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A review by keebleman
Tune In by Mark Lewisohn
informative
5.0
I remember when I first heard about this project, probably around 2009 or so. I was very sceptical. Lewisohn said he felt the story had never been told 'properly'. Well, even if this is the case, I thought, and I wasn't sure what 'properly' could mean, is Mark Lewisohn the guy to do it? He's a reference book guy: lists, dates, minutiae, that's his field.
Well now that I have read his book, ten years after it had been published (but still without Vol 2 in sight!) I can confirm I was entirely wrong. The details Lewisohn unearthed are not irrelevanItt and they are not just dumped on us. He uses them to place the Beatles in any number of contexts: musical, social, geographical etc. This book is about much more than just a pop group.
It's not perfect. One of the most extraordinary aspects of Beatles lore, that their right-hand man fathered a child with their ex-drummer's mother, doesn't receive as much focus as I thought it might, and the emphasis on Lennon-McCartney's songwriting - with which Lewisohn opens the book - is rather undermined by the fact that, as Lewisohn shows, they barely wrote at all between 1958 and 1962, were reluctant to play their compositions, and by the fact that it wasn't totally unheard of for stars of the time to pen their own stuff, Billy Fury being one contemporaneous example.
But that's just me looking for quibbles. This is a major achievement. All those, like me, who had thought, "Is it really going to be worth going through all this again?" have had our doubts resoundingly allayed.
Well now that I have read his book, ten years after it had been published (but still without Vol 2 in sight!) I can confirm I was entirely wrong. The details Lewisohn unearthed are not irrelevanItt and they are not just dumped on us. He uses them to place the Beatles in any number of contexts: musical, social, geographical etc. This book is about much more than just a pop group.
It's not perfect. One of the most extraordinary aspects of Beatles lore, that their right-hand man fathered a child with their ex-drummer's mother, doesn't receive as much focus as I thought it might, and the emphasis on Lennon-McCartney's songwriting - with which Lewisohn opens the book - is rather undermined by the fact that, as Lewisohn shows, they barely wrote at all between 1958 and 1962, were reluctant to play their compositions, and by the fact that it wasn't totally unheard of for stars of the time to pen their own stuff, Billy Fury being one contemporaneous example.
But that's just me looking for quibbles. This is a major achievement. All those, like me, who had thought, "Is it really going to be worth going through all this again?" have had our doubts resoundingly allayed.