The Beatles

Description

The Beatles follows the extraordinary development of four self-taught musicians from Liverpool, from their beginnings, until the break-up in 1970. This biography sets the group’s evolution against the backdrop of a popular culture explosion in the 1960s. A serious study of the Beatles’ music is expanded here by consideration not only of the group’s commercially released disks but also of rare working tapes which both shed light on the compositional process and reveal how many of their milestone recordings took shape in the studio. It also examines why the innovative music of the Beatles – created, at least initially, as ephemera – has remained so durable.

Allan Kozinn has written musical criticism for the New York Times since 1977 and won ASCAP awards for his work, including the book Mischa Elman and the Romantic Style.

“A well-rounded, readable account. Makes a convincing case for putting the Beatles on the shelf between Bartók and Boulez.”—The Sunday Times

“Real insight. A thoughtful, persuasive guide.”—Publishers Weekly

On the 20th Century Composers Series

“As a series, Phaidon’s 20th Century Composers has brought remarkable variety and a welter of information, both necessary and delightfully trivial. Intended both for the general reader and for the more enthusiatically musical.”—The Scotsman