The Beatles - Complete Scores
Average customer rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • Tremendous score
  • Complete Beatles Song Library
  • Amazing. Binding easy to fix.
  • Small type no problem
  • Beginners to Cover Bands
The Beatles - Complete Scores
The Beatles
Manufacturer: Hal Leonard Corporation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0793518326

Product Description

A fitting tribute to possibly the greatest pop band ever The Beatles! This outstanding hard-cover edition features over 1100 pages with full scores and lyrics to all 213 titles recorded by The Beatles. Guitar and bass parts are in both standard notation and tablature. Also includes a full discography. The book is packaged in its own protective box. A must-own for any serious Beatles fan or collector!

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars Tremendous score.......2007-09-06

This is GREAT! So happy this was finally released. My husband and I are both musicians. Can't tell you how marvelous it is to watch this score while listening to the Beatles' performances.

3 out of 5 stars Complete Beatles Song Library.......2007-09-01

If you love the Beatles and love music - this is a must have. It is beautiful looking in hard cover and slides into a nice protective sleeve. The print is small and so tough to read. A way around this would be to provide a CD or download capabiltiy with a password so a purchaser could print out a particular song. I would have rated this a 5 with this included. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad to own this -- plus I think its a pretty good value, but I would pay $10 more to be able to download the music or have a companion CD/DVD.

5 out of 5 stars Amazing. Binding easy to fix........2007-08-23

As previous reviewers have said, the transcriptions aren't perfect, but the errors are minor enough that anyone with enough of an ear to notice them can fix them. For the amount that this collection is an absolutely awe-inspiring piece of work, I don't think that a few minor errors should count against it.

Many reviewers have had issues with the binding being too thick and the book too big and cumbersome to balance on a music stand. I fixed this problem by simply taking the book to a copy shop and having them rebind it for me into three volumes. It only cost me ten dollars and it has made my life infinitely easier.

5 out of 5 stars Small type no problem.......2007-07-30

An excellent resource for musicians. The small type mentioned in numerous reviews is not that small and anyone with access to a copier can enlarge the image of any song you happen to be working on. I was impressed that even "Revolution #9" was scored. A very good companion volume to "The Compleat Beatles" that I purchased back in 1982.

5 out of 5 stars Beginners to Cover Bands.......2007-07-18

I've been trying to teach myself guitar for over two years now. Being in my forties, I don't have the time (or talent)to sit with a CD/MP3 player and try to figure a song out. I've purchased other song books, chordbooks, easy play books, etc... Each one falls short in providing not only accurate information, but enough information for a relative beginner to play. This book provides, in my opinion, all the necessary information for a beginner, expert, or cover band to play. Notation, tab, chords, chord fingering and strumming patterns. To date, this is the only book I would recommend.
The Complete Beatles Gift Pack
Average customer rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • And Your Bird Can Sing, So Play Some Beatles!
  • Become a Beatlemaniac
  • Beatlemania Strikes Again!
  • I Think It Must Be Great, BUT ......!
  • This book helped my guitar playing immensly...
The Complete Beatles Gift Pack
The Beatles
Manufacturer: Hal Leonard Corporation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0793519799

Product Description

This set features both Volumes 1 and 2 of Beatles Complete in an attractive hard case with deluxe foil lettering. Includes over 200 classic songs, including: All My Loving And I Love Her Baby You're a Rich Man Back in the U.S.S.R. Birthday Blackbird Can't Buy Me Love Come Together The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill A Day in the Life Day Tripper Do You Want to Know a Secret? Drive My Car Eleanor Rigby The End The Fool on the Hill Get Back A Hard Day's Night Help! Helter Skelter Here Comes the Sun I Saw Her Standing There I Wanna Be Your Man I Want to Hold Your Hand Lady Madonna Let It Be Magical Mystery Tour Nowhere Man Penny Lane Revolution Something Strawberry Fields Forever Twist and Shout and more. A perfect gift for any Beatles fan or collector! 9 x 12

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars And Your Bird Can Sing, So Play Some Beatles!.......2005-08-02

Be sure to get the entire two-volume set. You not only get songs the Beatles wrote, but also their versions of covers they did such as "Kansas City." The sheet music is clear and quite easy to follow, which makes learning the songs easier. Beginners may have some trouble with this, but certainly intermediate players will be able to take off.

The harmonic treatment of the songs is stellar. For those who are "multi-lingual" musically, chords, notes and tabulature is provided. That way everybody who can read at least one form of music can really put this book to good use. I am also delighted that the lyrics are included. That way, people who either don't know all the words or who want to learn them can sing along.

Another excellent feature is that the instrumental sections of the songs are included. This book is a must have. Be sure to check out the Beatles' Complete Scores and the finger pickin' guitar book of Beatle songs as well. However, of the choices presented, this book is your first choice.

Guitar players, make this book your best friend when you want to play and/or learn to play Beatle songs the Beatle way. Not only will you derive a lot of satisfaction, but others will enjoy your playing as well. Don't be surprised if you get lots of requests to play some Beatles!



5 out of 5 stars Become a Beatlemaniac.......2002-05-08

Virtually every Beatles song ever recorded appears in this two-volume set. It includes even some of the Beatles cover songs such as "Kansas City" and "A Taste of Honey".

What you get are the standard sheet music versions of these songs, nicely printed and easy to read. The book is at an intermediate level. Typical Hal Leonard scores: a base line in the spirit of the recording, chords voiced in the center and melody on top. Not always very pianistic, but the songs are transcribed pretty well harmonically. Also tab is included and of course lyrics. Some of the songs include the Beatles solo, fills or intros. For instance the instrumetal part of Polythene Pam, Savoy Truffle or Yer Blues. All the songs I've played so far except "Penny Lane" are in the key they were recorded in. It seems "Penny Lane" is in B, the music is in C.

If you want to know every note the Beatles played, get the "The Beatles Complete Scores" also sold by Amazon.com. However, to me its hard to read and not really playable. So if you just want to just get in and play, this is preferable.

It's quite a luxury to have not just thier hits but all their music together. After playing something like "Let it Be" you can just turn a few pages and delve into something you'd never expect to play like "Piggies", "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" or virtually play through all of "Abbey Road". While the Beatles aren't Gods to me, it really hits you how talented these guys were when you've got it all in front of you like this.

5 out of 5 stars Beatlemania Strikes Again!.......2000-03-11

A great collection of all of the Beatles songs from A-I. A definite must for Beatles fans who would like to learn to play their songs. This book rocks--And so can you!

4 out of 5 stars I Think It Must Be Great, BUT ......!.......1999-05-19

I visited the auction site in WED\19\5\1999. Unfortunately, I didn't buy anything because of the outrageous prices. I believe and garanty that if the prices were lower, this site would be one of the most visited sites on the web. Personnaly I will check constantly to see the prices have been arranged properly.

5 out of 5 stars This book helped my guitar playing immensly..........1999-01-30

Before I read this book I only could play heavy metal power chords... but now I know half the beatles songs (which for me is rather exciting)... It was an extremly helpful book....
The Beatles Complete Discography
Average customer rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • Good book to have.
  • Very disappointed.
The Beatles Complete Discography
Jeff Russell
Manufacturer: Universe
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0789313731
Release Date: 2006-02-07

Book Description

The Beatles Complete Discography is the only one-stop resource that lists all the complete recordings by the Beatles—including full background details for each recording and complete musical credits, as well as reproductions of album sleeves. All this is contained in a compact format that lends itself to browsing or makes a perfect gift. This volume is a fully revised and updated edition of the directory of the Beatles' recorded work from 1961 to the present. It was acclaimed upon first publication as the only resource to list their complete recordings and to give full background details and musical credits for each recording. This updated version is complete and includes everything ever recorded by John, Paul, Ringo, and George—the British albums, the American albums, even the Christmas albums. The Beatles Complete Discography is the perfect companion for any fan or collector!

Customer Reviews:

4 out of 5 stars Good book to have........2006-08-20

This is a small, CD-sized book, but it's very handy to have around for quick referencing. It's full of up-to-date info about all commercially released U.K. and U.S. records and CDs, including details about the recording of songs. Also included are the Hamburg, Decca, and Star-Club recordings. It's interesting to just thumb through this book.

3 out of 5 stars Very disappointed........2006-03-12

I do not like the format! The book is about the size of a CD and for a reference book this makes the print way too small. There are lots of typos. Release dates pending for albums that have been out for years. For a book that they've had so much time to work on it looks as if it was rushed to print. Maybe they should have looked at the last edition. The only thing good I can say is that I like the color pictures and the new additions, ie. Anthologies and Capitol CD's.
The Complete Beatles U.S. Record Price Guide
Average customer rating: Not rated
    The Complete Beatles U.S. Record Price Guide
    Perry Cox , and Joe Lindsay
    Manufacturer: Longman Trade/Caroline House
    ProductGroup: Book
    Binding: Paperback

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    ASIN: 0890190828
    Beatles (Complete Guide to the Music Of...)
    Average customer rating: Not rated
      Beatles (Complete Guide to the Music Of...)
      John Robertson
      Manufacturer: Omnibus Press
      ProductGroup: Book
      Binding: Paperback

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      ASIN: 0711935483
      All Together Now: The First Complete Beatles Discography, 1961-1975
      Average customer rating: 4 out of 5 stars
      • Set the standard for all discographies that followed.
      All Together Now: The First Complete Beatles Discography, 1961-1975
      Harry Castleman
      Manufacturer: Pierian Press
      ProductGroup: Book
      Binding: Hardcover

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      ASIN: 0876500750

      Customer Reviews:

      4 out of 5 stars Set the standard for all discographies that followed........1996-07-31

      Although this volume is now dated, and has been followed by two supplementary volumes by the same authors, it is nice to see that it is still in print. Podrazik and Castleman were the first to take a serious approach to Beatles recordings, and they did much of the original research on Beatles record releases in American and England that was used, revised and expanded upon in later references. There is a notable ingredient of fun in the way this material is presented, which should be considered by some later Beatles discographers who seem to take the business far too seriously. After this volume appeared, all discographies that followed were measured by a new, higher standard. Betty Mitchell
      Complete Guide to the Music of the Beatles (Complete Guide to the Music of...) (Complete Guide to the Music of...) (Complete Guide to the Music of...)
      Average customer rating: 4 out of 5 stars
      • Another In This Great Series
      Complete Guide to the Music of the Beatles (Complete Guide to the Music of...) (Complete Guide to the Music of...) (Complete Guide to the Music of...)
      John Robertson , and Patrick Humphries
      Manufacturer: Omnibus Press
      ProductGroup: Book
      Binding: Paperback

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      ASIN: 0711998825
      Release Date: 2004-05-13

      Product Description

      The indispensable consumer's guide to the music of The Beatles, from their first single Love Me Do up to Let It Be... Naked released in 2003. Features include: An album by album, track by track analysis Informationon when and where the music was recorded A track index for easy reference Special section on compilation albums

      Customer Reviews:

      4 out of 5 stars Another In This Great Series.......1999-11-02

      This is one of the best series of books on popular musicians and this particular book packs in a lot of information into a small size. A lot of this background, however, can be found in the respective CD booklets. Good overview but a bit repetitive. Uses similar pictures to Vol 1.
      The Beatles Album File and Complete Discography
      Average customer rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
      • At the time, First book to Straighten out the Beatles mess
      • Can best be described as historical fiction
      • IT DESERVES TO BE OUT OF PRINT
      The Beatles Album File and Complete Discography
      Jeff Russell
      Manufacturer: Blandford Pr
      ProductGroup: Book
      Binding: Paperback

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      ASIN: 0713720654

      Customer Reviews:

      5 out of 5 stars At the time, First book to Straighten out the Beatles mess.......2004-11-18

      Maybe, as other reviewers stated, there are some inacuracies.
      However, back in 1987, this was the book that told me what Beatles records to buy and what to avoid.
      Stupidly, I went out and bought the Beatles on cassette...which Capitol butchered.

      But the book tells a good story through each of the albums on the history of the Beatles.
      It talks about what were the correct cds to buy (the UK) and what to avoid (The american)
      There was no internet back then. I had one music clerk telling me Hey Jude was a real album (It was, but it was part of the American albums) Even the Rolling Stones Record Guide from 1982 barley mentions to get the first 4 from the UK.
      So thank you Mr. Russell for correctly introducing me to the beatles.
      At this point the book needs to be updated.

      1 out of 5 stars Can best be described as historical fiction.......2000-01-28

      This book is only worthwhile for the discography section. It chronicles The Beatles' album releases on both sides of the Atlantic as at 1982. Most of the other material in the book can best be described as historical fiction. To be fair, this book was published several years before Mark Lewisohn's seminal work Beatles Complete Recording Sessions and The Beatles Anthology. That doesn't excuse several wildly inaccurate pieces of information such as claims that particular songs are other songs rewritten, despite the fact there is no resemblance between them. The author saves the best (or worse) till last, specifically a chapter called Unreleased Tracks which can only be described as bizarre. We are asked to believe that The Beatles recorded such titles as All Together On The Wireless Machine, I Should Like To Live Up A Tree and (I'm not making this up, unlike the book's author) Baa Baa Black Sheep. Hoo, boy. These are only a few of the more offbeat titles in the list which, as Mark Lewisohn's book was to prove, had little to do with reality. We can probably put this book in the same category as the "Paul is dead" rumors. Wildly inaccurate but strangely amusing. Some of the more gullible might be tempted to take it seriously. That is a pity. Common sense and accuracy would dictate that you should give this book a big miss.

      1 out of 5 stars IT DESERVES TO BE OUT OF PRINT.......2000-01-23

      I bought this book in 1982 and at the time thought it to be a good read. It was only after much of the information contained in it was thoroughly discredited that I realised how badly I'd been conned. Much of the "information" comes out of Jeff Russell's head, for example his claim that Baby You're A Rich Man was originally two separate songs called One Of the Beautiful People and Baby You're A Rich Man, and that the track was intended for a possible Sergeant Pepper Vol 2 album. Real fantasy stuff! More alarming is his attempt to put words into John Lennon's mouth, specifically the claim that Lennon didn't like Run For Your Life. All in all a very nasty piece of writing. Let's hope it stays out of print indefinitely.
      All Together Now:  the only Complete Beatles Discography 1961-1975
      Average customer rating: Not rated
        All Together Now: the only Complete Beatles Discography 1961-1975
        Castleman & Podrazik
        Manufacturer: see notes for publisher info
        ProductGroup: Book
        Binding: Hardcover
        ASIN: B000OMS790

        Flowers in the Dustbin: The Rise of Rock and Roll, 1947-1977
        Average customer rating: 4 out of 5 stars
        • Great stories, arguable conclusions.
        • Exposing rock's managed, amateur soul
        • Great history, but stops short of excellence
        • one wise old guy's view
        • All very interesting but not very rock and roll
        Flowers in the Dustbin: The Rise of Rock and Roll, 1947-1977
        James Miller
        Manufacturer: Fireside
        ProductGroup: Book
        Binding: Paperback

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        ASIN: 0684865602

        Amazon.com

        It appears that Flowers in the Dustbin author James Miller has just about had his fill of rock & roll. After chronicling a succession of triumphs in the development of the genre and its allied ancestors and offspring, here the veteran music scribe and editor of the superb first edition of The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll surveys an environment tainted by "the Muzak of the Millennium" and "artifacts of stunning ugliness" (exemplified by Marilyn Manson and Wu-Tang Clan). Miller ponders, "What if rock and roll, as it had evolved from Presley to U2, had destroyed the very musical sources of its own vitality?" The erudite yet eminently readable author doesn't answer his query in these pages, but he does prompt a longing for a time when pop culture moved too fast and impulsively to be processed and packaged.

        Miller makes it his mission to tell the story of the "explosive growth" of rock & roll by recounting creative and commercial breakthroughs, dating from Wynonie Harris's 1947 recording of the jump-blues hit "Good Rockin' Tonight" through the last-gasp mutiny of the Sex Pistols and the death of Elvis Presley in 1977. In between, the development of top-40 radio begets the payola scandal of the '50s, Norman Mailer's "white Negro" becomes the model in a line of ever-more-self-conscious mavericks, and the 1960s trinity of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and Bob Dylan pile remarkable musical and lyrical innovations atop one another like gifted children eager for attention. Once rock had reached its zenith, from the author's perspective, it didn't so much crumble as settle into regurgitated mush. That Miller is able to chronicle these dour developments in such an involving manner is testimony to his talent as a writer and historian, and to the thrill of rock & roll when it's right. --Steven Stolder

        Book Description

        A prizewinning historian and journalist who has covered the pop music scene for more than three decades, James Miller brings a powerful and challenging intellectual perspective to his recounting of some key turning points in the history of rock. Arguing that the music underwent its full creative evolution in little more than twenty-five years, he traces its roots from the jump blues of the forties to the disc jockeys who broadcast the music in the early fifties. He shows how impresarios such as Alan Freed and movie directors such as Richard Brooks (of Blackboard Jungle) joined black music to white fantasies of romance and rebellion, and then mass-marketed the product to teenagers. He describes how rock matured as a form of music, from Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley to the Beatles, Bob Dylan, and Marvin Gaye, defining a decade of rebellious ferment. At the same time, he candidly recounts how trendsetting rock acts from Jim Morrison and the Doors in the late sixties to the Sex Pistols in the late seventies became ever more crude, outrageous, and ugly -- "as if to mark," writes Miller, "the triumph of the psychopathic adolescent."

        Richly anecdotal and always provocative, Flowers in the Dustbin tells the story of rock and roll as it has never been told before.

        Customer Reviews:

        4 out of 5 stars Great stories, arguable conclusions........2007-06-06

        'Flowers In The Dustbin' (published as 'Almost Grown' in the UK) is a significant work. While James Miller seems caught somewhere between the erstwhile rock journalist and the detached academic, it's mostly a very good read.

        Miller is selective in his subject matter, but provides rich detail in that context, neatly exploring the emergence and evolution of the music and its recurring themes. He gives almost equal weight to the artists and the star makers (managers, promoters, producers and disc jockeys), always with due reference to the wider culture of the times.

        (Some of the criticisms in the Amazon customer reviews are facile, to say the least. Miller did not set out to author an encyclopaedia, nor a comprehensive history of the music. Thus, no chapter on Brian Wilson or Stevie Wonder or Van Morrison or Joni Mitchell - pick your own personal hero.)

        Miller makes plausible arguments about rock as a 'finished cultural form' and rightly suggests, to the chagrin of some readers, that the excitement and cultural dominance of rock in the 50s and 60s will not be experienced again. (Part of the excitement, of course, was simply novelty, which - by definition - can't be repeated.)

        What's missing, sadly, is a sense of continuing affection for the music. Miller is jaded and largely disinterested in the music that once made his living. Nor does he seem to believe that, although musical boundaries have blurred, great 'rock and roll' music is still being made. Rock - in its myriad variations - is in great shape and the standard of musicianship has never been better. Jim should get out more.

        5 out of 5 stars Exposing rock's managed, amateur soul.......2006-12-28

        This is an excellent book. Miller takes us to the behind the rock scenes where the real decisionmakers managed and provided our 'authentic' experience. Much of what we want from rock is pretty simple, just rhythm to dance to and some dreams to escape into. But rock's managers hyped it into so much 'more' than that. It's good and refreshing to read something that brings down the overblown edifice that rock is in many minds.

        A key scene in the book is when a be-feathered 'hippie' Jimi Hendrix runs into a record exec who'd known him a couple years earlier as a 'normal' rhythm-n-blues guy. Jimi sheepishly explains, "It's for the show."

        Miller probably should've given punk some recognition that it was intended as a rejection of the indulgent, decorated, overly pretentious rock of the early 70s and late 60s. Yeah, maybe a short chapter on the Ramones woulda been nice. But I can see the point that they never had a big impact, never had the numbers.

        And as for criticism of Miller for stopping at the end of the 70s: I think that is perfect, since the rock 'culture' had really ended, split forever into multiple subcultures. In fact, the split had occurred in the early 70s, but Miller rightly marches on for several of the 'great hopes', the next Beatles, who never panned out.

        3 out of 5 stars Great history, but stops short of excellence.......2004-02-05

        Miller is a great writer, and he conveys an authority about the history of early rock'n'roll that is impressive, but his authority falls off a cliff when he goes past 1975. He has no time for anything recorded after the death of Presley, which means that he essentially snubs everything in the last generation (or more) of popular music.

        Don't be fooled by the subtitle. Even if the book is supposedly about the "rise" of rock music, it is even more about the author's opinion that the music died off as soon as it "peaked." While I can understand the point of view, especially as I get on in years and cringe at most of what I hear on the radio, to imply that rock music died in 1977 is the height of absurdity, not to mention a willful ignorance of history.

        4 out of 5 stars one wise old guy's view.......2002-10-05

        ...

        This whole book is obviously one man's perspective and I didn't agree with all of it, but I respect Miller's choice of emphases and do understand his feeling that rock "died" a long time ago. His is a thesis that is at least internally consistent and does seem to hold together, although admittedly he is free to cherry pick the rock "historical moments" that make it thesis work.

        Any reader is going to find points of disagreement here. I always heard that "Rocket 88" was the first real rock song and I had never even heard of Wynonie Harris. I would have thought that the British blues-rock scene would have merited a little more attention. I would have teased the Deadhead readers about the bloated excess of their idols after about 1973.

        Most of all I would have given a lot more attention to the downtown New York scene of the mid to late 70s that included the New York Dolls, Neon Boys/Television, the Ramones, Blondie, Patti Smith, Talking Heads and so many other bands and personalities. These people invented punk music and also revitalized rock music. There was an enormous underground music scene throughout the late 70s, through the 80s and into the early 90s wherein music was issued by independent labels, played on college radio stations and listened to in small clubs all around the United States. Different college towns successively took centerstage and one or two of their local bands went richocheting onto the national scene, only to be gobbled up by the corporate music industry (R.E.M. is exhibit A) or to implode as their music-first principles collided with corporate unit-moving "principles" (too many examples to mention).

        Where Miller sees one long arcing rise and then an inexorable decline, I see shorter-term cycles. The music industry that we live with right now seems very much like the one that existed between Elvis's induction into the Army and the arrival of the Beatles in the US. Record-making companies hold the reins and one-hit wonders of minimal musical talent make insubstantial music that challenges nothing except perhaps good taste. Miller rightly laments the fragmentation of the once-united youth audience, but it possible that the internet may in the near future allow young people to make an end-run around the corporate shibboleth and "get together one more time".

        3 out of 5 stars All very interesting but not very rock and roll.......2001-05-07

        All very interesting -- a very interesting look at rock and roll as a musical genre co-opted by "the industry" and ultimately rendered soul-less. Can you really call Elvis, Dylan, the Stones and the Beatles or even the Sex Pistols revolutionary when they are being used to generate billions by the establishment against which they were supposedly rebelling?

        Not very rock and roll -- where the hell is Brian Wilson, arguably the greatest writer and producer of rock/pop music of his generation. Pets Sounds gets the one-off treatment in a list with Blonde on Blonde and the Byrds Fifth Dimension. Never mind that a 24 year old kid in California wrote, arranged, recorded and produced this MASTERPIECE by himself (instead of having the wiz, George Martin and his orchestra behind the works like another well known band).
        The Dustbin of History
        Average customer rating: 3 out of 5 stars
        • Trite
        • Provocative essays.
        The Dustbin of History
        Greil Marcus
        Manufacturer: Harvard University Press
        ProductGroup: Book
        Binding: Hardcover

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        3. The Shape of Things to Come: Prophecy and the American Voice The Shape of Things to Come: Prophecy and the American Voice
        4. In the Fascist Bathroom: Punk in Pop Music, 1977-1992 In the Fascist Bathroom: Punk in Pop Music, 1977-1992
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        ASIN: 0674218574

        Amazon.com

        Noted critic Greil Marcus contemplates the connections between history and popular culture in this thoughtful collection of essays. He writes about how the Beat Generation is marketed in a three-CD boxed set and ponders the meaning of John Wayne. He recounts his own personal discovery of the work of blues legend Robert Johnson, provoking the reader to consider how one small thing -- in this case an old phonograph record -- can profoundly change a life. And those who marvel at Marcus' ability for close analysis of the seemingly simple may marvel at his brilliant essay, "Dylan as Historian," which analyzes just one apparently simple yet deeply layered song, Bob Dylan's "Blind Willie McTell."

        Book Description

        "How much history can be communicated by pressure on a guitar string?" Robert Palmer wondered in Deep Blues. Greil Marcus answers here: more than we will ever know. It is the history in the riff, in the movie or novel or photograph, in the actor's pose or critic's posturing--in short, the history in cultural happenstance--that Marcus reveals here, exposing along the way the distortions and denials that keep us oblivious if not immune to its lessons.

        Whether writing about the Beat Generation or Umberto Eco, Picasso's Guernica or the massacre in Tiananmen Square, The Manchurian Candidate or John Wayne's acting, Eric Ambler's antifascist thrillers or Camille Paglia, Marcus uncovers the histories embedded in our cultural moments and acts, and shows how, through our reading of the truths our culture tells and those it twists and conceals, we situate ourselves in that history and in the world. Rarely has a history lesson been so exhilarating. With the startling insights and electric style that have made him our foremost writer on American music, Marcus brings back to life the cultural events that have defined us and our time, the social milieu in which they took place, and the individuals engaged in them. As he does so, we see that these cultural instances--as lofty as The Book of J, as humble as a TV movie about Jan and Dean, as fleeting as a few words spoken at the height of the Berkeley Free Speech Movement, as enduring as a Paleolithic painting--often have more to tell us than the master-narratives so often passed off as faultless representations of the past.

        Again and again Marcus skewers the widespread assumption that history exists only in the past, that it is behind us, relegated to the dustbin. Here we see instead that history is very much with us, being made and unmade every day, and unless we recognize it our future will be as cramped and impoverished as our present sense of the past.

        Customer Reviews:

        1 out of 5 stars Trite.......2004-04-24

        This book is, put crudely, hog wash. It is as not "original" or enlightening in any sense. It is watery and lacks substance or even basic analysis. If you want to understand history in this innovative manner Marcus claims to present then take a intro to sociology class. Nothing in this book even worths mentioning.

        5 out of 5 stars Provocative essays........1997-11-29

        Cultural critic Marcus, perhaps best known for his association with Rolling Stone magazine, presents 26 rewritten and re-titled essays on subjects as various as Paleolithic art and John Wayne, doo-wop and The Manchurian Candidate, his widely informed understanding and highly original insights linking seemingly disparate currents "to reveal what seems to lie beneath the surfaces of ordinary history".
        In his introductory "Sketch", Marcus hopes "some of these stories ... represent ... borders well beyond those within which what we call history is usually situated. All in all, this book means to be about how we situate ourselves in history: how we understand ourselves as creatures of the past and makers of our own present, and our own future - and, by implication, of our own pasts."

        (The "score" rating is a feature of this page. This reviewer does not "score" books.)
        Out of the cultural dustbin: Sentimental musings on art and music in Seattle from 1936 to 1992
        Average customer rating: Not rated
          Out of the cultural dustbin: Sentimental musings on art and music in Seattle from 1936 to 1992
          Hans Lehmann
          Manufacturer: Crowley Associates
          ProductGroup: Book
          Binding: Paperback

          GeneralGeneral | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
          ASIN: 0963556703
          The Dustbin of History
          Average customer rating: Not rated
            The Dustbin of History
            Greil Marcus
            Manufacturer: Harvard University Press
            ProductGroup: Book
            Binding: Hardcover
            ASIN: B000PRWQDC
            The Dustbin of History
            Average customer rating: Not rated
              The Dustbin of History

              Manufacturer: Harvard University Press
              ProductGroup: Book
              Binding: Hardcover
              ASIN: B000HN8S4A
              The dustbin of history
              Average customer rating: Not rated
                The dustbin of history
                Greil Marcus
                Manufacturer: Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1995
                ProductGroup: Book
                Binding: Paperback
                ASIN: B000H7G5LE
                Dustbin of History, the
                Average customer rating: Not rated
                  Dustbin of History, the
                  Greil Marcus
                  Manufacturer: MacMillan
                  ProductGroup: Book
                  Binding: Hardcover

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                  ASIN: 0330349147
                  Flowers in the Dustbin: Culture, Anarchy, and Postwar England
                  Average customer rating: Not rated
                    Flowers in the Dustbin: Culture, Anarchy, and Postwar England
                    Neil Nehring
                    Manufacturer: University of Michigan Press
                    ProductGroup: Book
                    Binding: Hardcover

                    GeneralGeneral | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
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                    ASIN: 0472095269

                    Book Description

                    Explores the connection between high literary culture and popular culture and argues for cultural anarchism as a form of creative resistance.
                    From out of the dustbin: Bakunin's basic writings, 1869-1871
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                      From out of the dustbin: Bakunin's basic writings, 1869-1871
                      Mikhail Aleksandrovich Bakunin
                      Manufacturer: Ardis
                      ProductGroup: Book
                      Binding: Unknown Binding

                      RussiaRussia | History | Subjects | Books
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                      ASIN: 0882336452
                      Into the dustbin of history: The USSR from coup to commonwealth, August-December 1991 : a documentary narrative
                      Average customer rating: Not rated
                        Into the dustbin of history: The USSR from coup to commonwealth, August-December 1991 : a documentary narrative

                        Manufacturer: Academic International Press
                        ProductGroup: Book
                        Binding: Paperback

                        RussiaRussia | History | Subjects | Books
                        Eastern EuropeEastern Europe | Europe | History | Subjects | Books
                        ASIN: 0875691676

                        Book Description

                        A documentary narrative.

                        Books:

                        1. The Cider House Rules: A Screenplay
                        2. The Complete Bluegrass Banjo Method
                        3. The Cramps: A Short History of Rock 'n' Roll Psychosis
                        4. The Culture of History: English Uses of the Past 1800-1953
                        5. The Elements of Music: Concepts and Applications, Vol. 2
                        6. The End Of Cinema As We Know It: American Film in the Nineties
                        7. The Films of Jack Nicholson
                        8. The Hazards of Being Male: Surviving the Myth of Masculine Privilege
                        9. The MacAddict Guide to Making Music with GarageBand
                        10. The Oxford History of Western Music (6 Volume Set)

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