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The Beatles As Musicians #2
The Beatles As Musicians: Revolver through the Anthology
Given the phenomenal fame and commercial success that the Beatles knew for the entire course of their familiar career, their music per se has received surprisingly little detailed attention. Not all of their cultural influence can be traced to long hair and flashy clothing; the Beatles had numerous fresh ideas about melody, harmony, counterpoint, rhythm, form, colors, and textures. Or consider how much new ground was broken by their lyrics alone--both the themes and imagery of the Beatles' poetry are key parts of what made (and still makes) this group so important, so popular, and so imitated. This book is a comprehensive chronological study of every aspect of the Fab Four's musical life--including full examinations of composition, performance practice, recording, and historical context--during their transcendent late period (1966-1970). Rich, authoritative interpretations are interwoven through a documentary study of many thousands of audio, print, and other sources.
- GenresMusicNonfiction
416 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1999
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
June 15, 2016
(This is the same review as I posted on Volume 1, The Beatles as Musicians: The Quarry Men Through Rubber Soul.)
A thoroughly mediocre book. Everett’s The Beatles as Musicians is a music theorist’s exploration of the Beatles’ music. During the course of the book, Everett tackles all of their songs roughly in the order in which they were recorded, including notes on the instrumentation and writing process. But the real meat of this book are Everett’s analyses of the harmonic structure and voice-leading of the music.
In most contexts, I could comfortably say that I have a solid grasp of tonal music theory. I’ve arranged songs, taken several courses on music theory, and played in many performing groups. And in my spare time, I’ve probably played through almost every single Beatles song, at least once. Nevertheless, much of this book was over my head. Everett is a professional music theorist, writing for other professional music theorists. There are several Schenkerian diagrams (don’t ask), and the prose is often dense with technical terms. (He also makes frequent reference to the Beatles: Complete Scores, which was annoying for me, since I don’t own it.) So if you are a musician looking to better understand the Fab Four’s music, look elsewhere. But if you are a music theorist studying the Beatles, this book (and its companion volume) is probably indispensable.
I can’t help to compare this book with Ian MacDonald’s fantastic Revolution in the Head (a book that I would recommend for any serious Beatles fan with a basic understanding of music), which also goes through the Beatles’ oeuvre song by song. However, the books are written with different aims and for different audiences. Although MacDonald includes some useful analysis, he is also a sharp music critic, and assesses the songs for their artistic merit as much as their technical innovation. Everett, by contrast, is mostly playing the role of a disinterested doctor performing an autopsy, rather than a judge at a beauty pageant.
One thing about this book did irk me: its organization. In MacDonald’s book, the text is neatly broken up song-by-song, and each is easy to look up by flipping to the back. The result is a book pleasurable to read front-to-back (MacDonald’s prose is fantastic), but also useful as a reference tool. Everett’s book is sprawling by comparison, divided into hefty chapters and subdivided inconsistently—sometimes by groups of songs, and sometimes individually. If you go to the index in the back, you're still adrift, as he included every page that a song is mentioned on. As a result, its convenience as a reference book is severely marred. And because it is not exactly a book one would want to read on a lazy Sunday afternoon, and more likely to be used by a tired graduate student (like myself) flipping to one song or another, this is a serious oversight.
But, all things considered, reading this book could have been much a worse experience. Everett’s writing is rarely inept, and occasionally pleasurable. Long sections are dense and technical, but he is generally not wordy or repetitive. And, of course, many of his theoretical ideas are probably quite impressive to those in the same discipline as himself.
A thoroughly mediocre book. Everett’s The Beatles as Musicians is a music theorist’s exploration of the Beatles’ music. During the course of the book, Everett tackles all of their songs roughly in the order in which they were recorded, including notes on the instrumentation and writing process. But the real meat of this book are Everett’s analyses of the harmonic structure and voice-leading of the music.
In most contexts, I could comfortably say that I have a solid grasp of tonal music theory. I’ve arranged songs, taken several courses on music theory, and played in many performing groups. And in my spare time, I’ve probably played through almost every single Beatles song, at least once. Nevertheless, much of this book was over my head. Everett is a professional music theorist, writing for other professional music theorists. There are several Schenkerian diagrams (don’t ask), and the prose is often dense with technical terms. (He also makes frequent reference to the Beatles: Complete Scores, which was annoying for me, since I don’t own it.) So if you are a musician looking to better understand the Fab Four’s music, look elsewhere. But if you are a music theorist studying the Beatles, this book (and its companion volume) is probably indispensable.
I can’t help to compare this book with Ian MacDonald’s fantastic Revolution in the Head (a book that I would recommend for any serious Beatles fan with a basic understanding of music), which also goes through the Beatles’ oeuvre song by song. However, the books are written with different aims and for different audiences. Although MacDonald includes some useful analysis, he is also a sharp music critic, and assesses the songs for their artistic merit as much as their technical innovation. Everett, by contrast, is mostly playing the role of a disinterested doctor performing an autopsy, rather than a judge at a beauty pageant.
One thing about this book did irk me: its organization. In MacDonald’s book, the text is neatly broken up song-by-song, and each is easy to look up by flipping to the back. The result is a book pleasurable to read front-to-back (MacDonald’s prose is fantastic), but also useful as a reference tool. Everett’s book is sprawling by comparison, divided into hefty chapters and subdivided inconsistently—sometimes by groups of songs, and sometimes individually. If you go to the index in the back, you're still adrift, as he included every page that a song is mentioned on. As a result, its convenience as a reference book is severely marred. And because it is not exactly a book one would want to read on a lazy Sunday afternoon, and more likely to be used by a tired graduate student (like myself) flipping to one song or another, this is a serious oversight.
But, all things considered, reading this book could have been much a worse experience. Everett’s writing is rarely inept, and occasionally pleasurable. Long sections are dense and technical, but he is generally not wordy or repetitive. And, of course, many of his theoretical ideas are probably quite impressive to those in the same discipline as himself.
August 20, 2019
This is ne plus ultra of books musically analyzing what The Beatles accomplished in their music. THis volume was the first written of the two volumes, but it covers the latter part of their careers. And this is not exactly a "fan" book. There is some historical material here, but if you wanted Beatles history you should go to Mark Lewisohn's magisterial Tune In, which is the last word on that subject. This is a book for musicians, and frankly would probably be mostly incomprehensible to anyone without a grounding in music theory. But if you have the background, I would sit down at a piano and work through this book for a deeper appreciation of the group that changed popular music for their time.
August 29, 2018
An exhaustive (and exhausting) look at the Beatles' recordings starting with Revolver, though you may have to take some college-level music theory courses to fully understand Everett's analysis of individual songs and the significance of the band's musical innovations.
March 19, 2010
It is no casual overstatement to say that this book (along with the precursory volume, The Beatles as Musicians: The Quarry Men through Rubber Soul) contains the closest examination of the songs of the Beatles that human minds were meant to behold. Every song it professes to include is included. Each, as a preliminary, is broken down compositionally through key, chord progression and time signature. Each is then parsed to its individual instrumental lines and harmonies. When available, the author dissects alternate studio takes of the songs and contrasts them with the final masters. By the end of each song analysis you will find that every notable cadence and unexpected non-diatonic note has been addressed. And, after reading it from cover to cover, you will still not believe the thing exists.
November 8, 2009
This is one of two books written about the Beatles music from a technical music theory standpoint. I really liked them both, but they are not for the casual fan. Could be of real interest to music majors. This volume covered the middle to late period of the Beatles recordings.
January 14, 2008
Great book on the Beatles and there one of my favorite all-time groups to listen to.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews