Customer Reviews

The British Invasion: The Music, the Times, the Era

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The British Invasion is a large photo-filled coffee table book. It touches on many subjects - music, movies, television shows and fashion that helped create and define the time period. The book is clearly not intended to comprehensively explore any of the various topiccs but rather, provide an overview.

In addition to fabulous photographs of the most famous British and American groups, notable fashion models and designers and influential movies of the time, the book contains reproductions of the covers of old periodicals like Tiger Beat, Teen Life, Flip and 16 Magazine.

The British Invasion contains many interesting bits of information - for example the group Peter, Paul and Mary were created by Bob Dylan's manager because he thought someone who could sound better singing Dylan's songs would be more successful than the man himself.

I did notice a rather significant error near the end of the book. Jimi Hendrix's famous rendition of the Star Spangled Banner is instead noted as Stars and Stripes Forever.

If the book is in view, it is almost impossible not to pick it up and page through it, and once in hand, it is hard to put down. The photographs alone are worth the price of the book.

This is a breezy and fun-to-read book that contains many interesting photos and tidbits. The book's primary focus is on music, and the Beatles serve as a sort of theme throughout. There are a few forays into film and fashion as well, though nothing that distracts long from the focus on music. The book is upbeat, pretty much avoiding all of the darker aspects of the era. Oddly enough, the only part of the book which deviates from the cheerful narration is in the last 4 paragraphs where the author remarks that there will never be another British invasion (or any type of "invasion" for that matter) since "there are no more social or cultural borders to cross." But that only serves to heighten one's appreciation for books like this that can provide a glimpse into the past.

If you are interested in the British Era and the times this is a great book. If you are looking for indepth interviews, or more stories regarding music look elsewhere. I can tell a lot of love went into this book but its mostly pics and press releases. Maybe its my fault I thought I was going to get a book about the inside tale of the British Invasion regarding the Animals, The Beatles, Chad and Jeremy, etc. This is mainly a coffee table book and if you are interested in the WHOLE ERA go for it. Music lovers look elsewhere.