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Customer Review
Reviewed in the United States on November 15, 2016
It was the summer of 1981, and I was the roadie for a band from Illinois. The band, which was called The Jerks, was comprised of former members of the band Buckacre, which had cut two records with MCA (one of them produced by Glyn Johns). That summer, our touring took us from Illinois to Atlanta; with plenty of time between gigs, a couple of the band members and myself read Philip Norman's Shout, at the time, the definitive biography of The Beatles.Two of the band members had been teenagers when The Beatles came to the US, and our drummer had seen them when they played Chicago. Between their stories of the band and Norman's biography this era came alive for me again (I also remembered watching the band on the Ed Sullivan Show).
Flash forward to 2016, and I'm reading Greg Kihn's eloquently written and delightful novel Rubber Soul and reliving this period again. What a lovely, "fab" little book! The lives of the Beatles come alive page after page as Kihn takes us from their early Liverpool days to the height of Beatlemania. Told through the life of Bobby "Dust Bin" Dingle who meets John, Paul, George, and later, Ringo, the story is just as much about Bobby as it is about the music and cultural scene of the time. This era comes alive with all sorts of nostalgia and musical references. Although this is a work of fiction, many of the events described in this story could have actually happened the way the Kihn describes them.
But there's more! There's also a mysterious death that underpins this light mystery (as the book has been described) which adds some twists and drama to the story that elevates it above just a mere account of Bobby's life and his connection to The Beatles.
Rubber Soul is a fun read and a pleasant stroll back in time. Well done, Mr. Kihn!
Oh yeah, one more thing. That summer of 1981...we were all listening to Greg Kihn's "The Break-up Song!"
Jeffrey Miller,
Ice Cream Headache
Flash forward to 2016, and I'm reading Greg Kihn's eloquently written and delightful novel Rubber Soul and reliving this period again. What a lovely, "fab" little book! The lives of the Beatles come alive page after page as Kihn takes us from their early Liverpool days to the height of Beatlemania. Told through the life of Bobby "Dust Bin" Dingle who meets John, Paul, George, and later, Ringo, the story is just as much about Bobby as it is about the music and cultural scene of the time. This era comes alive with all sorts of nostalgia and musical references. Although this is a work of fiction, many of the events described in this story could have actually happened the way the Kihn describes them.
But there's more! There's also a mysterious death that underpins this light mystery (as the book has been described) which adds some twists and drama to the story that elevates it above just a mere account of Bobby's life and his connection to The Beatles.
Rubber Soul is a fun read and a pleasant stroll back in time. Well done, Mr. Kihn!
Oh yeah, one more thing. That summer of 1981...we were all listening to Greg Kihn's "The Break-up Song!"
Jeffrey Miller,
Ice Cream Headache
