Tune In: The Beatles: All These Years by Mark LewisohnMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
What a delightful book, if very lengthy. Not a complaint at all since the writing is delightful and if you are, as I am, a devotee of the Beatles and their music, the length will not be a drawback to reading this book. Each of the four young men who were to become international stars, as well as some of the other musicians who fleetingly performed with them, either in groups that were the precursors of the final four or in other configurations, are followed from their earliest school days to the lip of fame in Germany as well as Liverpool. Since I am a contemporary of Paul, John, Ringo and George, I found myself thinking back to where I was and what I was doing as they were growing up in grimy Liverpool and stretching their wings into the exciting world of Rock and Roll. Weren't we all running home after school with the newest 45 and sitting on the floors of our bedrooms and playing the newest Holly or Elvis etc record over and over again? For some, it was too get down the chords on a guitar, for others it was too get down the lyrics to sing at the top of one's lungs. We all know the public Beatles and even some of the background of these men. Here we are invited into their homes and introduced to their family members. We are transported to the halls of their schools and the streets and buses of their youth. We stand by John's side as he meets Paul, through a mutual friend and then with Paul and John as Paul brings along the unbelievably young, George, to be accepted by John as lead guitar. We learn of Ringo's success as a drummer with another local band and his addition to a group that badly needs something besides a guitar. We are privy to the formation of lyrics and music of rejected songs and those that became hits. All in all, though we fans thought we knew those cute boys who changed our musical taste forever, we hardly knew them at all!
I received a copy of this book from Blogging for Books for this review.
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