Jean-Michel Guesdon

from James:

Like a lot folks (maybe even most!), I went through a Beatles phase. In high school, a neighbor sold me his 25-year old vinyl collection of most of their albums (yes, I still have them!). I can remember the first time I heard Sgt. Pepper’s in its entirety. What a record.

Now days, I’m content to sing along with a Beatles song when one presents itself, but I don’t sit down and listen to a whole album much. This book, All the Songs, reignited that passion a bit. After all, show more it’s impossible to read about “Happiness is a Warm Gun” without hearing it…and the other 3 sides of the White Album.

There’s little doubt that Guesdon and Margotin are fans. They talk about details and intricacies that require re-listening. With “Happiness…” for example, they discuss the different instruments used on the various tracks and versions: the fuzz guitar from 0:44 to 0:58…this is real inside stuff.

So what’s new here? Maybe not much, except (as the subtitle suggests), it’s “the story behind EVERY Beatles release.” That’s a lot of songs and a lot of pages: 672 to be exact. There are copious amounts of photos and sidebars and production credits and back stories and trivia. And, refreshingly, attention and detail are given to everyone; sure John and Paul were the heavy hitters, but don’t forget George’s later contributions and others like Billy Preston and Eric Clapton.

All the Songs is a browser’s dream book. You can pick it and up and put it down anywhere. Even if you’re not a fanatic, you’ll still find enough to keep you thumbing through. show less

As a ridiculously obsessed fan of this band, it was only necessary that I would eventually read a book that discussed every single song that they made. I really enjoyed the structure of this book. The authors first give an introduction section to each album where they discuss the history of the band to that point, the context of the album, the instruments used, where it was recorded and produced, etc. After that, they dive into each song on the album and give its genesis and production show more history. Although the book does provide countless facts about the band that I never knew, it was also repetitive and the author's seemed to fluff up passages for songs in order to fill space. Nevertheless, this is a great addition to any Pink Floyd fan's library. show less

Note: I read the first third of this story as a digital ARC from NetGalley, but received the book in print for Christmas, so I finished reading in that format.

This is a hefty, hefty book, but it'll end up being a must-own for Beatles fans. A large portion of the book is devoted to photographs, so it's not a demanding read and there are lots of interesting tidbits for diehard fans, although some of them are common knowledge by this point (eg. John shredding his vocals on "Twist and show more Shout").

Fans with a background in music will find even more to appreciate, as the instruments and technical details are reported for each song. I skimmed over much of this, but I still found much to appreciate. In the future, I want to read each section and listen to the appropriate album to pick up on the small details mentioned by the authors.

This book won't give you the multi-faceted view of the Beatles the way other biographies have, but that is also not the book's intent. I think it works best as a companion to the substantial amount of Beatles literature, and it's definitely an eye catching book to put out on the coffee table.

A small distraction for me was the author's liberal use of unwarranted exclamation points. Not a major concern, but it was frequent enough for me to take notice. show less

Wow. This book is a monster to get through, and it's definitely for Pink Floyd fanatics only, but it's truly an absolute wealth of knowledge regarding every single song on every single PF studio album, as well as some background on the important personalities that helped them along the way, and some info on the albums' creations as well.

Excellent book.