deal with Spitz's partiality (which is easy if you're a Beatles fan) then all you need is this book!
This was a mammoth book to get through. The chapters are super long, but, thankfully, they're broken up into sizable sections and subsections. In my opinion, this book could have been pared down a bit. I didn't need so much background on so many of the satellite characters, but I did enjoy the descriptions of how the band's songs were composed and recorded. I appreciate the narrative tone of the chapters, but sometimes I wondered if Spitz was making up some of the narration. I know most of the sources he drew from weren't the most reliable, but I still wonder if such a dramatized, and often sentimentalized, approach was appropriate. All of that being said, Spitz's writing style was not dry, and it was not difficult to read quickly. Spitz definitely sympathized the most with Ringo and then George, with John and Paul both getting it when they deserved it. Spitz is definitely not a Yoko Ono fan, as I think most Beatles fans aren't. The biography ends with the band's breakup, with a short endnote summarizing the paths each Beatle took afterwards.
I would recommend this book to anyone who is still in the throes of Beatlemania and prepared to read nearly a thousand pages on his/her idols. If you can deal with Spitz's partiality (which is easy if you're a Beatles fan) then all you need is this book!
duparker's review
3.0
There's a lot to like in this book but there's also a goodly amount that is unfortunate. It is clearly well researched and grounded. The fact that over 150 pages are notes bibliography etc shows the dedication the author has to the topic. The downside is similar to his led Zeppelin biography you come away disliking the people being exposed. John is a complete dick, Paul is an egomaniac, Ringo comes off is just a nice guy but super ineffective and George just doesn't stand up. I knew enough of this history that maybe I didn't get as much out of the book as I could have, if you might have less background maybe this is a four or five-star book.
mwash87's review
4.0
This book is really comprehensive and is a good balance between saying good things about the Beatles while not getting into hero worship. It covers some of the uglier incidents and aspects of their personalities as well. I would have rated it 5 stars except for the fact that I felt it didn't give George enough time; I think he was just as interesting as Paul and John, but there's more focus placed on the personal journeys of the latter two in the later days of the Beatles. The other reason would be that I wish it had gone into more detail about the recording sessions, but the author was probably a bit hamstrung there by the sources he had available to him. Overall worth reading for any Beatles fan.
nicktomkins's review
4.0
Listened to the abridged audiobook. It was very good, but probably missed some details in the abridged version.
Some takeaways:
I think the author really hates John.
Yoko seemed like a horrible person.
George discovered The Rolling Stones.
Bob Dylan introduced them to weed.
Some takeaways:
I think the author really hates John.
Yoko seemed like a horrible person.
George discovered The Rolling Stones.
Bob Dylan introduced them to weed.
clarareads1000books's review against another edition
3.0
After watching the fascinating "Get Back" documentary / archival film, I felt hungry for more Beatles history. This biography was the only one available on my audiobook streaming service, so I decided to give it a go.
While I enjoyed learning more about the Beatles and their evolution at lightning speed, from humble-class Liverpool teenagers to obscenely rich and famous popstars (especially their struggling beginners with other band members, and their rather destitute times in Hamburg before anyone started paying attention to them), it was towards the end of the biography that I started to realize I shouldn't take this book as historical work at all.
Bob Spitz very obviously chooses sides between the Beatles, and colours in parts of their history by giving his own imagination free reign. He doesn't shy away from demonizing some people (To say that his views on Yoko Ono are biased would be an immense understatement), makes John Lennon look like a martyr-like, angry drug addict and Paul like a Saint, while spending much much less time on Ringo and George. It seems to me this biography very much plays into the fan theories about John, Paul and Yoko, and paints a picture that is irreconcilable with the film material finally exposed to the worldd in the Get Back documentary.
All in all, an entertaining read, but not something you can call an honest biography. This is great fuel for fan theories defending "your favourite beatle" and hating on Yoko.
While I enjoyed learning more about the Beatles and their evolution at lightning speed, from humble-class Liverpool teenagers to obscenely rich and famous popstars (especially their struggling beginners with other band members, and their rather destitute times in Hamburg before anyone started paying attention to them), it was towards the end of the biography that I started to realize I shouldn't take this book as historical work at all.
Bob Spitz very obviously chooses sides between the Beatles, and colours in parts of their history by giving his own imagination free reign. He doesn't shy away from demonizing some people (To say that his views on Yoko Ono are biased would be an immense understatement), makes John Lennon look like a martyr-like, angry drug addict and Paul like a Saint, while spending much much less time on Ringo and George. It seems to me this biography very much plays into the fan theories about John, Paul and Yoko, and paints a picture that is irreconcilable with the film material finally exposed to the worldd in the Get Back documentary.
All in all, an entertaining read, but not something you can call an honest biography. This is great fuel for fan theories defending "your favourite beatle" and hating on Yoko.