Revolution: the Making of the Beatles' White Album (The Vinyl Frontier) [Hardcover]

David Quantick (Author)

Book Description

Series: The Vinyl Frontier | Publication Date: September 26, 2002

Most books about the Beatles reveal the big picture first and ask questions afterward. This book reverses that approach. Revolution takes a fresh and often funny look at the magnificent and sometimes idiotic career path of the Beatles through the prism of one vital album-a record considered by many (including John Lennon) to be the one on which they reached their peak as songwriters. It focuses not just on the intimate recording details and creative process, but on the politics, music, and culture of the era, as well as the band's individual development amid increasing dissolution. In crisp and witty prose, the inside stories behind the making and release of the album are revealed: how the White Album got its look and name; why it included the most experimental track the Beatles ever recorded; how it inspired the bloody massacres of Charles Manson and his "family"; why Ringo Starr walked out on the sessions and who replaced him; the actual identities of "Dear Prudence," "Sexy Sadie," "Martha My Dear," "Julia," and "Bungalow Bill"; on which song Yoko sang lead; which song is about Eric Clapton's teeth; what songs were left off the album; and much more.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Beatles fans know more about the Beatles than the Beatles know about themselves. Thus any addition to the hundreds of Beatles books needs an angle-some inspired criticism or a little new dirt-to make it necessary. Sadly, author Quantick (The Clash; Beck) delivers no such hook in his short, dull tribute to the band's White Album, his all-time favorite record. Quantick tells the well-known stories behind each of the 30 songs on the sprawling double-player. Fans will recall that McCartney wrote "Martha, My Dear" for his Old English sheepdog and that Lennon's "Dear Prudence" was about Mia Farrow's sister Prudence, who was apparently spending too much time indoors, meditating. Quantick fails to clearly articulate why he thinks the album's so brilliant, but rather tosses out impenetrable nuggets such as: "Like all great albums, the White Album is both a snapshot of the time it was recorded and a piece of music that stands alone, outside time and fashion"; and that the White Album is the only Beatles record "that would be superb if it had been recorded by any other greatest rock and pop band of all time."
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"A fascinating expose . . . will amaze Fab Four devotees" -- MWE3

"Conveys the true genius and magic behind the Beatles . . . Will encourage readers to listen . . . with new, apprecitive ears." -- Daytrippin' magazine --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: M Q Publications (September 26, 2002)
• ISBN-10: 1903318556
• ISBN-13: 978-1903318553
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #781,401 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars "Average" is overdoing it, January 19, 2003

By 

Brian Delaney (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Revolution: The Making of The Beatles' White Album (The Vinyl Frontier series) (Paperback)

I bought this book thinking it was written from a different angle and would be an interesting, informative read. Factual errors too numerous to count put the entire book in question for me. Burps of the writers opinion presented as facts abound. For a book that is supposed to be a detailed, microscopic look at the White Album there were just too many errors for me to enjoy it. When discussing the Manson Family's infatuation with the album he mistakenly calls Susan Atkins (aka Sadie Mae Glutz) "Tex Atkins" mixing her name up with Tex Watson. My advice: Do your homework and hire a proofreader!

PS I love Wild Honey Pie. So there!

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars a very poor effort, May 9, 2003

By 

P. J. Walstra "pwalstra" - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Revolution: The Making of The Beatles' White Album (The Vinyl Frontier series) (Paperback)

The introduction to this book promises that it takes a new approach to a piece of Beatles' history. Where most books first deal with the bigger picture and get to detail later, this book looks at the career of The Beatles by relating it to the author's favourite album - The Beatles (or the White Album as most people know it).
It also promises a fresh and often funny look at their career in crisp and witty prose.
So, I was really looking forward to review this one!
Sadly, I was bitterly disappointed. You might have a different taste as to what's funny & witty or not, but that aside, this book sheds no new light on either The White Album or The Beatles. It is full of well known anecdotes and personal opinion (for instance: page 163 - The Sergeant Pepper inner sleeve was a piece of rubbish according to the author. A matter of taste I'd say, but the point was that the coloured inner sleeve was the first of its kind!). Where there are no facts to go by, the author resorts to unsubstantiated speculation.
The book is also full of errors that would have been easy to avoid (just one example: page 115 - Jimmy Nicol played with The Beatles in 1964 - not 1965).
When there are many of these errors, it's hard to believe anything "new" in such a book. All in all a very poor effort.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Biased Author, February 8, 2003

By 

Kelley S. Jensen "Kelley Sweet Jensen" (Florida) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Revolution: The Making of The Beatles' White Album (The Vinyl Frontier series) (Paperback)

Quantik's book is a collection of generally known anecdotes, along with some questionable speculation.

Annoyingly he feels duty bound to weigh in repeatedly with his personal opinion in a very unjournalistic way:

"The theme of their (Patti H. and Eric C.) unrequited love had already inspired Clapton's only great song, "Layla" (While Boyd and Clapton's realized relationship was responsible for the apalling "Wonderful Tonight.)" p. 94

"Described by its author as a 'little experimental piece,' Wild Honey Pie is no such thing unless the experiment in one involving horrible torture." p. 86

Some of the details are interesting but Quantik's writing style is obnoxious. The book is carried solely by the intrinsically compelling nature of the subject matter.