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| From | "Scott Shaw" <brynneandscott@cox.net> |
| Subject | Re: Revolution in the head |
| Date | Sun, 14 Oct 2007 00:42:47 -0400 |
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I didn't know of the book, but it sounds like yet another I should own that
I hope to one day have time to read.
One Amazon reader didn't agree with everyone else.
Does anyone feel like he does?
Scott S
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
A harsh, negative piece of nonsense, July 9, 2007
By Chris Federico (Albuquerque, NM) - See all my reviews
I can't begin to articulate how sick I am of seeing my favorite songs
get bashed by critics with bad taste.
Nor can I, for the life of me, understand the positive prior reviews
for this book-length diatribe. The prose further illuminates the uselessness
of the so-called "music critic" -- a job requiring no credentials but
apparently necessitating snide, negative opinions whenever possible, even
when the writer has gone to all the trouble of coming up with an entire book
about one band in which to house his disapproval of the music.
MacDonald, as with most critics, is incapable of allowing any of the
songs to remain free from his insults and subjective judgments. If you want
to read an entire volume consisting of a snob putting down Beatles songs,
this is the book for you.
Typical examples involve his section devoted to "Nowhere Man," in
which he uses quite a few synonyms for "boring" and leaves it at that; "Lucy
in the Sky With Diamonds," which he calls "poorly thought-out"; and a
constant suggestion of where the Beatles "might have" gotten song ideas in
many cases, relying on pure speculation to give the impression that Lennon
and McCartney were incapable of coming up with any material of their own.
He lets the occasional positive comment slip through, but his typical
critic's desire to enhance his own reputation for cynical wordplay, rather
than to actually inform the reader of anything, forces him to state
something he personally doesn't like about most every piece of music, in
order to balance out any positive things that might have popped out of his
pomposity. In this process, he leaves out hundreds of details and thrilling
moments that make Beatles songs moving to many.
He often falls back on musical terminology that even the Beatles
didn't know. One doesn't want to read about which weird scale or mode a song
has incidentally been written in, in a book that tries to boast sociological
insight.
There are also several inaccuracies regarding who plays what in which
song, etc., and even the title is misleading. The book isn't so much about
how the Beatles songs affected people in the sixties, as about the sixties
and the Beatles separately. The former is wrapped up tidily in the
introduction, which provides a pocket version of the decade's events.
MacDonald can write fluently about the sixties, provided he can limitlessly
use terms that end with "-ist" and "-ism."
Then, the era is barely returned to, the prose degenerating into
song-by-song blurbs that always find some way to be negative, even about
some of the Beatles' most beloved tunes.
The only truly good Beatles books are the Beatles' own Anthology, the
fascinating Recording the Beatles, anything by Mark Lewisohn and, if you're
truly interested in a critic's opinions (why, exactly?), Tim Riley's Tell Me
Why -- guilty of a few of the same things, but at least more thorough, well
written and positive.
I see that this is coming out in revised form this year. I'm not sure
how, as the author decided to take his own life; maybe they plundered his
hard drive for documents. Either way, save your money. It's simply not a
well written book, and will leave you with a bad taste.
> I've loved the Beatles as long as I can remember.
> In the last decade or so I rarely put them on anymore as
> I've heard them so much in my four decades that it just seems
> unnecessary....
> The music is etched in my brain. However, I just picked up this book
> based on a thread here a while ago and someone mentioning it being one
> of the best Beatle books ever written...
>
> I've had it in the back of my mind to keep an eye out for it.
> I ran across it and initially almost put it back, thinking
> "Another song by song impression book.... no thanks".
> But I read one song's worth, then another and another
> and walked out with it. I haven't been able to put it down since.
> This really IS one of the best books about the Beatles.
>
> I'm writing this to thank whoever mentioned it in the first place
> and got my attention... as well as sort of "bumping" the topic in case
> it piques someone elses interest. It's really helped allow me to listen
> to them fresh in many ways and I didn't think that was possible.
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