C/D Paul McCartney Solo

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I have no idea how I've not posted on this thread. Huge, huge huge classic. NTI's album rundown kind of captures why, I think - moreso than any other rocker of his generation (exception perhaps Stevie Wonder?) Paul managed to keep knocking out middling-hit (at least) singles in support of middling-good albums that managed to each be distinctive in their own way.

For the fan, his discography is rich with oddities, one-offs, half-baked experiments, overly self-conscious experiments, fully successful experiments, frankly brilliant fusions, unexpected detours, really expected detours, shockingly good rockers, embarassingly boneheaded rockers, sappy ballads, crappy ballads, convincing instant-classic ballads, odes to mooses that use Morse Code, and "The cat in the satin trousers said it's oily." The guy is a one-man landscape of gut pop instincts crossed with idiosyncratic overthought left turns. And if you're satisfied by swingin' tunes and enthusiasm there's so, so, so much to love.

Since his albums have been pretty well-discussed here, let me give a heads-up to a few of his many, MANY unreleased gems and uncollected b-sides. In the category of rockers (whether of the pop, stomp, or 'blooze' variety) there's "Oh Woman Oh Why," ("Oh Darling" done right) "Girls' School," "A Love For You" (tho it goes on too long), "Rode All Night" (ditto), "Daytime Nighttime Suffering," "I'll Give You A Ring," "Back on My Feet" (really dated but great), "Cage" (love the calliope!), "Soily"....etc, etc, etc.....

Ballads: "Suicide" (fragmentary though it is), "Lindiana" (don't mind the awful title), "Love Come Tumbling Down," "My Little Koala Bear," (!!!), "Tragedy" (I think this is a cover),

For weird experiments etc, go for "Boil Crisis," followed immediately by "Waterspout," then "Robber's Ball," then all the unused McCartney II stuff, especially "Secret Friend" and "Mr. H Atom." The unused dancey stuff from the mid-80s is mostly dire (eg "PS Love Me Do") but there are some interesting diversions - "Atlantic Ocean" and "Ou Est Le Soleil" for example. At this point we're starting to get into stuff that's enjoyable mainly for how it adds to the "the man's insane" portrait: "B-Side To Seaside," "Little Woman Love," "Big Boys Bickering," and on and on....

― Doctor Casino (Doctor Casino), Friday, 12 January 2007 05:45 (seventeen years ago) link

I love how this thread seems to completely ignore Chaos & Creation In The Back Yard . Which is 95 % brilliant ( and I've never been a "rah! rah! McCartney! - type until before this album. Though I do love me some Wings.)

― Jay Vee's Return (Manon_69), Friday, 12 January 2007 09:36 (seventeen years ago) link

"Twin Freaks" Y'all!

― mark grout (mark grout), Friday, 12 January 2007 09:56 (seventeen years ago) link

OTM about " Chaos & Creation In The Back Yard". I love the Beatles but have never liked too much Macca's solo output (own "Macca I & II", "band on the run" and "ram") but there is one album from him that I really like and listen to every now and then, it's "Chaos". Might be his best for me. and the best any beatle has released solo. even as good - although different - as some Beatles' stuff !

― AleXTC (AleXTC), Friday, 12 January 2007 11:02 (seventeen years ago) link

Other good Macca threads where I express myself much more clearly than I do here (alert, Casino fans!):

Paul McCartney: Tug Of War

TS: Paul McCartney's "Pipes of Peace" vs "Press to Play"

― Doctor Casino (Doctor Casino), Friday, 12 January 2007 14:01 (seventeen years ago) link

D.U.D

― Luke Slater (Alan Bean), Saturday, 13 January 2007 00:34 (seventeen years ago) link

no. I like solo mccartney now more than I did when I was a kid and a huge beatles fan, weirdly.

― kyle (akmonday), Saturday, 13 January 2007 00:35 (seventeen years ago) link

there is a "temporary secretary" remix that someone did. i heard that also. anyone know anything?

http://www.discogs.com/image/R-236705-1156668016.jpeg

― jambalaya backgammon (grady), Saturday, 13 January 2007 01:06 (seventeen years ago) link

http://www.discogs.com/image/R-236705-1156668016.jpeg

― jambalaya backgammon (grady), Saturday, 13 January 2007 01:07 (seventeen years ago) link

damnit

http://www.discogs.com/viewimages?what=R&obid=236705

― jambalaya backgammon (grady), Saturday, 13 January 2007 01:08 (seventeen years ago) link

two months pass...

Paul McCartney II is one of the best albums of the 80s. I listened to it today -- Temporary Secretary is just flat-out incredible.

Temporary Secretary"'s backing track sounds like a sped-up version of Kraftwerk's "Numbers," which didn't even come out until the following year!
that one's a search, definitely

A Macca story i've heard recently regarding how the song 'Temporary Secretary' came about:

the lyrics go:

Mister Marks Can You Find For Me....

I Need A
Temporary Secretary, Temporary Secretary
Temporary Secretary, Temporary Secretary

The background information is that Howard Marks, one of the UKs largest cannabis importers, had a business in Carlisle Place, Soho, just around the corner from Macca's MPL office on Soho Square, with a 'front' of offering word processing and secretarial services as a money laundering facility (and lived there as well).

This is alleged to be a 'coy reference'.

― Bob Six, Sunday, 25 March 2007 22:55 (seventeen years ago) link

Macca with Beatles is of course unsurpassable, but my three favourite albums by him have all been released by Paul McCartney rather than Wings, so I guess I pick solo over Wings then.

― Geir Hongro, Monday, 26 March 2007 00:00 (seventeen years ago) link

A friend and I have become obsessed with the late seventies studio-rock vibe of "Arrow Through Me," so gorgeously sung and arranged that it makes me wish he'd recorded more like it.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Monday, 26 March 2007 00:37 (seventeen years ago) link

Just listened to "Golden Earth Girl" from "Off the Ground." The production is much better than the rest of the album and it has a real pretty melody- classic McCartney balladry. The lyrics are pretty bad, though. What I do is just pretend he's singing cool nonsense shit like on "Red Rose Speedway."

"Fish in a sunbeam, in eggshell eye" (Actually maybe he is just singing nonsense)

― ColinO, Monday, 26 March 2007 14:31 (seventeen years ago) link

"Distractions" from "Flowers in the Dirt" is another gorgeous one. The lyrics are even pretty good.! I dig the "And I Love Her" vibe of the guitar solo.

I've been in a hardcore McCartney phase for a couple months- so many overlooked gems in his catalogue.

― ColinO, Monday, 26 March 2007 14:46 (seventeen years ago) link

So now he's left EMI and signed to Starbucks' label!

or something!

― Mark G, Monday, 26 March 2007 14:47 (seventeen years ago) link

Or possibly Tarbuck's label.

― Marcello Carlin, Monday, 26 March 2007 14:53 (seventeen years ago) link

(Didn't he go to school w/ Lennon? or summat?)

― Mark G, Monday, 26 March 2007 14:56 (seventeen years ago) link

Oho! He was in the same class! If only Lennon had forsaken the drugs and politics and taken up the great game of golf instead, why he'd still be with us, turning out on a Weybridge Sunday morn with Brucie and Lynchie and Conneryy!

― Marcello Carlin, Monday, 26 March 2007 15:04 (seventeen years ago) link

two weeks pass...

"Arrow Through Me" is the awesomest. "Old Siam, Sir" is the second-most-awesomest. This would lead one to believe that "Back to the Egg" is amazing. It is not.

The best Paul solo song is "Monkberry Moon Delight," though.

― Davey D, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 01:12 (seventeen years ago) link

Maybe!

― Tim Ellison, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 01:15 (seventeen years ago) link

Sooo what might you know about that Macca II boot, Tim my man?

― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 01:39 (seventeen years ago) link

I've pulled out McCartney II again, and I'm struck by how much some of the instrumentals remind me of Low.

― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 01:50 (seventeen years ago) link

I've got an old vinyl 2xLp version. The sound quality is a little wonky, though not horrible. It's very interesting in many ways. There were more instrumentals and some other wacky tunes that were left off. Also, there was a lot of editing on that album and weird issues with tape speed manipulation (an interesting factor that goes back to things like "When I'm 64," doesn't it?). The final version of "Coming Up" is edited/pieced together, for example (and there's a longer version on this bootleg). Also, "Summer's Day Song" was an instrumental. Basically, my perspective is the thing pwns in its original form and you only got glimpses of that on the released version.

The thing about "Monkberry Moon Delight," though, is that it doesn't really stand out on Ram. You listen to that side and it's not a better composition than "Long Haired Lady" (there's an underrated one!) or "Back Seat of My Car." Ram just basically rules. It's got to be the most underrated album evah.

Oh, and "Listen to What the Man Said" sure sounded awesome on the car radio today.

― Tim Ellison, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 01:53 (seventeen years ago) link

awesomes, thanks for the info.

― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 01:58 (seventeen years ago) link

Oh man, I want to hear that boot! I bet that "Summer's Day Song" sounds eve MORE like "Warszawa" as an instrumental.

Totally OTM about Ram, also. Do you have the Thrillington album? I just got ahold of it and it's increasing my love of Ram immensely.

Every time I hear "Listen To What the Man Said," I love the song itself more and the soprano sax less...

― Davey D, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 06:39 (seventeen years ago) link

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/images/h0/h694.jpg

There's another Bogey song on the original, longer version of McCartney II called "Bogey Wobble."

― Tim Ellison, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 21:22 (seventeen years ago) link

(It's a synth instrumental.)

― Tim Ellison, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 23:04 (seventeen years ago) link

two weeks pass...

Every time I hear "Listen To What the Man Said," I love the song itself more and the soprano sax less...

Ha, so true. I guess that was part of his whole 'we're recording this in N'Orleans thing' w/ Venus and Mars. The bgd vocals are compressed to shit on that song.

― Naive Teen Idol, Saturday, 28 April 2007 17:59 (seventeen years ago) link

terrible album anyway, except for listen to what the man said.

― akm, Saturday, 28 April 2007 18:19 (seventeen years ago) link

and magneto and titanium man and venus and mars/rock show and love in song and you gave me the answer at least.

― Tim Ellison, Saturday, 28 April 2007 18:39 (seventeen years ago) link

Subbing "Letting Go" for "You Gave Me the Answer," Tim OTM...

― Naive Teen Idol, Saturday, 28 April 2007 19:51 (seventeen years ago) link

dude, that's like a major macca thing - that song is transcendent and so is honey pie!

― Tim Ellison, Saturday, 28 April 2007 19:55 (seventeen years ago) link

those kinds of influences are lacking in his recent music, i think. i wish he would broaden his scope.

― Tim Ellison, Saturday, 28 April 2007 19:59 (seventeen years ago) link

I like "You Gave Me the Answer" fine -- and yes, the roaring twenties thing has a big place in Macca music. But it's not exactly a classic. "Letting Go" and the Brian-Wilson-In-Space of the "Venus and Mars" reprise on the other hand...

― Naive Teen Idol, Saturday, 28 April 2007 20:06 (seventeen years ago) link

"Letting Go" is almighty; so are the various live versions extant.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Saturday, 28 April 2007 20:09 (seventeen years ago) link

i was just thinking this morning about "the french thing" w/ "michelle" and how some people voted for that as worst beatles song. knowing the story (paul used to play something like it at parties given by one of john's art professors and girls would think, "oh, he's french!" and when they were making rubber soul john said, "you should do that french thing you used to do at so and so's parties") puts it in context.

anyway, the beatles used to seriously TAP INTO THINGS and i wish he would do that more now.

― Tim Ellison, Saturday, 28 April 2007 20:13 (seventeen years ago) link

Venus and Mars very much strikes me as an album worth having the British remastered import of. The sound quality on the American version is really for shit. "Letting Go" sounds like it was mastered on a Maxell High Bias XLII.

And Tim, the problem? Guy's OLD. At a certain point, people aren't listening as much to other people, and in the 70s, he was clearly listening to everyone.

― Naive Teen Idol, Saturday, 28 April 2007 20:21 (seventeen years ago) link

I have the Venus remaster and it is SO worth it. I really think that it's one of his finest moments. I love every song on it. I think it kills Band on the Run.. "Letting Go" is on of the few moments of actual McCartney pathos captured on record, I believe.

― Davey D, Saturday, 28 April 2007 22:20 (seventeen years ago) link

"Venus And Mars" is nice enough, but so is "Band On The Run" too. They are IMO his finest two 70s moments, although he has at least made three better albums later.

― Geir Hongro, Saturday, 28 April 2007 22:22 (seventeen years ago) link

Is "Love In Song" also one of Paul's finest moments? More actual Macca emotion!

― Davey D, Saturday, 28 April 2007 22:28 (seventeen years ago) link

"Love In Song" is my favourite track on that album besides the way too short title track.

― Geir Hongro, Saturday, 28 April 2007 22:31 (seventeen years ago) link

the remasters were good then? they got slagged by someone on amazon (not that there isn't always someone slagging remasters on there).

― akm, Sunday, 29 April 2007 05:32 (seventeen years ago) link

I haven't listened to either the American or the import CDs in ages (all my Macca is on vinyl now) but I recall the imports being worth it at LEAST just for the bonus tracks. Some of the US CDs had bonuses, but it was weirdly inconsistent, and the imports tended to all have a good chunk of contemporary A- and B-sides.

As far as Venus and Mars goes, it definitely deserves the love. "You Gave Me The Answer" isn't one of my favorites, but I'll let it in; "Magneto" is unstoppably fun. "Rock Show" is a little bit forced for most of its running time, but the "green metal suit" segment" and Paul's bizarre Southern hick impression at the end ("Now git yer dress on!") undo any damage done.

I'm also someone who tends to basically enjoy most of the songs written by Other members of Wings; "Cook of the House" notwithstanding they're mostly pretty okay. In this case I think "Medicine Jar" adds something very nice to the album, although it's not as dear to my heart as say "Wino Junko."

― Doctor Casino, Sunday, 29 April 2007 14:07 (seventeen years ago) link

The remasters were good back then, and still sound nice today. But they were done before HDCD, mind you, so they aren't quite up to the standards of remasters fromt he past 6-7 years.

― Geir Hongro, Sunday, 29 April 2007 15:56 (seventeen years ago) link

three weeks pass...

the new one has leaked (not a very good rip though)...first listen shows it as pretty schlocky and overproduced, but it might be good, can't tell. it's not anything like Chaos and Creation though

― akm, Monday, 21 May 2007 06:40 (seventeen years ago) link

If some people consider it "overproduced", it sounds good. Generally, I find that none of his albums are overproduced, but way too many of them are underproduced.

― Geir Hongro, Monday, 21 May 2007 10:08 (seventeen years ago) link

http://www.luckyscent.com/images/products/32401.jpg

― Noodle Vague, Monday, 21 May 2007 10:10 (seventeen years ago) link

well the tunes aren't very good either

― akm, Monday, 21 May 2007 12:58 (seventeen years ago) link

"Mama's Little Girl", a bonus track from "Wild Life" is underrated. It would stack up easily next to McCartney's best song on the White Album. Beautiful, creepy harmonies- perfect for some corny movie soundtrack...

"Wild Life", as an album, actually isn't that bad. At least it's interesting, compared to some of his stuff from the last twenty years. (Driving Rain, Off the Ground, etc.)

― ColinO, Thursday, 24 May 2007 01:01 (seventeen years ago) link

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