The Last Book I Heard

On my drive back to Montana I listed to the audio version of the recent Bob Spitz biography of the Beatles. I think the first Beatles biography that I read, sometime back around 1970 or 71 was by Hunter Davies, the first "authorized" version of the story. Over the years I've read a couple other books about the group, and lots and lots of magazine articles. The Spitz book is especially strong in its coverage of the years leading up to the group's explosion in the early 1960s. The detail about the boys growing up in Liverpool, how they met, and how they honed their skills in Germany goes beyond what I remember from any of those other sources, and the story is told with the verve of a good novel. The Beatlemania and beyond periods offered many fewer surprises or insights, but at this point it's hard to imagine that anything new (and substantial) is likely to come to light, given how much attention has been devoted to the Fabs over the years. Since I recently saw Ringo in concert, I enjoyed Spitz' concluding summary that he remains Ringo after all these years, which definitely seemed the case from where I sat. As accompaniment on a long drive, this book was perfect, read with great sensitivity by Alfred Molina, by which I mean sensitivity to the semi-dramatic tone established by Spitz and a genuine feel for the essential "Britishness" of the tale. I understand the audio version is an abridgment of the book, so that means I'll probably hunt up the print version at some point to see what I missed. Definitely recommended if you too are a Beatles fan.