Customer Reviews

Magic Circles: The Beatles in Dream and History

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I've read dozens and dozens of books on the Beatles, and this one is certainly the best. While the second half of the book loses its way--the author does warn the reader of a new direction--and certainly the book suffers from some "cultural criticism run amok", The Beatles have never received such an intellectual love letter. Shawn H. accuses the author of writing the book only to make a name for himself, when in his own review he casually mentions that he'll be teaching a course on the Beatles, committing the very crime of which he accuses the author. Magic Circles is the most thoughtful and intelligent analysis of the Beatles and interpretation of their story I've yet to read. Hopefully this book is the first of many other similar analyses. This book correctly recognizes that the Beatles exist outside the scope of normal history and other legends; they are biblical in stature.

I was born in 1973, discovered "Beatles" in 1982--there is a vast, yawning ache in me everyday that Devin feels too. It's what drove him to write this book. The Beatles and Stones (et al) in their time stood as avatars--their time was one of purpose, all framed within a purpose-giving context. Devin takes great pains to show that the Beatles were of their context--their context created them--the "push and pull" of their fans creating them as they created their fans-- as these reservoir pups cut their teeth on the very culture they were shaping.

And now back to the vast yawning ache. That dynamic has passed forever. Our country is now a circus show, a joke, and we are so sedate on technology we are o-blitherous to it. (Irony: Beatles were the most concentrated example of media influence on a mass culture of the past century) -- But at least what came to us through that technology used to MEAN something, now it's used to sell a new credit card plan. Just consider this example--we are so obviously being raped by our leaders today, so much MORESO than in the 60's, and what do you see happening about it? Are there rallies in the streets, mass movements, standard bearing screamers at the helm like the Beatles? HERE is the essence of why Devin had to write this book--the ache we feel is that we weren't there, -- I mean, we can't HELP but look back at that temerity and believe it was a far more enlightened time than NOW. There could NEVER be any phenomenon REMOTELY akin to the Beatles again, based on the complete lack of CONTEXT that would be needed to feed both need and deed.

So to us it really DOES feel like a dream-- like we woke up at the very end in fact, and JUST MISSED the real, shall we say, meat of the thing. And hoo boy, what foul dust floats in the wake of that dream.

When it comes to reading about the Beatles, I waste no time. Devin McKinney's account of the most influential band of the twentieth century took my fancy, and the title itself jumped out at me with the words Dream and History. Of all the books that have been published lately that attempt to pose a critical analysis, something told me I just had to sink my teeth into this recent installment into the never-ending analysis of the Beatles' music and existence.

I was somewhat bewildered of what I got out of this book. After eading the book's dustjacket, I was enticed to read on because it suggested critical historical analysis. However, it is merely literary criticism. McKinney's account appears more like an extended Rolling Stone article meshed in with his personal psyche and his love for the Beatles -- his dream of a period long passed as placed on paper. He doesn't analyze any new material, but rehashes Beatle myths that have been presented time and time again, such as the Paul is dead rumor, the Charles Manson connection, and the notorious Beatles' butcher album cover and how they have had an affect on society during the 1960s. The only difference here is that McKinney relates it to his generation X. He recycles bits and pieces of true and myth, and never quite answers the neverending questions he asks through out the book.

If McKinney was attempting to bring full circle to his understanding of how the Beatles were both truth and myth, only he or maybe other readers may be able to see the bigger picture because I did not. This book throws in much information that will get baby boomers reminiscing about their counterculture and student demonstrations because McKinney does not leave those important tidbits out -- what would a book about the 1960s be without those references? However, for those who have an interest in the Beatles and were not born during this period, this book will lend insight to that rock and roll circus that probably will never die.

If you want to know the the major philosophical, spiritual, mystical connection of this book, and what it has to do with these references: toilet, the vision of a 15 year-old girl, reference to Milan Kundera and circles, and the most important theme, the 'Yellow Submarine', I recommend this book.

For better results, whip out your turntables and play Sgt. Pepper backwards!

Like McKinney, I'm a second-generation Beatles fan. I never expected anyone to write an insightful, honest, thought-provoking, and well-crafted book from that perspective about what the Beatles meant in the 60s and what they mean today, but McKinney has done it. This isn't a biography or a traditional history of the band, but a searching look at the Beatles' music and its meaning. After reading it, I'll never listen to "Happiness is a Warm Gun" the same way again -- in fact, I'll never listen to any of the songs McKinney discusses in the same way. His analyses of "A Hard Day's Night," "Help," the "butcher" cover, "Revolver," the White Album, the "Paul is dead" myth, and Charles Manson's Beatles obsession are greatly illuminating and admirably succinct. McKinney can think deeply and write beautifully, and the honesty that pervades the book earned my unqualified respect. Much as he loves the Beatles, McKinney fully considers the darker sides of their actions and songs, as well as the shadow side of being a Beatles fan, in the 60s and now. The final chapter, in which McKinney talks about his own experiences as a late-born fan and grapples with the pleasures, dangers, and responsibilities of that state, is one of the very best short autobiographical pieces I have ever read. This book will make you think hard and feel strongly. It's an effort worthy of the Beatles at their best, and I'm grateful to Devin McKinney for writing it.

I take great exception with the previous review stating this book is "garbage". I also fail to notice where this book is anything short of a loving Valentine to the Beatles. If one reads the book thorougly, all four band members are rendered brightly. McKinney's insights are not only personal - they are unlike anything I've read on the Beatles. His grasp of history - especially useful for those who did not experience the 60's first hand - is wondrous and I learned countles new facts about the band. And I have been a fan for three decades. This book challenges and inspires the reader to look deeper than ever before at the wonder that is the Beatles. From individual songs to albums to myths, this book explores every facet of the Beatles. All in all, a must-read for anyone who loves the Beatles or the time in history they inhabited, represented and changed.

The title, the front and back cover, the inner and outer dust jacket flaps, they grabbed me. References to sociology, psychology, sexuality, and even physics. This book will undoubtedly assist me to ascertain just why The Beatles seem to matter so much...Was it just the time that I grew up in, or are they a musical force which will transcend not only generations, but centuries, milleniums? Written by someone from a younger generation, I'll be able to get a more "objective" analysis! I had high hopes. They were dashed.

Mr. McKinney gets credit for adventuring into heady places. Places more interesting than, "Mr. Epstein liked the sound and looks of the boys and..." But these places full of potential were not realized, as Mr. McKinney's pretty words meandered like a restless wind inside a letter box. One stumbles onto nuggets and kernels. Provacative pieces of the puzzle. Mr. McKinney illustrates how The Beatles reflect society and influence it. (Yes, but how, why, and ultimately, why do we care?) Mr. McKinney draws upon Freud & portrays The Beatles as a manifestation of the audiences' wishes & desires, as well as pushing their audience to wish & desire. (So did Frank Capra & Lenny Bruce and, for some, John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever.)

I continued to eagerly pour through each chapter's poetic imagery of toilet associations, on holes in the universe a la Einstein & Socrates, up to and including the comparing and contrasting of John Lennon & Charles Manson... I still continued to hold out hope in searching for The Meaning of The Beatles. But, as the pages chock full of swirling
thoughts/reveries/cultural lore went by, the more I came instead upon the The Meaning of Mr. McKinney. Revolution #9 as a masterpiece? McCartney as complex as Lennon? The Beatles creating The Sixties and being crushed by The Sixties because of the inability of its inhabitants to integrate demands for peace with feelings of rage?

Not everyone from the Sixties was either a member of The Silent Majority nor a flag burning, drug-crazed, free-love hippie.
I could march with my high school to demonstrate against the Vietnam War, until it was time for me to fulfill my obligations by reporting for my 2:00 PM shift as a 16 year-old stockboy in Alexander's Department Store in The Bronx, New York, 1968. That makes me a Day Tripper or just more reflective of the millions of teens & some adults who admired the Beatles?

Then came the final chapter, which I recommend be read first. An enjoyable autobiographical account of Mr. McKinney's interest in the Sixties! Much less pressured in delivery. More relaxed with his audience. Less need for a dictionary. Now it makes sense! That's what the book should have been about! It would have been both more interesting and possibly more significantly revealing. The title for which could have been: "The Beatles and Me: Search for Identity".

This is the kind of book I've been wanting to write about the Beatles, but never had the time. Rather than a dull hagiography of all their stories and songs, this is an intelligent synthesis of what the Beatles meant and what they still mean today and will continue to mean down the generations. Not that I agree with everything the author has to say. He takes many interpretive risks, some of which pan out and others that remain...well, speculative. You might not agree with the author that the White Album is their best, or that "Happiness is a Warm Gun" is the key to understanding that album (or that it's about copulation--my own take is that it's a song about heroin addiction), but for him to state that so unequivocally shows an interpretive gusto.

Two things make this a great read. First is the historical contextualization. While amateurish in some respects (obviously the author isn't a professional historian), this book is a bold attempt to integrate the Beatles phenom with the zeitgeist of the age in which they arose, flourished, and died. Second, the author delves into the dreamworld that the Beatles created through their music, their films, their concert tours, and their public image.

Anybody who grew up listening to the Beatles from a young age will likely find resonances in this book with their own experiences. For those of us whose youth was infested with Beatledreams and Beatlenightmares (imagine seeing Yellow Submarine at the age of 4), this book is on the right track.

Not that the definitive interpretation of the Beatles has been written. Not by a long shot. Like all great art, people will be struggling to interpret their songs and their legacy for years to come. Many of the author's insights must be taken with a grain of salt and an ironic sense of humor (such as the notion that they arose from a toilet, metaphorically speaking), but in his bold and stylized analysis, McKinney points us in the right direction for future Beatlemusings.

This isn't yet another "history" about the Beatles, and is, instead, one of the finest books I've read in a very long time regardless of subject matter. Admittedly, at times the text is dense as Beatle lore is contrasted with events of the decade ... but well worth the extra effort to fully engage into what the author is trying to present (i.e. that without John, Paul, George and Ringo, the sixties would have been very different ... very different indeed). The last section, about how his own life intertwines with his subjects is rich in reflection, and will stay with you long after the book is closed.

This is my favorite book about the Beatles, but only because it's one of my favorite forays into culture per se. I'd read this guy on anything, for the unapologetically literate, intellectual approach, for the personal flourishes, for the encompassing, unpredictable attack of his sentences, the verve and precision of his voice, for his disobedience to sacred cows. All that and, yeah, it lead me back to music I'd long since believed hopeless to ever hear again with fresh ears.

An astonishingly insightful, personal, and comprehensive interpretation of the Beatles mythos. McKinney successfully analyzes the special bond between the Beatles and their audience, in all of its kaleidoscopic complexity, from Quarry Men days to Apple rooftop and beyond. His organizing metaphors--including circles, holes, meat (!), and others--are strikingly original and on-target. The sections on the Paul-is-dead rumor and the dawn of the bootleg industry were especially fascinating to me. (It turns out that one bootleg song I'd always enjoyed may not even be by the Beatles at all!) Given its stance as a work of musical/historical/cultural criticism, the book is ideal for fans already somewhat familiar with the basic Beatles chronology. So glad the Village Voice Literary Supplement ran a review of this book, alerting me of its existence.