(From page 95: 'The added harmony for this line is C major, the neapolitan of the dominant, B major, pivoting on the held tonic note E as a common tone between E major and C major.')Īdditionally there are numerous factual errors throughout the book, including some that would be considered Beatles 101 (he repeatedly states that George played the solo on Taxman - it was Paul and he attributes Helter Skelter's 'I've got blisters on my fingers' tag to John, when everyone knows it was Ringo). Riley is a highly educated musician and so he can get bogged down in jargon, but if you know what he's talking about I'm sure his descriptions are enlightening. I'm a big George fan, and always thought his off-kilter early tunes made for a nice contrast to the L/McC stuff (and I think ATMP is the best solo Beatles record - Apple Jam notwithstanding). I would agree with most of the criticisms others have made- he seems to have a grudge against George, dismissing most of his songwriting contributions until Rubber Soul, and ragging All Things Must Pass. In it, Riley analyzes the Beatles published output song by song, chronologically.

His current projects include the music metaportal, the RILEY ROCK, and a major new biography of John Lennon for Hyperion, fall 2011.īeen meaning to read this one for a couple years, and finally picked it up at my library. Since condemning the rap group Public Enemy for anti-semitic remarks in his 1990 Boston PHOENIX column, Riley has given lively multi-media lectures at colleges and cultural centers like the Chautauqua Festival on 'Censorship in the Arts,' and 'Rock History.' His first book, Tell Me Why: A Beatles Commentary (Knopf/Vintage 1988), was hailed by the New York Times as bringing 'new insight to the act we've known for all these years.'Ī staple author in college courses on rock culture, he gave a keynote address at BEATLES 2000, the first international academic conference in JyvÃ¤skylÃ¤, Finland. He was trained as a classical pianist at Oberlin and Eastman, and remains among the few critics who writes about both 'high' and 'low' culture and their overlapping concerns.īrown University sponsored Riley as Critic-In Residence in 2008, and in 2009 he began teaching multi-media courses as Journalist In Residence at Emerson College in Boston.

NPR CRITIC, AUTHOR, PIANIST, and SPEAKER TIM RILEY reviews pop and classical music for NPR's HERE AND NOW, and has written for the HUFFINGTON POST, THE WASHINGTON POST, SLATE.COM and SALON.COM.

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