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Summary: Britannica of the Beatles
Review: I never really followed The Beatles until a few years ago. I was familiar with some of their songs such as Hey Jude, Come Together, Let it Be, and others I sometimes heard on the radio.This book did a great job of literally educating me about the greatest band in history. The amount of content is incredible, literally making it an encyclopedia written by the heroes themselves.
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Summary: Essential for the casual or diehard fan; good for YA's
Review: Years in the making, the long awaited "Anthology" by the Beatles is sure to please the casual and diehard fan. The surviving Beatles tell their own story, with printed excerpts of interviews with John Lennon telling his tale. The text is eminently readable, with the book divided into year-by-year sections. Pictures abound, many never before published, showing the Beatles in concert, at home, and in the studio. Colorful layouts add texture and scope to the book. There are a few drawbacks: the coffee-table size format does not allow the reader to curl up with the book for long periods of time; many sixties-era Beatles documents are printed over text or pictures, making many of them difficult to read; and there are few captions with the pictures, forcing the reader to flip back and forth to the index to identify the photos. All in all, however, one cannot argue with the importance of the book as a document of the sixties and a document of the Beatles. Young adults interested in music or the sixties should also find this an essential read.
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Summary: All You Need is Love!
Review: I am reading 'The Beatles Anthology' at the moment and I think it is great! At first, I didn;t know what to expect but it is brill! As it is actually written by the fab 4 who changed music, you know that it is what really happened! It gives u loads of info on the actual musical side of things and not just their amazing story from going from working class lads struggling to get a job in a terrible club to 4 of the most talented musicians in the world! Being a musician myself, I found the way that they actually wrote about every album is very informative and it has helped me to write reviews for my own website which I have just started! allyouneedislovefab4.homestead.com - please please me by visiting as it is a very new website! anyway, the anthology is nicely written and easy to understand and it keeps you interested at every point of their musical story! It is probably the best beatles book on earth, or even across the universe.....
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Summary: Wow! The Greatest Beatles Book!
Review: There is a lot if information here, so probably for the Beatles fanatic only. I loved it - it's the autobiography of The Beatles - how cool is that?!?
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Summary: This is a big read
Review: I rated this book a 4 because as far as books go it is not a 5 but as far as this kind of book,it is a 10. If you grew up with the Fab Four as I did, anxiously waiting for each and every single, than I think you will enjoy the book immensely. The book is very detailed and interesting but what is most fun is the humour. If you know the then personalities of the Beatles you will burst out laughing at many parts. It also puts the Beatles on a very human level, lets say down to earth. If you are new to the Beatles it is worth the money to have and to find out what the buzz is all about. The book is written as though there is an interviewer asking the questions and you get the responses. what is most interesting is that not everyone has the same perspective or recollection of certain events which makes it seem all the more truthful. I received the book as a gift and am enjoying each and every page.
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Summary: Climb aboard the magical mystery tour of the best band EVER!
Review: First of all, I am only 22 years old, and I am a huge Beatles fan, as is my mother still, since she saw them in concert in 1965 when she was 13. We frequently trade CD's and info with each other, and we are great fans. Her favorite was always George, and my favorites are Paul & Ringo. I got this book for Christmas, and it is amazing. It reveals everything that you wanted to know of what was going on behind the scenes of the greatest rock and roll band EVER. No one will ever compare, and no one will ever come close to being what they were. I think it's great that they wrote this book, and it is a treat for any true Beatles fan like me and my mother. Any band that can span generations from parent to child is top rate in my book. If you are a true Beatlemaniac, get this book, you won't be able to put it down. A treat for all. I wish I could give it ten stars.
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Summary: Beautiful production - no library is complete withoout it
Review: If you are a music fan then you must own this book. It provides an encylopaedic history of what was arguably the most innovative and creative group of all time While some of the "meat" contained in individual biographies of the band's members is missing it is still a great work with a lot of valuable narrative/interview material. It flows very well for such a complex subject and the quality of the writting is first class. The book itself is beautifully produced on high quality materials and the pictures are extremely well produced and include a lot of items I have never seen before, ( and I have quite a collection of Beatles material in my library) I was thrilled to receive this as a gift buy it!...
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Summary: A splendid time is guaranteed for all!
Review: This book is great-remaining interesting from cover to cover. Quite a bit more detailed than the video series-although naturally a bit repetitive My only complaint is that the book is quite cumbersome--making normal reading a little difficult-and on some pages the type is hard to read because of the colored background (probably only about ten pages in the whole book) The book is put together in such a way-that one almost forgets that John is no longer with us (at least in the flesh) I would recommend this book to anyone who has more than a casual interest in the Beatles.
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Summary: Good book, but.....
Review: Everything the Beatles have done deserves 5 stars. Well, almost. I will always think of the Beatles as top notch, but there are a few songs here and there that I really don't like, and the individual members did make mistakes in their personal lives, just like all humans do. But they still were and are the greatest rock group of all, and nothing will change that. I've been a Beatles fanatic since January 1964, so it's kind of tough not to give this book 5 stars. All the other reviewers praise the merits of this book, and there are many. But I want to focus on why I don't think it's top notch, and some of the reasons: 1--It's too expensive with a $60 cover price. 2--It's oversized, heavy to lug around and even hold comfortably when reading, and won't fit on any book shelf. The pages are a heavy stock that will last, but the edges just invite paper cuts. 3--Too many pictures are presented without specifications of when and where they were taken, or who is in the photos. A lot of the layering and write overs are difficult to cut through. 4--Reading the text, even though associated comments from the Beatles are drawn together to describe events, and the text is nicely assembled, there is still a disjointed feel to it. It comes across more like a court record of related comments rather than a fluid narrative. Part of this is due to the John Lennon comments. 5--The John Lennon comments, taken from various interviews, sometimes fit in OK but the perspective is often sadly limited. The three living members of the group of course have a big advantage by gaining perspective over the past two decades that Lennon never lived to realize. It's anybody's guess what (and how) he would have changed or kept the same. In the end, the Lennon comments are just like the "Free As A Bird" and "Real Love" overdubs. They're interesting and partly successful in their context, but it's just not quite as "real" in the end. 6--It's late in coming and even though it's the first autobiographical volume, it is derivative. Maybe because I've been an intensive fan for nearly four decades, I just don't feel there's much in the way of new information in the book. I have heard or read almost all of this before. I would recommend other books from the past decades to most fans. "The Love You Make" and "The Beatles Chronicles" or "Recording Sessions" are books I refer to frequently. I doubt I'll be doing the same with "The Beatles Anthology." Love the group, love the songs, but this book just doesn't live up to my expectations of what it could have been.
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Summary: The Ultimate Beatles!
Review: This book transcends its overt purpose of being an anthology of the Beatles. Anyone who loves the music the Beatles gave us will find much rewarding material here. Those who want to know about how success can be accomplished in popular music will be riveted. Those who like to look back on popular culture in times past will have a happy trip. If you just love exciting photography, there is much to attract you to this volume. I found myself singing the Beatles' songs to myself as I read the text and looked at the illustrations. That was the best part! To me, the most thought-provoking part of this book was its rags-to-genius quality. The Beatles were unlikely candidates to become leading musical innovators. Most of them were so poor that their families lacked indoor bathrooms when they were growing up. None of them could read music. The combined number of music lessons they had was less than ten in total. They could not afford musical instruments. Their families could not afford to subsidize their careers. Yet they were observant about the new, in contact with what moved their hearts, listened intently for better music, and worked with a never-ending frenzy to fulfill their passion for the music. It's vastly more heartwarming and fascinating than any rags-to-riches story ever can be. I had never understood John Lennon's complaints about the "packaged, predictable" Beatles until I read in this book about the type of band they were while evolving their style. Particularly in the Hamburg gigs, they were more like a jazz combo that played rock and roll. The music was free form, and they stretched some songs into being as long as an hour and a half. In fact, their commercial success was a tremendous tragedy for their artistic success because they were probably at the edge of developing a whole new musical genre that would have become the dominant one today. I'm sorry it never happened. I feel even more sorry for them, in realizing that they knew what they lost and must feel it very deeply. I was also moved by the story of their tempestuous friendship. These guys went through tremendous stresses, strains, and deprivations together. They fought, they disagreed, they slugged each other, and they appreciated each other. Yet, there was a strong enough pull towards each other that allowed the group to continue through its amazing journey, despite the difficulties. To have had such friendships, even if they are eventually lost, must be an amazing experience. Few will know this closeness in their lives. I came away from this book with a new appreciation for the Beatles. Before this book, the Beatles were all about (for me) how they sounded and looked, and how I reacted to that. Now, I see them as being role models for important aspects of human experience that we should all appreciate. Before closing, I do have two words of caution. This book is very open about the major and minor vices of life. As such, this book could make the wrong impression on adolescents. They don't need too many new ideas about how to rebel, and this book could be read that way. That's not what the Beatles were doing, but a 13 year old could see it that way. Second, as revealing as the book is, more is ultimately still hidden below the surface than is revealed. These young men knew a lot of pain, and that pain was an important source of their brilliance. Don't be offended that they did not share more. It was probably very painful to share as much as they did. I would like to give the editors major credit for developing a successful dialogue style in the book that included quotes from John Lennon. It must have been the dickens to read through all of his many quotes, and to weave them into material comparable to what can be developed in a simple interview where the others could be aware of what each other said. "Take a sad song, and make it better."
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