Visualizing The Beatles: A Complete Graphic History of the World's Favorite Band

by John Pring, Rob Thomas

Overview

Foreword by Rob Sheffield
Filled with stunning full-color infographics, a unique, album-by-album visual history of the evolution of the Beatles that examines how their style, their sound, their instruments, their songs, their tours, and the world they inhabited transformed over the course of a decade.

Combining data, colorful artwork, interactive charts, graphs, and timelines, Visualizing the Beatles is a fresh and imaginative look at the world’s most popular band. Meticulously examining the songs on every Beatles’ album from Please Please Me to Let It Be, UK-based graphic artists John Pring and Rob Thomas deconstruct:

• lyrical content
• songwriting credits
• inspiration for the songs
• instruments used
• cover designs
• chart position
• and more . . . .

They also break down the success of Beatles’ singles across the world, their tour dates, venues, and cities, their hairstyles, fashion choices and favorite guitars, and a wealth of other Beatles’ minutiae. Visualizing the Beatles also includes illustrations involving the conspiracy theories of the "Paul is dead" hoax as well as A-to-Z lists of every artist or performer who has ever covered a Beatles’ song.

Comprehensive, entertaining, and packed with fun facts, Visualizing the Beatles is a wonderful introduction for new fans and a must-have for devotees, offering a new way to think about this extraordinary band whose influence continues to shape music.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062877130
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	05/01/2018
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	546,530
File size:	120 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

John Pring and Rob Thomas are information designers and founders of Designbysoap Ltd., where they create stunning infographics for organizations as diverse as Google, the Bank of England, Discover,  Yahoo!, and the United Nations. They live in Hereford, England.

Editorial Reviews

04/02/2018
Pring and Thomas, British graphic designers and first-time authors, present a history of the Beatles that manages to add something new to the shelves of books already written about the Fab Four. Through a range of graphic devices—including charts, drawings, maps, concert set lists, and historical time lines—the authors succeed in their stated attempt “to create something beautiful, vibrant, and original from the data their music left behind.” It is one thing to read about the Beatles’ songwriting, but it is another to see striking full-page charts for each Beatles album comparing song keys and instrumentation, allowing readers to see patterns and changes in various aspects of the band’s work and career. Organized chronologically by albums as they were originally released in England—from Please Please Me to Let It Be—the book charts the band’s evolution throughout the 1960s and offers visual treats including a map of “The Beatles First Ever Tour” in 1961 of 25 provincial British cities, and an illustration of the countries where Abbey Road sold more than 10 million copies. This is a volume that will be enjoyed by both hardcore Beatlemaniacs and more casual fans. (May)

Publishers Weekly

...clear, clever, and colorful...Beatlemaniacs old and new will say “yeah, yeah, yeah” to this unique compendium.” — Booklist

“It is one thing to read about the Beatles’ songwriting, but it is another to see striking full-page charts for each Beatles album comparing song keys and instrumentation… This is a volume that will be enjoyed by both hardcore Beatlemaniacs and more casual fans.” — Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

...clear, clever, and colorful...Beatlemaniacs old and new will say “yeah, yeah, yeah” to this unique compendium.

Booklist

...clear, clever, and colorful...Beatlemaniacs old and new will say “yeah, yeah, yeah” to this unique compendium.

Booklist