Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #26403 in Books
• Published on: 2005-06-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 544 pages

Mojo
The finest piece of fabs scholarship ever published.

Observer
MacDonald’s inspired critique has become the work against which all other Beatles book are measured.

Nick Hornby
A triumph – compelling, seductive, delightful

Customer Reviews

A superb tome
This book is a wonderful book. The buyer who dismissed this book as "pretentious" must be one of those inverted snobs who is terrified by the prospect of approaching anything in a halfway intelligent manner. Indeed, perhaps the best thing about this book is its lack of pretentiousness - it rightly lambasts some of Lennon's later work (with The Beatles) for the self-absorbed nonsense it is. Author Ian Macdonald correctly sees Lennon and Ono's bag-wearing, acorn-planting antics in the name of peace, however well-intentioned, as inherently arrogant - promoting peace "as if they had personally invented it", as he puts it. On the other hand, he can see through the all-form-and-no-feeling tosh that McCartney was capable of churning out ("Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da", "Maxwell's Silver Hammer", "All Together Now" and so on) too. Sure, a lot of his opinions might grate with a reader - he can come across awfully fuddy-duddy with his intense dislike of what he calls "rock" music as opposed to "pop" music. Sometimes his dismissals of well-loved songs such as "While my Guitar Gently Weeps" get one angry. At other times, his opinions seem downright bizarre - such as when he suggests Prince is the only artist whose output can be compared to The Beatles in terms of artistic worth - I mean, Prince? The little purple guy who plays nine-year guitar solos while preferring to be known by a symbol rather than a name? Surely some mistake... Then again, isn't a good work supposed to provoke reactions, rather than just massage a reader's ego by retelling them their own opinions? And for sheer well-researched, fact-based telling of The Beatles' story through what is surely the best medium - their songs and how they came together (NPI) - this book has not and, I believe, will not be bettered. Sad to learn that Macdonald took his own life. He leaves behind possibly the finest work of analysis written on rock music - sorry, Ian, "pop" music.

You Say You Want a Revolution...
This extraordinary book critiques most of the Beatles' songs. It dissects, analyzes and explains the lyrics of the Beatles' songs; it compliments the intelligence of all readers. Music professionals and novices alike will come away with added information; this is a book that will appeal to all readers regardless of place/proficiency on the musical scale.

This book serves as a time line; the Beatles' achievements and the times they were living in are chronicled neatly alongside Macdonald's analyses of the music. It's general tone is light and upbeat, yet a tone of bittersweet nostalgia underscores much of the passages. "There are places I remember..." John Lennon, 1965 could be the sound track of this book. So could John Lennon's 1968 Anthem of the Sixties, "you say you want a revolution, well you know we all want to change the world..."

Beatle fans and those who love and/or lived through the Dodge Dart Era of the 1960s will love this book. It is so worth reading.

This book's publication concludes on a sad footnote. Ian Macdonald ended his life on August 20, 2003. He had been clinically depressed.

Everything they say is true
Not only the best book ever written about the Beatles, possibly one of the greatest rock tomes ever created. People who deny it are like people who say the Beatles aren't all they're cracked up to be - they're just being contrary for the sake of it. Brilliant.