Bob Spitz - The Beatles Biography [Audiobook]

9.0

The sprawling biography reads like a narrative, making it both endlessly entertaining and vastly inaccurate. Most Beatles diehards have written off this joyful read due to its bias and embellishment. This is perfect fodder for someone willing to trade entertainment for accuracy. Anyone vaguely familiar with the history of the band will recognize a pattern aligned to the interests of fans. Paul and John are given extensive introductions and remain at the forefront of the band, while Ringo's backstory is minimized. Likewise, the majority of detail is devoted to the band's beginnings overseas. The last third of the book reflects the melancholic demise of the band and is considerably less detailed. The result is a lopsided book which shifts its focus as the band's career progresses. For instance, we spend hours on the band's first records but the seminal Abbey Road and Let It Be albums are merely glanced over.

The book is very enjoyable to listen to and Spitz crafts an engaging narrative. Alfred Molina lends his fitting, British voice to the story and successfully keeps the listener's attention. For a biography, the book is never dry or boring. I learned a great deal about the band and its raw early shows, which were toned down and honed in years prior. I also learned that both "lead" Beatles John and Paul were both the two most important songwriters of their time and complete assholes. They cheated on their wives, disregarded their families and made terrible decisions. In other words, they were human. The most interesting aspect of the book is its devotion to the story of the people behind the Beatles. In telling the simple story of four guys who started a band, the author keeps the human aspect of the grandiose tale at the forefront. Therein lies its greatest strength.