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RR 2011/284 The Cambridge Companion to the Beatles Edited by Kenneth Womack Cambridge University Press Cambridge 2009 ISBN 978 0 521 86965 2 (hbck); ISBN 978 0 521 68976 2 (pbck) xxiii + 316 pp. £55/$90 (hbck); £15.99/$23.99 (pbck)
Cambridge Companions to Music
Keywords Music, Popular culture
Review DOI 10.1108/09504121111156229
Like the award of the first MA degree in The Beatles, Popular Music and Society from the UK's Liverpool Hope University, the appearance of a volume dedicated to this group in the Cambridge Companion series attests to their unique status and enduring influence. A straddling of two worlds, the academic and populist, characterises this anthology of essays, edited by a professor of English based at Pennsylvania State University's Altoona College. In his introduction, Womack emphasises the "revolutionary" nature of this band, for combining the "muscularity" of rock and roll with nostalgic "reverence for the past" and a "recognition of [both] creative possibilities and the rewards of authorship". The book's aims, to trace the group's history, influences and cultural significance, are clearly expounded. To this end there are some 13 essays from 15 other contributors - mainly fellow US academics, but including a tax attorney. The result is a useful reference work, if a little uneven, characterised by an occasional tension between scholarly and journalistic approaches.
The Companion is prefaced by a Chronology of the Beatles' Lives and Works, from the birth of Richard Starkey (Ringo Starr) in July 1940 to George Harrison's death in November 2001. This is a...