
Regular Price:
$19.95
|
| |
Dear visitor! This website has been designed to help you find THE BEST PRICE. When you are ready to buy, your payment will be processed through one of the most TRUSTED SUPPLIERS directly. Thank you for shopping with us!
|
Customer Review
Underrated-Not Afraid to Criticize AND Praise
I can't speak to the accuracy of every detail in this book, but I found the commentary and analysis to be very informative and entertaining. Riley, unlike many authors who cover subjects of pop culture, isn't afraid to approach the music with a loving but critical eye. I really don't need to read another author fawning unconditionally over The Beatles. Riley doesn't present his interpretations as fact, and seems to respect his readers enough to give them the credit to know that these are his opinions. Some of his writing on the music is a bit technical, but that's hardly the focus of the book, and would certainly be useful to a musician or someone fluent in music theory. Likewise, his writing is sometimes a bit lofty and convoluted- this often reads as if it were an academic work. But it's far from unreadable, and offers an all-encompassing, song by song, sometimes lyric by lyric, analysis of The Beatles (plus a few of their solo works). The music obviously speaks for itself,...
Top to learn more
March 8, 2004
(St. Louis) | Helpful Votes: 15 | Rating: 5
Underrated Analysis of Beatles Music
Riley's survey of the Beatles albums and singles is one of the most enlightening books on the subject. As a survey of The Beatles' music, the book cannot be faulted for failing to dig into the musician's personal lives. Some critics of the book complain of the technical language, but unlike the journalist who praised the "aeolian cadences" in "Not A Second Time," Riley is aware that The Beatles were untutored, basically intuitive musicians. His language is that of a musically educated person, not that of a pompous intellectual critic (of music or books), and Riley clearly worked hard to keep the analysis from flying over the heads of his anticipated readership, though perhaps he shouldn't have bothered. A reader may disagree with Riley's judgments about some songs and albums, but the author never fails to justify his opinions, and usually he offers some new insight into these now-venerable recordings. Best of all, Riley doesn't buy into the popular...
Top to learn more
January 23, 1999
| Helpful Votes: 15 | Rating: 5
Tell Me Why, Indeed!
This book is brilliant, if not quite what I expected when I picked it up. I expected, I suppose, something much closer to "A Hard Day's Write": Stories behind the songs, tales of recording and inspiration. What I got was far better; a song-by-song, album-by-album, single-by-single, MUSICAL analysis of the Beatle's catalogue.I emphasize the word musical because this book is heaped with music theory. The effects of unresolved sixths, diminished ninths, dominant and subdominant chords and progressions... if you're not familiar with any term I just mentioned you might be getting in over your head. But, to his credit, Riley sticks to the specifics of each song that his meaning becomes clear as soon as you listen to what he's writing about, regardless of how much music theory you know.Riley's analysis of "Revolver" is spectacular, and I appreciate his nerve to finally come out and say that "Sgt. Pepper's" ISN'T the Beatles' best album (it's about time that myth was...
Top to learn more
December 29, 2004
| Helpful Votes: 12 | Rating: 5
Product Description
A unique combination of musical analysis and cultural history, Tell Me Why stands alone among Beatles books with its single-minded focus on the most important aspect of the band: its music. Riley offers a new, deeper understanding of the Beatles by closely considering each song and album they recorded in an exploration as rigorous as it is soulful. He tirelessly sifts through the Beatles discography, making clear that the legendary four were more than mere teen idols: They were brilliant innovators who mastered an extremely detailed art. Since the first publication of Tell Me Why in 1988, much new primary source material has appeared—Paul McCartney's authorized biography, the Anthology CDs and videos, the complete Parlophone-sequenced albums on CD, the Live at the BBCsessions, and the global smash 1. Riley incorporates all the new material in an update that makes this a crucial book for Beatles fans.
Top to learn more