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Title: Beatles for Sale: The Musical Secrets of the Greatest Rock 'N' Roll Band of All Time by David Rowley ISBN: 1-84018-567-8 Publisher: Mainstream Pub. Date: March, 2003 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 2.78 (9 reviews)
Rating: 1
Summary: Opinions are like bungholes, everybody's got one
Comment: First of all the sub title to this book was musical secrets of The Beatles, which is why I had my wife get this for me for x-mas-that title sure sounded interesting and I was hoping to find out something new musically wise---let me say this, the "musical secrets" are nothing more that this idiot's misinformed and often lame OPINIONS of the songs themselves--which, are given as pure fact, and, like stated in other reviews, have no meritial evidence or explaination offered to back them up. In fact, I wish I had the time to list all the fallacies this guy offers up as indisputible fact, but I don't, so all I can say is this is just another pathetic Beatle Rip Off Book, that proves once again that any book with the words "The Beatles" on the cover is going to sell. It's sad that new fans that don't know much about the band could read this and believe any of it, while hard core fans like myself would waste any of their time and money on it. I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone to even waste their spittle talking about this piece of crap. I just wish I could give it a negative star and not be forced to give it 1 star.
Rating: 5
Summary: an improvement over 'Revolution In The Head'
Comment: This book is a gem, it focuses on the music song by song-- as Revolution In The Head did-- but 'Beatles For Sale' is for my money a much better book, in chronological rather than alphabetical order, at the end reviewing the 3 Anthology CDs, and Live At The BBC.
The author of 'Beatles For Sale' likes the same Fabs songs i like, the only real disagreement i had with the book was the author's choice for a pruned-down White Album. Plus, the two songs i would delete from Sgt Pepper would be "Within You Without You" and "When I'm 64". Rowley would jettison Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite and When I'm 64 (let's face it: When I'm 64 is not a great song).
The only Beatle book i like as much as 'Beatles For Sale' is The Anthology book, which isn't so much about music as it is about photos and memories.
Rating: 2
Summary: lots of statements, no real proof
Comment: This book provides a song-by-song account (in chronological order of release) of everything The Beatles ever recorded and released as a group (although it mysteriously leaves out Anthology 3 and BBC). The author has set himself the task to prove that "The Beatles weren't Gods, but four highly motivated, but otherwise normal, Liverpool lads". Four lads, who in their early career, suppressed their artistic urges in favour of monetary gain and a high media profile. After they had become hugely successful, they could then reap the benefits from all the hard work, and allow themselves to experiment, as EMI didn't have a clue (according to the author) as to where they or the pop music market were headed. The author stresses the point (a lot!) that in order to understand The Beatles' music and thereby deconstructing the myths that surround it, it is important to recognize the influence of the work of other artists on their songs, stating that "Writing music from thin air can be a long and torturous process; it is often far easier to start from the basis of someone else's song and adapt part of it into something new". To prove that The Beatles worked like this, the author quotes George Harrison who once claimed that if you named him any Beatles song, he could tell you the record it was based on, and further quotes John Lennon who once said that he would often take another artist's song and would change it to the point he couldn't be sued for it. Although the author then states that it's not true that all Beatles songs were a result of reworking other songs, he keeps coming back to it in the text that follows in the rest of the book. Now we all know that Please, Please Me was influenced by Roy Orbison, but the the author's list goes on and on: I Saw Her Standing There - based on 'Talkin' Bout You' and 'Little Queenie', Do You Want To Know A Secret - based on 'Runaround Sue' and 'It Might As Well Rain Until September', I'm Only Sleeping - based on 'Daydream', Yer Blues - based on 'Heartbreak Hotel', In My Life - based on 'Tracks Of My Tears', Michelle - based on 'Trombone' and so on and on and on). Of course other songs that were around at the time influenced The Beatles, but to state it like this is just not on.
I personally feel he went way over the top with all the references to other songs he thinks he has found. Apart from this list of plagiarism, the book provides a description of each song and for the Lennon/McCartney songs, tries to indicate who was the principal writer. As remarked here often before, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but once it's in print you have to explain why you think that a certain songs is either good or bad. Just to call 'She's A Woman' a simplistic power-chord rocker, calling the lyrics to 'Another Girl' revealing of Paul's spoilt pop-prince behaviour at the time and 'If I Needed Someone' a song that goes nowhere, and then not providing any solid information as to why, isn't helping anyone.
Unfortunately, this book is absolutely full of such statements, and that is why, together with the objections raised regarding the alleged plagiarism, I really can't recommend this book.
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Title: With the Beatles by Alistair Taylor ISBN: 190403473X Publisher: Blake Pub Pub. Date: September, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Ticket to Ride by Larry Kane, Dick Clark ISBN: 0762415924 Publisher: Running Press Pub. Date: September, 2003 List Price(USD): $22.95 |
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Title: The Beatles Box by Alan Clayson ISBN: 1860749593 Publisher: Sanctuary Publishing Pub. Date: October, 2003 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title: Those Were the Days: An Unofficial History of the Beatles Apple Organization 1967-2002 by Stefan Granados ISBN: 190144712X Publisher: Cherry Red Pub. Date: January, 2004 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title: The Music of George Harrison : While My Guitar Gently Weeps by Simon Leng ISBN: 0946719500 Publisher: Firefly Publishing Pub. Date: 01 November, 2002 List Price(USD): $26.00 |
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