Ian MacDonald

For other people with a similar name, see Ian McDonald (disambiguation).

Ian MacCormick (pseudonym Ian MacDonald) (3 October 1948 – 20 August 2003) was a British music critic and author, best known for Revolution in the Head, his forensic history of The Beatles which borrowed techniques from art historians, and The New Shostakovich, a controversial study of the Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich. MacDonald was instrumental in popularising the then forgotten Nick Drake during the 1980s.

Biography

MacDonald briefly attended King's College, Cambridge, at first to study English but transferred to Archaeology and Anthropology. He dropped out after a year. While at Cambridge, he was distantly acquainted with the singer/songwriter Nick Drake.

From 1972 to 1975 he was assistant editor at the NME. He began a songwriting collaboration as lyricist with Quiet Sun, which included his brother Bill MacCormick and 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 assisted MacDonald in producing Sub Rosa, an album of his own songs release on Manzanera's 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 contains song-by-song analysis and is often critical. Access to the original masters was granted to MacDonald when researching it. Revolution in the Head is widely regarded as the definitive work on the Beatles' music.

The book also includes his essay "Fabled Foursome, Disappearing Decade", an analysis of the social and cultural changes of the 1960s and their after-effects. The entries about the Beatles' singles that topped the singles chart were released in a separate book in 2002. The edit featured a new, shorter introduction, and only featured the essays on the songs on The Beatles' chart-topping album, 1.

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 — a 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.

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 and working on a book about David Bowie. Neither of these has been published.

Death

In August 2003, MacDonald committed suicide at his Gloucestershire home following a lengthy period of clinical depression. He was 54 years of age. Before killing himself, he had posted a note on his front door to call the police. MacDonald's body was cremated and his ashes were given to either a family member or a friend.

The track "Wish You Well" on Phil Manzanera's album 6PM is a tribute to MacDonald.

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 in 2006)
• The People's Music (2003)

External links

• Guardian Obituary
• MacDonald's essay on Nick Drake
• Comments on MacDonald's 1973 Krautrock articles in NME
• Music under Soviet Rule : Shostakovichiana, a website he maintained full of Shostakovich information and trivia