We’re not here to agree, we’re here for an experience: to think, to challenge old saws, to see, too, things we loved anew, and better. MacDonald has no problem telling you he thinks some beloved work sucks – like “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” – which is fine, but what is better is that he backs it up.
One wonders how such eviscerations would be greeted in the Internet age. He takes on every song, and some sacred cows are off to that processing plant never to return home again. Woe that MacDonald didn’t write more – he committed suicide in 2003 – but this is a major work quite apart from the Beatles book repository. ‘The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions,’ by Mark Lewisohn.You recognize something in it which is true, like all true art.” Hear, hear. And realism gets through to you, despite yourself. As he says: “And the thing about rock and roll, good rock and roll, whatever good means, etc., ha-ha, and all that shit, is that it’s real. But beyond the hurt feelings and foggy memories is a clarity of thought that emerges almost despite the man himself. He tells you – not always correctly - who wrote what, song-wise. Ironically, for all of the bashing, the book presents McCartney as the Beatles’ most talented member, reflecting a respect that Lennon clearly feels. Lennon is more hurt than angry, one senses, as he lobs stones at the stained-glass windows of Beatledom. The Beatles have just ended, and Rolling Stone founder Wenner sits down with Lennon for a confessional that doubles as harsh attack, soul purging, study in how songs came to be, and, in the end, a kind of lament for something that was the defining journey of a life, which would never come close to being replicated. Here’s a look at 10 of the other best Fab Four volumes to check out. Philip Norman is an old hand with Beatles-based scholarship, and his massive bio, Paul McCartney: The Life, provides a nice opportunity to survey those shelves of Beatles lit. But considering that we’re talking hundreds of books, there are some top-drawer offerings as well. Romantic other-halves have weighed in on the story/saga side of things ditto competing rivals, A&R men, siblings, business associates, sacked partners. For those are some buckling shelves, filled with worthy tomes, arresting diversions, gossipy trivia and dense accounts of what kind of gear the band used, who their tailors were, how many times per annum they visited the dentist, etc. Considering that it takes some formidable organizational chops to serve as a competent Beatles bibliographer, it can be downright daunting if you’re coming to the stacks of Fab Four literature as a neophyte reader wondering where you might start.
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