The Beatles - Complete Scores Author: Visit Amazon's The Beatles Page | Language: English | ISBN:
0793518326 | Format: PDF
The Beatles - Complete Scores Description
- Hardcover: 1136 pages
- Publisher: Hal Leonard; 2nd Revised edition edition (June 1, 1993)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0793518326
- ISBN-13: 978-0793518326
- Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 7.5 x 2.4 inches
- Shipping Weight: 5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
This book is as good as it gets - period. All titles from The Beatles catalog of British & American releases (during the group's career together) are represented. That's the first major plus of the book - you get The Beatles' arrangements of all their covers from Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, etc. They are great fun to play and many Beatles' versions are better-known than the originals. I know of no other source for these arrangements.
As mentioned by many other reviewers, you get a pretty heroic stab at scoring all the instruments heard on every song. This admirable attempt gets you on the right track (in the right key signature, etc.), but falls short on detail of all but the simplest (usually from the early years) songs. Clearly The Beatles had extensive use of multiple 4 track machines and eventually 8 tracks as they matured. This book "scores" usually only 5 parts. It would be impossible to score ALL the over-dubs and extremely lengthy to include all instrumentation, notes and George Martin's orchestral arrangements. So, I pick a bone with the authors using the title, "The Complete Scores". To me, that term means something very specific which is not appropriate for these types of recordings. The Beatles, George Martin and his engineers were awsome craftsmen. The layers of sounds we hear on the finished records are a one-time snapshot of their creative process - often with somewhat muddy results. For example, "I Am The Walrus" does have a guitar part - pretty lost in the mix and not represented in the book. I just don't think it's possible to get the "Complete" details on these recordings.
To save space, the authors often have you incorrectly play a single part for each verse repeat.
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