MACCA SOLO ALBUMS!

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Treacle! Hidden gems! All this and more! And truly, the answer is RAM!

Poll Results

Option	Votes
1971: Ram	12
1980: McCartney II	8
1970: McCartney	5
2005: Chaos And Creation In The Backyard	4
1974: Band On The Run	4
1999: Run Devil Run	3
2001: Driving Rain	2
1982: Tug Of War	1
1997: Flaming Pie	1
1993: Off The Ground	0
1989: Flowers In The Dirt	0
1986: Press To Play	0
1984: Give My Regards To Broad Street	0
1983: Pipes Of Peace	0
1971: Wild Life	0
1973: Red Rose Speedway	0
1979: Back To The Egg	0
1978: London Town	0
1976: Wings At The Speed Of Sound	0
1975: Venus And Mars	0

― Davey D, Friday, 20 April 2007 21:09 (eighteen years ago)

if i could, i'd vote for II a hundred times.

― jaxon, Friday, 20 April 2007 21:36 (eighteen years ago)

ALSO, I'D VOTE YOU OFF THE ISLAND FOR STARTING ANOTHER MOTHERFATHER POLL THREAD

― jaxon, Friday, 20 April 2007 21:36 (eighteen years ago)

I love II and hate polls as well. It's been a confusing day.

― Davey D, Friday, 20 April 2007 21:37 (eighteen years ago)

"Tug Of War" remains the correct answer, even though it was almost detronized in 2005.

― Geir Hongro, Friday, 20 April 2007 22:07 (eighteen years ago)

Ram all the way

― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 20 April 2007 22:08 (eighteen years ago)

detronized?

― pisces, Friday, 20 April 2007 22:08 (eighteen years ago)

VOTE THE WORST

― abanana, Friday, 20 April 2007 22:14 (eighteen years ago)

HI DERE

-- The Amazing Randy, Friday, April 20, 2007 6:22 PM

― am0n, Friday, 20 April 2007 22:24 (eighteen years ago)

Boy, if Ram wins this poll...how times have changed!

― Tim Ellison, Friday, 20 April 2007 23:36 (eighteen years ago)

people hated it at the time because it was too close to sounding like a Beatles record without having the depth of one, but with hindsight... it's the only one that's close to sounding like a Beatles record

Ram by a fucking landslide

― Milton Parker, Friday, 20 April 2007 23:40 (eighteen years ago)

I had never listened to Ram until this weekend while going through some old vinyl. It's been playing nonstop ever since, and the ukelele on Ram On is genius.

― oscar, Friday, 20 April 2007 23:41 (eighteen years ago)

"without having the depth of one"

what kind of depth?

― Tim Ellison, Friday, 20 April 2007 23:59 (eighteen years ago)

short answer, the depth added by the other three & martin. I love paul's songs on the white album, but if the white album were just paul etc. expectations were still sky high with ram, and when it sounded almost exactly like another beatles album, but with john & george's songs just missing -- people started waking up to the reality of the divorce and were too busy weepin' to get down to his great new record

― Milton Parker, Saturday, 21 April 2007 01:12 (eighteen years ago)

they also thought it was too cute or shallow

― Tim Ellison, Saturday, 21 April 2007 01:26 (eighteen years ago)

i mean, that was the real reason, right? plastic ono band and imagine and all things must pass weren't received like that.

― Tim Ellison, Saturday, 21 April 2007 01:33 (eighteen years ago)

I find the problem about McCartney's 70s output, althouh some it it (including "Ram") is great, is his lack of self editing and his exaggerated faith in his own production talent.

There may be shared opinions, but I feel that the form of pop McCartney stands for needs a somewhat polished production to work properly. A rough or minimalist production will leave you with sort of a neither fish nor flesh feeling - But this isn't rock - then why does he have a rock production?

Surely there were exceptions ("Band On The Run" and "Venus And Mars" were both produced in a great way, and they are also my favourite 70s Macca albums)

When "II" (ironically an ILM favourite) failed completely, McCartney realized he needed to bring in outside producers, which he did to excellent effect with George Martin on "Tug Of War", and later with a combination of Mitchell Froom and Trevor Horn/Stephen Lipson on "Flowers In The Dirt". Also, in retrospect it seems people dislike those two because of the production, for me it's the opposite way round. McCartney is a pop artist, his genre is what is nowadays called softrock, and good softrock needs a polished production, or what you might call "overproduction". Musically, he is best compared to Crowded House, Jellyfish, 10cc, ELO or Supertramp, all of which are known for a very polished sound. And that is what works best for McCartney too.

― Geir Hongro, Saturday, 21 April 2007 01:35 (eighteen years ago)

Yeah, disagree. I like McCartney and Wild Life. You can say it "isn't rock," but to me, it is.

― Tim Ellison, Saturday, 21 April 2007 01:46 (eighteen years ago)

How is it not?

― Tim Ellison, Saturday, 21 April 2007 01:47 (eighteen years ago)

Oh, and I would doubt the direction of Tug of War was some reaction on Paul's part to a perceived failure of McCartney II (failure even though he had hits with Coming Up and Temporary Secretary?). Failure in whose eyes?

― Tim Ellison, Saturday, 21 April 2007 01:48 (eighteen years ago)

i mean, that was the real reason, right? plastic ono band and imagine and all things must pass weren't received like that.

well yeah. but neither lennon's or harrison's first solo albums sounded that much like the beatles, they'd already moved on -- so it wasn't as jarring as an album that sounded _almost_ like a beatles record... minus the others. with hindsight he wasn't any more cute or shallow than before, he just hadn't moved on quite yet, but now decades later I like that moment of him not-having-moved-on-from-being-beatle-paul yet to mccartney-the-super-entertainer.

I like a number of his later songs but there's no one album I can make it through, like at all, in fact a lot of it I almost wish I hadn't heard, it really hurts my feelings (I know we differs there good mr. tim)

― Milton Parker, Saturday, 21 April 2007 02:06 (eighteen years ago)

how about the self titled Emitt Rhodes album?

― jaxon, Saturday, 21 April 2007 02:20 (eighteen years ago)

emmit even

― jaxon, Saturday, 21 April 2007 02:21 (eighteen years ago)

1971: Wild Life
1973: Red Rose Speedway
1974: Band On The Run
1975: Venus And Mars
1976: Wings At The Speed Of Sound
1978: London Town
1979: Back To The Egg

should be disqualified.

― Pleasant Plains, Saturday, 21 April 2007 02:31 (eighteen years ago)

"Tug Of War" remains the correct answer, even though it was almost detronized in 2005.

Geir, your obsession with the idea that Tug of War is this overlooked masterpiece really has crossed into the bizarre.

Besides, if you're going to extol the virtues of McCartney's soft rock sound, you should credit London Town, which at least has the sense to marry that production with worthy material. Or "Arrow Through Me"...

― Naive Teen Idol, Saturday, 21 April 2007 04:12 (eighteen years ago)

"Tug Of War" has better sound and a more detailed production than "London Town". "London Town" is Barry Manilow while "Tug Of War" is 10cc.

― Geir Hongro, Saturday, 21 April 2007 10:51 (eighteen years ago)

I couldn't disagree with Geir more. What I like about early Macca is the tossed-off recorded in the bedroom feel of it. Yes, it has filler and song fragments scattered throughout each release, but that is what makes them different than most Beatles recordings except perhaps Abbey Road. And while I do see Milton's point about Harrison and Lennon moving on production-wise, they used Phil Spector after all, Macca went for a recording style that was more casual and naturalistic than most Beatles albums. Because his songs had begun moving in that direction while still in the band, you could argue that McCartney had moved on from the Beatles sound earlier than any of the others. I’d go so far as to even claim the he invented lo-fi, Elephant 6 bedroom pop with his first solo record –McCartney. While Ram, if it had been released by anyone else, would be regarded as a slice of wonderful, but bizarre pop. Monkberry Moon Delight anyone.

― leavethecapital, Saturday, 21 April 2007 12:02 (eighteen years ago)

McCartney is a pop artist, his genre is what is nowadays called softrock, and good softrock needs a polished production, or what you might call "overproduction".

Yeah, I can't agree with Geir either...Don't pidgeon-hole Macca in soft-rock, he's able (or was able) to do almost everything. The problem is that he seems to have lost the confidence to experiment playfully.

― Bob Six, Saturday, 21 April 2007 14:53 (eighteen years ago)

If this thread is going to be all about 70s albums, I'll throw in my vote for Venus and Mars (only Paul's songs though--Joe English bah!). But I think the best by miles is Run Devil Run. Mostly covers, but Paul hasn't sounded this intense since the Beatles' Little Richard covers. It was the first record he made after Linda died, and you can feel the pain, and his desire to overcome it, on just about every track.

― AKA Mr. Jaq, Saturday, 21 April 2007 14:54 (eighteen years ago)

The second Fireman album Rushes is a favourite of mine.

― Bob Six, Saturday, 21 April 2007 15:04 (eighteen years ago)

A few thoughts:

1. There's a difference between having the production of 10cc and a GUY from 10cc.

2. London Town is as diverse a record as Macca ever recorded, underrated and almost disarmingly unforced.

3. Agreed -- there's really something to be said for the way Macca approached his first post-Beatles records. The E6 comment is spot on, tho I'd argue it's channeled via Emmit Rhodes in that it's the production, not the songwriting, that sounds like Macca.

Also, just throwing this out there: Red Rose Speedway. Like Ram, it's the fusion of the early homemade style and his more grandiose aspirations. But unlike the former, the gap between the ambitions of the sound/arrangement/production and the songwriting is palpable. It's likely why the likes of Xgau had so many problems with it upon its release, but in retrospect, it's exactly what makes it so daring and interesting...

― Naive Teen Idol, Saturday, 21 April 2007 17:00 (eighteen years ago)

1. There's a difference between having the production of 10cc and a GUY from 10cc.

Except when that guy provides backing vocals, on "The Pound Is Sinking", the result sounds a lot like 10cc.

And I don't see this homemade approach of his early solo albums as anything that could be said about his late Beatles style. Surely some of the stuff on "The White Album", maybe. Possibly also his "Let It Be" contributions before Phil Spector added all the grandeur. But on "Abbey Road", McCartney's contributions are the most polished of all, and the most polished The Beatles ever made. And after all, that was the last album they ever recorded.

― Geir Hongro, Saturday, 21 April 2007 17:29 (eighteen years ago)

Wait, you're saying you can't see the homemade approach to his late Beatles approach except for the fact that you do see it on two of the three albums?

― Tim Ellison, Saturday, 21 April 2007 17:36 (eighteen years ago)

the homemade approach to his late Beatles ~~approach~~ material

― Tim Ellison, Saturday, 21 April 2007 17:37 (eighteen years ago)

Not on the last they recorded. In the case of The White Album and Let It Be, I see them as nothing else but the worst two Beatles albums, and obvious examples of how badly they performed when they didn't enjoy what they were doing. On "Abbey Road", they knew this was the last thing they did, they agreed to keep it together and work properly to make it a great album, and the result was a lot more satisfactory. And a lot more polished-sounding and "finished".

― Geir Hongro, Saturday, 21 April 2007 17:38 (eighteen years ago)

There's a tendency in modernist art to something being "unfinished." You are advocating classicism.

― Tim Ellison, Saturday, 21 April 2007 17:39 (eighteen years ago)

I despise modern art.

― Geir Hongro, Saturday, 21 April 2007 17:42 (eighteen years ago)

"how badly they performed" on the white album? I don't hear it. Yes, they probably had more interpersonal strife during those sessions than they did with Abbey Road. But remember that John didn't like side two of Abbey Road.

Abbey Road, for me, is Paul taking his first steps toward his '70s pop sound that found fruition, ultimately, in GLAM. There is no vision for the production of John's songs and George's songs on that album and they took different and more radical steps in working with Spector on their subsequent solo albums.

― Tim Ellison, Saturday, 21 April 2007 17:44 (eighteen years ago)

But remember that John didn't like side two of Abbey Road.

A sense of quality at the time. John Lennon lost all sense of quality after "I Am The Walrus" (his last masterpiece) and didn't quite regain it until after his "housewife" periode in the late 70s.

― Geir Hongro, Saturday, 21 April 2007 17:45 (eighteen years ago)

I understand that you like certain things about McCartney, but you present it as though the things you like in him define him and they don't (i.e., "McCartney is pop," "a McCartney record should have glossy pop production"). If you don't think he's a modernist, I'd suggest taking a look at his paintings or reading Barry Miles' book.

― Tim Ellison, Saturday, 21 April 2007 17:50 (eighteen years ago)

I agree completely, but spare yourself the paintings.

― Bob Six, Saturday, 21 April 2007 17:52 (eighteen years ago)

Oh Geirpaws!!! Well, I shouldn't be surprised that Geir doesn't like Plastic Ono Band.

― leavethecapital, Saturday, 21 April 2007 17:55 (eighteen years ago)

spare yourself the paintings.

Why? Here's one called "Bowie Spewing":

http://www.siwikultur.de/pmc/english/bbspew.htm

― Tim Ellison, Saturday, 21 April 2007 18:54 (eighteen years ago)

"The Queen after her first cigarette":

http://www.siwikultur.de/pmc/indexb.htm

― Tim Ellison, Saturday, 21 April 2007 18:56 (eighteen years ago)

Wrong link. Here's the one:

http://www.siwikultur.de/pmc/english/bqueen1.htm

― Tim Ellison, Saturday, 21 April 2007 18:57 (eighteen years ago)

In popular music, as opposed to painting, classisism still exists and is still respected.

― Geir Hongro, Saturday, 21 April 2007 22:07 (eighteen years ago)

"Monkberry Moon Delight" is my favorite Paul solo track.

London Town is an unjustly overlooked classic. "Cafe on the Left Bank?" "I've Had Enough?" "Cuff Link?" Sheer genius.

Red Rose Speedway also deserves another look; it has the daftest combination of sophisticated songwriting and a tossed-off feel that I've ever heard. It disorients me. The closing medley is one of his finest moments - someone mentioned on another thread that it is an obvious antecedent to Quadrophenia and I couldn't agree more..

― Davey D, Sunday, 22 April 2007 10:03 (eighteen years ago)

Oh, and has anybody heard Thrillington? Such a guilty, delicious pleasure...

― Davey D, Sunday, 22 April 2007 10:04 (eighteen years ago)

Thrillington is really lovely and really points up just how richly detailed Ram is. As someone who loves almost all of the albums open to the poll, I don't think I could vote for any one, but Ram certainly has the edge of the most gestures and textures per square minute of any McCartney record. Glad to see Red Rose Speedway getting some love, though - it's been growing on me over the last few years. Even if "Loup (First Indian On The Moon)" will always be basically lousy, it's a fun kind of lousy, and then you have just utter gems like "Single Pigeon" in there... It was originally intended to be a double album, wasn't it? One trembles to imagine.

― Doctor Casino, Sunday, 22 April 2007 15:07 (eighteen years ago)

That was a really cool sounding band with Henry McCullough. The good tracks on that album, like "Big Barn Bed" and "Get on the Right Thing" are really, really good! (And, yeah, Dr. Casino, "Single Pigeon" is a beauty.)

― Tim Ellison, Sunday, 22 April 2007 16:16 (eighteen years ago)

Skipping 118 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

What about the weird parts of the video where McCartney dances around with a Stevie Wonder stunt double?

http://i.imgur.com/XEqsPpJ.gif

― pplains, Monday, 5 October 2015 02:56 (ten years ago)

Which ones supposed to be macca?

― Mark G, Monday, 5 October 2015 06:50 (ten years ago)

Honestly, it goes by so fast in the video, I just assumed the shorter guy.

But now, yes, I notice he's got a pointy beard and wearing a hat...

― pplains, Monday, 5 October 2015 13:29 (ten years ago)

they should get together with the dancing John Lennon silhouette from the Too Late for Goodbyes video

― soref, Monday, 5 October 2015 13:37 (ten years ago)

Course, now that I think about it...

http://i.imgur.com/MqdZM5v.jpg

― pplains, Monday, 5 October 2015 13:40 (ten years ago)

Pipes of Peace demo tracks "It's Not On" and "Simple as That" have to be heard!

― timellison, Sunday, 18 October 2015 04:55 (ten years ago)

Looking forward to hearing these. Surprised how much I like the new mix of Say Say Say.

Not much to add here but think "Mr Bellamy" from MAF is a great, spooky underrated track with a lovely melody. Reminds me of a slightly less twee Uncle Albert.

― Chuck_Tatum, Sunday, 18 October 2015 16:34 (ten years ago)

one month passes...

so obsessed with "Arrow Through Me" lately. what else is in this vein besides some of McCartney II? Is there more funky Wings??

― Captain Maximus, Saturday, 21 November 2015 02:20 (ten years ago)

Kinda no, sadly. At least, that's often sort of a standout Wings track for people who don't really dig Wings. :-/

― Frump 'n' Dump (Doctor Casino), Saturday, 21 November 2015 03:26 (ten years ago)

There's an "Urban Adult Contemporary" station here that'll slip "Arrow" in there between Cameo and Chaka Khan.

― pplains, Saturday, 21 November 2015 03:36 (ten years ago)

so obsessed with "Arrow Through Me" lately. what else is in this vein besides some of McCartney II? Is there more funky Wings??

― Captain Maximus, Friday, November 20, 2015 9:20 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Kinda no, sadly. At least, that's often sort of a standout Wings track for people who don't really dig Wings. :-/

― Frump 'n' Dump (Doctor Casino),

Was this always the case? When a friend and I discovered it about a decade ago we wondered when a hip hop act would sample it. It took Erykah Badu.

― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 21 November 2015 03:37 (ten years ago)

'Write Away' from 1985 has a similar sort of feel imo

https://youtu.be/hsRdM8iBHh0

and 'Dress Me Up As A Robber' from Tug Of War which is in more of a McCartney II/Secret Friend style

https://youtu.be/f_kkiIXdkuI

― soref, Saturday, 21 November 2015 12:09 (ten years ago)

"Was this always the case?" - Hrm, I dunno? I'm going mainly on ILM posts tbh though I feel like I've seen it get shoutouts elsewhere or show up in playlists or whatever.

― Frump 'n' Dump (Doctor Casino), Saturday, 21 November 2015 15:15 (ten years ago)

u guys hear this??

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hq5KAdWJiWY

there's a clever little tasty surprise waiting if not

― piscesx, Monday, 23 November 2015 14:59 (ten years ago)

Ha. Wasn't expecting Paul to go that far with a "Say Say Say (Naked)".

― pplains, Monday, 23 November 2015 19:59 (ten years ago)

five years pass...

(this post from 2009 was in the "I hate Paul McCartney so much." thread but it didn't seem appropriate to post what I was about to say there)

A friend of mine was in the same NYC studio while Paul was putting together some of "Memory Almost Full" and his story is Paul was super nice and asked him if he wanted to come downstairs and take a listen to some tracks he was putting down. My friend obliged and once they were in the room Paul proceeded to sit behind the drumkit and overdub some stuff, singing along. After they were done Paul supposedly asked for "your honest opinion" and my friend could only come up with "Yes, Sir Paul, sounds great!" I told my friend he probably wanted to hear "Could use a tighter snare sound" or something.

That is really, really awesome! I'm not sure if François de Roobabe (Capitaine Jay Vee) still posts here, but is this Soundtrack NYC? I've been in that facility and know the layout well because I know people who work there. Last time I was there (probably several years ago), I remember looking through some kind of display they had of album covers, and Memory Almost Full was one of them.

At this point, it looks like Memory Almost Full was the peak of McCartney's resurgence. I was hoping for more/better, but what we got is still much better than what I would have predicted. I never thought I'd go to a McCartney concert or get into any of his new music, but all that happened in the second half of the '00s.

I didn't think Memory Almost Full was an unqualified success, and after a month or so I started tweaking the album into something I'd enjoy start-to-finish, replacing the four tracks I couldn't like with the only four I liked from Chaos & Creation (which I found overrated if commendable). I hadn't played the CD-R I made in years but I tried it this morning and still enjoy it:

1. Fine Line
2. Ever Present Past
3. Friends to Go
4. Only Mama Knows
5. Jenny Wren
6. Mr. Bellamy
7. Promise to You Girl
8. Vintage Clothes
9. That Was Me
10. Feet in the Clouds
11. House of Wax
12. Nod Your Head
13. Dance Tonight
(hidden track) I've Only Got Two Hands

― birdistheword, Thursday, 16 September 2021 16:26 (four years ago)

No, the studio was NY Noise down in the Meatpacking District. Gone now about 10 years. I worked there so the “friend” stuff = my old boss ( RIP Rick). We had lots of great folks come through and record in that small space - was an amazing experience - but, sadly, I had split for the evening the night Paul dropped by.

― SQUIRREL MEAT!! (Capitaine Jay Vee), Thursday, 16 September 2021 19:26 (four years ago)

one year passes...

Oh God y'all, I'm listening to Give My Regards to Broad Street for the first time in probably 20 years, probably for the second or third time ever, and there's so many oddball sonic and production choices all over this thing. The "disco" No More Lonely Nights for example, is SO close to being plausible as the seed for another McCartney II level foray into 80s electro-indie pop. Unfortunately for me, for once I'm not buying Paul's nonsense and it all just sounds distractingly unrealized to my ears.

Like, I LOVE "Ballroom Dancing," always have, but the version here is such a disaster. In theory I'm SO on board for Paul wanting to swerve the song halfway through into the land of 80s studio boogie, but it's just so terribly-executed and uninteresting. On many great Paul albums, his random style exercises feel like they come from a genuine interest in new sounds he's hearing, while this sounds like he's striving to do it but doesn't really have a handle on it. "Not Such A Bad Boy" is much more convincing. Not landing like an instant classic or anything, but gives me a pleasant "Live at Daryl's House" vibe. "No Values," later in the album, is very bland, but maybe kind of pub-rocky if I'm using that term right?

The lows are SO low. But I can imagine an alternate-universe version that's thought of like, "oh yeah Paul McCartney's got this kinda cool early-80s album that's his version of Glossed-Up Roots-Rock With a Hint of New Wave; if you dig Run Devil Run or any of the more rock-type Wings songs, you'll dig it." Instead it's pretty widely considered his worst album, or at least pretty high up there (right?). I guess it might just be a case of "the songs weren't there."

― got it in the blood, the kid's a pelican (Doctor Casino), Sunday, 5 February 2023 15:22 (two years ago)

Marcello:

I really didn’t think we could sink any lower after Bowie’s Tonight, but Give My Regards is a far more actively unpleasant record and a far more painful listen, despite (unlike Tonight) having at least one salvageable track. Why? Because Bowie micturating on “God Only Knows” is one thing, but listening to an artist effectively crapping on his own work brings a level of badness which this tale has not previously known. It is not that this record lacks good songs; indeed, some of its songs are among the best ever written...

No doubt the internet is full of Macca fan sites and message boards whose contributors can see the good side of Broad Street and strive to point out its hidden merits. Good luck to them. I tried, and I could not. The one song worth saving was the most prominent new one, and the single: “No More Lonely Nights” was the strongest song McCartney had written in years, and proved that when he could be bothered to pull his finger out, he was more than capable of bringing back the old magic. Eric Stewart and Linda McCartney’s backing vocals remind us of “I’m Not In Love,” Dave Gilmour turns up to play a propulsive, anguished guitar solo, and it’s all very acceptable in a late 1975 kind of a way (and a far more deserving number two single than “The War Song”).

― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 5 February 2023 16:44 (two years ago)

i personally think this album is better than it's given credit for but only if you ignore the utterly pointless covers. the original material is pretty good.

― I? not I! He! He! HIM! (akm), Sunday, 5 February 2023 16:46 (two years ago)

The only time I'd ever favour the Stones over my belov'd McCartney and Bowie is late 1984, and quite drastically too. The Stones released their best ever thing (the Too Much Blood 12" maxi) and Paul and David released their worst ever.

― you can see me from westbury white horse, Sunday, 5 February 2023 17:24 (two years ago)

'orrible wuzzn't it

― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 5 February 2023 17:25 (two years ago)

very fa'kin' funny michael

― you can see me from westbury white horse, Sunday, 5 February 2023 17:26 (two years ago)

So yeah I pass on Regards (though the film has its uses), but I am to some degree a Press to Play defender.

― you can see me from westbury white horse, Sunday, 5 February 2023 17:27 (two years ago)

come sit by me then

― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 5 February 2023 17:27 (two years ago)

he's a has been at this point along with bob dylan (his last decent record was 'desire')

― CerebralCaustic, Monday, 6 February 2023 03:06 (two years ago)

more caustic opinions plz

― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 6 February 2023 03:07 (two years ago)

More cerebral opinions please

― Halfway there but for you, Monday, 6 February 2023 16:20 (two years ago)

At least one would be a start.

― Maggot Bairn (Tom D.), Monday, 6 February 2023 16:43 (two years ago)

Chat more chat

― realistic pillow (Jon not Jon), Monday, 6 February 2023 18:23 (two years ago)

Oh God y'all, I'm listening to Give My Regards to Broad Street for the first time in probably 20 years, probably for the second or third time ever, and there's so many oddball sonic and production choices all over this thing.

"Ballroom Dancing" is a crappy listen, but does it have Dave Edmonds on it? I feel like maybe that boogie-cum-unnecessarily-loud-brass-arrangement brew all might've made more sense if you were watching the film (ok, that's a lie -- no film Paul McCartney has ever been behind has ever made a lick of sense).

Fake edit: Ok so now I’m WATCHING THE GIVE MY REGARDS MOVIE on YouTube and there is a whole sequence of them shooting a video to this in a ballroom and a West Side Story-esque tussle over a woman. The arrangement does actually make a little more sense when you’re watching it. John Paul Jones, Edmonds and Chris Spedding and Ringo are all playing on it.

Other things, I’m noticing:

There’s a whole sequence at the beginning of this movie with Paul, recording in a studio with Ringo, who is tuning his drums initially, while George Martin is producing. Oh hey look, on trombone is the same guy who played on Sergeant Pepper, who also so happened to teach trombone at my college while I was there.

Tracy Ullman shows up about a half hour into this, I think as the girlfriend of Harry who they think stole the mater tapes. There are actually a lot of pretty good actors in this. I have to imagine a bunch of people just wanted to work with Paul.

Now after some guy break danced through “Silly Love Songs,” with the whole band dressed like some 80s French aristocrats, with shaved mullet wigs and white makeup, we’re on to Live From Paulie’s House where Paul and his band do some rough and ready version of “Not Such a Bad Boy.” Linda is rocking a splendid fedora.

“So Bad” comes next. I’ve always had a soft spot for this kind of awful song. It got a ton of radio play the year before. Eric Stewart is here now looking like Matthew Sweet, as are about 400 overdubbed 10cc background vocals that are clearly not Live From Paulie’s House.

The third song from this section is No Values, which I have zero memory of. It’s a p good rocker.

Well, I guess I am live blogging this now, so I suppose I’ll just keep going.

Now a radio interview followed by straight arrow (thru me) live in the studio versions of For No One and Eleanor Rigby. I actually kind of wonder, when combined with the studio stuff earlier in the movie, Paul just wanted to show himself playing and singing a bunch of these tunes effortlessly but also, with his studious filming of mixing board faders and racked gear, to demonstrate all the craft and care that goes into capturing and promoting this stuff.

Ok so Eleanor Rigby evolves into a show hall performance and then a fantasy sequence with Paul in some Vixtorian era carriage with him and Ringo drinking wine and eating grapes by a lake and rowing boats with swans. Sunday in the Park with Paul and Ringo … but not George (or John, he’s dead).

The pastoral bliss is interrupted when Paul imagines Harry stealing the tape and everyone goes over a waterfall and dies.

Now it’s snowing and Victorian Paul sees a ghostly Linda riding a horse in the sky. Then he’s wandering the streets of London with the whores and drunkards, peering like Jack the Ripper at Harry skulking around with the tapes. Harry tries to hide the tapes but is caught by some Peter Grant looking heavy we met a few scenes earlier in the movie and beats him. Then the actual Jack the Ripper who is a record executive I think shows up in a carriage and stabs him. Jokes on you, Harry – those tapes you stole were from Press to Play! Anyway Harry stumbles back to the steps of a concert hall with all the record execs and dies there. Paul then awakes from his dream.

Paul gets back in his ZZ Top car from the beginning of the movie, which has a computer in it that gives him his schedule for the day. He drives past the Battersea powerstation, listening to the Wings version of Band of the Run.

Now he goes to Ralph Richardson’s house. Ralph has a monkey. Ralph serves him tea and suggests Paul slow down a bit and then looks like he’s about to hypnotize him.

Paul cruises around the streets of London some more in his ZZ Top car, listening to a cheesy Baker Street sax version of him singing “The Long and Winding Road.” Meanwhile Tracy Ullmann laments Harry’s disappearance. Brian Brown, his manager, paces a lot and the shadowy corporate guys walk around with suitcases because they’re going to foreclose on Paul or something if he doesn’t find the tapes in time.

Anyway, Paul drives past the Broad Street rail station and has a revelation and parks his ZZ Top car. As he walks around the abandoned rail station to “No More Lonely Nights” Paul imagines himself as a busker. And then once his fantasy ends, he looks over at the bench next to him and sees his master tape lying there in the rain. And then he hears poor Harry who apparently locked himself in a shed thinking it was a toilet. Mystery solved!

Paul rings Linda from his ZZ Top car to let her know he’s found the tapes and Harry. Brian Brown informs the suits who look sad they won’t be able to foreclose on the McCartney family farm.

Paul then wakes up in his car and realizes he’s been daydreaming whole time. Cue the disco version of “No More Lonely Nights” over the credits which, yeah, I’d completely forgotten and apparently has Anne Dudley on synths. This thing is extended. After doing 1980s versions of all of his songs, it’s legit like he just timewarped back to 1979 for this. Why? No one knows.

This is all ridiculous and meaningless. But it’s a lot easier to watch when you realize Paul’s entire concept is just to do his own Hard Day’s Night.

― Naive Teen Idol, Tuesday, 7 February 2023 02:06 (two years ago)

some of these wings albums aren't half bad y'know

― your original display name is still visible (Left), Tuesday, 7 February 2023 02:14 (two years ago)

is the movie better or worse than the 70s sgt pepper one

― your original display name is still visible (Left), Tuesday, 7 February 2023 02:15 (two years ago)

better because it's never actually boring except for this bit - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3rG4vm06kE - which apparently lasts 12 minutes but feels like 12 years.

― you can see me from westbury white horse, Tuesday, 7 February 2023 02:21 (two years ago)

Ebert said that when he told Paul his movie was no good, Paul looked like he wanted to kill him.

Magical Mystery Tour is very close to the worst movie of all time with some of the best scenes.

― Halfway there but for you, Tuesday, 7 February 2023 03:45 (two years ago)

"his movie" i.e. Broad Street

― Halfway there but for you, Tuesday, 7 February 2023 03:46 (two years ago)

Magical Mystery Tour would've worked out great had they simply cut out the musical sequences and sent those out to Ed Sullivan, the BBC and other television programs, similar to what they had been doing with their other proto-music videos. It probably wasn't economically feasible though - they needed to recoup the cost of making that film and that wasn't going to happen unless they had an hour-long program to sell.

FWIW, I thought Dylan should've done the same with the 1975 tour footage that became Renaldo and Clara - the film was always going to be a mess and he needed to deliver a live show to NBC anyway, so he should've just ditched his ill-conceived narrative film idea and simply cut together a concert film. In that case, it would've been a far better financial decision had he done so - he ended up spending a great deal of money shooting that Colorado show for the NBC broadcast, and then he poured a ton of additional money into Renaldo and Clara as he kept editing it for another two years, leaving himself buried in a ton of debt (which was the main reason he did those awful Budokan shows - to financially right the ship).

― birdistheword, Tuesday, 7 February 2023 04:03 (two years ago)

Ebert said that when he told Paul his movie was no good, Paul looked like he wanted to kill him.

lol yeah it was Siskel, who said McCartney almost threw a glass of OJ in his face.

― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 7 February 2023 10:25 (two years ago)

McCartney not even the best filmmaker in the Beatles.

― Maggot Bairn (Tom D.), Tuesday, 7 February 2023 11:11 (two years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gk1tnvl8mo

― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Tuesday, 7 February 2023 11:54 (two years ago)

omg that looks so awful.

appreciate the liveblog, NTI.... Wow, I don't think I ever really had a clear sense of what the movie was, just that it looked very uninteresting and uncool, even to a teenage Beatle nerd weighing the VHS box at Blockbuster. I wish I'd been more adventurous, since it does at least sound *memorably* bad. The sheer quantity of dream sequences! He must have thought that the success of MTV was an endorsement for the kind of nigh-structureless MMT model of "there's some songs, and then in between, things happen!" well again: maybe if the songs had been there. but now I'm picturing a 70s version with the Band on the Run tracklist and it still seems pretty wince-worthy.

― got it in the blood, the kid's a pelican (Doctor Casino), Tuesday, 7 February 2023 12:13 (two years ago)

I saw this movie in the theater, my pick.

My step-brother leaned into my ear the whole time, going "this SUUUUCCCCCKKKKS."

― pplains, Tuesday, 7 February 2023 14:38 (two years ago)

eight months pass...

Paul McCartney's new tour is called Got Back:

https://www.paulmccartney.com/live/got-back-tour

It'll be the first tour under his new name, Sir-Macs-a-Lot.

― dinnerboat, Tuesday, 10 October 2023 14:18 (two years ago)

one year passes...

Did you say you wanted 22-minute retrospective on the Broad Street catastrophe with lots of clips of Macca getting into spats with critics and media personalities that include former classmates? I thought you did:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yraq4XV7GE

― Naive Teen Idol, Sunday, 27 July 2025 13:33 (five months ago)

Yay!

I don't know if this clip mentions how Gene Siskel told Paul the film sucked and Paul almost threw a glass of orange juice in his face.

― hungover beet poo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 27 July 2025 14:54 (five months ago)

It has that bit! But I couldn’t see it was Siskel.

― Naive Teen Idol, Sunday, 27 July 2025 15:52 (five months ago)

Whoof, I'd always thought it was a total flop, but figured it was more of a "barely got released and no one even heard of it" affair. Those defensive promo-tour clips... yeesh.

― Doctor Casino, Friday, 8 August 2025 10:14 (five months ago)

Rock star vanity projects were a big thing in mid-80s cinema … Purple Reign, Rick Springfield’s Hard to Hold (saw that in the theater). Paul was absolutely at a peak in terms of solo popularity around then and routinely cited as the richest man in England (and maybe the world?). The hubris was strong in this one …

― Naive Teen Idol, Friday, 8 August 2025 12:52 (five months ago)

It Couldn’t Happen Here too. Better than people remember though, that one.

Surprisingly one of the best ones, The The’s Infected still remains unreleased on DVD/streaming/blu-ray.

― piscesx, Friday, 8 August 2025 22:40 (five months ago)

The BFI need to get on that one (and From Dusk 'Til Dawn), a bit like they did with Weekender recently. Maybe they'll finally explain why the 1986 video is an 18.

A lot of the more endearing (if not actually that good) ones are straight-to-video, like the Style Council's JerUSAlem, ABC's Mantrap and UB40's Labour of Love.

― you can see me from westbury white horse, Friday, 8 August 2025 22:44 (five months ago)

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