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Revolution in the Head

The Beatles Records and the Sixties

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Revolution in the Head

By: Ian MacDonald
Narrated by: David Morrissey, Robyn Hitchcock, Danny Baker, Peter Curran, Matt Berry, David Hepworth, Geoff Lloyd
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About this listen

Regarded as the greatest and most revealing account of how the Beatles recorded every one of their songs, Revolution in the Head is brimming with details of the personal highs and lows experienced by Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, and Starr as they made some of the most enduring popular music ever created.

©1994 The estate of Ian MacDonald (P)2014 Talking Music Entertainment & Celebrities Music
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Suitable for all Beatles’ fans and, in general, music lovers. It’s very opinionated and may not have aged well due to the re-release of the expanded Sgt Pepper, White and Abbey Road albums. Love the Robyn Hitchcock commentary. Would have been fun if Robyn could have made annotated comments. Who was the female narrator? Not overly long, which is a plus.

Worth the listen even if you’ve read the book.

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The first historic analysis of the Beatles corpus. Not your average audiobook - song by song (by album) comments.

They have got together a great range of readers which gives variation to the whole process - it would perhaps be too much with a single voice. Each has a distinct personality.

The only complaint is the metadata - chapters should be named, not simply numbered (eg with the relevant album title). A song index would be great but I imagine impossible.

The opening revolution theory chapter is not surprisingly opinionated and reads as a distinct essay which doesn’t really integrate with the album discussion

Detailed Beatles

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A Great collection of incisive analysis of every songs by one of the greatest bands ever. And their influences in the sixties and beyond.
Well written, although I often found myself impossible to share his views, and narrated, particularly by Robyn Hitchcock.
This audiobook is a joy to listen to.

Yeah, yeah, yeah

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This is genuinely a brilliant read and really a must for Beatles gurus, but even more essential to anyone interested in popular music and culture.

The only criticism is that at times it is a bit pompous and self-indulgent. Certainly this will irritate some readers, but it is a legitimate review.

This is essential reading.

A great read

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A thorough trawl through the entire Beatles catalogue (including unreleased tracks), bringing in some fascinating Beatles and 60s history along the way.

Some of the audiobook narrators are perhaps poor choices, resulting in some lacklustre, even bored-sounding performances in places. I feel it would have been better if they’d used professional narration throughout.

Great book, but not a great audiobook.

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