Ask me why

I was introduced to the English writer Ian MacDonald (1948-2003) by his powerfully persuasive Revolution in the Head: The Beatles’ Records and the 1960s, among the great books of Beatles criticism. (First published in 1994, it was reissued in revised editions in ‘97 and 2005.)

The book has its detractors—more on that below—but on the level of the sentence alone, Revolution in the Head has, to my ears, few competitors. MacDonald’s elegant and sophisticated prose engages as earthy, highly articula...