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484-5390
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Books
I
The Beatles
Text by Geoffrey Stokes
Graphic Design by Bea Feitler
Times Books/Rolling Stone
Press, 246 pages, $29.95
“(Bob) Dylan. . first heard
the Beatles over his car radio
during a 1964 cross-country
drive; he was knocked out:
‘They were doing things nobody
was doing. Their chords were
outrageous, just outrageous,
and their harmonies made it all
valid... Everybody else
thought they were for the teeny
boppers, that they were gonna
pass right away. But it was ob
vious to me that they had stay
ing power. I knew they were
pointing to the direction where
music had to go.’ ”
And a long and varied road
it’s been, from "I Wanna Hold
Your Hand” to “Norwegian
Wood” to “Strawberry Fields”
to Lennon’s “How Do You
Sleep?” It’s a story many of us
have listened to and read about,
a story anyone growing up in
this country over the last twenty
years has had indelibly imprint
ed on their consciousness by
every form of communication
imaginable.
Who are/were the Beatles?
Where did they come from and
how did they get to be who they
are? These are questions which
have been variously raised and
answered over the years by vir
tually everybody who ever knew
the Beatles and by a whole host
of folks who drew their facts
from other sources. The Beatles
is one of those books which
made its way out of the latter
circle
First, it's a big, oversized,
handsome book, weighing a
couple of pounds primarily due
to the heavy, high-grade stock
of its 246 pages. The text is all in
quite large type and easy to read
— even from about four feet
away — although rather sparse.
The main attraction seems to be
the photographs which are all
reprints from various new
spapers, magazines, promo
tional material and private col
lections. The photos are all very
interesting and nostalgic, but I
suspect most of us have seen
them all before
The main problem I see with
the book is the price tag. Exactly
what is it about this book which
may be worth $29.95?
The text? Author Geoffrey
Stokes, a Village Voice staff
The London Hair Studio
says:
Get Ready For Christmas!
>
k
The Best in Cutting
at Reasonable Prices
$9.00
For Women and Men
686-1692 The Parcade Building 770 Willamette Street
writer, has done a competent
job of researching his material.
He’s obviously read most of the
material extant on the Beatles (a
Herculean labor in its own
right). And, as far as I can tell,
he’s made no glaring errors in
reporting the Fab Four's rise
and fall.
All the major events are men
tioned: the early groups; learn
ing their craft in Hamburg, Ger
many's rock clubs; Brian Ep
stein; the first American visita
tion (‘‘the Beatles became the
first pop act to get their break by
means of the print medium”);
the Ed Sullivan Show; the
screaming and fainting fans; the
jellybeans (remember that
business?); the long hair
brushed forward; the Beatle
boots, stovepipe pants and
four-button coats; ("By the time
they returned to England, the
Beatles were poised on the cut
ting edge not merely of a mu
sical moment, but of a genera
tional movement. Clothes, hair,
sex, music, drugs, even the New
York Times . nothing after the
Beatles would ever be quite the
same as it had been before.”);
Lennon’s books; the films; the
world tours; the presentation by
the Queen of England of the
MBE (Member of the Order of
the British Empire) for their ser
vices to British commerce; the
albums; their threats to the
moral fiber of America’s youth;
Lennon’s “We’re more popular
than Jesus Christ right now”;
George Martin’s brilliant studio
work (‘‘In the beginnings, he
had performed sonic miracles —
making (the Beatles) sound
louder than anyone else withoul
boosting levels and irritating
radio stations. But by the time ol
Revolver, his job had changed.
No longer did he just capture an
existing sound; instead, he in
vented equivalents for sounds
that existed only in their
heads. . he became the firsl
producer to build a record layer
by layer — creating not a new
product, but a new art."); LSD;
Sgt. Pepper (“The kids who had
grown up screaming for the
Beatles and the adults who’d
been seduced by ‘A Hard Day’s
Night’ joined to create a new
kind of pop audience. There
was an army of fans waiting nol
to dance and shriek, but to lis
ten. Preferably stoned.”); the
Maharishi; the Apple Corps si
tuation; Yellow Submarine; Yo
ko Ono; the Paul is Dead affair
the final breakup.
But it’s just so many events
strung together, there’s no
depth to the text. The ‘ what” is
there, but the "why” is con
spicuously missing.
Stokes’ surface approach
(Just the facts, ma’am) makes
for a quick and easy read —
every word in the book could be
read in three or four hours; but
other than its brevity, it certainly
offers nothing to compare with
Hunter Davies' The Beatles, An
Official Biography, Peter
McCabe’s and Robert D.
Schonfeld’s Apple to the Core
or even Barry Miles' collection
of Beatles In Their Own Words.
That leaves the visual
elements. The photo credits in
the back of the book take almost
as much time to read as the text.
The photographs and news
paper clippings are all state-of
the-art processed, well laid out
and obviously a great deal of
time and care was taken to do
so. However, if you sit down to
read the booK, you will soon
discover that the text and the
photos never seem to be telling
the same story. They are con
stantly interrupting each other’s
flow and momentum.
There is, however, another
factor (albeit a bit of a gimmick)
which may help justify the price
of the book. Underneath the
book-jacket is another cover
which reveals itself to be a
painting of the Beatles (circa
“She Loves You”) by none
other than Andy Warhol. Suita
ble for framing, of course.
All told, if you have 30 bucks
to devote to Beatlemania, or
your coffee table needs gracing,
or you'd like to put a new Warhol
on your wall, this may be the
book for you. It might also make
an excellent Christmas gift to
give your favorite Beatles' fan
who has everything but the
money to pay for such a book.
For the rest of us, however, the
Beatles story has been told bet
ter elsewhere.
By Robert Webb
Holiday Haircut
Special
Haircut and blowdry
Reg. $12.00
now until Christmas
S8.00
With this coupon
Ask for
Janice Rivera
at the Turning Point
Call for an appointment
2600 QaK 343-4813