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McCartney III

Started by Menu, October 17, 2020, 04:12:26 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

non capisco

The Mark Lewinsohn 'Tune In' book is fucking brilliant and I sincerely hope he finishes the next two installments. It's up there with Peter Guralnick's 'Last Train To Memphis' book about Elvis in terms of vividly capturing the blossoming of an iconic cultural figurehead. Please don't let the fact it's an absolute brick put you off, I found it one of the most absorbing music biographies I've ever read.

Menu

Quote from: non capisco on October 24, 2020, 07:57:11 PM
The Mark Lewinsohn 'Tune In' book is fucking brilliant and I sincerely hope he finishes the next two installments. It's up there with Peter Guralnick's 'Last Train To Memphis' book about Elvis in terms of vividly capturing the blossoming of an iconic cultural figurehead. Please don't let the fact it's an absolute brick put you off, I found it one of the most absorbing music biographies I've ever read.

Hmmm that's a good advert. Maybe I'll use an Audible credit on it.....and let Casualty's Clive Mantle(for some reason) transport me back to post-war Liverpool.

the science eel

Quote from: Retinend on October 24, 2020, 06:04:31 PM
Good point. I think it's a book I'll have read but I'm not happy about the fact.

Food for thought, though: is it better to be a master of research, occasionally inane, or a master of narrative, occasionally bullshitty?

Well I did enjoy Goldman's Lennon book (and his Lenny Bruce book - more so, actually) if that's what you're getting at!


Menu

Quote from: the science eel on October 24, 2020, 09:13:18 PM
Well I did enjoy Goldman's Lennon book (and his Lenny Bruce book - more so, actually) if that's what you're getting at!

Albert Goldman accuses him of using under-age male prostitutes in Japan. Fucking lying cunt.


(it is a decent read though)

Hand Solo

Quote from: Menu on October 24, 2020, 09:32:45 PM
Albert Goldman accuses him of using under-age male prostitutes in Japan. Fucking lying cunt.

I read it when I was a teenager and don't remember this bit?

It is a tawdry takedown book like his others but he did always have a source for his allegations? I reckon Lennon was at least bi anyway, he just had a lot of hangups with his ethics as a bit of a gayer because of his 50s Teddyboy hardnut background.

Menu

Quote from: Hand Solo on October 24, 2020, 09:48:08 PM
I read it when I was a teenager and don't remember this bit?

It is a tawdry takedown book like his others but he did always have a source for his allegations? I reckon Lennon was at least bi anyway, he just had a lot of hangups with his ethics as a bit of a gayer because of his 50s Teddyboy hardnut background.


Did you see that 5 part thing on YouTube about the relationship between L&M? It's 7.5 hours of amazing footage most of which I'd not seen before, and it's thesis is that Lennon was in love with Paul.  I'll try to find it.. It's amazing even if you don't agree with the conclusion.

Menu

Quote from: Menu on October 24, 2020, 09:52:25 PM

Did you see that 5 part thing on YouTube about the relationship between L&M? It's 7.5 hours of amazing footage most of which I'd not seen before, and it's thesis is that Lennon was in love with Paul.  I'll try to find it.. It's amazing even if you don't agree with the conclusion.

Damn they've been taken down. Anyone else remember this 5 part series? The footage was incredible. I think I said at the the time that it must have come from inside Apple as there's no way a random Youtuber could get footage like he did.

shagatha crustie

Theyve not been taken down, this is the first one isnt it?

https://youtu.be/_AILqCAk1cg

Would be a damn shame if they were, I think this series is some of the most unbiased and affecting work on the Beatles that has ever been done.

Retinend

Oh yeah that "Understanding Lennon McCartney" really lit a fire under my arse and got me into the books he mentions https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AILqCAk1cg

The sequel about McCartney is just as good: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjjqUCvHNIs

Quote from: Menu on October 24, 2020, 07:37:41 PMI've read Revolution In The Head so many times it's sort of dimmed my love for The Beatles!

How could it do that?

Hand Solo

Quote from: Menu on October 24, 2020, 09:56:09 PM
Damn they've been taken down. Anyone else remember this 5 part series? The footage was incredible. I think I said at the the time that it must have come from inside Apple as there's no way a random Youtuber could get footage like he did.

Yeah. I watched some of them when they were posted on here a few years ago, might try to get through the lot what with the Lockdown on now. "How d'ya sleep ya cunt?!"

Menu

Quote from: shagatha crustie on October 24, 2020, 10:45:21 PM
Theyve not been taken down, this is the first one isnt it?

https://youtu.be/_AILqCAk1cg

Would be a damn shame if they were, I think this series is some of the most unbiased and affecting work on the Beatles that has ever been done.

Nice one, mate!

Menu

Quote from: Retinend on October 25, 2020, 07:27:03 AM
Oh yeah that "Understanding Lennon McCartney" really lit a fire under my arse and got me into the books he mentions https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AILqCAk1cg

The sequel about McCartney is just as good: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjjqUCvHNIs


Whoa, did not know about the McCartney one. Retinend, you genius!

Menu

Quote from: Retinend on October 25, 2020, 07:27:03 AM


How could it do that?

I dunno, maybe i didn't phrase it correctly. It just sort of took the magic away. There was no mystery any more.

Retinend

I know what you mean. I thought "this is all so persuasive I can't think my own thoughts properly any more" (we mean Revolution in the Head, if anyone is skim-reading).

SpiderChrist

Quote from: Retinend on October 26, 2020, 07:52:33 AM
I know what you mean. I thought "this is all so persuasive I can't think my own thoughts properly any more" (we mean Revolution in the Head, if anyone is skim-reading).

Definitely an element of that, until I read what McDonald had to say about Across The Universe - after that it was a lot easier to disagree and criticise.

Quote"plaintively babyish incantation"

"its vague pretensions and listless melody are rather too obviously the products of acid grandiosity rendered gentle by sheer exhaustion"

Menu

Quote from: SpiderChrist on October 26, 2020, 08:23:39 AM
Definitely an element of that, until I read what McDonald had to say about Across The Universe - after that it was a lot easier to disagree and criticise.

Haha! Yes he has a couple of mad opinions but I guess in some ways it's amazing that there aren't more. His essay on 'Yes It Is' is fascinating but pretty bonkers. I seem to remember he's quite dismissive of Paul's post-Beatles career too - which I found disappointing.

Retinend

Quote from: SpiderChrist on October 26, 2020, 08:23:39 AM
Definitely an element of that, until I read what McDonald had to say about Across The Universe ....

Can't believe I missed that / forgot that, but yeah.... that there are bad takes like that is a relief, because otherwise MacDonald would just seem to rob the world of anything better to say about the Beatles.

edit: What does he say about McCartney's solo career? I have the book, if you can post the page.


Menu

Quote from: Retinend on October 26, 2020, 08:39:48 AM
Can't believe I missed that / forgot that, but yeah.... that there are bad takes like that is a relief, because otherwise MacDonald would just seem to rob the world of anything better to say about the Beatles.

edit: What does he say about McCartney's solo career? I have the book, if you can post the page.

Oooh I'll try to find it. It's literally one sentence in the final essay at the end I think, possibly only in the revised edition. I was hoping he might go on to do a book on all McCartney songs so it hit hard. Hmmm I wonder if anyone will do one on McCartney at some point? I'd love for the magic and mystery of those albums to be ruined for me as well.

The Cloud of Unknowing

Quote from: shagatha crustie on October 24, 2020, 09:22:04 AM
Actual crimes against music:

Mull of Kintyre
Freedom
Ob-La-Di
Fuh You
That godawful 80s film (the hit from it aint bad though)

Mull of Kintyre, like I Just Called to Say I Love You, has a really beautiful melody in the verse, but it's spoiled by dirginess everywhere else.

The Cloud of Unknowing

Quote from: SpiderChrist on October 26, 2020, 08:23:39 AM
Definitely an element of that, until I read what McDonald had to say about Across The Universe - after that it was a lot easier to disagree and criticise.
Quote"plaintively babyish incantation"

"its vague pretensions and listless melody are rather too obviously the products of acid grandiosity rendered gentle by sheer exhaustion"

MacDonald's attitude to acid was no doubt informed by the horrific trip he had when he was at Cambridge University, during which he caught, killed and ate a swan (if the story's true. It's in Pat Long's NME biography).

Hand Solo

Quote from: The Cloud of Unknowing on October 26, 2020, 10:59:47 PM
MacDonald's attitude to acid was no doubt informed by the horrific trip he had when he was at Cambridge University, during which he caught, killed and ate a swan (if the story's true. It's in Pat Long's NME biography).

If I Needed Some Swan
For No Swan
Swan After 909
Wild Swannee Pie
A Taste Of Swannee
Cygnet To Fried
Cob-La-Di-Cob-La-Argh!
Pen-Eat Brain


etc


SpiderChrist


Pauline Walnuts


Cottonon

Thanks to whoever recommended the Take It Away podcast upthread, hit the Flaming Pie two parter first and knew immediately this is for me. Really well balanced.

Quote from: Retinend on October 26, 2020, 08:39:48 AM
Can't believe I missed that / forgot that, but yeah.... that there are bad takes like that is a relief, because otherwise MacDonald would just seem to rob the world of anything better to say about the Beatles.

edit: What does he say about McCartney's solo career? I have the book, if you can post the page.

Having read this book so many times that odd phrases from it have now wormed their way into my everyday speech, I can report from memory this line from the section on Maxwell's Silver Hammer:

This ghastly miscalculation – of which there are countless equivalents on his garrulous sequence of solo albums – represents by far his worst lapse of taste under the auspices of The Beatles.

To this day, I have no idea what garrulous means.....
....checking it in the dictionary now, I can't quite see why he thinks Macca's albums were excessively talkative.

Menu

Quote from: Cottonon on October 27, 2020, 05:18:45 PM
Thanks to whoever recommended the Take It Away podcast upthread, hit the Flaming Pie two parter first and knew immediately this is for me. Really well balanced.

It was me. Really pleased you liked it!

Menu

Quote from: Astronaut Omens on October 27, 2020, 05:38:21 PM
Having read this book so many times that odd phrases from it have now wormed their way into my everyday speech, I can report from memory this line from the section on Maxwell's Silver Hammer:

This ghastly miscalculation – of which there are countless equivalents on his garrulous sequence of solo albums – represents by far his worst lapse of taste under the auspices of The Beatles.

To this day, I have no idea what garrulous means.....
....checking it in the dictionary now, I can't quite see why he thinks Macca's albums were excessively talkative.

Haha! That must have been what I was thinking of. I still find it surprising how dismissive he is of Paul's solo work. Sad because I'd love to read a proper RITH-type book about it. Won't be from Iain though as he's dead now isn't he.

non capisco

I nominate Taylor Parkes.