The Beatles

By	S. Cornforth "Steve Cornforth" (Liverpool, UK England) - See all my reviews

This is certainly the most comprehensive biography of the Beatles that I have read. Bob Spitz leaves no myth unexamined as we see nightmare of Beatlemania, the tortured life of Brian Epstein and the eventual self destruction of the greatest band in history. It is surprisingly readable although it is often more like a horror story than a rock bio.

We see the excitement of the early days in Hamburg and the release of their first real 'record.' In many ways this was the highlight. Despite the fame and fortune it was all downhill after that!

Only Ringo comes across as particularly likeable. George becomes increasingly bitter (listen to Piggies). John and Paul are seen as unabashed control freaks - Pete Best being sacked as much for his threatening good looks as his inability to hold a good backbeat. This was a key to their early success but also their almost inevitable demise.

There some warm moments such as the night when John inadvertantly took LSD and Paul took him home and 'tripped' with him throughout the night despite his dislike of the drug. But it is fair to say that there are far more 'warts' than 'and all'.

In the past I have read these books and then felt the need to get out my entire Beatles Collection and listen to the lot. After this I was left more reflective. I just put Abbey Road on - how could they harmonise so beautifully on Because when they so obviously hated each other.

This is certainly the best since Ian Mcdonald's Revolution in the Head - which is still the best of the lot. Recommended.

I was completely prepared to dislike this book. First, I found another of Spitz's books ("Shoot Out the Lights," about the 1969/70 New York Knicks) to be flip and breezy, with too much gratuitous profanity. And second, several of the negative reviews of this book mentioned that he gets his facts wrong, and I'm a stickler for accuracy.

I'm happy to say I was wrong. The book is wonderfully detailed, there's probably less author-inserted profanity in this book than in the 70% shorter "Lights," and the accuracy is fine by me (I'd rate my Beatles knowledge as being quite high, although not in the league with that of truest fans or musical historians).

Spitz is thorough in his presentation. The advantage of this is that virtually everything that matters from the Beatles' career is covered here, including often-glossed-over things like the substitution of Jimmy Nichol for Ringo on their 1964 Scandanavian tour, or the frightening chain of events surrounding their 1966 Manilla concerts. The disadvantage is that, in making sure to include so much, Spitz often short-shrifts things some readers might like to know more about. For example, more pages are devoted to speculation on what happened between John Lennon and Brian Epstein on a 1963 trip to Spain, than on the band's groundbreaking 1965 Shea Stadium concert.

This book might turn off those wishing to have a romanticized view of the Beatles. Of the main figures in the book, only patient and sometimes taken-for-granted producer George Martin comes off nicely. John is often bitter and cruel, and more anti-Semetic than I'd imagined. Paul is selfish and controlling by the late 1960s. George has a bad temper and is prickly, at least before he becomes spiritual. Ringo lacks the self-confidence to assert himself within the band. Manager Brian Epstein's self-loathing and penchant for rough trade mark him as a tragic figure.

There are three main knocks I have on the book. One is its factual errors (although there are so many legends about the group, many from the members themselves, that Spitz deserves high praise for being able to mostly sort truth from fiction). The second is the underemphasis, noted above, on some of what I'd have considered the most important moments in the group's history. Finally, after a detailed recounting of the 13 years from Lennon and McCartney meeting to the breakup of the Beatles, Spitz throws in a maddeningly-brief epilogue covering 1970 and beyond. A bit more detail concerning solo careers and lives would have been welcome.

Nonetheless, it is easy to give this informative and readable biography four stars. Unless you're among the very elite in your Beatles knowledge, you'll enjoy the story and learn a few things along the way.

Before I go on, let me warn you; the "Beatlemania" section of this book gets old, fast. It's basically a 200-page account of every concert the Beatles played and every woman they laid. And it really gets old. In fact, I found myself skipping over it. Actually, there are several other moments of overkill in this book, such as when they go through the backstories of George Martin, Brian Epstein, Yoko Ono and Allen Klein. Even Ringo's seems unneccassary, considering how small of a mark he made compared to John, Paul and George.
Those minor complaints aside, this is worth reading. Here we have those bits of the Beatles' story that I find most interesting; the beginning, featring the masters of the three-minute pop song cutting half-hour versions of such 50's rock classics as Whole Lotta Shaking Goin' On at German strip clubs, sneaking smokes and popping pills in between shows; and the end, with the once-enthusiastic Lennon now completely broken, reverted to getting high, watching TV and screaming at Paul.
The biggest revelation made to me by this book was that the Beatles' breakup wasn't entirely Yoko Ono's fault, as some people believe. As it turns out, John, Paul and George were not getting along around this time in the first place, with their rock star-sized egos and the drugs.
Of course, this book is mainly about the music, and the stories of such landmark recordings as Strawberry Fields Forever, A Day in the Life and the Abbey Road album are all chronicled quite well here, as are their failed Indian retreat and failiures with Apple Corps. All in all, a worthy biography for this group of legends.

Very Good, December 31, 2005

By	Steve Trowbridge - See all my reviews

With some exceptions, this biography goes into far more detail than any book about the Beatles I've ever read. It's depiction of the pre-Beatles years and people like Brian Epstein and Yoko Ono is extremely vivid. Despite being over 800 pages I read it in under two weeks.

In fact, I think it could, and should, have been longer. Spitz's dicussion of the songs is fitful-very detailed in many cases and quite skimpy in others. It's true that much of this is covered in other books but is this a comprehensive book about the Beatles or not?

It also fails to paint a complete picture of two Beatles in particular, in my view. Ringo is practically reduced to a peripheral figure-accurate as to his song-writing contributions but VERY mis-leading as to his contributions to the Beatles as a whole. Spitz obviously had very little respect for Ringo.

He also fails to present John Lennon in a complete light. I have no doubt that the he-did-this, he-did-that is accurate but that merely points out the difference between facts and truth. NO ONE would have wanted to know the John Lennon in these pages, whereas in real life he was truly viewed with affection by many people who knew him. That aspect is completely missing here, a great defect in my opinion.

Yoko gets even worse treatment but I have to admit that I quite enjoyed this. I've never seen or heard anything from her that I thought had any value and John's infatuation for her remains as puzzling to me today as ever. I suppose you have to admire him to some degree for not going out and grabbing the latest super-model, as many before and since have done, but that's about all the credit I can give him for this disastrous choice he made in life. She's a true witch in these pages.

I don't agree, however, that he favors Paul. Paul is raked over the coals for his insincerity and manipulative behavior. As bad as John comes across I would even less like to know the McCartney presented here: callous and arrogant. Still, one gets the impression here that it was Yoko and John's drug-taking that caused the break-up more than anything, but from other accounts I really got the impression it was more that the other Beatles couldn't stand to be in the same room with Paul anymore.

One of the strange things about the book was its matter-of-fact presentation of a few events that are completely contradicted in other accounts. The most glaring was the Beatles/Elvis meeting. He has the Beatles jamming with Elvis-John also said that this occurred, but this occasioned great laughter from the other Beatles, who insisted that nothing of the sort happened. I've also NEVER read that Elvis expressed exasperation with them to Priscilla or that John blatantly insulted him at the end of the visit. I'm not sure what to make of all this.

But in the end I have to say I enjoyed the book a great deal. Like no other book about them I've read it hits you with the incredible truth that the majority, and certainly the most interesting, of these events took place in a mere 6 years. No wonder that it remains such a compelling story.
 

By	Mark Ross (Novato, California) - See all my reviews

Spitz does a great job of detailing the pre-mania days in Liverpool and Hamburg, from which the Beatles exploded into super-stardom. Understanding the influences and timeline of these early days provides huge insight into their makeup. The story is well known, yet Spitz adds new perspective and facts.

He also adds new perspective on the psychology of Brian Epstein. Again, his homosexuality is common knowledge, but the "rough stuff", self-loathing and extent of drug abuse by Eppy is a revelation.

The second half of the book also tells a well-known story but colored with a deeper sadness as John is even more drug-ridden, angry, irrational and egotistical than we had known. Yoko whispers in his ear fanning the flames. Paul tries to save the band, but nobody is buying his act either.

The book ends abruptly with the breakup of the band. The release of Abbey Road and Let It Be are barely covered.

Spitz's The Beatles is a good addition to the history, required reading for Beatle-philes. There are some glaring mis-facts, that are unfortunate, especially since the material for the first half is so well researched.

The Beatles' story, like their music, is complex and multi-dimensional. There is no single book that gives you a full picture. But you start with Hunter Davies, go through the Beatles own Anthology and you add this book to the mix.

By	Jonathan H. Sadowsky (Shaker Heights, OH United States) - See all my reviews

I thought this was one of the most engrossing and informative books I've read this year, though it does have flaws. The prose is very smooth, and I did lose sleep some nights because I was so absorbed. Spitz is strongest on the years before Beatlemania; this era is lavishly detailed. The portrait of John Lennon in the period between Revolver and the White Album is not wholly plausible--look, we all know he took a lot of drugs, and I'm sure he watched a lot of TV, but Spitz presents an almost hopless case, a shell of a man, staggering around aimlessly. Sorry, the man who wrote most of "Lucy in the Sky," "I Am the Walrus," "A Day in the Life," and "Strawberry Fields" was at the height of his creative powers. Spitz seems too quick to cite, without evaluating, Paul McCartney's retrospective views on their respective creative input. McCartney was huge for the Beatles's success, of course. It's not our fault his post-Beatles output included "Silly Love Songs," and a James Bond theme song, while John Lennon's included "Imagine" and "Instant Karma." There's no question that the end of this book is rushed. Although a number of individual late songs get attention, "The White Album" and "Abbey Road"--three of the greatest pieces of vinyl ever pressed in rock history--are dashed through as afterthoughts. Spitz is entitled to his opinions, but I also found some of the judgments odd. "Because," a good but minor song, is highly praised here, and the best Spitz can say about an awesome and classic rocker like "Helter Skelter" is that it is "imperfect." Finally, there's a bit too much of the "blame Yoko" effect here. As Buffy Summers once put it in the analogous context, if things were stirred up, it's because they were stir-up-able. But while I disagree with some of Spitz's emphases, I found the book very much worth buying and reading.

I've never been a real big fan of fiction, but I am a lifetime Beatles fan and probably appear mildly obsessive to some. The reason I bring up fiction is, well, I too went straight to the photo sections of the book at the store before reading one word of the text, and decided I wasn't buying. I'm still a little unnerved, not just about the quantity of caption errors (I don't have the book with me right now so counting them isn't possible), but the quality of the errors made me see this book as unresearched and written by someone that is not even a casual Beatles fan. I generally steer clear of those kinds of people anyway, why on earth would I buy a book written by an outsider? We Beatlepeople are a fickle bunch, and there are numerous books on the subject. So I didn't buy it.

Someone I know and love bought it for me, and I groaned a little because I figured I HAD to read it now, and the book is HUGE, and I don't care much for reading fiction. Immediately after opening it to a random passage, I was hooked. This book is very well written and downright gripping at times, and how couldn't it be? The Beatles story is so incredible in itself that the wildest imagination couldn't dream up a tale so astonishing, but when an author puts you right in the middle of it like Bob Spitz does, it's a hard book to put down. It seems to fairly portray the Beatles as the uber-talented music-making geniuses they were, and unsympathetically tells the story of young men unprepared for the mammoth stardom that was beyond their dreams. Of the Beatle books I've read (not that many), this one touches on many sub-plots I hadn't considered before, notably how difficult and oftentimes dangerous it was to be a Beatlewife or girlfriend, and Brian Epstein's numerous botched business deals.

If there are any innaccuracies in the text, they are trivial at worst and easily dwarfed by the abundant information provided. According to an interview with the author, the second printing will have some corrections provided by real Beatlepeople, and hopefully the photo section will get a much needed overhaul as well. I'll give it four.

Edited to add: I'd written this review before I was finished with the book, and am a little surprised at how the events from about 1968 to 1970 are presented. All of the Beatles come off as bumbling fools in the end, and Yoko Ono as a hair short of evil. As said in other reviews, Harrison's great compositions on the latest Beatle recordings are unjustly ignored, as is Ringo's role as the most professional member of the group. The all-too-brief end notes fail to tie the story up and give any kind of closure or meaning to the odyssey.

The massive "Anthology" book, written in The Beatles' own words gives far more insight, but Phillip Norman's "Shout" tells the Beatles story while putting it in better context with the other historical events of the era than Spitz's book. "Shout" gets the edge for the broader scope, and is still the definitive biography as far as I'm concerned, but Spitz gave it a very good try, and his book is well worth reading.