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birdmanseven's review against another edition
5.0
This was really interesting and well researched. It provided a good peak into what motivated and inspired the Beatles to write. I sensed a bit of favoritism towards John, but I suppose that could just be the McCartney fan in me. Nice preface and introduction, but I felt it really needed and afterward.
itsautumntime's review against another edition
5.0
“We’re trying to make Christ’s message contemporary. What would he have done if he had advertisements, records, films, TV, and newspapers? Christ made miracles to tell his message. Well, the miracle today is communications, so let’s use it.” - John Lennon
silverfush's review against another edition
4.0
A very intresting book, a good read for all beatle fans.
neilcake's review against another edition
3.0
Kinda boring. Really offers only a superficial insight into The Beatles' creativity.
taschwitters's review against another edition
5.0
Delivers exactly what it promises -- a chronological assembly of the stories behind every original song by the Beatles. What more is there to say? Every music fan will find something to like in this. Beatles fans: This is required reading.
hallamahamster's review against another edition
2.0
Extremely shallow. Some songs got two pages, others got a single paragraph. Written for a quick reference, not a read-through. Just slightly more than a waste of my time.
elfboy486's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
3.0
This book claims to explain the story behind every Beatles song. I suppose that is technically true.
However, most of the entries simply give the date and place of how the song started being written. It is the rare piece that offers any insight into what inspired the piece.
While you get a few glimpses of the history of the band through these discussions, this text is not a biography or history in any way. It seems like it began as a college or grad school assignment to research the history of a piece of music. Then it was taken to the logical conclusion of covering every piece written by this band.
It is amazing to see how much these men wrote in such a short period of time (something like 12 albums worth of material released over 8 years), but it also showcases how that focus on quantity over quality sometimes would result in lackluster music. A number of the pieces have little history behind them. It was written because our producer needed music for this one spot on the album; or we had three songs half done and smashed them all together, giving us this bit of weirdness.
All in all, the book is interesting. I think a fan of the Beatles might find it really fun. I was not enthused by it.
However, most of the entries simply give the date and place of how the song started being written. It is the rare piece that offers any insight into what inspired the piece.
While you get a few glimpses of the history of the band through these discussions, this text is not a biography or history in any way. It seems like it began as a college or grad school assignment to research the history of a piece of music. Then it was taken to the logical conclusion of covering every piece written by this band.
It is amazing to see how much these men wrote in such a short period of time (something like 12 albums worth of material released over 8 years), but it also showcases how that focus on quantity over quality sometimes would result in lackluster music. A number of the pieces have little history behind them. It was written because our producer needed music for this one spot on the album; or we had three songs half done and smashed them all together, giving us this bit of weirdness.
All in all, the book is interesting. I think a fan of the Beatles might find it really fun. I was not enthused by it.
hnbb's review
3.0
It was interesting, but also quite dry. I wish the lyrics of each song were included as a reference. Editing was poor because there were a lot of misspellings, grammar and punctuation errors.