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Yeah, yeah, yeah

All you need is Beatleology
by
June 2010, issue no. 322

The Cambridge Companion to The Beatles edited by Kenneth Womack

Cambridge University Press, $59.95 pb, 316 pp

Yeah, yeah, yeah

All you need is Beatleology
by
June 2010, issue no. 322

Winner of the Independent ‘Music Book of the Year’ for 2009,The Cambridge Companion to The Beatles is a collection of thirteen essays dedicated to arguably the most significant pop/rock group of the last century. It follows such recent tomes as Walter Everett’s two-volume The Beatles as Musicians (1999–2001), Devin McKinney’s Magic Circles (2003), the Beatles’ self-penned Anthology (2000), Kenneth Womack’s and Todd F. Davis’ Reading the Beatles: Cultural Studies, Literary Criticism, and the Fab Four (2006) and Olivier Julien’s Sgt. Pepper and the Beatles: It Was Forty Years Ago Today(2009). One might, therefore, question whether yet another substantial volume can add anything of interest – in fact, some of the contributors to the Companion also appear in Julien’s book – but the Companion is a most worthwhile addition to ‘Beatleology’. All chapters have merits, but as the contributors come from a variety of disciplines, the overall tenor of the volume is uneven: some pieces (such as Bruce Spizer’s unreferenced ‘Apple Record’) are aimed at a general audience, while others (such as Walter Everett’s ‘Any Time at All: The Beatles’ Free-Phrase Rhythms’) are suited to musically literate readers. Inevitable overlap in information occurs at times.

Linda Kouvaras reviews 'The Cambridge Companion to The Beatles' edited by Kenneth Womack

The Cambridge Companion to The Beatles

edited by Kenneth Womack

Cambridge University Press, $59.95 pb, 316 pp

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