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Customer Review
Reviewed in the United States on March 18, 2014
This is a dramatized accounting of the rise of the Beatles along with the music of that, and the immediately previous time. The fictionalizing is in creating an English character as protagonist who observes the Beatle's early Liverpool beginnings and meteoric rise to fame and fortune in the mid and later '60's.
The book is breezy and probably authentic as it cites Peter Best as a source. Best was the Beatle's drummer until being replaced by Ringo Starr literally weeks before fame came to the Fab Four. The reason for his departure and replacement is the stuff of music legend but the account here is probably factual at least from Best's point of view. It does fit with the reality of what came afterwards.
The upsides of the book are twofold. For fans, it gives a solid profile of the Beatle's personalities including an insight into Lennon's particularly. No, this guy wasn't all bean sprouts and kindness. More interesting to this reader was a documenting of the predecessor music which influenced the Beatles (mostly Lennon/McCartney).
Most of the music which, according to the author, influenced the early Beatles and led to their success were tunes and artists I'd never heard of. So I did some research to find this music and in many cases was electrified by how terrific it was then and how fresh it sounds now.
Through this book and the research it inspired, I discovered more music and artists than any other venue. Let me give one tiny example. If you know early rock, you no doubt heard a song by Elvis titled 'Hound Dog'.
I'd heard that song maybe 20 times in my life. It never made any impression on me as some guy complaining about a defective pet was, at best, a bizarre and silly song. Well that's not what this song is about, but you won't know it until you hear the song done by Big Mama Thornton. Hearing that, I learned what that song was about and felt odd that Evis' version is the one known today and Big Mama Thornton's is as forgotten as she seems to have been. A pity, really.
A short, easy and fun read. Recommended.
The book is breezy and probably authentic as it cites Peter Best as a source. Best was the Beatle's drummer until being replaced by Ringo Starr literally weeks before fame came to the Fab Four. The reason for his departure and replacement is the stuff of music legend but the account here is probably factual at least from Best's point of view. It does fit with the reality of what came afterwards.
The upsides of the book are twofold. For fans, it gives a solid profile of the Beatle's personalities including an insight into Lennon's particularly. No, this guy wasn't all bean sprouts and kindness. More interesting to this reader was a documenting of the predecessor music which influenced the Beatles (mostly Lennon/McCartney).
Most of the music which, according to the author, influenced the early Beatles and led to their success were tunes and artists I'd never heard of. So I did some research to find this music and in many cases was electrified by how terrific it was then and how fresh it sounds now.
Through this book and the research it inspired, I discovered more music and artists than any other venue. Let me give one tiny example. If you know early rock, you no doubt heard a song by Elvis titled 'Hound Dog'.
I'd heard that song maybe 20 times in my life. It never made any impression on me as some guy complaining about a defective pet was, at best, a bizarre and silly song. Well that's not what this song is about, but you won't know it until you hear the song done by Big Mama Thornton. Hearing that, I learned what that song was about and felt odd that Evis' version is the one known today and Big Mama Thornton's is as forgotten as she seems to have been. A pity, really.
A short, easy and fun read. Recommended.
