Tell Me Why: The Beatles: Album by Album, Song by Song, the Sixties and After (Paperback)

~ (Author) "THE RECORDING WORLD is full of sharks, crooks, and people on the run (like Elvis Presley's manager, Colonel Tom Parker), but Brian Epstein was a..." (more)
Key Phrases: upper harmony, glass onion, strawberry fields forever, Rubber Soul, Penny Lane, George Martin (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Song by song, record by record, an American music critic discusses the Beatles albums from Please Please Me (1962) to Abbey Road (1969), recounts the circumstances that led to the composition of each song and analyzes the means by which it achieves its individual character. A final chapter, "The Dream Is Over," surveys and sums up the subsequent solo albums. Riley shows that Paul McCartney rarely personalized his songs the way John Lennon did; he had a keener commercial instinct and satisfied pop expectations, while Lennon challenged his audience with lofty ideas like the illusory nature of reality and acute anxiety. Once they became solo artists, their best albums epitomized their strengths as they delineated what a remarkable match of sensibilities the two of them had been. An essential work for all interested parties.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

"Shrewdly balanced -- with musicology as important as sociology -- [Riley] offers Beatles criticism of unprecedented fullness." -- Kirkus Reviews


From the Trade Paperback edition. -- Review --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 475 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press (May 28, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0306811200
• ISBN-13: 978-0306811203
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #396,307 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Underrated-Not Afraid to Criticize AND Praise, March 8, 2004

By	Jim Mitchell (St. Louis) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tell Me Why: A Beatles Commentary (Hardcover)

I can't speak to the accuracy of every detail in this book, but I found the commentary and analysis to be very informative and entertaining. Riley, unlike many authors who cover subjects of pop culture, isn't afraid to approach the music with a loving but critical eye. I really don't need to read another author fawning unconditionally over The Beatles. Riley doesn't present his interpretations as fact, and seems to respect his readers enough to give them the credit to know that these are his opinions. Some of his writing on the music is a bit technical, but that's hardly the focus of the book, and would certainly be useful to a musician or someone fluent in music theory. Likewise, his writing is sometimes a bit lofty and convoluted- this often reads as if it were an academic work. But it's far from unreadable, and offers an all-encompassing, song by song, sometimes lyric by lyric, analysis of The Beatles (plus a few of their solo works). The music obviously speaks for itself, but this is a fine supplement to help enhance our understanding of it. If nothing else, this is just the well-written opinions of another fan.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Underrated Analysis of Beatles Music, January 23, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Tell Me Why: The Beatles: Album by Album, Song by Song, The Sixties and After (Paperback)

Riley's survey of the Beatles albums and singles is one of the most enlightening books on the subject. As a survey of The Beatles' music, the book cannot be faulted for failing to dig into the musician's personal lives. Some critics of the book complain of the technical language, but unlike the journalist who praised the "aeolian cadences" in "Not A Second Time," Riley is aware that The Beatles were untutored, basically intuitive musicians. His language is that of a musically educated person, not that of a pompous intellectual critic (of music or books), and Riley clearly worked hard to keep the analysis from flying over the heads of his anticipated readership, though perhaps he shouldn't have bothered. A reader may disagree with Riley's judgments about some songs and albums, but the author never fails to justify his opinions, and usually he offers some new insight into these now-venerable recordings. Best of all, Riley doesn't buy into the popular myths about the more famous songs and albums, and he does approach each new topic as freshly as possible. This book and Mark Lewisohn's "Beatles Recording Sessions" are two of the finest volumes on Beatles music ever written.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tell Me Why, Indeed!, December 29, 2004

By	stoprobbers - See all my reviews

This book is brilliant, if not quite what I expected when I picked it up. I expected, I suppose, something much closer to "A Hard Day's Write": Stories behind the songs, tales of recording and inspiration. What I got was far better; a song-by-song, album-by-album, single-by-single, MUSICAL analysis of the Beatle's catalogue.

I emphasize the word musical because this book is heaped with music theory. The effects of unresolved sixths, diminished ninths, dominant and subdominant chords and progressions... if you're not familiar with any term I just mentioned you might be getting in over your head. But, to his credit, Riley sticks to the specifics of each song that his meaning becomes clear as soon as you listen to what he's writing about, regardless of how much music theory you know.

Riley's analysis of "Revolver" is spectacular, and I appreciate his nerve to finally come out and say that "Sgt. Pepper's" ISN'T the Beatles' best album (it's about time that myth was debunked). His attention to song progression is something I find extremely worthwhile, and his interpretation of the meaning behind the way each song is sung (which goes far beyond "to make it sound good" and into the realm of psychiatric analysis at times) and the way each album is ordered is much appreciated. "Tell Me Why" is a look at exactly what the Beatles did to music, the area of culture where they caused the most change. With the heaps of other tomes that focus on their effect on the world of celebrity and on their personal life, it's a refreshing and exhillerating read,