"marcus" <marcus60s@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:24aa7774-ccc4-4e44-9120-dea45365b936@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Oct 29, 10:55 am, "Mister Charlie" <widi...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> Last night I tried to sit down and take a few extracts from the best
> Beatle
> book I may have ever read, Can't Buy Me Love by Jonathon Gould, 2007, so
I
> could share this amazing Beatle book with others. But there were so many
> instances I gave up. I could spend a whole day or two typing extracts.
> He combines a brief bio (thank God, we already know the story) with
poetic
> and cogent musical critiques on the songs themselves (again, not
boringly,
> indecipherably, ridiculously so, just enough in my opinion) and then
ties
> it
> all together with what was going on in the UK at the time...the
influences
> for and by the Fabs, and also the US impact, all of which really begins
to
> put into focus some of the reasons they hit success so hard and so
strong
> and so swiftly (alliteration alert!).
>
> While I found maybe 3 errors in the whole book (an almost amazing lack
of
> wrongness given most Beatle book histories) and I disagree with about
3or
> so
> songs he chose to interpret or denigrate contrary to my thoughts...this
> whole book resonates on so many levels.
>
> And I just happened across it, I'd never heard of it before, which is a
> terrible waste. In looking back over reviews on Google they were
virtually
> unanimous in their positive praise when it came out.
>
> I heartily recommend this book for everyone who is into the group (I
found
> mine at the library), it is up there in the top 3 with any of the best
> books
> on the Beatles.
It's a great book. I read about half of it...hopefully will read the
other half some other time. My only complaint ( and I haven't read it
in months) was the tendency to over-analyse every song, including some
of the lesser efforts. But other than that, the way it tied together
The Beatles ascendancy with what was happening in England was
wonderful.
I tend to disagree with the tendency for some to dismiss "Revolution"
as soft. It was written in response to the Paris uprising, not
American politics. Realizing John's dwindling "leader****p" in The
Beatles at the time, it is pretty amazing that he got the other
Beatles to go along with the song.
I agree....as I said, he dissed a few songs that I didn't agree with ans
in
some cases surprisingly prasied songs that I thought were just ok. But in
the grand scope of the book the complaints are minor...the way he tied
things together and his concise prose made it a pleasure to read.
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