Ian MacDonald
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Ian MacDonald | |
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Born | Ian MacCormick 3 October 1948 London, England |
Died | 20 August 2003 Wotton-under-Edge, England | (aged 54)
Education | |
Occupation(s) | Music critic, journalist, author |
Years active | 1972−2003 |
Notable work |
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Relatives | Bill MacCormick (brother) |
Ian MacCormick (known by the
Education and career
Ian MacDonald was born in London on 3 October 1948. He studied at Dulwich College before briefly attending King's College, Cambridge, at first to study English, then archaeology and anthropology.[1] He dropped out after a year; while at Cambridge, he was distantly acquainted with the singer-songwriter Nick Drake.[2]
From 1972 to 1975 he served as assistant editor at NME. MacDonald began a songwriting collaboration as a lyricist with the band Quiet Sun, which included his brother Bill MacCormick and future Roxy Music guitarist Phil Manzanera. The collaboration resumed in the late 1970s, with MacDonald providing lyrics for the album Listen Now. Later, Brian Eno assisted MacDonald in producing Sub Rosa, an album of his songs released on Manzanera's label.
In his 1994
His The New Shostakovich (1990) attempted to put the works of the Russian composer in their political and social context, leaning heavily on Solomon Volkov's Testimony. MacDonald's insistence on creating a cinematic scenario for every major piece polarised opinion sharply. In 2006 a heavily revised and updated version undertaken by the British pianist Raymond Clarke, also incorporating some of MacDonald's later writings, addressed some of these issues.[4]
The success of Revolution in the Head motivated MacDonald to resume popular music writing, and he began contributing to Classic CD,
Death
On 20 August 2003, MacDonald died by
The track "Wish You Well" on Phil Manzanera's 2004 album 6PM is a tribute to MacDonald.[5]
Discography
- Quiet Sun, Mainstream (1975) [backing vocals]
- Phil Manzanera, Diamond Head (1975) [bagpipes]
- Phil Manzanera/801, Listen Now (1977) [vocals]
Publications
- The New Shostakovich (1990). ISBN 0-19-284026-6(reprinted & updated in 2006)
- ISBN 1-84413-828-3
- The People's Music (2003)
Notes
- ^ a b Williams, Richard (8 September 2003). "Obituary: Ian MacDonald". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
- Emap. Archived from the originalon 30 March 2015. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
- ^ Vozick-Levinson, Simon (17 July 2014). "Paul McCartney: The Long and Winding Q&A". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
... but these books that are written about the meaning of songs, like Revolution in the Head – I read through that. It's a kind of toilet book, a good book to just dip into. And I'll come across, "McCartney wrote that in answer to Lennon's acerbic this," and I go, "Well, that's not true." But it's going down as history. That is already known as a very highly respected tome, and I say, "Yeah, well, okay." This is a fact of my life. These facts are going down as some sort of musical history about the Beatles. There are millions of them, and I know for a fact that a lot of them are incorrect.
- ^ Louis Blois. 'The New Shostakovich, by Ian MacDonald. New edition', in DSCH Journal, Book Reviews 26
- ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 20 November 2023.
External links
- Guardian Obituary
- MacDonald's essay on Nick Drake
- Music under Soviet Rule: Shostakovichiana, a website he maintained with Shostakovich information and trivia