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The Beatles: The Biography, by Bob Spitz.
It's apparent from this book's subtitle
that the author is trying to write THE definitive biography
of The Beatles, far from an easy task. It is perhaps this
overreaching goal that has garnered criticism that the music
gets lost amongst everything else, the relationships, the
drugs, the bickering, etc. While this is the case at certain
times, Spitz is most successful at making the story The
Beatles real, breaking down the myths by presenting an in-depth,
highly-researched chronological biography of the band. From
background on each member's families and their upbringings
to the coming together of the band as a single unit, the
first section of the book is perhaps the most exciting.
Sure, we all know what will happen, but the story unfolds
like it's really happening, and we get swept away in the
excitement that would eventually take over most of the world.
From the Beatlemania years, in the
second section, to their eventual breakup less than a decade
later, the book follows a similar arc of interest, and here
we see where the criticism is accurate. Stories of Brian
Epstein's slow decline, the misfires of Apple's boutiques
and other undertakings, and the now infamous bickering amongst
the bandmates take up a lot of the book's last section,
while the music takes a backseat. Perhaps, though, like
the first section and its buildup to something amazing,
this last section invariably suffers from the fact it leads
to the band's demise, something the author obviously couldn't
change or sugar coat. Even with these criticisms, Spitz's
biography is worth a read for its intense detail, stemming
from almost a decade of research and interviews, helping
to make the Fab Four's existence more real as well as understandable.
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