The Cambridge Companion to the Beatles
The Cambridge Companion to the Beatles
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From Please Please Me to Abbey Road, this collection of essays tells the fascinating story of the Beatles – the creation of the band, their musical influences, and their cultural significance, with emphasis on their genesis and practices as musicians, songwriters, and recording artists. Through detailed biographical and album analyses, the book uncovers the background of each band member and provides expansive readings of the band's music.
• Traces the group's creative output from their earliest recordings through their career
• Pays particular attention to the social and historical factors which contributed to the creation of the band
• Investigates the Beatles' unique enduring musical legacy and cultural power
• Clearly organized into three sections, covering Background, Works, and History and Influence, the Companion is ideal for course usage, and is also a must-read for all Beatles fans
- An introductory volume perfect for the many university courses devoted to the Beatles, as well as for Beatles fans
- Provides biographical analyses, telling the fascinating stories of the bandmates' backgrounds
- Assesses the band's abiding musical and cultural influences, and their place in popular culture
Reviews & endorsements
"If you are a Beatles fan looking to study their music and impact, The Cambridge Companion to The Beatles provides an excellent starting point. Chapters will make you rethink what you already know, and perhaps change your interpretations of their music. At the very least, the text spurs spirited discussion about various topics. Those interested in a straightforward history of the group may be disappointed in the book, but researchers and scholarly fans will find The Cambridge Companion a valuable addition to their Beatles library." --Blogcritcs.org
"an admirable and largely successful attempt to cover all major aspects of the Beatles as both musical and sociocultural phenomenon. . . . even in the most well-trodden areas, insights and intriguing reinterpretations are never far away." --Montreal Gazette
"...this in-depth compendium is a must read for all who love the band, want to reminiscence, or want to learn almost everything about those four mop tops from Liverpool. This book is 'toppermost of the poppermost.' Highly recommended." --Choice
"Highly recommended for all readers"
-T.Emery,Austin Peay State University
Product details
December 2009Paperback
9780521689762
334 pages
246 × 173 × 18 mm
0.68kg
13 music examples
Available
Table of Contents
- Foreword Anthony DeCurtis
- Chronology of the Beatles' lives and works
- Introducing the Beatles Kenneth Womack
- Part I. Background:
- 1. Six boys, six Beatles: the formative years, 1950–1962 Dave Laing
- Appendix: the repertoire, 1957–1962
- 2. The Beatles as recording artists Jerry Zolten
- Part II. Works:
- 3. Rock and roll music Howard Kramer
- 4. 'Try thinking more': Rubber Soul and the Beatles' transformation of pop James M. Decker
- 5. Magical mystery tours, and other trips: yellow submarines, newspaper taxis, and the Beatles' psychedelic years Russell Reising and Jim LeBlanc
- 6. Revolution Ian Inglis
- 7. On their way home: the Beatles in 1969 and 1970 Steve Hamelman
- 8. Apple records Bruce Spizer
- 9. The solo years Michael Frontani
- 10. Any time at all: the Beatles' free phrase rhythms Walter Everett
- Appendix: the Beatles' canon on compact disc
- Part III. History and Influence:
- 11. The Beatles as zeitgeist Sheila Whiteley
- 12. Beatles news: product line extensions and the rock canon Gary Burns
- 13. 'An abstraction, like Christmas': the Beatles for sale and for keeps John Kimsey
- General discography.
