Customer Reviews

The Rough Guide to The Beatles (Rough Guide Music Guides)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Intended as a one-stop shopping guide to the Beatles, Chris Ingham packs a lot of info on the Beatles into this small (7"x7") package. Ingham's book, in this 2nd edition, can't claim to be definitive but it is a good primer on the life and times of John, Paul, George and Ringo.

As with other books in the ROUGH GUIDE series, this book casts its net wide, encompassing the history of the Beatles including their solo years, many of their "friends and lovers," the 50 Beatle songs Ingham considers essential, the movies they made, the books and artwork they created, Beatle haunts and landmarks, candidates for the 'Fifth Beatle' title, and so on. It's a very interesting, informative and often insightful guide. Exhaustive, no; entertaining, yes!

Ingham is a triple threat - author, musician and drama teacher. Occasionally he forgets that not everyone shares his expertise and you wade through sentences like: "..their tightly scripted ensemble scenes (in 'Hard Day's Night') generated an attractive, intriguingly intimate exclusivity..." or "...the diminished chord (darker than a minor chord with a flat fifth and double flat seventh as well as a flat third) dominates 'Blue Jay Way'..."

Given its built-in limitations, Ingham's book is a good buy, a broadbrush yet incisive guide to the Beatles.

***
I question the inclusion of 'Free as a Bird' in his list of 50 essential Beatle songs. I've always considered that song a triumph of technology over taste. But it's Ingham's book and everyone's entitled to their opinion so the book got five stars.

This book is wonderful, Chris Ingham did a great job gathering all the facts. The opening section is my favourite, it has all the facts you want to know from The Beatles -- Though I would liked to see more about the breakup and why they stopped touring. Another great section is The Canon - Ingham covered amazingly well the 50 essential songs (not the best, the essential).

Buy the book if you like The Beatles ... You won't regret it!

...that leads you to the Beatles!

This is a truly delightful book replete with information covering the inception of the group in 1957 until George Harrison's untimely death in 2001. Fans and people just becoming familiar with the Beatles will be captivated by the way the subject matter is presented.

All in all, a rave review. I love it!

Rough Guide to the The Beatles is a great place to start if you're getting into the Beatles. Gives you all the information you need -- records, books, movies, etc. -- for both the Beatles themselves and their respective careers afterwards. Because it touches on so many aspects, it makes it easy to figure out where you want to go next (Do I buy the albums? Do I read the McCartney bio? Etc.).

I'm also planning on keeping the book for when I'm done reading about the Beatles. It's a great reference work, and while most of the reference information is available on the web, having it in book form (and indexed) makes it easier to work with.

I can't give it 5 stars, though. My big gripe that keeps it from a fifth star is that the editing is atrocious. I don't think a spell check was done ('follows' is written in one place as 'follos'), and -- something I've never seen before -- some quotes were begun with a " and ended with a '. There was also some mistakes in the 'canon' section, as some of the songs were on Past Masters Volume 1 but not indicated as such. Hopefully the next edition will correct this.

My final 'wish' for the next edition is that the book section includes a list of other books. Here There and Everywhere isn't listed -- is that because the author hadn't read it, hadn't liked it, or hadn't deemed it worthy for inclusion? I don't expect a paragraph about every book, but a couple lists (maybe one labelled 'Only if you have time' and another 'Don't bother') of other books would have be very beneficial.

Again, great place to start if you're getting into the Beatles, and a handy reference if you're already into them.

An excellent shopping list of Beatle songs and information about the World's Greatest Band, Ingham provides a powerhouse of information. This is a delightful "pre-primer" of the Beatles' lives.

This power packed book delves into the Beatles' history as a group and as individuals and does an exemplary job of providing information about their solo careers and people in their lives. For those wanting a "quick fix" of information and a neatly sequenced package, this book is for you. Readers get Ingham's 50 "Essential Beatle songs;" movie list and art these talented men created. Readers also stroll down the Beatles' magical mystery tour of landmarks in their lives. Laughs abound with Ingham's list of possible "Fifth Beatle;" in early 1964 DJ Murray the K was humorously awarded this title.

Ingham is an artist in the truest sense of the word. He combines his skills in music and drama in his presentation of facts. This book will also prove helpful to people looking for Beatle music to purchase by presenting the list of songs. For those who are just coming into the Beatles and for the burgeoning fan wanting information about the Beatles, then this is the book for you.

Lots of interesting bits about the background, history and music. All photos are black and white to keep the price down. The chapter on "50 of the Greatest Beatles Songs" certainly had some peculiar choices and omissions. Sure the top 30 songs are not too difficult to agree upon. But 15 of his choices are highly debatable. Everyone's got their favorites but come on. He omits true essentials like Paperback Writer, I Saw Her Standing There, Can't Buy Me Love and Across the Universe. And he includes as "essential" Happiness is a Warm Gun, Within You Without You, She Said She Said and Tomorrow Never Knows. Relatively speaking, everyone knows these songs have limited appeal and are thus not "essential". If a song like Rain is essential then what isn't? A more accurate title to the chapter would be the Author's 50 Personal Favorites.

If you are familiar with the Rough Guide concept, you know that this series is laid out to give you a little of everything you need to know about a specific subject. You get the bios of the band-mates, the history, a section on their greatest songs, a discography, and some really interesting sections on things like places mentioned in the songs, candidates for the title of 'The Fifth Beatle', other key players in the Beatles lore, songs that never were, and so forth. This is a fun little book to read and refer to. The particular edition I got was British, so the album tracks were listed as they were released in Britain rather than the States, but there was a shorter American discography with tracks near the back.

If you are looking to learn more about the Beatles, this is a good place to start. Interesting facts, good pictures, a ready reference.
Recommended.

Bought this as a gift for my son for Christmas, but was not really happy with DHL delivery service though.