Band on the Run
What more is there to say about the Fab Four, you might well ask. Thirty-one
years after the greatest band ever called it quits, the public demand for
Beatles material remains high as the recent successes of the
Anthology series and the 1 album attest.
Apart from Philip Norman's Shout!, Ian MacDonald's Revolution of
the Head, Hunter Davies' authorized biography and Mark Lewisohn's The
Complete Beatles Recording Sessions, there are precious few other books
that could be said to be indispensable to the canon of Beatles books. That
said, along come these two volumes of The Beatles Diary to test this
closed list.
The first volume is a revised edition of the 1998 tome The Beatles: A
Diary expanded considerably by writer Barry Miles. Miles was a member of
the Beatles' inner circle and had known the band intimately since 1965 and
is thus eminently qualified to undertake such a mammoth task. As its title
implies, The Beatles Diary seeks to chronicle the crucial events in
the lives of the Beatles and in terms of the first volume, despite Miles'
dogged insistence of keeping commentary to a minimum, this book is never as
dry as expected. The opposite is indeed the case, as Miles' retelling of
these amazing facts will leave both casual reader and rabid fan enthralled.
A bonus factor comes in Miles' discerning capsule reviews of each Beatles
recording. Rivaling MacDonald for clarity and insight, even the most jaded
Beatles enthusiast may find a new perspective or two about those legendary
singles and albums. Essential reading for every pop culture junkie.
Volume 2 is a unique proposition no doubt, with its stated objective to
account for the post-Beatles years on the premise that 'the Beatles had
never really gone away'. Well, yes and no. I would agree that the popularity
of the Beatles remains as strong as ever BUT the individual careers of the
ex-Beatles did not directly relate to the band anymore. 'The dream is over'
as Lennon starkly put it in God. Does this make Volume 2 a bit of a
lost cause even before you start reading? Not necessarily. If nothing else
the first five years of the break-up serves to remind us that for a time, the
solo Beatles managed to maintain a considerable impact on the pop world.
But more than that, the early portion of Volume 2 reveals blunt facts about
Paul McCartney's machinations at self-promotion as he launched his solo
career in earnest. It is easy to see how McCartney earned his poorer
reputation in relation to the relative sainthood of his erstwhile partner
Lennon. The seeds were definitely sown in those nascent days. The rest of
Volume 2 would certainly satisfying the most ardent Beatles fan but everyone
else may find such detail tedious and irrelevant. My advice would be stick
with Volume 1 if you're anything but a Beatlemaniac.
