The Beatles
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The Beatles follows the extraordinary development of four self-taught musicians from Liverpool who revolutionized the world of popular music and created a treasury of songs astonishing for their variety and innovation. From the time of 'Love Me Do', their 1962 debut single, until their breakup in 1970, they consistently explored new composition territory with each new recording. By the time of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band in 1967, they were writing songs steeped in sophisticated imagery, and had added harpsichords, sitars, backward-running tapes and orchestral instruments to their original guitar, bass and drum format. Well before Sgt. Pepper, though, the Beatles were enthusiastically embraced by composers and critics of classical training, who saw in their early work an originality that transcended both the ambitions and traditional limitations of pop music. Discussion of the Beatles' music is expanded here by a consideration not only of the group's commercially released disks but also of rare working tapes which illuminate the compositional process and reveal how some of their milestone recordings took shape in the studio. This study is presented within the context of the group's broader evolution - from the skiffle and dance band, via its flirtations with folk, country and electronic music, through to its final flowering in the extended suite that closes Abbey Road - and set against the backdrop of the popular culture explosion of the 1960s. Publishers Weekly What? Another book about the Fab Four? Kozinn, a classical music critic for the New York Times and author of Mischa Elman and the Romantic Style, avoids another repetition of facts already known about John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr by focusing more on the music and less on the personalities. Yes, there is the history-the group's Liverpool roots, and the long hours spent at all-night Hamburg dives-but Kozinn gives real insight into the influences of Chuck Berry, Roy Orbison and skiffle bands. While Kozinn notes that the Beatles generated ``a perfectly balanced, freakishly rare form of musical and personal chemistry,'' he also shows how Lennon, McCartney and Harrison grew farther and farther apart as composers, each developing his own voice, each making his own experiments. Kozinn is also master of the small details. Abbey Road was supposed to be called Everest; the original lyrics to ``Yesterday'' were ``Scrambled eggs/ oh lady, how I love your legs.'' Most important is the author's descriptions of the songs. The Beatles released about 10 hours of music, the author says, with nary a loser in the lot. Kozinn is a thorough, persuasive guide through the Beatles' musical bridges, crescendos, odd bars and dialogue loops-for the most part without the snappy, shallow patter of too many rock critics. Photos. (Nov.)
Preface6Introduction9Ch. 1From Quarry Men to Beatles 1957-6115Ch. 2Liverpool Dance Halls 1961-237Ch. 3Beatlemania in England 196357Ch. 4The Beatles Conquer America 196477Ch. 5Hard Days For Sale 196493Ch. 6Help! and Rubber Soul 1965113Ch. 7Towards Sgt. Pepper 1966-7135Ch. 8Mystery Tours and Discord 1967-8161Ch. 9The Final Year 1969185Epilogue210Further Reading222Selective Discography226Videography233Index234
