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.