Have you read this book? It’s by Philip Norman and I finished it recently. I’m a pretty big Beatles fan but I still learned a lot from this book. It starts with when they first met each other and goes chronologically through the breakup and a little after. It’s divided into sections of their career as a group: Wishing, Getting, Having, and Wasting.
The four of them are not saints and all of them did things they might want to take back, and of course the strain of their huge fame took a toll on their relationships within the group and also without. The author has some biases and opinions that are not hidden. As with most biographies, you can tell fact from opinion and disregard the opinion if you want to. He does have an interesting writing style and the sheer amount of information makes it well worthwhile. There’s John the caustic but gifted one, Paul the sometimes sappy but melodic one, George the decent guitarist who comes into his own as the group begins to fall apart, and Ringo the good time guy who was everyone’s pal and had a fun ride. Is this the definitive book about the Beatles? Maybe not but it’s got a lot. Is it unbiased? Not all the time. Is it a fun and entertaining read with a LOT of great stuff about the fabs? Yes!
Here’s what amazon.com has to say about the book:
From their primitive first chords to the huge success of the Beatles Anthology, the Beatles have been an integral part of our culture and our consciousness for over thirty-five years. Shout! The Beatles in Their Generation tells the extraordinary story of the rise of four scruffy boys from Liverpool to beings more adored, more influential — and in many ways more troubled –than any in the history of popular entertainment. It is also a penetrating social history of our time, based on an incredible wealth of material — eyewitness accounts, interviews, stories withheld from the press and public — that was available exclusively to the author.
Rich in detail, anecdotes, and background, with 100 stunning photographs, Shout! takes us from the wild, often comical days at the beginning in Liverpool to the life and death of Stu Sutcliffe, the brilliant boy known as the “fifth Beatle”; from the psychedelic triumph of Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band to the band’s embrace of Indian music and spirituality; from the brilliantly unified sounds of Abbey Road to Paul’s desperate attempts to form a final comeback concert.
Riveting, Enlightening, Heartbreaking, Shout! Is A True Epic.
If you’ve read it, or not, and have an opinion, then why not leave me a comment below!
