The Beatles: Day-by-Day, Song-by-Song, Record-by-Record (Paperback)

by Craig Cross (Author)
Key Phrases: George Martin, Abbey Road, Ringo Starr-drums (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
The Beatles: Day-by-Day, Song-by-Song, Record-by-Record contains all you need to know about the world’s greatest band in a single volume. The day-by-day diary covers their entire career from the Quarrymen days in ’57 right up to their eventual break-up in April 1970. Learn fascinating facts about the music industry and the Beatles’ private lives.

The song-by-song section tells you the story behind every song they ever made—with full recording history and session details. And the record-by-record section covers every single, EP, and album released in Britain and the United States—including their Christmas fan-club discs!

The book also contains five useful appendices covering everything from chart records and awards to tour dates. With its meticulous research and easy-to-understand approach, this is the only Beatles book that you’ll ever need.

A nearly exhaustive chronicle of the Fab Four. Ostensibly the "only Beatles book that you'll ever need,” Mercifully, however, only the first third is devoted to a diary of daily events; the remainder is an alphabetized song list and chronological discography. Cross's hip, lively narrative—"August 7, 1957: The Quarrymen's debut at the Cavern Club. Paul couldn't make it because he was away at scout camp (not very rock 'n' roll!)..." As for the beginning of the end, signs of strain began well before 1970— Yoko Ono's conquest of Lennon, McCartney's bossiness, Lennon's heroin addiction, business conflicts with manager Allen Klein—but Cross wisely refrains from passing judgment on the definitive cause of the breakup. Not the only Beatles book you'll ever need, but entertaining nonetheless.

-Kirkus Discoveries

About the Author
Craig Cross is the owner of www.beatles-discography.com, one of the largest Beatles sites on the Web. He has written the sleeve notes for Bullseye Records’ It Was Forty Years Ago Today. He lives in London.

Product Details

• Paperback: 634 pages
• Publisher: iUniverse, Inc. (May 14, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0595346634
• ISBN-13: 978-0595346639
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #814,148 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Beatles by numbers, November 8, 2005

By	Col. Mustard (The Drawing Room) - See all my reviews

The website is terrific, but the book version is a real disappointment. As an entry point into the Beatles it's a decent first purchase, containing as it does a chronology, a discography, and a song-by-song breakdown, but the same money would be far better spent on Revolution In The Head and used copies of Lewisohn's Chronicle and Recording Sessions.

There's a lot here, but little that's new, no fresh insight, quite a few errors and a lot of gaping holes. For instance, most of the song summaries trot out the usual background info, yet for some there's not even that. Several entries just list the number of takes. There are four lines on Carnival Of Light. Not a word about the origin or recording of Old Brown Shoe.

So, if you're picking up the book knowing little about the major songs, then you're decently-served here. But if you already know about Penny Lane (and it's an area informally named after a street, Craig, not just a street), then you'll be disappointed by what this offers on the likes of Junk or If You've Got Troubles.

And that's the biggest disappointment about this book: that it spurns the opportunity to go where predecessors like Stannard's The Long And Winding Road couldn't, by giving equal weight to the previously unreleased songs on Anthology. Most of those get just a brief para acknowledging their belated release.

Last and least, the writing style, which could have used the guidance of an experienced editor. For instance, exclamation marks are used with abandon! Which makes for a very trying read! And the text is littered with profanity. There's nothing wrong with that, per se, but here it seems pointless and immature. Go ahead and use "f---ing" if the context demands it, but when you just mean "very", or "really", then "very" or "really" will probably do. Think Teddy Boy is bad? Then don't just say "it's s--t!" tell us what's s--t about it, whether it made it to any version of Get Back, and what McCartney ended up doing with it.

So is it a bad book? No. It's a two-star that would make a three-star if better written, a four-star if truly complete, and a five-star, must-have if only it would offer something new.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Some people will love this book, and some will not, November 9, 2005

By	FireGrade (Great Britain) - See all my reviews

I can see a lot of people loving this book, and a lot of other people... not. I think some may be put off by the author's writing style - which is quite loose. It also contains some strong language - be warned.

The text is rather "conversational". But the stronger language in use has a bonus - in that the author delves quite deeply into areas such as their drug use, that other books just touch upon. The break-up is brutally well-done, for example. It is quite clear from the text that The Beatles were not getting along at this point in their careers - and this is no epilogue to deliver a happy ending.

But if you are looking for a book that your children can read, then maybe this book is not for you.
Their love life, drug habits and earthy quotes (especially some of Johns diatribes) do tend to make you blush.
I certainly wouldn't let my 10-year-old child read this book.

The first part of the book - the history section - is very stong, very detailed and very complete. But as the previous reviewer states, the song section leaves out some of their later BBC session and Anthology releases, together with any bootleg recordings, which I do believe are contained on the accompanying website.
But every song that they released during their 8-year career is present and correct. (Maybe we will one day get an updated version - like 'A Hard Day's Write' perhaps?) But even so, the book still contains every song from their studio albums, singles, EPs and B-sides - which is more than enough for most fans. After all, these are the songs that you actually listen too day in and day out.

The length of the commentary does vary, depending on the fame of the song, and whether there is actually anything to say. Lennon and McCartney have, of course, admitted to knocking out songs in a rapid fashion during the early part of their career, and I don't expect that there is very much to tell about their genesis.

So whilst ALL commentaries contain session details, some just have an accompanying paragraph. A quick perusal of the website will show you exactly what I mean in this regard.
Most songs are given half-page to a page, increasing to 3 pages for the very famous songs. Hey Jude, Strawberry Fields Forever, A Day In The Life, Love Me Do and Revolution, for example, all have 2 or 3 pages devoted to each.

I found that the essays are generally more detailed than the ones contained in 'A Hard Days Write', whilst lacking the social commentary of 'Revolution In The Head'.
But the social commentary is mainly contained in the history section, of course.

To sum up, this is a large book with a definite writing style of its own. And you may be put off the stronger language. Or you may find the conversational style a breathe of fresh air - in an area too often filled with dreary tomes.

But hooray, I say, for a book with a bit of life. Just don't give it to your children!

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Everything you ever wanted to know about The Beatles but were afraid to ask!, October 2, 2005

By	bmcallister "bmcallister" (UK) - See all my reviews

If I could get one minor quibble out of the way first of all - this book could do with a detailed index. There is so much information contained in it that it is sometimes hard to pin something down.
But that is a minor aside - the book is generally excellent. It is all of the other Beatles books rolled into one. I especially like the "juicy stories" included that we all want to read, but are frequently missed out. I have read about the "Hooker incident" in many books before, for example - chiefly in Larry Kane's excellent 'Ticket To Ride' - but rarely is it included in a mainstream book, which is a shame, because it is part of what makes the band so interesting. Their tours were legendary for their excess, so why miss all that out? Well, this book doesn't. It is all in there.
It is also very good on the last remaining years that they had together as a band. You can see the break-up coming from 1968 onwards - and all through his chapters on 1969 and 1970.
You may think that all of this lessens the 'aura' that surrounds the Beatles -- it doesn't. A well-rounded book like this just shows how interesting they actually were, both as a band and as human beings.
The Beatles are so much more than their music. Read this book and find out why.