The Beatles: The Biography by Bob SpitzMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
This book is a must read for any who has an interest in "not so arguably" the most famous band, ever. It's a big book. Though the narrative part ends somewhere around 1100 pages, there's another, additional 300 pages of photographs, anecdotes, bibliography, links and a lot more.
As per my reading experience, I can divide the book in to three parts. First, the early years. This is where we get to know about all the people and things that played a pivotal role in the lives of the four Beatles. It's not just four guys getting together and making magic, it was a long, and often painful journey, filled with challenges and creative problem solving.
In the mid part, their success as a band is highlighted, e.g. the phenomenon called "Beatlemania" is described in detail. This is perhaps the most well known part of the Beatles history. Here, too, we get a lot of fine details that are a treat for any die hard Beatlefan.
Last, but not the least, the final part talks about how the band reached the zenith, and then slowly started to become a dysfunctional unit and experienced decline; thanks to the unique, personal issues faced by each of the Beatles. This part is also quite well known, but the intermingled nature of their issues have never been dissected like this before.
Even for a die hard fan like myself, the first portion of the book seemed a bit challenging to read on. In that part, too many characters are introduced and talked about, and it often seemed that the lives of other people got more highlighted than the Beatles themselves.
However, once you manage to read through that part, you will soon understand the importance of those people in the the lives of the Beatles, and the earlier portion makes full sense.
Once you finish reading the book, you will acquire a different perspective on the music and the lives of the Beatles, that is ensured. This is the first full fledged Beatles biography I read; despite of being a big fan since 1996, and I am now looking at the band in a new light.
Many songs, tunes and lyrics now have different, and new meanings to me. While I was reading the book, whenever the songs were mentioned, they started getting played in my mind. That is perhaps the biggest fun part of reading about music and musicians you love. I also found about many great musicians from the olden times; people who influenced the Beatles. For example, Fats Domino, Tony Sheridan, Cilla Black and many others.
Really enjoyed it, and this book made me curious about other, similar books about bands and their careers.
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