Fantastic and thorough; wrong narrator.

A must for any Beatles fan interested in the technical process of how their records were made and the leaps in studio technology in their last few albums, culminating with (and focusing on) the Abbey Road LP. This book takes a deep dive into the instruments, production techniques and the writing/wider context of one of the most written about bands ever, and finds a fresh and rewarding take on the story. A real deep dive, I didn’t realise how much I had wanted a book like this until this came along.

Sole criticism is the recorded performance. As much as I got used to it the narrator isn’t a great fit for the book. Although written by an American author, a British narrator would have better suited to the content, and the frequent quotations. This aside, excellent.

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Essential listening for any Beatles fan

This is, quite simply, one of the best books I’ve heard about the Beatles. Not only does it cover the technical aspects of Abbey Road recording, but it has some great details around the end of the Beatles career.

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One of the better beatles books.

A fascinating look into the recording of the final beatles album. A bit like the get back docu, only more upbeat. Quite a bit of information I didn't know. Recommended for those interested in recording techniques or just beatles history.

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its Beatles not Beadles..

the book felt like its been meticulously researced using sources who's worked closely with the 'Beadles ' ...

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Some nuggets

Have recently and belatedly become interested in the background of the Beatles as a group and individual. Having read Davies’s bio and McNans in the End, this book, which lifts a lot from those, doesn’t add much new material but it is packaged well, there’s a bit more for those technically minded, and a few nuggets here and there (but not everywhere). Written by an American for Americans some of the pronunciations and intonations can be jarring by the narrator. But worth the time nevertheless.

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read all about it

all this book makes me want to do is listen to abbey road it was a good book but I struggled in places

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And in the end …

Somehow in the carnage of their later years, and amid increasingly bitter personal relations, The Beatles continued to produce history-making music. This book chronicles the making of Abbey Road, but also looks at the Get Back sessions and Let It Be - it analyses the latter stages of the band’s work and is highly detailed, exploring the production technology as much as the composition, while also examining the behind-the-scenes turmoil engulfing the band. The level of detail in the earlier part of the book will be almost overwhelming for all but the most committed fans, but it becomes more gripping as it moves on, blending a musicological appraisal with a wider look at the personal tensions that blighted the band’s terminal stages. It is a bit disorganised, jumping around chronologically, and there is some annoying repetition of phrases - eg ‘associated with’ makes too many appearances, so maybe better editing was needed. The narration is fine, arguably a bit Marmite, but it worked for me; at times I increased the speed of narration to 1.5 before reverting to 1 after settling into it. This is a good summation of the endgame of the world’s greatest band, and well worth a listen for fans of the Beatles, and indeed music fans generally.

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Insightful

Opens up the story behind the Abbey Road album, as well as the technology, processes and relationships behind it….

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1 person found this helpful

Solid account of Beatle’s Abbey Road and the last days

A nice account, well researched. A welcome addition to the Beatles catalogue of books, especially at the end of their career.
Highly recommended for the musical input as well as history.

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interesting to a certain degree

of course this is for Beatle fans but it was fleshed out a bit with info from other sources.
it was nice to hear about them using a transistor desk rather than a valve desk .
but I didnt come away from the book learning much more than I knew already.
it would of been nice to have a narrator that was British the narrator on this book had a bit of the "wonder years" feel to it which made it feel distant to the author.
otherwise not bad for an included title so no passionate complaints.

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