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Tell Me Why: The Beatles: Album by Album, Song by Song, the Sixties and After |  | Author: Tim Riley
Publisher: Da Capo Press
Category: Book
List Price: $19.95
Buy Used: $4.14
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Seller: _beaglebooks_
Rating:  33 reviews
Sales Rank: 387317
Media: Paperback
Pages: 475
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.5 x 1.3
ISBN: 0306811200
Dewey Decimal Number: 781
EAN: 9780306811203
ASIN: 0306811200
Publication Date: May 2002
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Features:
| • | ISBN13: 9780306811203 | | • | Condition: NEW | | • | Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark. |
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Product Description
A fully updated and revised edition of the classic album-by-album, song-by-song study of the Beatles. 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, 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 BBC sessions, and the global smash 1. Riley incorporates all the new material in an update that makes this a crucial book for Beatles fans.
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 33
 Smart but uneven August 21, 2009
Ronald L. Levao (Princeton, NJ)
I admit I've only read around in the book and I've liked much of it--Riley listens closely, thinks about his own reactions, and is not afraid to get out the analytic tools to parse those reactions. But smartness does at times turn to smarty-pants; there's a pleasure taken in penning sophisticated-sounding objections that seem sharp, but really miss the point of the songs' musical and verbal adroitness and playfulness. All-in-all, a book worth thumbing through, and now that it's available used, certainly worth owning. But be prepared to say "oh, come on" occasionally.
 Silly April 28, 2009
Rudyard (Salt Lake City)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
It was hard for me to get through the fawning and the pomposity. The Beatles were not T. S. Eliot. They were brilliant songwriters and musicians and they meant a lot to their generation, self-included, but they were (at their best, anyway) very unselfconscious about it.
I suspect they would have laughed at someone like Riley going on about their meaning and motivation without actually asking them. And, by the way, the number of mistakes in the first edition was incredible. For someone who posed as an authority, getting the title of 'How Do You Do It?' wrong, getting so many lyrics and simple facts (like who played what) wrong, etc. - it's just hard to understand.
If you really want to learn about the music, read Walter Everett's books instead. They're much more informative. And if you want to learn about what they were really like as personalities in the studio, read Geoff Emerick's book.
 I've read better March 6, 2008
Box
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I think this book is a bit inconsistent, as other reviewers have pointed out, and often has factual errors. By inconsistent I mean he spends many pages on one song and then dismisses another in a few sentences. The author's biases and personal taste are apparent in these instances, and the reader loses out on decent critical analysis for the songs the author deems trivial. There are also factual errors throughout the book (though he may have corrected them in the most recent edition - I have only read the first edition): for instance, attributing certain instrumentations to the wrong Beatle (i.e., the "Taxman" solo to George), just flat out quoting the lyrics wrong (i.e., misquoting the line as "shook" instead of "shoot me" in "Come Together"), or misrepresenting the meaning of a song (i.e., "A Day in the Life").
For all its faults, there is a little insight into the Beatles' music contained within, and it's always interesting to hear others' perspectives on the Beatles, but I would not consider this book to be definitive in any respect.
Getting the Beat out of the Beatles May 2, 2007
K. Tokuno
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I did not like the Beatles when I first heard them in high school, but by the time Sgt. Pepper came out, I had matured enough to discover that they were a very special phenomenon. Now there are so many books about them that it is hard to know what to read to get the best sense of their contribution to music. I recommend Tim Riley's book for that purpose. The best thing about this book is that it will increase your sensitivity to the Beatles creative art as you listen to their songs. If you pay attention, you will be able to hear the way Paul brings the bass in to support the lead guitar or to counter the drums. You can hear how Ringo changes the beat in accord with what the song is trying to convey, and you have a better sense of how the words and music work together.
As other reviewers have noted, it does require some knowledge of music, notably chord theory, to understand some of the details, I do not think it is entirely necessary. I know just enough about chords to understand major and minor changes and what they mean to the music, but I get lost when he goes into descriptions of the tonic and dominant. You will also need to know a lot about percussion, because he refers not generally to Ringo's drumming, but to what he is using (high hats, tom-toms, snare, etc.). It is clear from this book that Ringo contributed more to the group than he is usually credited with doing. He is the one, according to Riley, who was able to subdue his ego and try to keep everything together with his beat and ability to complement everyone else.
Riley likes John Lennon the best and tends to favor whatever Lennon did, albeit not uncritically. He gives Paul a rougher time, putting down any song that lacks an edge or an angle as another "silly love song" unless it rises to the level of a standard such as "Yesterday." Unlike other reviewers, I did not find his analysis of George Harrison's contribution to be all that insulting, but I do think he understated Harrison's contributions as a forward looking instrumentalist. Riley has a low opinion of the vocal abilities of both Starr and Harrison, but it is true that both (and a lot of other singers) suffer in comparison to both Lennon and McCartney, whose vocalizing was overshadowed by their composing talent.
You also need to understand that he is writing his opinions of the meanings of the lyrics and the reasons the Beatles did certain things musically. His bias shows clearly. He admires the group and his disappoint over some of their less than stellar creations is palpable. It is a very high standard that they set for themselves and, although Riley acknowledges the timeless nature of their best work, he is scathing in his criticism of their more mediocre efforts. Bruce Greenfield's review is correct in saying that Riley pontificates a bit too much. I also found it irritating that he claims to know exactly what the lads were trying to do with each note and word. Again, these are only Riley's opinions. Another problem I had with that is that he goes into great detail on the songs he likes and admires, but if a song does not measure up to that, he will give it a sentence or two, dismissively.
I found value in the book from his ability to explain some of the innovations the Beatles developed from the very beginning of their career. A few of these are almost common knowledge to rock fans, such as the use of feedback at the start of "I Feel Fine" to George Harrison's introduction of the sitahr. There are some very good insights that never occurred to me, though. Riley points out that the lyrics to "She Loves You" break new ground in that although it is sung in the first person, the singer is speaking to a friend rather than to the listener. Their music conveys a sense of excitement and joy in carrying this good news. Another example is from McCartney's bridge in "Day in the Life," which is marked by a quicker sharper beat from Ringo. Riley notes that this beat evokes the "corporate precision" of every day life, but notes that while this may seem like waking from Lennon's nightmare verses, it becomes hard to tell who is singing about the real nightmare.
You really have to listen to the song while reading the book and even then, it is often hard to hear what Riley is writing about. He devotes a lot of words to explaining how different sounds come from the right, left or center in stereo, but I found it hard to detect these even after numerous playing. Perhaps, as others have pointed out, it is very hard to hear without the 1982 masters.
Riley uses the albums that were originally issued on Parlophone and neither the US Capitol releases (which were a greedy manipulation of the buying public while sacrificing the art of the Beatles created in sequencing the songs) nor CDs. Younger readers will have difficulty relating to his idea of endings and beginnings of vinyl sides, which CDs have rendered meaningless.
In the second edition, Riley gives a bow to Mark Lewisohn's book "The Beatles Recording Sessions," which is a description based on Lewisohn's hearing of all of the Beatle's master tapes. This book has its own insights and I would recommend it as a less harsh book than this one. Riley did not have the use of Lewisohn's book in writing "Tell Me Why," and it is clear that he would have benefited from it. The two authors disagree on a number of points so it would is useful to have the balance of their opposing views.
 A Celebration of The Beatles' Music. April 4, 2007
Beatlefansincethen
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I loved this book. I don't know why so many people seemed to have a problem with it. Tim Riley is a knowledgable music critic,schooled in musical theory and an expert on classical music. He also absolutely adores the Beatles' music. With very few exceptions,he loves everything they ever did and tells,in great detail exactly what it was musically,that made them so special. Each and every song from Love Me Do to Let it Be,just like the title says,album by album, song by song. Actually,my love of the Beatles' music is a viceral thing. From the moment I first heard the opening chords of I Want to Hold Your Hand,this music seemed to enter my blood stream. I still get the same feeling whenever I listen to certain favorite songs,or hear their voices in harmony. But I never understood it in musical theory terms. The chord progressions, changes from major to minor chords in the same song, this had never been done before in pop music, only classical,until the Beatles. This is what excited everybody about their music but only other musicians can describe it accurately. Us lay people just think, "that song makes me cry" or "wow, I've never heard anything like this before". Riley dissects each song,practically note by note,every guitar lick,bass line, and drum fill. He particularly loves Rubber Soul and Revolver sighting them as two of the greatest albums of all time. He also loves Please Please Me, With the Beatles, and A Hard Day's Night. So he doesn't just give their later music a lot of acclaim,which would have been annoying. He feels that all of these albums were important, along with Abbey Road and the White Album. He describes them in a way that makes you think of them as little works of art. Each one pivotal and ground breaking in their own unique way. He also describes why each Beatle was wonderful and essential to the greatness of each song and album. He never lets you forget that they were an ensemble. He worships John and Paul's singing, calling McCartney's voice, "peerless". He details their songwriting and George's. He talks about how BOTH Lennon and McCartney were melodists, not only McCartney. He points out Paul's melodic,inventive bass lines,George and John's brilliant guitar work (not just George's like other books have). And he loves Ringo,calling his drumming underrated, because it was. He goes into so much detail about Ringo's drumming that it made me sit up and take notice of it also. Listen to 'Rain' and 'Ticket to Ride' and Ringo's live drumming, which he also loves. He dissects the Live at the BBC cds, and after reading that long section,I've begun to listen to all the things he hears on them. I see what a great live band they were. This book made me listen to their music from a fresh perspective, and I realize that I never really HEARD their music until now. There is so much going on, on their records. So much to listen to. While reading this book you need to have a cd player handy and a good pair of head phones with a bass booster. You need to be able to hear what he's talking about. In this new edition there is a section added which details the 3 Antology CDs, Live at the BBC,and others that have been released since the first edition of this book came out, in 1988.There is also a section on the solo records. You don't have to be a musician to enjoy this book either. You just have to be a fan of Beatle music.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 33
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