McCartney Times

Ribbons Of Rust: The Beatles’ Recording History In Context: Volume 1 – July 1954 Through January 1963

The story of The Beatles has been covered thousands of times in books, memoirs, discographies, and academic tomes. And yet, many of these works focus on their history with little regard to how they experienced their own times. The artistic entity comprised of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr, along with producer George Martin, did not operate in a bubble: they were inspired and challenged by the sounds going on around them.

Ribbons of Rust: The Beatles’ Recording History In Context presents their story like never before, interactively immersing you in the sounds of the music they listened to and created along with the times they inhabited. Richly illustrated with period ephemera throughout, this first volume of takes you along with the four individuals who became The Beatles, from the first inspiring sounds they heard to those nascent original compositions and covers they committed to recording tape (composed of iron oxide bonded to polyethylene terephthalate—“ribbons of rust”).

Best-selling, award-winning authors Robert Rodriguez (Revolver: How The Beatles Re-Imagined Rock ‘n’ Roll, Something About The Beatles podcast) and Jerry Hammack (The Beatles Recording Reference Manual series) take you back to Liverpool and to the rough and tumble red light district of Hamburg, where The Beatles developed a sound that drew upon their own resources and their deep love of records—American rock ‘n’ roll to be sure—but also traditions that went back far within their own culture, reaching the destination of a recording contract at EMI.

Volume 1 – July 1954 Through January 1963 invites the readers into the post-war era of deprivations in England where kids reaching adolescence had their world rocked by the twin sensations of Lonnie Donegan’s skiffle and Elvis: two phenomena that set a generation down a path of musical (and personal) discovery. The Beatles’ road to stardom has rarely been described with such attention to what was going on around them: the British music scene and stars of the day that they followed as they found their way to reach their goal, making a record themselves. And every “ribbon of rust” along the way is described in detail. You are in the room with them, from the first Liverpool recording at the Percy Phillips facility to Forthlin Road, their Hamburg sessions with Tony Sheridan, Decca and, Parlophone.

John Lennon once said of the period, “You shoulda been there!” Ribbons of Rust is your opportunity to take that ride into The Beatles’ world, every step of the way, with an all-compassing telling.

You can buy the book here…

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