Fab Four FAQ Category:  Music Publisher: Hal Leonard ISBN-10:  1423421388 Type: Non-Fiction Pages: 510 Copyright: 2007 ISBN-13: 9781423421382 The book that all Beatle fans have been waiting for! Whether you're a novice fan or a hard-core, you will learn a ton from this book. This eminently readable yet deeply informative volume brings readers a lively history of every facet of the Beatles' career and music.

Fab Four FAQ (Everything Left To Know About The Beatles...And More!)
**** (four stars)

More to learn? Are you serious?

As any serious Beatles historian will tell you, every area of The Fab Four's career has been completely dissected. In many punter's eyes, it's the end of the line for worthwhile books on the band; what appears now is a rehash of what's appeared previously. For the few interesting new tidbits that (amazingly) still come up, the general consensus is that they'd be best in a pamphlet.

So what is left for the Beatles in print? Fab Four FAQ is a good answer. With a foreword by The Byrds' Chris Hillman and afterword by former Apple recording artist Jackie Lomax, the 510-page lighthearted paperback features a treasure-trove of new and familiar trivia from every facet of The Beatles' career. You have short probing sections on the day John Lennon's mother, Julia, was killed by a drunk off-duty policeman, and an examination of the young Beatles' homes in Liverpool. A very detailed section examines the variations in released songs (hear Ringo's five-tap hi-hat intro on All My Loving, only on the German compilation Beatles Greatest), while there's a look at the mistakes The Beatles made, yet still released (the out-of-tune guitar in I'm Looking Through You, for instance). Enthusiasts will thoroughly enjoy this extremely well-researched book. – Keith Badman

Fab Four FAQ authors note: Keith Badman is the author of several books, including The Beatles Off the Record 1 and 2, as well as The Beatles: The Dream is Over.


www.vintageguitarmagazine.com
What’s more amazing, a musical group with seven years of recorded output that was supremely influential, or the fact that musical historians are obsessed with the group and have published over 1,000 books about the band?

What is it about the Beatles that prompts dozens of new titles each year on some facet of the band, band members, recordings, history, and influence, or, to put it another way, what is left to write?

Rather than look for new material about the Beatles, the authors here try and condense the wealth of information already out there into a more digestible form. And on nearly every account, they succeed.

Organized under a variety of headings that jump back and forth in time, and thither and yon makes for interesting reading. What were the Beatles’ greatest live performances? Their worst moments? The best books about the band? Who was Klaus Voormann? What were the band members’ favorite drugs? Answers to all these and many more questions are found in the 50 chapters and 500-plus pages of fact, trivia, and even supposition about the storied band from Liverpool.

One of the more interesting sections is “Interesting Releases We’d Like to See” which chronicles some of the known (and unknown) Beatles recordings that haven’t been released, even in the flurry of CD reissue/rarities/box set madness that descended over the past decade. The alleged 27-minute recording of the song “Helter Skelter” is not known to have been released in bootleg form but is said to exist and is rather explosive, according to the authors.

More than “just another Beatles book” this one you can pick up, thumb through, and every stop is interesting. – Eric C. Shoaf, Vintage Guitar magazine



http://www.barryrudolph.com/newtoys/toys4/fabfourfaq.html
As a self-proclaimed amateur Beatles trivia expert, I have to say that authors Stuart Shea and Robert Rodriguez get the grand prize for packing in more obscure and arcane information than any of the dozen books I've read on those mad mop-tops from Liverpool--combined.

In a mostly non-linear sequence of 50 short chapters, "Fab Four FAQ--Everything Left To Know About The Beatles...and More" is aptly-named and includes over 200 photos mostly not seen before by the public. There are all the famous stories retold from a more opinionated and speculative point of view than Bob Spitz' documentarian classic "The Beatles".

Fab Four FAQ mostly focuses on the songs as recorded by the Beatles as well as other artists they helped out at the time. Meticulous dated in a timeline, the mood, the "scene" and current world events frame each song story--you get a real feeling of the circumstances that greatly influenced the Beatles's song writing and record production. As a recording engineer, I like that the authors didn't hesitate to recall the new recording technology or new music instruments made available to the Beatles and what songs used them--it seems like the right gear was 'invented' exactly when they needed to use it.

I especially liked the short stories about all the wacky and wonderful characters that came in and out of the Beatle's lives. I also found fascinating the author's choices for ten lists: the ten acts knocked from #1 chart position by the Beatles; ten notable photo sessions; ten Beatle instruments; ten mistakes that slipped on to vinyl; ten recordings that switch musical roles; the ten immortal Beatles performances; ten Beatles moldy oldies; ten records that influenced the Beatles; ten Beatles singles that never were; ten odd covers of Beatle songs; ten songs about the Beatles; ten acts that opened for the Beatles; and ten reasons why Paul must have been dead! With a foreword by Chris Hillman of the legendary Byrds and Flying Burrito Brothers and an afterword by Jackie Lomax. "Fab Four FAQ--Everything Left To Know About The Beatles...and More" is a fun and fast read and has become my first "go-to" reference for settling Beatle trivia arguments. Hal Leonard publications are available through Music Dispatch at www.musicdispatch.com or at: 800-637-2852).