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Showing reviews 1-5 of 8
 All you need is... this book February 19, 2010
E. Shaw (Leeds, England)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I am a lifelong fan of popular music, not obsessed, but obviously adhering to my roots in the 1960s, I still follow the trends and look out for new bands and singers to add to my mp3 favourites. This book is a thrilling addition to anyone's knowledge about The Beatles, but if they never appealed to you, stop reading this review here. I don't want to argue with fans of other music - my tastes are eclectic, but I'm not a relativist and remain unconvinced by comparisons.
This was music I grew up with, music that chimed with my life in a fundamental and unforgettable way. The Beatles were very much of their time and something might have come along after them to displace them in the musical canon. Nothing did, which leaves their music in a unique position. It is now iconic. Whether or not you enjoyed it, you cannot deny its enduring influence on the shape and form of music today. Leaving aside the hysteria that dogged their early years and the violent dissonance of their eventual break-up, they changed the world of music forever.
In this fascinating book Ian MacDonald has put together the musical history of The Beatles as writers and musicians. Not who slept with who, and how Yoko Ono broke them up, such details are relegated to footnotes. From the enormously knowledgeable introduction, perhaps the best essay on The Beatles as a social phenomenon that you will ever have the good fortune to read, Ian MacDonald puts The Beatles in their musical context. It's a gloriously fascinating book and if you still listen, you will listen with more insight afterwards.
 Fascinating but flawed January 26, 2010
R. J. Meeks (UK)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
For any Beatles fan this is almost an essential purchase. The detail that MacDonald devotes to each and every song recorded by the Fab Four is astonishing. Often relating every chord, key change and tempo variation, the approach can be criticised as overly intellectual in places - he points out elements of which I'm sure the Beatles themselves were unaware - but without such attention the book would not be so valuable.
Brief history and events link some of the sections of songs which help maintain the narrative and, together with the eminently readable prose, allow the book to be read in sequence, rather than used simply for reference.
However there are a number of flaws in the work:
1) The Introduction attempts to set the music in its context, but misfires badly, being both over-analytical in some parts and over-simplistic in others. The rest of the text details how it was music itself that most inspired the Beatles, whereas the introduction pretentiously tries to plant all this on socio-economic reasons and wanders off-topic to deal with the new right.
2) Likewise the introduction to the final section is just a laughably prejudiced criticism of any music made since the sixties. MacDonald doesn't actually write "it was much better in my day", but he may as well have done.
3) Sometimes making huge assumptions (at least once making an assumption based on another assumption), the author stretches his credibility a little thin, which causes the reader to wonder about his reliability of his confidently stated deductions.
4) Especially considering there are factual errors present, such as the statement that McCartney did not appear on Harrison's Lennon tribute "All Those Years Ago", whereas most other sources report McCartney as singing backing vocals.
5) The endless notes at the bottom of the page wear thin very quickly. Especially since many could be contained in the text itself and others (lists of songs for example) would be better placed in an appendix.
6) As a book which is essentially a comprehensive review, it comes as no surprise that there are opinions expressed which differ from the accepted wisdom. However some of MacDonald's views tend to the bizarre - ranking Long, Long, Long above "While my Guitar Gently Weeps" and some of the filler on Rubber Soul above "Nowhere Man". Here his prejudices come to the fore: anything approaching the hated style of rock is dismissed. A more considered approach would have been welcome.
All of the above have the capacity to irritate but the book succeeds despite these flaws and I read it almost without a break. If you can put up with the above defects, it comes recommended.
Utterly Brilliant! January 13, 2010
John Woodcock
This is one of the best three books ever written about The Beatles and my favourite. Once you have read it you will listen to their songs with new ears. Maybe I'm cloth eared, but I never noticed the intricacy of the bass playing in "Taxman" until Ian McDonald pointed it out, and that's just one of many examples. The guy was a master of his craft.
Highly recommended.
a great book! December 18, 2009
Vehid Ammary
i thought i was a really great book, because it was written well and also you got all the details you need about the beatles. great for writing an assignment!
The best book on Fab Four ever June 17, 2009
Asko (Finland)
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
This brilliant effort by late Ian MacDonald is my favourite book on The Beatles there is - hands down. The core of the book consists of musical analysis of every single song (approx. 200) The Beatles released, with also some stories behind the songs and, of course, the author's opinions of them.
After reading the book, you should pretty much know, for example, which Beatles tunes were written or mainly written by Lennon and which by McCartney and the ones that were 50-50 collaborations. Sure, most of this information can be found somewhere else too (usually you need only to recognize who is doing the lead vocal), but MacDonald digs a little deeper than others. For instance, it emerges that the music for "In My Life" was very probably written by McCartney even though it is generally considered a Lennon song (lyrically, it obviously is). This is not just based on what Sir Paul has claimed but also on the fact that the song shows more of Macca's touch than Lennon's, and I, for one, believe what MacDonald is saying. And if you don't know which songs were written by Harrison and Starr, well, that will be revealed as well.
And while the book is not underrating John Lennon in any way, it also proves that Paul McCartney is the one who's mostly responsible for those great mid/late 60s albums. I've always liked a bit of mythbusting, and I believe this book is a true eye-opener for many.
If I had to say something negative, it would be the fact that I don't sometimes agree with the author's opinions at all. For example, MacDonald pretty much dismisses songs like Nowhere Man, Across The Universe, I Want You (She's So Heavy), and While My Guitar Gently Weeps which I all like. Also, some other of his opinions raised my eyebrows; I do agree that Helter Skelter isn't very good piece of music, but the way he basically puts down the whole genre of heavy metal is a bit ridiculous to me.
There is no doubt, however, that the book is a tremendous effort from MacDonald, and it should be owned by everyone who is interested in the music of the most important rock group the world has ever known. I myself am not an expert on music theory, but you don't need to be; MacDonald never gets too 'scientific' in my opinion, and you should be able to enjoy the book whether you tend to analyse music or not.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 8
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