The number of Beatles books speculating about the group's inner dynamics, and even the minutiae of their individual lives, is endless. More rare, and far more valuable, is the Beatles book exploring the band's music with all the detail and passion it deserves.

And it is all about the music, isn't it?

For anyone obsessed with knowing how four men in their 20s stretched pop music's canvas from the jangles of "Hard Day's Night" to the Stockhausen-inspired "Revolution 9" in less than five years' time, Ian MacDonald's Revolution in Your Head is the book to crack.

A trained musician and composer who also wrote a biography of Shostakovich, plus a former deputy editor of UK's New Musical Express with

"Tell Me Why" by Tim Riley.
years of deadlines under his belt, MacDonald offers a song-by-song analysis from "Love Me Do" to "I Me Mine" that is heavy going at times. But every studio trick is revealed, every nuance given its due. Even interpersonal squabbles and the '60s cultural upheavals are covered when warranted.

Best of all, MacDonald's writing always serves The Beatles' artistry. "The two rising orchestral glissandi " at the end of "A Day in the Life," he states, "may be seen as symbolizing simultaneously the moment of awakening from sleep and a spiritual ascent from fragmentation to wholeness, achieved in the final E major chord."

Of course.

- Ben Fulton

 

Of the scores of Beatles books I've skimmed

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over the years, Tell Me Why: The Beatles: Album by Album, Song by Song, the Sixties and After , by Tim Riley, is one of the few I've taken the time to read because of its depth, insight and readability.

Written when the author was only 28, the 423-page book (first published by Random House in 1988) is by a Colorado native who attended the well-regarded Oberlin College and Conservatory and earned degrees in English and piano performance. With those dual degrees, he is able to provide a thoughtful and rarely pedantic look at the Beatles that reveals so much about them through their songs, rather than through personality analysis.

Riley took on the intimidating task of discussing each song the Beatles ever composed or performed. Although he is an unabashed fan, he isn't a fanatic, and is opinionated and frank about songs he thinks are "schmaltz" ("Michelle").

He has an eye for detail. For example, he notes that the Beatles bawdily sing "tit, tit, tit" during the bridge of "Girl," and that John and George sing "Frère Jacques" nonsensically during the second verse of Paul's "Paperback Writer."

At times, Riley can overwhelm the casual fan with verbosity. But his exhaustive research on the songs, including much of the Beatles' solo work, does what every book on the Beatles should do: explain how four boys from Liverpool revolutionized popular music.

- David Burger