Tune In by Mark Lewisohn

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I will start by saying that I read the “Special Extended Edition”, which is a total of 1700 pages in two hardcover volumes in a box set. If you are not a serious Beatles fan you probably wouldn’t invest that much effort. There is a somewhat more “condensed” version that comes in around 900 pages. Either way, Lewissohn has set the standard for Beatles history and biography. The story startes with a look at Liverpool and at the ancestors of the lads. So there is a lot of sociological material included before you even get to the arrival the actual 4 Beatles. And it follows them through their childhoods, school years, and early career. This book covers up through 1962, which means The Beatles were just becoming a big act in England, but were unknown in America and most of the rest of the world. The Hamburg years were carefully investigated as were the shows at The Cavern Club in Liverpool. A number of myths were busted, particularly involving how they were signed to Parlaphone, an EMI subsidiary. There is a lot of material in here about the music scene in England before those acts suddenly became the British Invasion of the U.S. market. So anyone with an interst in the history of pop music will be amply rewarded by reading this work. Fans everywhere are eagerly awaiting the next volume in the series.



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