The Beatles from A to Zed: An Alphabetical Mystery Tour by Peter AsherMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
There has been so much written about The Beatles. So what makes this title different and worth the read? Peter Asher had a rare front-row seat to the evolution of The Beatles, particularly in the mid-sixties when Paul McCartney was living in the Asher household. With this connection to the band, Asher has more insight and anecdotes than many of the other Beatle-related writers out there. What also stands out from this text compared to others is that you may have already heard some of this if you listen to Asher's shows on Sirius XM's Beatles Channel. If you have, this almost reads like a transcript from one of those shows.
This book takes a different approach by skipping chronological order and making it a little more fun by playing an alphabet game with songs and stories. While some of it may seem a stretch (Z is for zoological, an imaginary zoo with imaginary animals from Beatles songs), it is a clever way to talk about these things that have been talked about so many times before. Some stories have been told many times, some are told from a different perspective, and some are custom-made for a music theory class, but all are fascinating to read.
The only issue I seem to have with the book is that sometimes one story seemed to run into another so fast that I didn't realize I was reading about something else. More line breaks or ways to realize that the story was shifting to the next subject would have been helpful. It's a great title to add to any Beatles fan's bookshelf.
*Book provided by NetGalley
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