Thomas MacFarlane has written various books and articles on popular music. His research explores connections between music composition, sound recording, and human culture. He taught music composition and arts analysis courses at New York University where he also helped create a program in popular music studies. Currently, he works as a writer, musician, and composer.
'This book revisits the connections between art schools and 1960s British pop music from a too often neglected perspective in popular music studies-namely music analysis. Building on the notion that a music recording is essentially a hybrid art form comprising traditional musical elements and spatial effects generated by electronic means, MacFarlane uses what he calls songscape analysis to shed new light on Lennon and McCartney's creative process. By the same token, he shows how the latter process was shaped by their interest in art from the Beatles through their solo careers.' Olivier Julien, Sorbonne Universite