Hundreds, if not thousands, of books have been published about The Beatles. The first was Michael Braun's Love Me Do - The Beatles' Progress, a 1964 account which followed the group on tour and recounted their early days.
Since then millions of words have been written about all aspects of their lives, from the music to their clothes, religion to money. There have been photographic collections, musicological discourses, biographies, autobiographies, hagiographies and hack works.
Among the greatest Beatles books are Mark Lewisohn's The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions and The Complete Beatles Chronicle, which documented the group's activities throughout the 1960s. Lewisohn is justly regarded as the world's foremost Beatles expert.
Ian Macdonald's Revolution In The Head is a fascinating chronological guide to The Beatles' songs, although his interpretations are often more opinionated than impartial, and some of the recording and line-up assertions he made have since been questioned elsewhere. Nonetheless, it's an illuminating read which brings to life many of The Beatles' best moments, putting them in a social and historic context.
Then there are the official or semi-official books. Chief among these is The Beatles' own Anthology, the weighty tome which accompanied the 1990s television series. George Harrison's autobiography I Me Mine gives a selective account of events, but a fuller account came in Paul McCartney's authorised biography Many Years From Now by Barry Miles.
For John Lennon, perhaps the best accounts are two long-form interview transcripts. Lennon Remembers by Jann S Wenner was Lennon's vitriolic, Primal Scream therapy-inspired reaction to The Beatles' split, conducted in 1970 for Rolling Stone. Ten years later Lennon was slightly more relaxed but no less compelling in David Sheff's Playboy interview, All We Are Saying, given more piquancy as it came just weeks before his death.
The list below is an index of reviews of some books received by the Beatles Bible for review. If you're a publisher and would like your products featured on this page, please contact us.
- A Day In The Life Of The Beatles by Don McCullin
- Across The Universe: On Tour And On Stage by Andy Neill
- Beatlemania! The Real Story Of The Beatles' UK Tours 1963-1965 by Martin Creasy
- Beatles Box Of Vision by Jonathan Polk
- The Beatles In Hamburg by Spencer Leigh
- December 8, 1980: The Day John Lennon Died by Keith Elliot Greenberg
- Fab Four FAQ 2.0 by Robert Rodriguez
- Fab Gear: The Beatles And Fashion by Paolo Hewitt
- George Harrison: Living In The Material World by Olivia Harrison
- The Beatles Vs The Rolling Stones by Jim Derogatis and Greg Kot
- The Lost Beatles Photographs: The Bob Bonis Archive 1964-1966
- Treasures Of The Beatles by Terry Burrows
- Working Class Mystic: A Spiritual Biography Of George Harrison by Gary Tillery
Related articles:
- Hunter Davies' biography of The Beatles is published
- Radio: The World Of Books
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David Bedford's magnificent Liddypool must get a mention. Top research from a man who knows his Beatles' Liverpool locations like the back of his hand or soles of his feet judging by the miles of Merseyside he must have trudged.
I've just read "The Beatles: An Oral History." It's an absolute must for the fan who's pretty much read it all--these are the little details, the conversational gems, it's a treasure trove of *so* much background from so many wonderful, relevant perspectives. If you can track it down, it's a treat
I'm currently reading Shout! by Philip Norman. I haven't gotten very far because it's so packed full of information. It's truly amazing. I highly suggest it!
" A Hard Day's Write " by Steve Turner. Tells the story behind each Beatle's song. Nice to have it in book format. Can get loads of info from Beatles Bible.com, though...
I didn't think much of it. One or two entries told me something new, but on the whole it was quite superficial. A far better buy is Revolution In The Head by Ian MacDonald.
"Shout!" is probably the best biography around. Unfortunately, besides some factual mistakes, it's absolutely biased against McCartney.
Some books are necessary, with reservations: "The Beatles Anthology" is, much more than a biography, a celebration; "Many Years From Now" is just McCartney telling his own version of the story, screaming "I was the vanguard one!"; "The Lives of John Lennon" has good facts and damnn lies about John; but they all usually bring some light to their subjects.
Bob Spitz's "The Beatles" is also a good biography, very comprehensive and impartial, but exceptionally full of errors and poorly written.
I would recommend a minor book, "Beatles Gear" by Andy Babiuk; although it's mainly focused on instruments and equipment used by the Beatles, it's probably the best book to recount how Stu Sutcliffe left the band.
Pete Doggett's "You Never Give Me Your Money" is brilliant, and focuses on the money problems the Beatles endured from 1968 to 1995, which other biographies don't usually cover.
But Mark Lewisohn is writing his own Beatles biography right now (in three volumes), and it surely will be the only Beatles biography anyone will ever need to read.
I have to be honest -- I would probably rank Philip Norman's SHOUT! the most disappointing Beatle book I've ever read -- probably because I expected so much from it. I had heard it was one of the very best Beatle bios out there, but while it did contain some interesting stuff, and I like Norman's way with words, it was also very very opinionated, and it was clear Norman was a Lennon fan. The version I have is the 2003 update, so I am lead to believe it's not quite as anti-McCartney as the original 1980's version, but it tells you something when he titles the chapter on Paul's solo work "Those freaks was right when they said you was dead". But the depiction of George is what really gets my dander up. "Chronically bitter" is how Harrison is described in this book. There's no doubt George could be curmudgeonly at times, but Norman's account makes it appear that's the ONLY mood Harrison had. Over and over, you read about "unsmiling George" (Ringo's mum opens the door to George's unsmiling face, George Martin crosses the studio floor to unsmiling George Harrison with his rehearsal guitar, etc). If you ever see interviews of George (and there are lots of them on YouTube), you are struck by his droll, self-deprecating sense of humour, but there are no glimpses of that in SHOUT. Norman concludes by writing "George was not great, just an average guitarist who got incredibly lucky" -- and then I think about songs like "Something", "Here Comes the Sun", "Guitar Gently Weeps", "Blow Away" and the CONCERT FOR BANGLADESH and wonder to myself exactly what constitutes greatness. So overall, while there are some interesting parts of the book, overall I'd give it a fairly poor rating.
Of all of the books I've read (and I've read all of the ones mentioned on this page), Geoff Emerick's "Here, There and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of the Beatles" was the most enjoyable to read. His perspective as an engineer was unique and the book is very well written. A few stories about recording sessions were new to me.
I agree...I have read dozens of Beatle books and this one is one of my favorites....one of the few people who knew the Beatles but did not push his relationship to them throughout the book, as so many others did.
For the songs, I loved Revolution In The Head and for the story, I liked Peter Brown's The Love You Make. As a Scot, I also really enjoyed The Beatles In Scotland.
I am a first generation fan- what about the authorized Biography by Hunter Davies ???
John Lennon said in one of his Rolling Stone interview with Jann Wenner, that it contains 90% of falseness. it was not written entirely based on the truth..
personally, i like that book though
I would avoid George Martin's "All you need is ears" and Geoff Emerick's "Here, There, and Everywhere...." both of which, while interesting at times, are heavily biased in favor of Paul. Further, both books contain numerous attacks (sometimes vicious) on George which are unnecessary and often unwarranted (Martin reduces the masterpiece "Something" to being only `quite simple, really').
I have also been reading "The Beatles: An Oral History." and I will never look at Paul or Ringo the same way. I feel like I have a personal connection with them now. I am in my thirties so I missed the days of Beatle mania but this book puts me right there.