BOOK REVIEW

Robert Rodriguez

Fab Four FAQ 2.0: The Beatles’ Solo Years, 1970-1980

[Backbeat Books]

No act in the history of rock ’n’ roll has been as thoroughly documented and dissected in print as the Beatles, from Hunter Davies’ 1968 authorized biography The Beatles to recent major efforts like Bob Spitz’s The Beatles: The Biography. But just when it seems like every possible angle on the group has been covered, one more writer suffering from zealous Beatles fandom will find a fresh way to tell a tale already told many times over. Robert Rodriguez does just that in Fab Four FAQ 2.0: The Beatles’ Solo Years, 1970-1980, which takes a user-friendly approach to sizing up a decade that found the group’s individual members attempting to build solo careers while coping with the complex interrelationships among themselves and the ever-growing shadow of their 1960s achievements. Fab Four FAQ 2.0 (the logical sequel to 2007’s Fab Four FAQ: Everything Left to Know About the Beatles, and More!)  is made up of brief, snappy chapters that alternate entertainingly between chronological summary and subject-by-subject breakdowns. Rodriguez isn’t afraid to infuse what is essentially a reference book with his own point of view on the group’s solo output, making some contentious but well-reasoned judgment calls about the quality of albums like Lennon’s Double Fantasy and Ringo Starr’s Ringo’s Rotogravure. Fab Four FAQ 2.0 is best thought of as a primer for fans looking to sort through the Beatles’ immediate post-1960s output, but even those familiar with much of this information will find it presented in a fresh and engaging manner.

–Chris Neal