Book summary

In this long-awaited celebration of the Beatles and their music, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr reunite, along with input from Yoko Ono and excerpts from previously published John Lennon interviews, to tell the miraculous story of their meteoric rise from a small-time Liverpool band to a worldwide sensation that sparked an international wave of hysteria and changed the course of popular music forever. Drawing on private archives, television transcripts, and their own memories, the Fab Four provide the inside story about the band from the early days to the breakup. They write candidly about the background to some of their most innovative songs (such as the classic "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" and the Eastern-influenced "Within You, Without You") as well as their increasingly complex albums, including RUBBER SOUL (1965), which featured such introspective songs as "In My Life" and "Nowhere Man," and SGT. PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND (1967), a defining cultural landmark of the times. An interesting sidelight is the story behind their insistence on composing their own songs--revolutionary in a business where hired songwriters, not musicians, often received the royalty checks. Arranged chronologically, the book also includes a treasure trove of never-before-seen photographs, memorabilia, and fascinating ephemera such as contracts and invoices. Fans couldn't ask for a more satisfying and authentic group autobiography.

Media reviews

"In short, the book, like all installments of the 'Anthology' project, is entertaining and, to a degree that depends on your previous grasp of the information, informative, but there is little here of major import that has not been told elsewhere."