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Library Journal

(by Lloyd Jansen, Stockton-San Joaquin Cty. P.L. CA) (Library Journal, October 1, 1999 p.82)
[publisher's note: This is a review of the first edition, 2nd printing]
 

Goldmine

In all, more than 40 individual U.S. and U.K. Beatles albums are dissected, transformed and reassembled before the reader's eyes. To achieve this, the author has employed a variety of visual layouts in which to present this material. For every LP there is an Album Contents Table, consisting of CD track number, LP side and cut number, song title, running time and composer credit. Cover versions also list the original year of copyright to indicate how recent the influence was on The Beatles. Each album also includes a special Comments section, containing or more paragraphs of information relative to the LP and its contents. Also featured is the Label And Sales Table, indicating original record label, catalog number (for mono and stereo, where applicable) and gold and platinum record award data.

Without question, the main attraction of this work centers around the transformation of the group's original British records into their American counterparts (largely at the hands of Capitol Records). To successfully illustrate the paths taken by these recordings, the author has devised a clever set of display tables (coined "fan-ins" and "fan-outs" since each resembles a hand-held fan), in which the reader can literally follow the arrows from table to table, tracing the route of these songs as they made their way from EMI Records in England across the Atlantic to Capitol Records in the United States. These "fan-ins" and "fan-outs" should prove very helpful, especially for younger fans who may be less familiar with the original U.S. vinyl albums. Even the more serious Beatles scholar or first-generation fan will be pleasantly surprised how useful and even entertaining many of these displays can actually be.

Somewhat less successful is the Chart Performance Graph accompanying every LP. This is essentially a line graph, tracing the rise and fall of the album on the Billboard album chart. Not surprisingly, almost every album rises to (or near) the top of the chart in the earliest weeks and then begins its gradual downward descent, until it eventually drops off the chart many weeks later. Entry date and position is listed for each release, along with the peak position attained. However, the remainder of the chart positions are visual approximations, since it is impossible to ascertain the individual weekly rankings utilizing a line graph. Nevertheless, this is the first Beatles book to employ such a visual technique for tracking a record's chart run.

Several appendices and additional information tables are also included, among them: U.K. and U.S. releases and timelines, compact discs, U.K. and U.S. singles, U.K. EPs, Vee-Jay Records releases, Vee-Jay Records company relationships and lawsuits, Top U.S. chart positions, RIAA and Grammy awards, Cash Box album chart graphs, Billboard and Cash Box chart performance tables, Song-to-LP and CD list (a total of 214 Beatles songs), and a glossary of useful terms.

Although much of the material featured in The Beatles U.S. LPs has been presented elsewhere before, having all of this cross-referenced record data available in one single volume is certainly a helpful plus, and the numerous displays, charts, graphs and tables certainly makes for one of the more interesting and unique Beatles books to appear in quite some time.

(by Mark Wallgren in Goldmine #497, August 13, 1999)
[publisher's note: This is a review of the first edition, 1st printing]