Plenty of Beatlemaniacs out there will snap up pretty much any Fab Four-related product, whether it's good, bad, or indifferent. Composing the Beatles Songbook falls somewhere in the middle: fans will hear no new music, see no clips that aren't available elsewhere, or revel in any major revelations, but the presentation is first rate overall, with a solid roster of participants. Spanning the time frame from John and Paul's first meeting in '57 through the release of Rubber Soul in '65 (the filmmakers' unexplained decision to stop there means, of course, that songs such as "Eleanor Rigby" and "Hey Jude" go unmentioned), the documentary examines a variety of familiar topics: the different inspirations each brought to the table (Paul was the more outgoing and pop-oriented of the two, while John was more inward, subversive, and unpredictable), and the way those influences were revealed in their tunes (Lennon's "A Hard Day's Night" and McCartney's "Can't Buy Me Love" are contrasted); the influence of Bob Dylan on their writing, John's in particular; Lennon's gradually more personal lyrical approach, and so on. Too-brief clips of Beatles performances from their concerts, movies, and TV appearances merely whet the appetite for the complete versions, but the real issue is this: as great as Lennon and McCartney were—and no other team, be it Brecht/Weill, Bernstein/Sondheim, Leiber/Stoller, Ellington/Strayhorn, or anyone else, surpasses them—their medium was the popular song, an artform that neither begs for nor much benefits from scholarly analysis, no matter who's providing it (here, including musician/producer Klaus Voormann, author Barry Miles, and critics Robert Christgau and Nigel Williamson). Overall, however, this is a strong optional purchase. Aud: P. (S. Graham)
Composing the Beatles Songbook: Lennon and McCartney 1957-1965
(2008) 80 min. DVD: $19.95. Music Video Distributors (avail. from most distributors). Volume 23, Issue 3
Composing the Beatles Songbook: Lennon and McCartney 1957-1965
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