-
Can't Buy Me Love
- Narrated by: Richard Aspel
- Length: 29 hrs and 52 mins
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $19.49
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Publisher's summary
Nearly 20 years in the making, Can't Buy Me Love is a masterful work of group biography, cultural history, and musical criticism. That the Beatles were an unprecedented phenomenon is a given. Here Jonathan Gould seeks to explain why, placing the Fab Four in the broad and tumultuous panorama of their time and place, rooting their story in the social context that girded both their rise and their demise. Can't Buy Me Love illuminates the Beatles as a charismatic phenomenon of international proportions, whose anarchic energy and unexpected import was derived from the historic shifts in fortune that transformed the relationship between Britain and America in the decades after World War II.
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Revolution in the Head
- The Beatles Records and the Sixties
- By: Ian MacDonald
- Narrated by: David Morrissey, Robyn Hitchcock, Danny Baker, and others
- Length: 11 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Regarded as the greatest and most revealing account of how the Beatles recorded every one of their songs, Revolution in the Head is brimming with details of the personal highs and lows experienced by Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, and Starr as they made some of the most enduring popular music ever created.
-
-
Five Stars with an Asterisk
- By A. K. Moore on 05-07-15
By: Ian MacDonald
-
Beatles '66
- The Revolutionary Year
- By: Steve Turner
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 12 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The year that changed everything for the Beatles was 1966 - the year of their last concert and of Revolver, their first album created to be listened to rather than performed. This was the year the Beatles risked their popularity by retiring from live performances, recording songs that explored alternative states of consciousness, experimenting with avant-garde ideas, and speaking their minds on issues of politics, war, and religion. Music journalist and Beatles expert Steve Turner investigates the enormous changes that took place in the Beatles' lives and work during 1966.
-
-
Great listen
- By Tad Davis on 07-28-18
By: Steve Turner
-
The Beatles
- The Biography
- By: Bob Spitz
- Narrated by: Alfred Molina
- Length: 10 hrs and 13 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Even before the Beatles hit the big time, a myth was created. This version of the Beatles legend smoothed the rough edges and filled in the fault lines, and for more than forty years this manicured version of the Beatles story has sustained as truth, until now.
-
-
Put Away Your, Hunter Davies
- By James on 12-05-05
By: Bob Spitz
-
Tune In
- The Beatles: All These Years
- By: Mark Lewisohn
- Narrated by: Clive Mantle
- Length: 43 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tune In is the first volume of All These Years - a highly-anticipated, groundbreaking biographical trilogy by the world's leading Beatles historian. Mark Lewisohn uses his unprecedented archival access and hundreds of new interviews to construct the full story of the lives and work of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr.
-
-
Insanely great
- By Tad Davis on 12-17-13
By: Mark Lewisohn
-
You Never Give Me Your Money
- The Beatles After the Breakup
- By: Peter Doggett
- Narrated by: Shaun Grindell
- Length: 14 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Acclaimed journalist Peter Doggett recounts the previously untold story of the dramatic final chapter in the lives, loves, and legal battles of John, Paul, George, and Ringo - a.k.a. The Beatles - from their breakup in 1969 to the present day. Called "refreshingly straightforward and highly readable" by the Daily Telegraph (London), You Never Give Me Your Money is the dramatic and intimate story of the breakup and aftermath of The Fab Four as it's never been told before.
-
-
Four human beings
- By Tad Davis on 10-02-20
By: Peter Doggett
-
Otis Redding
- An Unfinished Life
- By: Jonathan Gould
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 17 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Otis Redding: An Unfinished Life, Jonathan Gould finally does justice to Redding's incomparable musical artistry, drawing on exhaustive research, the cooperation of the Redding family, and previously unavailable sources of information to present the first comprehensive portrait of the singer's background, his upbringing, and his professional career.
-
-
a brilliant musical history lesson
- By John M. Twomey on 03-11-21
By: Jonathan Gould
-
Revolution in the Head
- The Beatles Records and the Sixties
- By: Ian MacDonald
- Narrated by: David Morrissey, Robyn Hitchcock, Danny Baker, and others
- Length: 11 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Regarded as the greatest and most revealing account of how the Beatles recorded every one of their songs, Revolution in the Head is brimming with details of the personal highs and lows experienced by Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, and Starr as they made some of the most enduring popular music ever created.
-
-
Five Stars with an Asterisk
- By A. K. Moore on 05-07-15
By: Ian MacDonald
-
Beatles '66
- The Revolutionary Year
- By: Steve Turner
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 12 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The year that changed everything for the Beatles was 1966 - the year of their last concert and of Revolver, their first album created to be listened to rather than performed. This was the year the Beatles risked their popularity by retiring from live performances, recording songs that explored alternative states of consciousness, experimenting with avant-garde ideas, and speaking their minds on issues of politics, war, and religion. Music journalist and Beatles expert Steve Turner investigates the enormous changes that took place in the Beatles' lives and work during 1966.
-
-
Great listen
- By Tad Davis on 07-28-18
By: Steve Turner
-
The Beatles
- The Biography
- By: Bob Spitz
- Narrated by: Alfred Molina
- Length: 10 hrs and 13 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Even before the Beatles hit the big time, a myth was created. This version of the Beatles legend smoothed the rough edges and filled in the fault lines, and for more than forty years this manicured version of the Beatles story has sustained as truth, until now.
-
-
Put Away Your, Hunter Davies
- By James on 12-05-05
By: Bob Spitz
-
Tune In
- The Beatles: All These Years
- By: Mark Lewisohn
- Narrated by: Clive Mantle
- Length: 43 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tune In is the first volume of All These Years - a highly-anticipated, groundbreaking biographical trilogy by the world's leading Beatles historian. Mark Lewisohn uses his unprecedented archival access and hundreds of new interviews to construct the full story of the lives and work of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr.
-
-
Insanely great
- By Tad Davis on 12-17-13
By: Mark Lewisohn
-
You Never Give Me Your Money
- The Beatles After the Breakup
- By: Peter Doggett
- Narrated by: Shaun Grindell
- Length: 14 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Acclaimed journalist Peter Doggett recounts the previously untold story of the dramatic final chapter in the lives, loves, and legal battles of John, Paul, George, and Ringo - a.k.a. The Beatles - from their breakup in 1969 to the present day. Called "refreshingly straightforward and highly readable" by the Daily Telegraph (London), You Never Give Me Your Money is the dramatic and intimate story of the breakup and aftermath of The Fab Four as it's never been told before.
-
-
Four human beings
- By Tad Davis on 10-02-20
By: Peter Doggett
-
Otis Redding
- An Unfinished Life
- By: Jonathan Gould
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 17 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Otis Redding: An Unfinished Life, Jonathan Gould finally does justice to Redding's incomparable musical artistry, drawing on exhaustive research, the cooperation of the Redding family, and previously unavailable sources of information to present the first comprehensive portrait of the singer's background, his upbringing, and his professional career.
-
-
a brilliant musical history lesson
- By John M. Twomey on 03-11-21
By: Jonathan Gould
-
The Beatles
- By: Hunter Davies
- Narrated by: Edward Lewis
- Length: 16 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As the only authorized biographer, Davies had full access to the Fab Four, as well as their help and ecouragement. He spent 18 months with them when they were at the peak of their musical genius and at the pinnacle of their popularity, making a mark on history and popular culture that would never fade.
-
-
Not bad
- By Christina on 11-22-03
By: Hunter Davies
-
Paul McCartney
- The Life
- By: Philip Norman
- Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
- Length: 30 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Since the age of 21, Paul McCartney has lived one of the ultimate rock 'n' roll lives, played out on the most public of stages. Now Paul's story is told by rock music's foremost biographer, with McCartney's consent and access to family members and close friends who have never spoken on the record before.
-
-
Better than average McCartney bio
- By tru britty on 05-14-16
By: Philip Norman
-
And in the End
- The Last Days of the Beatles
- By: Ken McNab
- Narrated by: Peter Kenny
- Length: 9 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ken McNab's in-depth look at the Beatles' acrimonious final year is a detailed account of the breakup featuring the perspectives of all four band members and their roles. A must to add to the collection of Beatles fans, And in the End is full of fascinating information available for the first time. McNab reconstructs for the first time the seismic events of 1969, when the Beatles reached new highs of creativity and new lows of the internal strife that would destroy them.
-
-
Familiar ground but a good listen
- By Tad Davis on 08-30-20
By: Ken McNab
-
John
- By: Cynthia Lennon, Julian Lennon
- Narrated by: Rosalyn Landor, Julian Lennon, Cynthia Lennon
- Length: 10 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In John, Cynthia recalls those times with the loving honesty of an insider, offering new and fascinating insights into the life of John Lennon and the early days of the Beatles. And with the perspective only years can provide, she also tells the compelling story of her marriage to a man who was to become a music legend, a cultural hero, and a defining figure of the 20th century.
-
-
Great book, even if Paul was your favorite.
- By Mick on 10-09-05
By: Cynthia Lennon, and others
-
Living the Beatles’ Legend
- The Untold Story of Mal Evans
- By: Kenneth Womack
- Narrated by: Gary T. Evans, Kenneth Womack
- Length: 19 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Malcolm Evans, the Beatles’ long-time roadie, personal assistant, and devoted friend, was an invaluable member of the band’s inner circle. A towering figure in horn-rimmed glasses, Evans loomed large in the Beatles’ story, contributing at times as a performer and sometime lyricist, while struggling mightily to protect his beloved “boys.” He was there for the whole of the group’s remarkable, unparalleled story: from the Shea Stadium triumph through the creation of the timeless cover art for Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and the famous Let It Be rooftop concert.
-
-
A Must For Every Beatles Fan
- By shannonsongs on 11-23-23
By: Kenneth Womack
-
Led Zeppelin
- The Biography
- By: Bob Spitz
- Narrated by: Rob Shapiro
- Length: 21 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the author of the definitive New York Times best-selling history of the Beatles comes the authoritative account of the group many call the greatest rock band of all time, arguably the most successful, and certainly one of the most notorious.
-
-
Sex & Drugs & Rock-n-Roll.... in that order.
- By Joe on 01-03-22
By: Bob Spitz
-
George Harrison
- The Reluctant Beatle
- By: Philip Norman
- Narrated by: David Holt
- Length: 16 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Despite being hailed as one of the best guitarists of his era, George Harrison, particularly in his early decades, battled feelings of inferiority. He was often the butt of jokes from his bandmates owing to his lower-class background and, typically, was allowed to contribute only one or two songs per Beatles album out of the dozens he wrote.
-
-
Not good
- By PEDRO on 03-12-24
By: Philip Norman
-
Dreaming the Beatles
- A Love Story of One Band and the Whole World
- By: Rob Sheffield
- Narrated by: Rob Sheffield
- Length: 9 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dreaming the Beatles is not another biography of the Beatles or a song-by-song analysis of the best of John and Paul. It isn't another exposé about how they broke up. It isn't a history of their gigs or their gear. It is a collection of essays telling the story of what this ubiquitous band means to a generation who grew up with the Beatles' music on their parents' stereos and their faces on T-shirts. What do the Beatles mean today? Why are they more famous and beloved now than ever? Find out.
-
-
Wonderful ramble
- By Tad Davis on 05-18-17
By: Rob Sheffield
-
The Romanovs
- 1613-1918
- By: Simon Sebag Montefiore
- Narrated by: Simon Beale
- Length: 28 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is the intimate story of 20 tsars and tsarinas, some touched by genius, some by madness, but all inspired by holy autocracy and imperial ambition. Simon Sebag Montefiore's gripping chronicle reveals their secret world of unlimited power and ruthless empire building, overshadowed by palace conspiracy, family rivalries, sexual decadence, and wild extravagance, with a global cast of adventurers, courtesans, revolutionaries, and poets, from Ivan the Terrible to Tolstoy and Pushkin.
-
-
Scholarly but gripping
- By William on 06-16-16
-
Foundation
- The History of England from Its Earliest Beginnings to the Tudors: The History of England, Book 1
- By: Peter Ackroyd
- Narrated by: Clive Chafer
- Length: 18 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Foundation the chronicler of London and of its river, the Thames, takes us from the primeval forests of England's prehistory to the death of the first Tudor king, Henry VII, in 1509. He guides us from the building of Stonehenge to the founding of the two great glories of medieval England: common law and the cathedrals. He shows us glimpses of the country's most distant past - a Neolithic stirrup found in a grave, a Roman fort, a Saxon tomb, a medieval manor house.
-
-
The Most Annoying Narrator EVER
- By JudieBee on 12-25-15
By: Peter Ackroyd
-
Never a Dull Moment
- 1971 - the Year That Rock Exploded
- By: David Hepworth
- Narrated by: David Hepworth
- Length: 11 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On New Year's Eve, 1970, Paul McCartney told his lawyers to issue the writ at the High Court in London, effectively ending The Beatles. You might say this was the last day of the pop era. The following day, which was a Friday, was 1971. You might say this was the first day of the rock era. And within the remaining 364 days of this monumental year, the world would hear Don McLean's "American Pie", The Rolling Stones' "Brown Sugar", The Who's "Baba O'Riley", Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven", and more.
-
-
A blast from the past
- By Amazon Customer on 07-30-16
By: David Hepworth
-
Paul Simon
- The Life
- By: Robert Hilburn
- Narrated by: Dennis Boutsikaris
- Length: 12 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Through such hits as "The Sound of Silence", "Bridge Over Troubled Water", "Still Crazy After All These Years", and "Graceland", Paul Simon has spoken to us in songs for a half-century about alienation, doubt, resilience, and empathy in ways that have established him as one of the most honored and beloved songwriters in American pop music history. His music has gone beyond the sales charts into our cultural consciousness. He was the first songwriter awarded the Gershwin Prize by the Library of Congress and is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
-
-
Missed opportunity
- By Mark L. Berry on 07-22-18
By: Robert Hilburn
Critic reviews
Related to this topic
-
Never a Dull Moment
- 1971 - the Year That Rock Exploded
- By: David Hepworth
- Narrated by: David Hepworth
- Length: 11 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On New Year's Eve, 1970, Paul McCartney told his lawyers to issue the writ at the High Court in London, effectively ending The Beatles. You might say this was the last day of the pop era. The following day, which was a Friday, was 1971. You might say this was the first day of the rock era. And within the remaining 364 days of this monumental year, the world would hear Don McLean's "American Pie", The Rolling Stones' "Brown Sugar", The Who's "Baba O'Riley", Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven", and more.
-
-
A blast from the past
- By Amazon Customer on 07-30-16
By: David Hepworth
-
Bright lights dark shadows
- The real story of Abba
- By: Carl Palm
- Narrated by: Adrian Mulraney
- Length: 26 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An exploration of all aspects of the Abba member’s lives and careers. Amazingly detailed, it examines the group member’s family backgrounds, the pre-Abba days, the legendary 70s, the marriages, the divorces, the business ups and downs, and the post-Abba solo careers.
-
-
Awesome! -- All the Swedish words pronounced!
- By Howard_a on 06-18-12
By: Carl Palm
-
Beatles '66
- The Revolutionary Year
- By: Steve Turner
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 12 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The year that changed everything for the Beatles was 1966 - the year of their last concert and of Revolver, their first album created to be listened to rather than performed. This was the year the Beatles risked their popularity by retiring from live performances, recording songs that explored alternative states of consciousness, experimenting with avant-garde ideas, and speaking their minds on issues of politics, war, and religion. Music journalist and Beatles expert Steve Turner investigates the enormous changes that took place in the Beatles' lives and work during 1966.
-
-
Great listen
- By Tad Davis on 07-28-18
By: Steve Turner
-
Dig If You Will the Picture
- Funk, Sex, God and Genius in the Music of Prince
- By: Ben Greenman
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 9 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ben Greenman, New York Times best-selling author, contributing writer to The New Yorker, and owner of thousands of recordings of Prince and Prince-related songs, knows intimately that there has never been a rock star as vibrant, mercurial, willfully contrary, experimental, or prolific as Prince. Uniting a diverse audience while remaining singularly himself, Prince was a tireless artist, a musical virtuoso and chameleon, and a pop-culture prophet.
-
-
Reads like a indepth career review & analysis
- By herb on 05-18-17
By: Ben Greenman
-
Uncommon People
- The Rise and Fall of The Rock Stars
- By: David Hepworth
- Narrated by: Matthew Lloyd Davies
- Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The age of the rock star, like the age of the cowboy, has passed. Like the cowboy, the idea of the rock star lives on in our imaginations. What did we see in them? Swagger. Recklessness. Sexual charisma. Damn-the-torpedoes self-belief. A certain way of carrying themselves. Good hair. Interesting shoes. Talent we wished we had. What did we want of them? To be larger than life but also like us. To live out their songs. To stay young forever. No wonder many didn't stay the course.
-
-
INSIGHTFULL!
- By CLAUDIA R KENNEDY on 02-18-18
By: David Hepworth
-
Thelonious Monk
- The Life and Times of an American Original
- By: Robin DG Kelley
- Narrated by: Sean Crisden
- Length: 25 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Thelonious Monk is the critically acclaimed, gripping saga of an artist's struggle to "make it" without compromising his musical vision. It is a story that, like its subject, reflects the tidal ebbs and flows of American history in the 20th century. To his fans, he was the ultimate hipster; to his detractors, he was temperamental, eccentric, taciturn, or childlike. His angular melodies and dissonant harmonies shook the jazz world to its foundations, ushering in the birth of "bebop" and establishing Monk as one of America's greatest composers.
-
-
The definitive bio of Monk
- By ricardo on 12-27-17
By: Robin DG Kelley
-
Never a Dull Moment
- 1971 - the Year That Rock Exploded
- By: David Hepworth
- Narrated by: David Hepworth
- Length: 11 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On New Year's Eve, 1970, Paul McCartney told his lawyers to issue the writ at the High Court in London, effectively ending The Beatles. You might say this was the last day of the pop era. The following day, which was a Friday, was 1971. You might say this was the first day of the rock era. And within the remaining 364 days of this monumental year, the world would hear Don McLean's "American Pie", The Rolling Stones' "Brown Sugar", The Who's "Baba O'Riley", Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven", and more.
-
-
A blast from the past
- By Amazon Customer on 07-30-16
By: David Hepworth
-
Bright lights dark shadows
- The real story of Abba
- By: Carl Palm
- Narrated by: Adrian Mulraney
- Length: 26 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An exploration of all aspects of the Abba member’s lives and careers. Amazingly detailed, it examines the group member’s family backgrounds, the pre-Abba days, the legendary 70s, the marriages, the divorces, the business ups and downs, and the post-Abba solo careers.
-
-
Awesome! -- All the Swedish words pronounced!
- By Howard_a on 06-18-12
By: Carl Palm
-
Beatles '66
- The Revolutionary Year
- By: Steve Turner
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 12 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The year that changed everything for the Beatles was 1966 - the year of their last concert and of Revolver, their first album created to be listened to rather than performed. This was the year the Beatles risked their popularity by retiring from live performances, recording songs that explored alternative states of consciousness, experimenting with avant-garde ideas, and speaking their minds on issues of politics, war, and religion. Music journalist and Beatles expert Steve Turner investigates the enormous changes that took place in the Beatles' lives and work during 1966.
-
-
Great listen
- By Tad Davis on 07-28-18
By: Steve Turner
-
Dig If You Will the Picture
- Funk, Sex, God and Genius in the Music of Prince
- By: Ben Greenman
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 9 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ben Greenman, New York Times best-selling author, contributing writer to The New Yorker, and owner of thousands of recordings of Prince and Prince-related songs, knows intimately that there has never been a rock star as vibrant, mercurial, willfully contrary, experimental, or prolific as Prince. Uniting a diverse audience while remaining singularly himself, Prince was a tireless artist, a musical virtuoso and chameleon, and a pop-culture prophet.
-
-
Reads like a indepth career review & analysis
- By herb on 05-18-17
By: Ben Greenman
-
Uncommon People
- The Rise and Fall of The Rock Stars
- By: David Hepworth
- Narrated by: Matthew Lloyd Davies
- Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The age of the rock star, like the age of the cowboy, has passed. Like the cowboy, the idea of the rock star lives on in our imaginations. What did we see in them? Swagger. Recklessness. Sexual charisma. Damn-the-torpedoes self-belief. A certain way of carrying themselves. Good hair. Interesting shoes. Talent we wished we had. What did we want of them? To be larger than life but also like us. To live out their songs. To stay young forever. No wonder many didn't stay the course.
-
-
INSIGHTFULL!
- By CLAUDIA R KENNEDY on 02-18-18
By: David Hepworth
-
Thelonious Monk
- The Life and Times of an American Original
- By: Robin DG Kelley
- Narrated by: Sean Crisden
- Length: 25 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Thelonious Monk is the critically acclaimed, gripping saga of an artist's struggle to "make it" without compromising his musical vision. It is a story that, like its subject, reflects the tidal ebbs and flows of American history in the 20th century. To his fans, he was the ultimate hipster; to his detractors, he was temperamental, eccentric, taciturn, or childlike. His angular melodies and dissonant harmonies shook the jazz world to its foundations, ushering in the birth of "bebop" and establishing Monk as one of America's greatest composers.
-
-
The definitive bio of Monk
- By ricardo on 12-27-17
By: Robin DG Kelley
-
Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music?
- Larry Norman and the Perils of Christian Rock
- By: Gregory Alan Thornbury
- Narrated by: Stephen R. Thorne
- Length: 9 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1969, in Capitol Records' Hollywood studio, a blonde-haired troubadour named Larry Norman laid track for an album that would launch a new genre of music and one of the strangest, most interesting careers in modern rock. Having spent the bulk of the 1960s playing on bills with acts like The Who, Janis Joplin, and The Doors, Norman decided that he wanted to sing about the most countercultural subject of all: Jesus.
-
-
Hagiography not Biography
- By Keith Howard on 10-29-18
-
Fire and Rain
- The Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, James Taylor, CSNY and the Lost Story of 1970
- By: David Browne
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 11 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
January 1970: the Beatles assemble one more time to put the finishing touches on Let It Be; Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young are wrapping up Déjà Vu; Simon and Garfunkel are unveiling Bridge Over Troubled Water; James Taylor is an upstart singer-songwriter who's just completed Sweet Baby James. Over the course of the next twelve months, their lives---and the world around them---will change irrevocably.
-
-
Fascinating information, easy to listen
- By NCKitkat on 07-28-11
By: David Browne
-
Catch a Wave
- The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson
- By: Peter Ames Carlin
- Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot
- Length: 14 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Catch a Wave, Peter Ames Carlin pulls back the curtain on Brian Wilson, one of popular music's most revered luminaries, as well as its biggest mystery. Drawing on hundreds of interviews and never-before heard studio recordings, Carlin follows the Beach Boys from their earliest days through Brian's deepening emotional problems to his triumphant re-emergence with the release of Smile, the legendarily unreleased album he had originally shelved.
-
-
Not great
- By J. Barker on 08-08-16
-
Alan Lomax: A Biography
- The Man Who Recorded the World
- By: John Szwed
- Narrated by: Scott Sowers
- Length: 20 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The remarkable life and times of the man who popularized American folk music and created the science of song. Folklorist, archivist, anthropologist, singer, political activist, talent scout, ethnomusicologist, filmmaker, concert and record producer, Alan Lomax is best remembered as the man who introduced folk music to the masses. Lomax began his career making field recordings of rural music for the Library of Congress and by the late 1930s brought his discoveries to radio, including Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, and Burl Ives.
-
-
They Done Good
- By DonnaMarie113 on 06-26-22
By: John Szwed
-
The Ballad of Bob Dylan
- A Portrait
- By: Daniel Mark Epstein
- Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot
- Length: 15 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Ballad of Bob Dylan is a vivid, full-bodied portrait of one of the most influential artists of the 20th-century - a man widely regarded as the most important lyricist America has ever produced. Acclaimed poet and biographer Daniel Mark Epstein frames Dylan against the backdrop of four seminal concerts - all of which he attended. Beautifully written, The Ballad of Bob Dylan is a unique, eye-opening portrait of an artist who has transformed generations and continues to inspire and surprise today.
-
-
Excellent book, excellent narration
- By L chandler on 12-22-11
-
The Rest Is Noise
- Listening to the 20th Century
- By: Alex Ross
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 23 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Rest Is Noise takes the listener inside the labyrinth of modern music, from turn-of-the-century Vienna to downtown New York in the '60s and '70s. We meet the maverick personalities and follow the rise of mass culture on this sweeping tour of 20th-century history through its music.
-
-
Learned so much!
- By Paula on 02-18-08
By: Alex Ross
-
Paul McCartney
- A Life
- By: Peter Ames Carlin
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 13 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The best-selling author of the definitive biography of former Beach Boy Brian Wilson offers new insight into the life and music of Paul McCartney, one of the world's most popular and influential musicians. Informed by new, exclusive interviews with friends, bandmates, and collaborators, the book describes McCartney's many triumphs as well as his failures, from the Beatles era through his decade with Wings and his subsequent solo career.
-
-
Great...But
- By Diego on 05-02-10
-
John Lennon
- The Life
- By: Philip Norman
- Narrated by: Graeme Malcolm
- Length: 12 hrs and 52 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Philip Norman turns his formidable talent to the Beatle for whom belonging to the world's most beloved pop group was never enough. Drawing on previously untapped sources, and with unprecedented access to all the major characters, here is the definitive portrait of John Lennon. This biography takes a fresh and penetrating look at Lennon's much-chronicled life, including the songs that have turned him, posthumously, into almost a secular saint.
-
-
Really Bad Abridgement Job (slash job)
- By Let's Be Reasonable on 12-04-08
By: Philip Norman
-
All Shook Up
- How Rock ‘n’ Roll Changed America
- By: Glenn C. Altschuler
- Narrated by: Jack Garrett
- Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As Glenn Altschuler reveals in All Shook Up, the rise of rock 'n roll--and the outraged reception to it--in fact can tell us a lot about the values of the United States in the 1950s, a decade that saw a great struggle for the control of popular culture. Altschuler shows, in particular, how rock's "switchblade beat" opened up wide fissures in American society along the fault-lines of family, sexuality, and race.
-
-
50's Rock&Roll was more of a force than I thought
- By James on 10-19-11
-
The History of Rock & Roll
- Volume 1: 1920-1963
- By: Ed Ward
- Narrated by: David Colacci
- Length: 15 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ed Ward covers the first half of the history of rock & roll in this sweeping and definitive narrative - from the 1920s, when the music of rambling medicine shows mingled with the songs of vaudeville and minstrel acts to create the very early sounds of country and rhythm and blues, to the rise of the first independent record labels post-World War II, and concluding in December 1963, just as an immense change in the airwaves took hold and the Beatles prepared for their first American tour.
-
-
Author's blindspots mar this book
- By Mark Clark on 03-28-17
By: Ed Ward
-
Let’s Go Crazy
- Prince and the Making of Purple Rain
- By: Alan Light
- Narrated by: Fred Berman
- Length: 7 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Purple Rain is a song, an album, and a film - each one a commercial success and cultural milestone. How did this semiautobiographical musical masterpiece that blurred R&B, pop, dance, and rock sounds come to alter the recording landscape and become an enduring touchstone for successive generations of fans?
-
-
A Must-Read For Any PRINCE Fan
- By Bryan K. Chavez on 05-06-16
By: Alan Light
-
Cowboys and Indies
- The Epic History of the Record Industry
- By: Gareth Murphy
- Narrated by: Ralph Lister
- Length: 15 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Cowboys and Indies is the definitive record-business bible, chronicling the pioneers who set the stylus on the most important labelsand musical discoveries of the last century. The narrative follows all the musical trends and developments from the phonograph to the Internet age as it delves behind the big business of corporate hit machines and the diligent industry of small, curated labels.
-
-
Epic, yet incomplete.
- By Rob G. on 10-14-14
By: Gareth Murphy
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
Beatles '66
- The Revolutionary Year
- By: Steve Turner
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 12 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The year that changed everything for the Beatles was 1966 - the year of their last concert and of Revolver, their first album created to be listened to rather than performed. This was the year the Beatles risked their popularity by retiring from live performances, recording songs that explored alternative states of consciousness, experimenting with avant-garde ideas, and speaking their minds on issues of politics, war, and religion. Music journalist and Beatles expert Steve Turner investigates the enormous changes that took place in the Beatles' lives and work during 1966.
-
-
Great listen
- By Tad Davis on 07-28-18
By: Steve Turner
-
The Beatles
- The Biography
- By: Bob Spitz
- Narrated by: Alfred Molina
- Length: 10 hrs and 13 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Even before the Beatles hit the big time, a myth was created. This version of the Beatles legend smoothed the rough edges and filled in the fault lines, and for more than forty years this manicured version of the Beatles story has sustained as truth, until now.
-
-
Put Away Your, Hunter Davies
- By James on 12-05-05
By: Bob Spitz
-
Living the Beatles’ Legend
- The Untold Story of Mal Evans
- By: Kenneth Womack
- Narrated by: Gary T. Evans, Kenneth Womack
- Length: 19 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Malcolm Evans, the Beatles’ long-time roadie, personal assistant, and devoted friend, was an invaluable member of the band’s inner circle. A towering figure in horn-rimmed glasses, Evans loomed large in the Beatles’ story, contributing at times as a performer and sometime lyricist, while struggling mightily to protect his beloved “boys.” He was there for the whole of the group’s remarkable, unparalleled story: from the Shea Stadium triumph through the creation of the timeless cover art for Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and the famous Let It Be rooftop concert.
-
-
A Must For Every Beatles Fan
- By shannonsongs on 11-23-23
By: Kenneth Womack
-
Tune In
- The Beatles: All These Years
- By: Mark Lewisohn
- Narrated by: Clive Mantle
- Length: 43 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tune In is the first volume of All These Years - a highly-anticipated, groundbreaking biographical trilogy by the world's leading Beatles historian. Mark Lewisohn uses his unprecedented archival access and hundreds of new interviews to construct the full story of the lives and work of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr.
-
-
Insanely great
- By Tad Davis on 12-17-13
By: Mark Lewisohn
-
The McCartney Legacy
- Volume 1: 1969 – 73
- By: Allan Kozinn, Adrian Sinclair
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 29 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this first of a groundbreaking multivolume set, THE MCCARTNEY LEGACY, VOL 1: 1969-73 captures the life of Paul McCartney in the years immediately following the dissolution of the Beatles, a period in which McCartney recreated himself as both a man and a musician. Informed by hundreds of interviews, extensive ground up research, and thousands of never-before-seen documents THE MCCARTNEY LEGACY, VOL 1 is an in depth, revealing exploration of McCartney’s creative and personal lives beyond the Beatles.
-
-
All I need is McCartney Legacy!
- By JMarti on 02-07-23
By: Allan Kozinn, and others
-
All You Need Is Love: The Beatles in Their Own Words
- Unpublished, Unvarnished, and Told by The Beatles and Their Inner Circle
- By: Peter Brown, Steven Gaines
- Narrated by: Adam Stevens, Anthony Howell, Ben Jacobson, and others
- Length: 9 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
All You Need Is Love is a groundbreaking oral history of the one of the most enduring musical acts of all time. The material is comprised of intimate interviews with Paul McCartney, Yoko Ono, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, their families, friends and business associates that were conducted by Beatles intimate Peter Brown and author Steven Gaines in 1980-1981 during the preparation of their international bestseller, The Love You Make, which spent four months on the New York Times bestseller list in 1983 and remains the biggest selling biography worldwide about the Beatles
-
-
Absolutely Riveting!!
- By C. Beegan on 04-29-24
By: Peter Brown, and others
-
Beatles '66
- The Revolutionary Year
- By: Steve Turner
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 12 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The year that changed everything for the Beatles was 1966 - the year of their last concert and of Revolver, their first album created to be listened to rather than performed. This was the year the Beatles risked their popularity by retiring from live performances, recording songs that explored alternative states of consciousness, experimenting with avant-garde ideas, and speaking their minds on issues of politics, war, and religion. Music journalist and Beatles expert Steve Turner investigates the enormous changes that took place in the Beatles' lives and work during 1966.
-
-
Great listen
- By Tad Davis on 07-28-18
By: Steve Turner
-
The Beatles
- The Biography
- By: Bob Spitz
- Narrated by: Alfred Molina
- Length: 10 hrs and 13 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Even before the Beatles hit the big time, a myth was created. This version of the Beatles legend smoothed the rough edges and filled in the fault lines, and for more than forty years this manicured version of the Beatles story has sustained as truth, until now.
-
-
Put Away Your, Hunter Davies
- By James on 12-05-05
By: Bob Spitz
-
Living the Beatles’ Legend
- The Untold Story of Mal Evans
- By: Kenneth Womack
- Narrated by: Gary T. Evans, Kenneth Womack
- Length: 19 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Malcolm Evans, the Beatles’ long-time roadie, personal assistant, and devoted friend, was an invaluable member of the band’s inner circle. A towering figure in horn-rimmed glasses, Evans loomed large in the Beatles’ story, contributing at times as a performer and sometime lyricist, while struggling mightily to protect his beloved “boys.” He was there for the whole of the group’s remarkable, unparalleled story: from the Shea Stadium triumph through the creation of the timeless cover art for Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and the famous Let It Be rooftop concert.
-
-
A Must For Every Beatles Fan
- By shannonsongs on 11-23-23
By: Kenneth Womack
-
Tune In
- The Beatles: All These Years
- By: Mark Lewisohn
- Narrated by: Clive Mantle
- Length: 43 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tune In is the first volume of All These Years - a highly-anticipated, groundbreaking biographical trilogy by the world's leading Beatles historian. Mark Lewisohn uses his unprecedented archival access and hundreds of new interviews to construct the full story of the lives and work of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr.
-
-
Insanely great
- By Tad Davis on 12-17-13
By: Mark Lewisohn
-
The McCartney Legacy
- Volume 1: 1969 – 73
- By: Allan Kozinn, Adrian Sinclair
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 29 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this first of a groundbreaking multivolume set, THE MCCARTNEY LEGACY, VOL 1: 1969-73 captures the life of Paul McCartney in the years immediately following the dissolution of the Beatles, a period in which McCartney recreated himself as both a man and a musician. Informed by hundreds of interviews, extensive ground up research, and thousands of never-before-seen documents THE MCCARTNEY LEGACY, VOL 1 is an in depth, revealing exploration of McCartney’s creative and personal lives beyond the Beatles.
-
-
All I need is McCartney Legacy!
- By JMarti on 02-07-23
By: Allan Kozinn, and others
-
All You Need Is Love: The Beatles in Their Own Words
- Unpublished, Unvarnished, and Told by The Beatles and Their Inner Circle
- By: Peter Brown, Steven Gaines
- Narrated by: Adam Stevens, Anthony Howell, Ben Jacobson, and others
- Length: 9 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
All You Need Is Love is a groundbreaking oral history of the one of the most enduring musical acts of all time. The material is comprised of intimate interviews with Paul McCartney, Yoko Ono, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, their families, friends and business associates that were conducted by Beatles intimate Peter Brown and author Steven Gaines in 1980-1981 during the preparation of their international bestseller, The Love You Make, which spent four months on the New York Times bestseller list in 1983 and remains the biggest selling biography worldwide about the Beatles
-
-
Absolutely Riveting!!
- By C. Beegan on 04-29-24
By: Peter Brown, and others
What listeners say about Can't Buy Me Love
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- D. Duke
- 04-24-16
can't buy me love
very in depth story about beatles and the events that made them the most popular rock band on the world
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- S. Mullins
- 04-08-19
Read other bios first!
I think it’s a good book overall. But with that said it’s only good because I’ve ready other books about The Beatles. Most of the time the bio felt summarized. What it lacked I was able fill in the gaps from my previous knowledge. Trying to cover 4 people and their history in a single book is a daunting task, but possible. I’ve read the Bob Spitz bio on The Beatles, and is great as a single volume. And “Tune In” which will be 3 volumes once completed. The first volume is AMAZING! But this book I’m not sure exactly what it was trying to be. It was part bio, and part music theory. The bio side I feel like if this was your first introduction to the beatles it’d be okay. As I said above it felt summarized, especially the early years. Though I know it wasn’t trying to be the same book. But “Tune In” has spoiled me.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 01-11-18
Best Beatles biography among them all
Excellently written in depth biography of The Beatles. All four lives are deeply examined in detail. Almost every single Beatles song is dissected and reviewed. If you love The Beatles, you will adore this account of their lives and music. The story begins with lots of history that influenced and formed the absolute best band of all time..... from their birth dates all the way until they broke up. Everything in this book checks out as fact.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Kevin
- 10-03-19
The Best Beatles Bio Out There
My history with The Beatles goes back to when I was 10 years old and on a chance I bought the Beatles 1 album that enclosed all of their number 1 singles. Little did I know I was getting caught up in a whirlwind of greatness. I would listen to that album over and over. I would memorize the words and sing along, like all of us have done. At the time, that was all I knew of The Beatles. Sure my parents liked them and enjoyed their music but they didn't know any of the history, so I went for nearly a decade just really knowing The Beatles 1 album. During that decade I was really influenced and into The Doors, at the time they were my all time favorite band and no one could top them. Sure I bought the White Album and my dad had Abbey Road, but that was it. Things really took off when I got into college and saw that my university was actually offering a 16 week, 3 credit hour course called The Beatles: A Cultural and Musical Revolution at The University of New Mexico (the class is still taught there). This class took us through everything of The Beatles, we went into the smallest details to the common details. This book, Can't Buy Me Love, was the text we had go through in the class. The audiobook format did not exist when I took the class. But this class grew my love and admiration for The Beatles. We went through all of their albums, including solo careers, and movies. I bought the complete box set that released back in 2009 and I must've gone through that thing more times than I have for any other group. The Beatles mean so much to me and this book is great. The audiobook format is great and the narrator is awesome. This is a book for the real, die hard, fans of The Beatles. If you don't want to know their childhood backgrounds, the smallest of details, the culture they grew up in, then this may not be for you. This book literally has everything about every person associated with the group. It goes into their history as well as the history of all the people and business that The Beatles encountered. I recommend this for those that want all the details. If this book does make you stop a thousand times to listen to the songs that are being discussed, then you are following this book in the wrong way. So here is my recommended way to listen. Get comfy, throw on some headphones, have a snack ready and have The Beatles catalogue ready for you to get lost in.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Vicente
- 11-07-13
Enjoyable...
Any additional comments?
I have listened to The Beatles for years and only knowing tidbits about them and their music. This book was a great way for me to have a better understanding of them as individuals and as a group. Even though I have very little knowledge in music the book goes into detail about chords. Not too much detail that it turns me away.
The narration was good, but at times there are unusual pauses as if he's turning a page to continue reading.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Robert J. Rabel
- 05-18-20
Perhaps the best book on the Beatles.
I know that more than 500 books haver been written on the Beatles, so it's unlikely anyone could speak of any one of them as being the best. But Gould's stand apart as a marvelous treatment of the lives of the Beatles and the times during which they made their music. What distinguishes the book, however, is Gould's incisive analysis of the music itself. While many biographies of the Beatles are caught up in gossip surrounding the four musicians, Gould keeps his eye on what makes the music revolutionary, beautiful, and even, at times, profound. I especially like how he analyzes the music in terms of its placement on record, where a break occurs at the halfway point, the disc is turned over, and a kind of new beginning takes place. The continuous format of a CD disguises and disrupts the ingenious placement of the songs--especially noticeable on Sgt. Pepper.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- James
- 05-11-16
Definitely not your ordinary Beatles Bio
Having read extensive writings on The Beatles and their tumultuous rise to top of the music industry, it was with trepidation that i purchased this title.
My reservations were unfounded, as here we have an in-depth study of their work, influences and their story provides the perfect backdrop instead of being the main focus.
For example, whereas other books would have spent chapters on John's faux pas regarding the Beatles being bigger than Jesus... this treatment spends a few paragraphs discussing it briefly, and doesn't spend needless time on stories we have heard ad nauseum.
One particular part I enjoyed was the descriptions of the creation of each song, how it came about and s detailed breakdown of why the song is - or is not - brilliant.
Overall, this book is like no other Beatles read I've come across and will delight die hard fans with a new perspective, as well as anyone interested in the tumultuous 60s and the effects it had on popular culture, with a more than sufficient recital of how the Beatles not only fit in to this era but helped shape it.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Experimental Eddy
- 10-03-21
4.5 Stars-Great Book….but….
I really enjoyed this audiobook. The author does a wonderful job of detailing the events during the Beatles career by telling the reader how and when those happenings fit into and impacted the historical timeline of the 60s. Many Beatles books do not do that very well. The story provides the big picture.
My only complaint is that the author has a complete adoration for Paul McCartney, especially evident during his critiques of the Beatles song catalog. And, the author often gives McCartney the benefit of a doubt, making excuses for Paul when Paul flops.
Overall, I recommend this audiobook. The narration is excellent and moves at a listenable pace. And the story offers lots of historical tidbits that even the most knowledgeable of Beatles fans will enjoy.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 04-19-23
awful narrator
...I didn't enjoy the style or the sound or the narrator's voice at all. The book was informative, but his voice was very irritating. He may very well be a fine person.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Tad Davis
- 10-29-13
Light on gossip, rich on context
I took a long time listening to this because I didn't want it to end. I also wanted to listen to the music chronologically as Jonathan Gould worked his way through each album and single; so I kept taking breaks from the audiobook to catch up on the songs.
The Beatles are THE band for me and always have been, since my brother and I took the bus into Richmond in 1964 to see the first run of "Hard Day's Night." I won't go so far as to say this is THE book about the group, but it's a fine one, and is well narrated by Richard Aspel. To the standard question, would you read / listen to another book by this writer / narrator - yes, definitely, on both counts.
It's not the most gossipy book about the Beatles. Gould doesn't have any ground-breaking new research or exclusive interviews to offer. What he has, in abundance, are two things: a rich sense of the political and cultural context in which the Beatles' career took place; and a detailed analysis, musical and lyrical, of every released single and every track on every album. His discussions of the songs are what impelled me to go back and listen to them yet again, this time with a handful of specific things to listen for in each one. (I didn't always understand the terminology Gould uses: at one point, he refers to "the elemental subdominant cadent in A-major" - at least I think that's what he said - but his descriptions are more often concrete and illuminating than over-my-head baffling.)
Gould sets the Beatles firmly against the backdrop of Elvis, Les Paul, Brian Wilson, the Stones, Dylan, and the Goon Show on the one hand; and Vietnam, assassinations, student rebellions, the Prague Spring, the Chicago riots, the Profumo affair, and the political rivalry of Edward Heath and Harold Wilson on the other. If you didn't live through those times, the book will give you a better sense of the wider world than any other Beatles book I know. If you did live through those times, it will remind you of how glorious (and sometimes gloriously awful) they were. Woodstock makes an appearance, even though the Beatles didn't show up there: they were putting the finishing touches on the "Abbey Road" album. But Woodstock was an important part of the cultural background; it's impossible to understand the Beatles' place in popular culture without taking it into account.
I haven't listened to all the Beatles-related audiobooks on Audible. Of the ones I have listened to, the only one in the same league is the book by Bob Spitz - unfortunately only available here in abridged format. (The Hunter Davies account is on my list, but even though it has a 1996 update, it's mainly focused on the period ending in 1968.) Until someone offers Spitz unabridged, or Philip Norman's Shout!, or Hunter Davies writes a fuller account of the later years, this is the audiobook I would recommend to anyone wanting an introduction to the history of the band. Gould presents the story with admirable objectivity; it's obvious that the band, and the band's music, fascinate him; but he's willing to call baloney when he sees it, and some of the Beatles tracks, especially as he moves into the troubled territory of The White Album and the Let It Be sessions, come in for particularly harsh criticism. ("Shapeless" and "gormless" are two of the adjectives employed in Gould's discussion of one of the tracks on the White Album. "A parody of a travesty" is his verdict on another.)
The only thing that could make the audiobook better, in my opinion, would be an edition that integrates the songs themselves into the narrative. But you can always do that on your own, like I did.
UPDATE, MARCH 2020:
I've gone back and listened to this again, and my opinion of the book has only risen. Gould really captures what it was like to be in the culture of the 60s and 70s. The book covers political and social movements that influenced the Beatles, and were in turn influenced by the Beatles. There’s a lot of information about other bands, other musical trends, other recording centers, all of it helping to ground the Beatles’ own music in their place and time.
What remains a particular pleasure in the book is extensive coverage of the Beatles’ own music. Gould knows music in general and the Beatles’ music in particular, and there are few tracks they recorded that he doesn't discuss with insight. (He must be conscious of the irony. He is one of the all-time great appreciators of the Beatles; yet he quotes John Lennon as saying that “appreciation” of their music was “(expletive)” because all they did was string words and noise together.)
If I were on a desert island and I could only bring one book about the Beatles, hands down this is the one I would bring. It bears reading and re-reading, and each reading yields new insights.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
25 people found this helpful