books Archives - Page 5 of 9 - Hey Dullblog, the Beatles fan blog

Critics at Large reviews “The Fifth Beatle”

By Devin McKinney|2014-03-08T11:09:37-08:00March 8, 2014|alternate history, biography, books, Brian Epstein, Reviews|

DEVIN McKINNEY • While the world waits for the sunrise, and Hey Dullblog for the opinion of honorary Brian Epstein Fan Club president Mike Gerber, take a look at David Kidney’s review of the fantastic-seeming graphic novel The Fifth Beatle: The Brian Epstein Story, by writer Vivek Tiwary and artists Andrew Robinson and Kyle Baker. Posted over at my “other” blog outlet, Critics at Large, Kidney’s review gives enough flavor of the visual and textual of the book to get you wondering how much you’d be willing to spend on one of its numerous permutations: Standard; Deluxe; Super Deluxe Limited Edition, signed; [...]

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Michael Tomasky on the Beatles as the “sound of freedom”

By Nancy Carr|2014-02-06T15:47:52-08:00February 6, 2014|Beatles Criticism, books, Michael Tomasky|

Michael Tomasky, former editor of The American Prospect and The Guardian America, is getting into the Beatles’ 50th anniversary racket. His ebook, Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!: The Beatles and America, Then and Now, has just been released; in it, he puts forward the idea that the Fabs were "the sound of freedom," catalysts for (and participants in) the vast cultural opening that occurred in the West from 1964 onward. His overview addresses everything from race relations to Ringo's revolutionary use of the hi-hat. A longtime political columnist, Tomasky writes a thrice-weekly column for The Daily Beast and contributes on a regular basis to [...]

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Lewisohn: Tune-In Extended Edition No Longer Available in the US

By Michael Gerber|2014-08-04T15:40:16-07:00February 2, 2014|biography, books, Mark Lewisohn, Tune In|

Sure, we're all smiling before we deal with the book business. Eagle-eyed commenter Sandy wrote, late last night: I don’t know if anyone is interested but here you go from Mark [Lewisohn]'s twitter today: “The extended edition of Tune In has sold out and is now unavailable. Another print may or may not be scheduled at some future time. The e-book (issued in two halves) IS still available, but it’s UK only. My US publisher, Crown, wouldn’t issue the extended book and couldn’t agree terms for the e-book. I’m sorry about that, for me and for everyone in US who [...]

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“Revolution No. 9” as one of the top 5 Beatles songs? Get real.

By Nancy Carr|2014-02-06T06:53:30-08:00January 28, 2014|Beatles Criticism, Beatles lists, Reviews, The White Album, Tim Riley, Uncategorized|

NANCY CARR * Quick—what’s the most untypical song the Beatles released, and the one I’d bet 99% of Beatles fans listen to least? Well, that’s the one that Tim Riley, the author of Tell Me Why and a well-reviewed Lennon biography, calls the fifth best Beatles song in an article in this recently released magazine special. All together now: “Number 9, Number 9, Number 9 . . .” Of course any list of “The Top Five Beatles Songs” is, at this point in the 21st century, going to have to include a startling pick if it’s going to get any attention at [...]

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Lewisohn review round-up

By Michael Gerber|2014-08-01T11:56:19-07:00December 9, 2013|biography, books, Mark Lewisohn, Tune In|

The title that always gets attention For those of you who have asked for details on what can only be called "revelations" regarding George Martin's forced signing of The Beatles, Tim Riley's review in the NYT spills the beans on that. He also notes Lewisohn's possible debunking of Lennon's Choice between Alf and Julia though—to his credit, I think—Riley doesn't really buy Lewisohn's take. What man would turn to his sailor buddy and say, "Yeah, my son just picked his mother over me"? BTW, our Devin's Magic Circles gets name-checked and called "shrewd" to boot. For those of you who've [...]

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Phil Rickman’s “December”: Wrestling with Lennon’s ghost

By Nancy Carr|2013-12-07T07:50:41-08:00December 7, 2013|1980, Beatle-inspired, Beatles fiction, books, Double Fantasy, John Lennon, Reviews, Uncategorized|

It's hard to write Beatles-related fiction without backing yourself into a corner NANCY CARR * What Beatles fan who was alive in 1980 hasn't wished he or she could have done something to prevent Lennon's murder? And what thoughtful Lennon fan hasn't been troubled by the contradictions manifested in Lennon's personality and life? Those questions drive Phil Rickman's 1996 novel December, a worthy read for this time of year despite its flaws. The book's action starts on December 8, 1980, not at the Dakota in New York City, but at a decrepit abbey in the Welsh countryside where a band fraying [...]

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Mark Lewisohn’s “Tune In” Worth the Wait, Says Beatles Blogger

By Devin McKinney|2014-08-01T11:57:13-07:00December 3, 2013|biography, books, Mark Lewisohn, Reviews, Tune In|

DEVIN McKINNEY • I hope you’ll all toggle over to the arts blog Critics at Large, where I’m a contributor, to read my review of Mark Lewisohn’s Tune In, volume one of his three-part Beatles biography. I know, posting that request here is a bit like asking one’s lover to have dinner at the home of another. But I’m proud to post stuff over there, where it’s in super-fine company. And besides, all of us here in the free-content blogosphere need to help each other out.

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The Beatles and Criticism

By Michael Gerber|2013-11-19T21:22:17-08:00November 19, 2013|books, Reviews|

"Apparently, we're not a patch on The Shadows." MIKE GERBER • Devin wrote something in an comment regarding The Beatles and criticism that I thought was too well-expressed, and too rich a topic, not to break out for further discussion. First, here's Devin's comment (edited a bit by me; follow this link to get the full version): Something’s been sticking in my craw for some time, and I will take this occasion to extract it. A while past on this blog, I posted a video of myself and a friend debating the best Beatles album. I picked the White Album, [...]

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Book Review: “Beatles vs. Stones”

By Devin McKinney|2014-02-03T05:09:15-08:00November 11, 2013|1968, Beatles vs. Stones, biography, books|

Beatles vs. Stones by John McMillian 288 pp. Simon & Schuster, 2013 Reviewed by Devin McKinney Note: This review was first posted, precipitately, on July 22nd, after review copies of John McMillian's book were sent out; it was difficult for the reviewer to resist reading and responding to it immediately. Now that the book is publicly available, we repost the review, without any changes. A character in Jonathan Lethem’s novel The Fortress of Solitude claims that every small-group dynamic found in fiction or in life is comprehensible via the Beatles model of organizational relationships: “The Beatles thing is an archetype, it’s like [...]

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Literary approaches to the Beatles; or, the difference between a book and a record

By Devin McKinney|2013-12-11T09:29:27-08:00October 30, 2013|1966, Beatles on the Web, books, Eleanor Rigby, John Gardner, Robin Wood|

DEVIN McKINNEY • Once, a long time ago, I tried to maintain, just for the record, a running tab of Beatles references or mentions that cropped up in the course of my day. During that period (the latter half of the 1980s), the daily references were not many; the group’s public profile was in a relative slough of despond, and looking back, we can pinpoint those years as equidistant between the first Great Beatles Revival (1976-78) and the second (1994-95). Though I lost the tabulation long ago (so much for “the record”), I can bet it would, if compared to similar checklists [...]

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