I’ve nearly finished it (currently at Nov 1962) and tbh I can’t wait to get to the end cos the level of detail is indeed ridiculous, and fucking exhausting too.
I've said this before, but something in the way he wanks on in interview about there being no books that did the Beatles justice before this doorstopper strikes me as disrespectful and self-agrandizing. Yeah that's not a direct quote but it's always the subtext of what he's saying and he never gets sick of intimating how unprecedented his level of research is.
Revolution in the Head is a great book because it is a combination of insight and research. Perhaps Lewisohn manages to strike the balance (let me know) but my gut feeling is that he prefers research for the sake of research. Take the Mal Evans Let it Be example (not sure if this is from the book, but let's roll with it for the sake of an example): does it really matter that it was originally a dream about Mal? In McCartney's mind it quickly became about his mother in the process of writing the song.
The way Lewisohn has alienated himself from the inner circle indicates to me that his book is not worth reading. Dangerous to say, not having read a book, but I wish someone could post a "Top 10 facts worth knowing" from this book which supposedly "sets the record straight". But how can you set the record straight without having a direct line to the thoughts and feelings of the two living Beatles?
All that said, my bias is that I really find it hard to care enough about the Hamburg years to read such a large book that never leaves Hamburg.
