Four Sides Of The Circle: The Beatles' Second Phase, 1970-1974

I lost interest in The Beatles after Let It Be was released and their implosion became media fodder with them complaining about each other [minus Starr]. Too many bad vibes. After listening to their solo stuff off the radio, I felt that old saying about the sum being better than the parts. I only returned after their catalog was getting released on CD. Which lead me to buy some of their solo releases.So this book was interesting to read because it covered the post-Beatles era that I basically blew off during the day. Part reference book and part inside stories, I felt it treated all 4 members equally. You don't sense that the author is bias towards any single member. It's mostly facts and void of any overt fandom. The format does get a little boring at times. Once I got near the 300 page mark, I found myself bypassing the data and reading just the stories.

Long time hard core Beatle fan here. Have bc read pretty much everything out out over the past 25+ years, I can say that this is definitely one of the best books in the subject matter area. Well footnoted, clearly organized and very revealing, Terry steps us through and era that is. It well documented and connects the dots methodically in a way that I always suspected but never saw laid out so well. If you’ve dug into the solo years, this book is a treasure. Very much in a respectful CEI. Of anything that Lewisohn has written. I truly learned a lot and was sad to close it for the last time upon completion. I will certainly tab through the pages again over the years as a reference. Well done!!

The book is full of information I had not seen elsewhere.

Astonishing book, highly recommend!

Very informative

Who’s this writer? Published by who? Never heard of them. So I didn’t expect much. But this is one of the best Beatles books I’ve ever read, and I’ve read a lot. It covers a really interesting part of the Beatles story that is usually missed, and by focusing on the music. This in itself reveals a lot about each Beatle and what they were going through, in a way many purely narrative biographies don’t. They expressed themselves through music after all. This is well researched, well written and insightful and I couldn’t put it down.

Aunque este libro se refiere a un periodo muy breve, en él los exbeatles presentaron sus mejores trabajos y la meticulosidad con la que se trata cada una de las grabaciones que hicieron, junto con varios índices y anexos, da para más de 400 páginas.

I read a lot of books about The Beatles. Some great. Some not so great. I'm pleased to say that this particular book is not only the best Beatles related book I've read this year, but arguably the best of the decade so far. At over 400 pages, the attention to detail is astonishing. Covering the years 1970-74, every post Beatles song by John, Paul, George & Ringo is discussed at great length, with detailed research and accuracy. I highly recommend this book. It's a terrific addition to my ever growing Beatles library.

I’d never guessed the author of the (enjoyable but straightforward) Repackaging the Beatles was such an accomplished musicologist or such a good writer, but here is the proof in this book. There’s one big drawback though, which I’ll come on to in a sec.Generally speaking, it’s a meticulously researched book which lists and talks about - from a variety of angles - all the songs the solo Beatles recorded from 1969 until the end of 1974. It’s a bit like Ian McDonald’s Revolution in the Head, only without that highly opinionated journalist’s occasional forays into deep, dark depressiveness and sudden, searing over-the-top criticism. It’s a highly enjoyable read and has a forever place in my library.Now onto that flaw. It’s a punctuation issue. Some might see that as a small thing, but for me it nearly ruined the book. Basically, the author doesn’t know how to use commas properly, especially when people’s names come up in the text. It’s a bizarre blind spot considering most of the rest of the book is well written. You’ll get sentences like: ‘New Orleans rock and roller COMMA Fats Domino COMMA was 27 when he had his first cross-over hit in 1955’ or ‘McCartney watched local stage singer COMMA Diane Gaffney COMMA being especially struck by her performance of Tangled Mind.’You do NOT need commas around names in these instances (apart from, arguably, the one after ‘Gaffney’). It is plain wrong. The rule is that whatever you have inside the commas could be removed from the sentence and it would still make sense. You can see from these examples that if the name was removed from the sentences they would NOT make sense. If the latter instance said ‘a’ local singer, it would be fine, but not without. Every time I came across an instance of this - and there are MANY - it took me out of the book. I paused, silently cursed at the inanity, and then resumed.It’s a weird error and it’s a huge shame, because this book has a lot to commend it.

This is a solid paperback which goes through the solo output of the four Beatles, track by track, whether released or not.  It covers the period starting with McCartney and ends with John signing the dissolution agreement.  It excludes Electronic Music, Wonderwall, and John's pre-POB efforts.It is researched in depth but, for all the detail included, and there is lots, it remains well-written and an entertaining read.  Depending on the significant aspects of eack track, entries may include any or all of technical details, comments on venues and why, musical information, a critique of merit, and observations as to context within an album, the performer's life, and the widercircumstances affecting them and their erstwhile colleagues.I learned things I didn't know and enjoyed some interesting insights which hadn't occurred to me.Recommended if you're interested in this era of solo Beatles recordings.