Author: Craig Brown
Genre: Biography
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Publication Date: October 13, 2020
Book Description: Though fifty years have passed since the breakup of the Beatles, the fab four continue to occupy an utterly unique place in popular culture. Their influence extends far beyond music and into realms as diverse as fashion and fine art, sexual politics and religion. When they appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964, fresh off the plane from England, they provoked an epidemic of hoarse-throated fandom that continues to this day.
Who better, then, to capture the Beatles phenomenon than Craig Brown—the inimitable author of Ninety-Nine Glimpses of Princess Margaret and master chronicler of the foibles and foppishness of British high society? This wide-ranging portrait of the four lads from Liverpool rivals the unique spectacle of the band itself by delving into a vast catalog of heretofore unexamined lore.
When actress Eleanor Bron touched down at Heathrow with the Beatles, she thought that a flock of starlings had alighted on the roof of the terminal—only to discover that the birds were in fact young women screaming at the top of their lungs. One journalist, mistaken for Paul McCartney as he trailed the band in his car, found himself nearly crushed to death as fans climbed atop the vehicle and pressed their bodies against the windshield. Or what about the Baptist preacher who claimed that the Beatles synchronized their songs with the rhythm of an infant’s heartbeat so as to induce a hypnotic state in listeners? And just how many people have employed the services of a Canadian dentist who bought John Lennon’s tooth at auction, extracted its DNA, and now offers paternity tests to those hoping to sue his estate?
150 Glimpses of the Beatles is, above all, a distinctively kaleidoscopic examination of the Beatles’ effect on the world around them and the world they helped bring into being. Part anthropology and part memoir, and enriched by the recollections of everyone from Tom Hanks to Bruce Springsteen, this book is a humorous, elegiac, and at times madcap take on the Beatles’ role in the making of the sixties and of music as we know it.
Rating: 4 stars
Review: At almost 600 pages this is not your traditional biography. Craig Brown, literally takes snippets of different events of The Beatles through their youth until the break up. Some of these “glimpses” are from the points of views from, John, Paul, George and Ringo, but a lot of this comes from insights from people in their circle, celebrities and fans.
This was such a fun read. Not every chapter will resonate with you, but there was so much goodness. I found myself highlighting stories from, Kieth Richards, Billy Joel and so much more.
I personally thought I knew a lot about the Beatles, and for the first third of the book, I was like I know all this. However, once Craig Brown starts to get into more of this book he brings rich stories and insights and a lot of facts I had never know.
This would be a fun read for the casual Beatles fans or even the know-it-alls. It is long, but is something you don’t have to read all at once. Take a chapter here or there and I think you will come out knowing just a tad more about this infamous band.
Thank you NetGalley and Farrar Straus and Giroux for an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Obsessed Bookaholic 