Steve Turner (1)Besprekingen

adding this because I've always wondered about these musicans, and reader reviews indicate it is done well.

This is a very on-point kind of book; it’s not an encyclopedia of irrelevant factoids or anything like that.

I’d never realized that Paul so welcomed & embraced the evolution into the late-Beatles, or that he actually become more influential in terms of songs penned in that period. John was John, and he was tough and macho and a leader especially in the beginning, but as they evolved, ironically—so strangely—he actually withdrew a bit, since even before the 70s began, he started to think that working on himself meant hating himself, even more….

The book’s also curious for the references to early influences on the Beatles, even if those are basically groups that are, from a lyrical point of view, pretty hokey, you know. It is //possible// to overcorrect though, as that sort of music obvious seems less worthwhile to the prose/print mind; but it is music, too.

…. And there were a few obscure singles that I hadn’t heard of before—‘She’s A Woman’ and ‘I Don’t Want to Spoil the Party’, even though I’d thought I’d heard all the songs before, having heard all the albums and the singles that I’d heard of, you know.

And just in general: it’s much better than trying to understand the songs through YouTube comments, right. It’s a real book, and they deserve a real book. They were human, but they deserve that much respect anyway; and they got it.

…. I think it’s surprising—in the literal sense of hard to predict—that he is so fascinated with John but is borderline dismissive of George. I mean, they’re together the two real men of the Beatles, although I suppose they’re different, too—John’s the king, and George is the prophet. (I guess Paul is the wizard—witch?—and Ringo is…. the jester, I guess.)

…. Although I tend to resist or be skeptical of the Gilderoy Lockhart interpretation of people like Paul—‘Kill rock stars’ etc—it is true that it’s possible to be naive. For a long time, he didn’t know what it was like, not to be Paul.

…. It is interesting or whatever how you can’t prove why someone named a character what they did. (Let alone anything else about the whole process.)

…. It’s just constantly counter-intuitive: you think John is hip but it’s really Paul because Paul adapted and John shut himself down; and yet John wrote some really great songs in the psychedelic years, because he was just naturally psychedelic. He was like a Four (wing 3) who woke up and realized he wasn’t an 8, you know. (Paul was 2 wing 3, and that’s always what he seemed like, even if he grew into himself in other ways.) (And probably George was a 5 and Ringo a 9.)

…. Sometimes the codependency of those years can be surprising. Paul is, you know, certainly sorta a nice guy, and I can totally imagine him being close with John’s son Julian and comforting him during the John/Cynthia divorce and even writing him a song…. But to have the song be, ‘Go get a girl-friend, and everything will be alright’? Is that trauma therapy or a little village nostrum from the middle of the last century?

I mean, as a song it’s wonderful; it’s catchy and musical. But as words, oh my god….

…. And sometimes they could be rather inspired.

…. It’s so Paul that one of his songs could start out as a racism satire—his one political song—but yet the final form just sounds vague and, commonly is seen as them just getting nostalgic, like they weren’t young anymore.

…. I wonder if the Beatles didn’t release “Not Guilty” because John & Paul were marginalizing George songs or if they were concerned about rhyming ‘freak’ and ‘Sikh’, even ironically, you know. I mean, the song is on the literal saying, Well ok if everybody’s gotta be racist I’ll be racist if those are the rules…. ~I mean, irony is not always a good thing, right. “Get Back” got all cryptic and revised for the same reason; the other three were just never going to let him go through with Not guilty of dressing like a freak, making friends with every Sikh; they had to action movie dodge at the last moment. Not everybody understands irony and it’s not always a good thing. When I was ill, I just thought that George had come around, you know…. The Englishman isn’t guilty! Hallelujah!

…. Anyway, although a song and a book necessarily have a different energy/stance, I would indeed say that this is a positive/fun book, and not negative or half-negative or stupid through being analytical. It’s not an opinion I’d extend universally to all Beatles books, lol.

…. And actually, although as a rule of thumb I tend to look more favorably at the ‘paperback writer’ in his struggle to survive academic scorn than some people would, at the same time I have to say that this time, the rational—this rational, if popular book—makes more sense to me than the random fan comments that make out every fawning or irritable thing the boys ever wrote, as words from the lips of the One, and every song they recorded provisionally but ultimately rejected as being a revolution in music even though it was never released during their career, you know…. It’s just better to smile, sometimes earnestly, sometimes indulgently, than to lose your mind over nothing, you know.

…. They had some potential, but I think I like the Cilla Black version of “Step Inside Love” better than the Beatles’. The Beatles muddled through, but Cilla Black had style. :P

…. But since they wrote a song about me—Teddy Boy—ie about me, *Time Traveler version…. I’ll allow that the Beatles are equally as good as…. A Flock of Seagulls.

3.25 stars

This book tells the biographies of the eight musicians on the Titanic. They were split into two groups on board, playing in different areas of the ship, but it seems that they joined together to play on deck as the ship sank.

I usually like biographies, but this one had eight. That’s a lot, and it was a small amount of information on each one, so as we continued on in the book, it was easy to forget who was who. It was more interesting once they boarded the ship to read about that. Much is speculation, including what songs were played, but that part was still more interesting to me.

The book continued on after they died with some information on their families, regaining any items found (though only three of the musicians’ bodies were recovered), and stories of (in one case) the father not acknowledging an illegitimate child (and therefore any compensation money should come to him, not to his son’s girlfriend and child); I can’t remember now if it was the same family (I think it was), but a sister who was mentally unstable and played a nasty “joke” on the rest of her family (that was one I believe I’d already heard about).

Overall, I’m rating it between ok (the biographies) and good (the disaster and aftermath).

The Complete Beatles – The Story Behind Every Track Written by the Fab Four is a wonderful index of all the songs authored by the Beatles with tidbits of back story included, who wrote the song, how it came together and the inspiration, if known, for each song. While perhaps not everyone wants to know the details behind such songs as “Polythene Pam” or “Dear Prudence”, I was totally engrossed.

Beatle music is the soundtrack of my teen years, and every Beatle song evokes a memory, an occasion or an event. It is obvious that the author, Steve Turner, was also a fan as he exclaims, ““the elements of surprise in the tunes that made them so captivating when they were first released still sound unexpected. They have a magical capacity for retaining their freshness.” Along with supplying all the lyrics of their songs, this book is a timeline for the group itself. The early songs reflect their original enthusiasm and excitement while later on John’s jaded poetry and Paul’s world weary attitude as the group dynamics are unwinding combine to produce some amazingly complex and original music.

The Complete Beatles is large book, with hundreds of both color and black and white photographs, and information on the four members of the group, their various partners and friends, associates and fellow artists. During the course of reading this book, I often found myself digging out my old Beatle tunes and hearing them in a different way. Lots of good information here and although this is a book that will mostly appeal to die-hard Beatle fans, it was a five star read for me.

I loved this book and if you like The Beatles, even a little bit. you will too. Even if you've only heard the melody of "Yesterday" in an elevator you know who they are. They are a part of everyone's sub-conscience.
This compilation of every album and every song on each album, done in chronological order, debunks many a myth and offers enlightening information on how each song came to be and the state of the Fab Four as well as the world when they tunes were written.
The book is begins with the red section and covers their music from their inception in 1959 through to the Revolver album, the point "when the Beatles become recording artists rather than performers." At the point their music became more experimental.
The second blue section highlights the remainder of their years together as a group, Sgt Pepper to Abbey Road.
Reading this book serves to distinguish just what a phenomenal band The Beatles were and how at a young age were pressured to produce music quickly. Download your favorite music App and listen to each song after you've read how it was written and the nuances of the music as it was developed. Your appreciation for The Beatles will surely grow.

A month-by-month look at an extraordinary year for an extraordinary band.

By 1966, the Beatles had reached the end, and a new beginning. The book cheats a little by starting in December 1965, but that is only to cover the beginning of Revolver, and ends with the first recordings for Sgt. Pepper.

In between, there are drugs, tours, close calls, apologies, religion, new relationships, old relationships and more.

The Beatles take a break from each other, expand their own horizons, and bring all that back in time to record one of the seminal albums of the rock era - right after recording another of the seminal albums of the era.

Turner sums it up this way: "In December 1965 the Beatles had been fresh-faced touring idols widely thought of as a fad that was on the verge of dying out. ... A year later they were studio-based artists flag-waving for the avant-garde who were maturing with their audience and gaining the respect of serious music critics."

Would love to see Turner follow up with a Beatles '67 book.

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The story behind the song Amazing Grace. It is divided into two parts - the first tells the story of John Newton who wrote the song, the second tells the story of how it grew into one of the most popular songs of all time. I learned that Newton was a slave trader, and the song is, in part, the story of his salvation because he had become so wretched, and managed to turn his life around. There is a message there for anyone struggling, because certain John Newton had sunk to such a low that "wretched" is a perfect description of how miserable he was.
I learned in the second half of the book, which was not as interesting as the first, just how wide-spread Amazing Grace is. Nominally a church hymn, it has been recorded by a truly diverse group of recording artists from Elvis Presley, to Destiny's Child, to U2, and an artist from nearly every genre of music.
All in all, an excellent, and interesting read.

While I consider myself a lifelong Beatles fan, I won’t try to lay claim to being a Beatles expert, and I certainly haven’t tried to read each and every book about the Beatles that has ever been published. So, when I say I enjoyed this behind-the-scenes exploration of the history behind the writing of every Beatles song, you’ve got to take that with a few grains of salt — there may have been other books, perhaps many others, which covered this ground before. In fact, the version of this book by Steve Turner reviewed here is, itself, an update of an earlier edition. But, speaking as a casual reader of Beatles-related books, I do recommend this particular book. For each song included, the author explains what the inspiration for the song was, where the songwriter(s) were at the time of the writing, and other little historical tidbits. Where there are discrepancies about the origin of a song, Turner includes all the variant tales, rather than trying to narrow it down to the correct one. The amount of background provided for each song various considerably — from one or two paragraphes of text, to several pages, about the most well-known of the Beatles hits. The text is accompanied by a plethora of rare and obscure photographs, making this a pleasurable read for Beatles fans, even if all you’re doing is browsing. Maybe there are better, more in-depth historical volumes about the Beatles’ song out there, but I found this one to be a fun and informative read!

Originally reviewed for my local library's website in November 2013: http://lincolnlibraries.org/bookguide/staff-recommendations/staff-recommendation...

While I agree with the author's premise, his argument in the first half of the book falls flat. The second half, however, is a better written work and more compelling, offering pertinent examples of what he is talking about. His five circles of artistic expression is an intriguing lens with which to view art.

While I agree with the author's premise, his argument in the first half of the book falls flat. The second half, however, is a better written work and more compelling, offering pertinent examples of what he is talking about. His five circles of artistic expression is an intriguing lens with which to view art.

A great , insightful book on the inspiration for each song in their catalog. Loved reading about my favorite songs and in my opinion the greatest rock group in history.

Story how how each song was written. Where did John and Paul get inspired from, who wrote what
and how their music changed. There are of course some beautiful, unseen photos.

I had originally marked this book as read, but realizing from the placement of a bookmark that I hadn't finished it, I started over. It was well worth reading. For some people this might be more than they ever wanted to know about "Amazing Grace." About half of the book is a mini-biography of John Newton, who wrote the lyric, with digressions about William Cowper, his friend, and William Wilberforce, the abolitionist. It's quite useful as a corrective to the various urban legends about the author. Then as we get to learn about the tune, we also learn about Southern Harmony and Sacred Harp singing. The third section describes the song's resurgence in the early 1970s with recordings by Judy Collins and the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards pipes, drums, and band. The author also points out that it is George W. Bush's favorite hymn; cynically, I would suggest that perhaps it's the only one he knows. There is a (necessarily incomplete) discography at the end as well as a (now outdated) list of movies which use the hymn in their soundtrack (Invasion of the Body Snatchers??? Huh.)

I really enjoyed this biography of Johnny Cash. I learned a lot of things about him that I never knew. This was an "authorized" biography, but was quite frank about Cash's faults -- the long-time amphetamine addiction that fueled wild and destructive behavior; his responsibility for the breakup of his first marriage. The author's admiration for Cash as a person and a musician was obvious, however.

I was surprised how deeply the book delved into Cash's faith. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised, as it was clearly quite central to his life (even present in the rough times when he wasn't really living by it). Cash had the humble faith of a man who knew he'd seriously messed up many times in his life, and was aware of how much he'd been forgiven -- by God and by those around him, who he put through hell in his drug-using days. This awareness fueled his concern for those whom society often scorned -- prisoners, addicts, alcoholics.

I do question the format of the book. It began near the end of his life -- at the time of his wife June's death -- and then went back to the beginning of his life. After the life story was done, there was a lengthy chapter of analysis. Some of this I liked and found enlightening, and some of it felt like overkill, hammering points already made in the telling of Cash's life.

Overall, I really liked this book; I listened to it on audio, and thought the audio was well done.

Really enjoyed this biography of Cliff Richard written by someone who has clearly spent a lot of time researching and interviewing key people in Cliff's life. Despite being nearly 20 years old, the book is still a really interesting read because of the attention to detail and covers the first 30 years of Cliff's career with lots of facinating anecdotes from family, colleagues and friends. I particularly enjoyed the family history at the beginning which researched his family tree and story back through to his great grandparents.

I have read a lot about the Titanic but this is the first book that I've read devoted to the musicians. W. Hartley, C. Krins, R. Bricoux, W.T. Brailey,
J. Woodward, J.F. Clarke, J.L. Hume, P.C. Taylor

I learned some things that shocked me. Families actually had to pay to get their family member back. If they were lucky enough to be found and identified! Families had to pay for embalming and transportation of the body home. Since the Titanic did not finish it's voyage, full pay was not sent, deductions were made for the remaining days. This is sickening.

We learn about each member if the band, their background, the way they wound up onboard and where their families are today.

Did they play voluntarily or was it under the order of their band leader or the captain? That is a question that will never be answered. Did they really play Nearer My God to thee as so many reported? My question.....does it really matter?

Tor me, regardless of the what's and whys, these men gave their lives while trying to help others. Their playing of music no matter what kind or what songs, helped people to feel calmer in the midst of chaos. They, like the captain,went down with the ship. Only three of their bodies were recovered. They are heros.

I especially liked the photos. They tell their own story about the people and places in them. The book was well researched and includes lots of interesting trivia.

Recommended for any one who has an interest in the Titanic.

NCLA Review - This book reviews gospel music from its foundations to the present time, focusing on the great performers of each era. It is heavily illustrated with photographs, mostly in black and white, but a few in color as well. The book will appeal most to those with an interest in the recorded performance of gospel music; those interested in composers of gospel, or in analysis of the works themselves, or with a focus on gospel music in worship must turn elsewhere. There are indexes to songs cited, and to persons named but no general index. A bibliography is included. Recommended only for libraries where there is extensive interest in gospel music, and even those libraries may wish to seek something with a more comprehensive scope. Rating: 2 —KLF

For some reason, I have always been enamored with The Titanic---shows on The History Channel, the movie, and anything else I can find. So when this book became available for review, I thought it would be another bit of information for my fixation. Never has there been a book all about the musicians. This should be interesting!

Starting the book, there was a lot of foundational information interspersed with the last hours of The Titanic's voyage. It was fascinating to learn how the cruise ship industry obtained musicians and crew in the early 1900's. It's quite a bit different that what we know now. Once the foundation was set, there was so much detailed historical information, I kind of thought I was back in school again. I found myself skipping over sentences to get to the "meat" of the chapter.

Each of the musicians' lives are chronicled in their own chapters. From a young age to the time of their deaths, the author detailed their lives. Sometimes a little too much. None of the musicians lead extraordinary lives so the fascinating story I was anticipating didn't pan out.

In my opinion, the best part of the book came at the end during the ship's sinking. Most of the information was speculation from witnesses and because of the traumatic situation, their versions were varied. The only semi-consistent theme was the final song heard while the ship went down. Most of the witnesses heard Nearer My God to Thee but that still wasn't agreed upon. Unfortunately it became somewhat tedious reading the descriptions over and over.

While Steve Turner definitely did his research, I felt the book was dry in places. It was not meant to be sensationalic or romanticized, it was meant to be factual. Regrettably, because of that, I had a hard time reading it. I have to give it a 2 1/2 out of 5---more than a 2 because of the information presented but less than a 3 because of the monotony.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

The Band that Played On, by Steve Turner, is a recounting of the tragedy of the Titanic, focusing on the lives of the eight musicians who went down with the ship. Each of the eight musicians’ lives, prior to their voyage on the Titanic, is chronicled in their own chapter. They were all young, respectable men, leading relatively uneventful lives, who were passionate about their craft. Their deaths were hailed as heroic by surviving witnesses. This is the first biography to focus on the lives of these men, and for connoisseurs of Titanic history, it will be well received.
Regrettably, The Band that Played On, was not well received by me. Most of the tale was written in the style of a monotone history book. These men did not have noteworthy lives prior to their experience on the Titanic, and as such, did not make for interesting reading material. The interesting parts of the book were near the end, and unfortunately, contained much speculation as to what the musicians must have been doing during the sinking. Granted, there were many accounts reported of witnesses hearing the band’s music while disembarking to the lifeboats, but they are very contradictory. The author attempts to sort through these accounts and come up with a best case scenario as to the actual occurrences, but in truth, just overstated the possibilities. I felt like if I read the phrase, “Nearer my God to thee” again, I was going to have to throw in the towel. Ultimately, Turner ends the book with a sort of obituary tribute to each of the men. Ironically enough, this is the part I found most interesting. Contrary to the relatively uneventful lives of the men before the Titanic, some of their surviving family members went on to have some entertaining experiences.
So, while I will not recommend this book to my friends as an entertaining biography, I do recognize it’s merit as a worthy historical compilation. Steve Turner was very thorough in his research and retelling of a familiar tragic tale, with a unique perspective.

Everyone knows the story of the Titanic sinking. The tale has been told in several movies and countless books. However, there is one aspect of the story that has not been told, that of the musicians who chose to play as the ship sank.

The book starts out recounting the tale of that fateful night that the ship sank. There were a few details in there that I hadn’t known about. I guess that was because most of what I knew was from the movies.

For instance, did you know that the reason for the media black out was not because they were afraid for public panic. It was because The New York Times had struck a deal with Mr. Marconi in order to get an inside scoop. This media black out even prevented President Taft from finding out if his military aide, Major Archibald Butt, had even survived.

However, the most interesting part was learning about the humble beginnings of these men. Before reading this book, I had no clue that it was actually two different bands that had ended up playing together on that fateful day. The ship had commissioned two bands. One band had five musicians and the other band had three. So there were a total of eight musicians.

There were interconnections between the eight musicians, but before that night, they had never all come together to play as a group.

I found out that one of them actually lived not too far from my great grandfather in Burnley, England. I doubt that they would have known each other since they were from different backgrounds. But it was just interesting to read about a life and time from when some of my family were.

This book was extremely riveting. Those men’s lives were ripped away from them when they were just starting to really live them.

In conjunction with the Wakela's World Disclosure Statement, I received a product in order to enable my review. No other compensation has been received. My statements are an honest account of my experience with the brand. The opinions stated here are mine alone.

I love the beatles!
The beatles is very very famous singers.
They made many great songs.
This book taught me interesting history of the beatles.

I sat down and read this in one sitting. Rare photographs of the Beatles (and others) that accompany tidbits of trivia, affirmation (or debunking) of legends mixed with quotes, stories of influences and inspirations for every song the Beatles recorded. If you have even the slightest interest in the Beatles and have an afternoon to kill, then this book is a thrill. For instance seeing the actual Julian Lennon drawing that inspired the title of Lucy in the ‘Sky with Diamonds’ alongside a photo of the four year old “Lucy” that Julian had in mind as he created the name and drawing will give any Beatlemanic a stiffy. Before reading A Hard Day’s Write, I actually looked up about half of the Beatles songs on Wikipedia to compare what wikipedia had to report versus what Turner had to report. Although by necessity there is some overlap, overall Turner digs a bit deeper on most occasions and is able to create a bit of a narrative arc. Whereas wikipedia seemed to repeat itself a bit and was—by nature—without an overall narrative arc.½

really cool for us true Beatles fan!½

What comes to mind when I mention a banker with a motorcar? Don’t most bankers have cars? Yes, but you probably thought of the same banker that I did. Have you ever heard of little Lucy O’Donnell? You know Lucy. She’s Julian’s friend from school. Have you seen Julian’s drawing of Lucy … in the sky with diamonds?

Some words and phrases stick in our minds forever. When they’re attached to universally known melodies, it’s difficult to even read the words without playing the music in our heads.

That happened dozens of times as I read Steve Turner’s A Hard Day’s Write: The Stories Behind Every Beatles Song. Very few lyrics appear in the book, but song titles and even short phrases (newspaper taxis, blue suburban skies, yellow matter custard) launch personal soundtracks.

Sometimes I feel I was born with Beatles music pre-programmed in my head. It’s always been there. Mention Blackburn Lancashire and I start humming the tune. I can’t help it.

But these songs had to be written first. Where did they come from? What motivated John Lennon and Paul McCartney (and in some cases George Harrison and Ringo Starr) to pen more than one hundred classics? Turner can probably answer those questions better than anyone this side of McCartney himself. He conducted interviews with the musicians and many of their real-life inspirations. He also dug through countless resources to compile an exhaustive collection of lyric origins.

John and Paul found creative sparks everywhere: newspaper stories, a vintage circus poster, an affair, a breakup, a Corn Flakes commercial. Often they’d be inspired by an interesting phrase. Paul latched onto the sound of “meter maid” after hearing it spoken by an American friend, just as he did when a chauffeur told him he was working eight days a week. Penny Lane, of course, was a neighborhood in Liverpool and Strawberry Field was an orphanage in Woolton.

Some stories were familiar to me [Paul awoke with the tune for "Scrambled Eggs" -- later known as "Yesterday" -- in his head] but many others were complex ["A Day in the Life" was a combination John's fictionalized account of a real friend's death fused with Paul's unfinished song about going to school in the morning], or simply strange [using intentionally confusing words, John strung together three songs-in-progress for "I Am the Walrus" to complicate the efforts of a schoolmaster seeking meanings in Beatles music]. I could go on, but Turner’s book tells these stories much more completely than I can.

I found the origins endlessly fascinating for what they revealed about John and Paul’s musical abilities, too. Many times the rock-n-rollers would invent an entire song around a guitar riff or chord. Other times they would simply decide to write something in the style of Smokey Robinson, the Shirelles, Ray Charles, or Bob Dylan. Viola! Have you ever noticed the Beach Boys-style harmony in the chorus of “Back in the USSR”? There’s a reason it’s there.

Turner arranged the songs in the order their albums were recorded. That gave me a further sense of the creative evolution and stylistic phases Lennon and McCartney passed through during the Beatles years.

First published a decade ago, and reprinted recently with new interviews and facts, A Hard Day’s Write came to my attention only last month in a Seattle bookstore. All the songs are covered, though not all thoroughly. That was okay. Reading this book was an extremely enjoyable trip through the Beatles songbook.

Find more of my reviews at Mostly NF.