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I have a pre-release copy of Spitz's biography on the Beatles, which I received as a gift... and began reading it with no small amount of skepticism. The Beatles have been chronicled in so many ways for so many years that I didn't know that there was any new gold to mine in that vein.
I was pleasantly surprised by what I found. Most books about the Beatles are so breathless in their worship of them as 'golden gods' that you never see them as the flesh and blood young men that they were. And then there are the sleazy headline hustlers who aim to shock with lurid narratives that dwell on any possible whiff of scandal. And then there's the Beatles Anthology, a definitive collective autobiography - but can anyone create an objective account of themselves?
I found Spitz's book to be very readable, balanced and insightful. The Beatles (and Brian Epstein, their manager) are shown with all their flaws and blemishes, but not in such a harsh light as to demonize them. And their gifts and charisma are also on display... but not in such a way as to exaggerate or deify them.
Spitz did an astounding amount of research and found fresh anecdotes and insights from people beyond the immediate circle who surrounded the Beatles... and who have been so endlessly cited in other biographies.
Amsden's impatience with the detail of this work is evident from his review, as is his disdain for a subject that he relegates to the realm of juvinile hero-worship. For me, my days of adolescence are long past... but I do recognize the Beatles' seminal contribution to the cultural history of the 20th century and to popular music, as well as having a nostalgic interest in the subject.
No biography is going to dissect the magic of the collaborative genius of Lennon and McCartney... but this one does shed more light than might have been expected at this late date on these men and their era, and the events that shaped them... and which they shaped in return.
