Revolution In The Head: The Beatles' Records and The Sixties
Written by Ian MacDonald
Narrated by David Morrisey, Robyn Hitchcock, Danny Baker and
4/5
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About this audiobook
Ian MacDonald
The author was born and educated in England and served in the British armed forces and briefly as an officer in the British Prison Service. He subsequently became a financial adviser and retired as an executive in a financial planning firm. He took up writing as a hobby upon retirement and he now lives in Ontario with his wife. His writing has a military or law enforcement theme to it as his interests lie in that field.
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Reviews for Revolution In The Head
23 ratings5 reviews
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5The classic snotty Brit nihilist’s guide to The Beatles. Unbearably pedantic.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5I'm always amazed at how often Ian MacDonald’s Revolution in the Head is touted as one of the best books on the Beatles (“a brilliant book” per Newsweek). Is it truly deserving of that honor, though? Because, anti-sixties invectives aside, it's basically a rewrite (rip-off?) of Tim Riley's "Tell Me Why" a musicological examination of the Beatles music, song-by-song (and published six years before MacDonald's book).
Reading through MacDonald’s book, I was struck by the uncanny number of similarities—turns of phrase, ideas, interpretations, analyses—to Riley’s earlier work. (MacDonald includes Tell Me Why in Revolution’s bibliography, which shows his awareness of Riley’s book.) A few examples of MacDonald liberally paraphrasing Riley:
Another Girl—Riley: “but the song is a throwaway.” MacD: “a casual three-chord throwaway.”
Dr. Robert—Riley: “McCartney’s upper harmony...infects the blase melody with salesmanship...” MacD: “McCartney’s huckstering harmony… an evangelical sales-pitch.” And Riley: “Beatles with halos around their heads...singing at the altar...”. MacD: “backed by pious harmonium and warbling choirboys...”
A Day In The Life—Riley: “The curtain falls on Pepperland just as another is raised on the sobering stage of the real world...” MacD: “…a sober return to the real world after the drunken fantasy of ‘Pepperland’...”
Polythene Pam—Riley: “Lennon thrashes…with the same commanding effect that Pete Townsend gets on ‘Pinball Wizard.’ MacD: “fanfared by massive chords…(possibly cribbed from The Who’s contempary hit ‘Pinball Wizard’)”
Devil In Her Heart—Riley: “background vocalists…scolding (Harrison).” MacD: “nagging in the backing vocals.”
Blue Jay Way—Riley: “but all those filtered background voices...don’t evoke much of anything, except the boredom of the lyric.” MacD: “...it numbingly fails to transcend the boredom that inspired it.”
Getting Better—Riley: “Paul sings with the same excitement that made Good Day Sunshine believably unclouded.” MacD: “In terms of sound and feeling, Getting Better plays a role on Sgt pepper similar to that of Good Day Sunshine.” - Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Interesting to hear the writers opine that all my favorite Beatles songs I’ve loved since childhood were basically crap. Ah well, still probably worth hearing for the background and history.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5What a pompous opinionated critic this author is. Pass it.
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Not for anybody who wants to actually know anything about the Beatles. Suffocatingly subjective, unjustifiably opinionated and shockingly uninformed. I wasted an Audible credit on this disastrous excrescence. Save yourself the agony.