Ian MacDonald
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- For other people with a similar name, see Ian McDonald.
Ian MacCormick (October 3, 1948 – August 20, 2003), who wrote under the pseudonym Ian MacDonald, was a British music critic and author, best known for his detailed history of The Beatles and The New Shostakovich, a controversial study of the Russian composer.
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[edit] Early life and work
Ian MacCormick's brother, Bill MacCormick, played bass in Robert Wyatt's Matching Mole. He briefly attended King's College, Cambridge, at first studying English, but soon transferring to Archeology and Anthropology. He dropped out after a year. While at Cambridge he was vaguely acquainted with cult singer/songwriter Nick Drake.
Primarily a writer with interest in many kinds of music, he was Assistant Editor of the NME from 1972 to 1975. He began a songwriting collaboration as a lyricist with his brother's band Quiet Sun including future Roxy Music guitarist Phil Manzanera. This collaboration was resumed in the late 1970s when MacDonald provided lyrics for the album Listen Now. Later, Brian Eno would help MacDonald produce Sub Rosa, an album of his own songs, and release it on Manzanera's record label.
In his book Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties, first published in 1994, MacDonald carefully anatomised every record The Beatles made, drawing attention to broad themes, particular examples of inspiration and moments of human frailty alike. The book also includes his essay "Fabled Foursome, Disappearing Decade", an analysis of the social and cultural changes of the 1960s and their aftereffects. The book took a song-by-song approach. It was edited into 'The Beatles' No. 1 Hits' in 2002. The edit featured a new, shorter introduction, and only featured the essays on the songs on The Beatles' chart-topping album, 'One'.
MacDonald wrote widely on classical music. His The New Shostakovich was one of the most talked-about classical books of the 1990s. It was the first western book that attempted to put the works of the great Russian composer in their political and social context. MacDonald's insistence on creating a cinematic scenario for every major piece — inevitably a bitter satire on Soviet brutality and Stalinism — polarised opinion sharply. Some rated his interpretations fanciful and musicologically worthless, while others believed they held some subjective truth. MacDonald was a regular reviewer for the UK magazine Classic CD, and was known for his passionate and opinionated views on twentieth-century music.
[edit] Later life and death
The success of Revolution In The Head motivated him to resume popular music writing and he began contributing to Mojo and Uncut music magazines. The People's Music, an anthology of these writings, was published in July 2003 just weeks before his death. He had been working on a book entitled: Birds, Beasts & Fishes: A Guide to Animal Lore and Symbolism. He was also working on a book about David Bowie, an artist about whom MacDonald had written an essay before. It is in 'The People's Music'. Neither of these books have been published.
In August 2003, MacDonald committed suicide following a lengthy period of clinical depression.
[edit] Trivia
The track "Wish You Well" on Phil Manzanera's album 6PM is a tribute to MacDonald.
[edit] Publications
- Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties – ISBN 1-84413-828-3
- The New Shostakovich (1990) – ISBN 0-19-284026-6 ; reprinted & updated (2006)
- The People's Music (2003)
[edit] External links
- [1] The Guardian Obituary
- [2] MacDonald's essay on Nick Drake
- [3] Comments on MacDonald's 1973 Krautrock articles in NME
- Music under Soviet Rule : Shostakovichiana, a website he maintained full of Shostakovich information and trivia
