Inspired by viewing Ron Howard's recently released Beatles documentary "Eight Days a Week", I picked up the book Beatles '66, published in 2016 by Steve Turner, an author who has written extensively on the group and the mid-late 1960's cultural milieu. Particularly interesting to me was the choice of 1966 as the focus, as it was the pivotal moment in the transformation of the group from lovable moptops to serious musicians. The format of the book is straightforward - it progresses month-by-month from December 1965 to January 1967, going into sometimes extreme detail about the events and non-events of the period. The discussion of the final US tour was interesting (if somewhat already well-documented); the film "Eight Days a Week" had lots of footage of that memorable tour, so it was fun to get another angle on the craziness. It was also personally interesting as I attended their concert in Cleveland as a 12-year-old kid and witnessed one of the most violent Beatlemania riots to ever occur. The discussion of the cultural and intellectual exploration of all four Beatles was informative and it did deepen my respect for their far-ranging and rather undisciplined creative process. The way that the four balanced their own personal growth and contributions to the group was also interesting, as the major fissures that broke up the group started at this time but were managed somehow. In short, for any Beatles fan, the book is a pleasant look at an amazing year in pop culture that is engagingly written.
For a review of the book by The New York Journal of Books, click here: http://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/book-review/beatles
For a review of the book by The New York Journal of Books, click here: http://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/book-review/beatles
