I bought this book some time ago and it’s been a constant companion ever since.

MacDonald writes with a subjective clarity about The Beatles.  He is clearly a fan, but is not frightened to tell it how it is when he feels that the Fab Four were off their game for any reason.  The chapter titles of the section of the book which deals with the records of The Beatles give an instant sense of the journey to the top of their profession and the relatively rapid descent down again – Going Up; The Top and Coming Down.

For all the influence that the band has, they were only together as recording artists for 8 years between 1962’s Love Me Do (a McCartney-Lennon composition) to 1970’s I Me Mine (Harrison).  The book is a scholarly tome, an historical record of some of the most innovative and groundbreaking music ever produced.  Given the way The Beatles’ music doesn’t seem to have dated, it’s a strange concept for me to understand but they had all but finished being the Beatles before I was six months old.

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