41: Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties, Ian MacDonald

Ian loved Macca, depicted John as a prick, and considered George a bit of a hack. Or something.

The book, incidentally, is fab: separate entries, ranging from a short paragraph to several pages each, for all tracks officially released (with comments about the Anthology and Live at the BBC sets, here and there).

Who wrote what? Who was not speaking to whom when such-and-such was recorded? What did they feed through the Leslie this time? Where did the vocal track leak into the drums and where can you hear Paul count in the not-yet-written middle 8? Who's playing that harpsichord there? And where did George get the inspiration for that C-minor to F-sharp-diminished-4th chord change from? In between all that, there's a lot of talk about drugs, counterculture, Dylan, India, and the rest of the 60's.

I don't think MacDonald's assumptions (or conclusions) are always spot on, but I enjoyed the book a great deal.

Listening to Rubber Soul as a I type this. Can't get enough Beatles right now.

40: Recording Music on Location: Capturing the Live Performance, Bruce Bartlett, Jenny Bartlett

Some of my friends play in a New Orleans jazz band and we've talked about making a live recording. I know nothing about recording, and this book was recommended on Amazon and some audio fora. It's not all I hoped it would be, and I may have to invest in a more encyclopaedic work, but it's a fair start if you're as clueless as I was.

You can get most of the information it covers on the web, but not all in one place. Conclusion: not a total loss, but not worth the nearly $30 it cost me.

Listening to: The Beatles in mono.
Thinking about: digging up my CD binder from some box in the garage and pulling out Live at the BBC.