This Is The Thread Where We Praise And Canonize Paul McCartney's "Ram"

HERE WE GO!

Go ahead and buy "Ram". It can't be that expensive, and you'll probably like it. It has the most extensive Beach Boys homage of his solo work, and some good examples of that sort of linear song structure at which he excels (where it's just a progression of bits rather than verse-chorus-verse). Yes, there's some goofy and even embarassing bits on it, but anyone buying a Macca record knows to expect that. It's a totally unpretentious and, at times, charming album.

Nice haiku, Begs2Differ!

"Fluff, sure, but darn catchy fluff!" - Roger Catlin, Musichound Rock: The Essential Album Guide, 1996.

"Brimming with melodies and intriguing ideas!" - William Ruhlmann, The All-Music Guide to Rock, 1995.

"Most of the songs are so lightweight they float away even as Paulie layers them down with caprices!" - Robert Christgau, Christgau's Record Guide, 1981.

"There are some nice moments...It's like watching someone juggle five guitars!" - Playboy, 9-71.

"wailing sentimentality!" - Billboard, 1971.

"I don't see how someone can play it and take in all that stuff and say 'I don't like it!" - Paul McCartney

?!

Jody say it ain't so! It's a decent record. I don't LOVE it or anything, but it's ok. I got a vinyl copy for free. "Too Many People" is a great song.

'Heart of the Country' is a nice jazzy thing that if it had been on the White Album and had some input from the other beatles would have been 10x better.

Paul's 'wigging out' moments like around 3'20 of 'Too Many People' are fucking deadly.

Haha. Yuppers.

I think I said this on another thread once, but I can only listen to Paul in moderation. I like many of his songs on the White Album, but if you listen to them all in a row, you'd be dead by Blackbird > Rocky Racoon.

Too Many People
3 Legs
Ram On
Dear Boy
Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey
Smile Away
Heart of the Country
Monkberry Moon Delight
Eat at Home
Long Haired Lady
Ram On (Reprise)
The Back Seat of My Car

*SNICKER*

I tried listening once. It wasn't very good.

Me no understand.

"Get Back" = Great
"Eat at Home" = Stinks?

Me no understand.

"Lady Madonna" = Classic
"Monkberry Moon Delight" = "The nadir in the decomposition of the sixties?"

Me no understand.

Has 'Monkberry Moon Delight' ever been sampled in a hip-hop track? 'Cause it damn well should be.

this record is great, my favorite Macca solo work

Absolutely.

Surely a great album, although he has done several better ones after he broke up Wings again.

Lately I've been wanting to add Big Barn Bed (from Red Rose Speedway) to Ram...it's got the weird catchy pot-smoking Ram vibe so much. I wonder if it was recorded at the same time?

Ah, it was. I thought I remembered a snippet of it on Ram.

i really like "ram".

the album with the bonus song "oh woman oh why" is the one to get, simply cos that song's a really funky stones-y dirge.

Perhaps some will find this interesting, perhaps not...

...but I'm rerecording "Ram" all by myself, track by track. Have a listen!

The Ram Project

Can't listen right now, but nice idea. I haven't ever heard Ram, i should probably track down the original before checking out your version anyway. Oh, and i've read that book, Tim, it's really good.

the 2004 posts are nuts. i don't even like Macca all that much but Ram and his first album are great

yeah that is weird. I don't think the tide has turned on this album in the past few years; as far as I remember it's been considered a classic since the 80's at least. I dont' think it was super well received when it came out but that feeling didn't last long. maybe people were just feeling bad in 2004, what with bush being reelected and the world beginning to suck.

Ram: the choice of the Obama generation.

yeah pretty strange to see spittle-flecked contrarianism on ILM eh

its like the Stevie Wonder c/d thread where the first 100 posts are all people complaining about his sappy balladry

Nice work thus far Davey D!

kudos on all those Dear Boy vocals! damn

Thanks! Just finished "Eat At Home," BTW.

http://www.paulmccartney.com/web/guest/news/-/blogs/paul-and-linda-mccartney-s-legendary-album-ram-set-for-deluxe-reissue?_33_redirect=/web/guest&#p_33#top

RAM will be available across a variety of different formats:

Standard Edition: 1 CD digipak Single disc, digitally remastered 12- track standard edition

Special Edition: 2 CD digipak Remastered album and 8-track bonus audio CD including rarities, b-sides and the hit single, 'Another Day'.

Deluxe Edition Box Set: 4 CD/1 DVD box set & download Remastered album, bonus audio CD, remastered Mono album, Thrillington CD, bonus film DVD, 112 page book, 5 prints in vintage style photographic wallet, 8 full size facsimiles of Paul's original handwritten lyric sheets and mini photographic book of outtakes from the original album cover photo shoot.

Hi-Res: 24bit 96kHz files of the remastered and bonus audio CD, accessed via a download code inserted on a card within the deluxe edition package

Vinyl: 2LP 180gm, gatefold vinyl with download Remastered album, bonus audio disc plus digital download of all 20 tracks

Limited Edition Mono Vinyl: 1LP, Remastered mono album

Digital: RAM will be available for download across a variation of digital configurations including Mastered for iTunes and High Resolution

Right...

Love this album. So many memories of my grandmother's house in the South of France where she had this record (used to belong to my aunt). Of course, being French, she would mishear a lot of lyrics and on "Another Day" (Paul's single from the time) she scanned the chorus as going: "Sau-sage/Sau-sage/Sometimes I feel sau-sage"...

I want that deluxe edition. I love, love, love this record, and did even as a kid. My father had it, and I think I wore out the binding opening and closing the gatefold cover. (Just as so many kids first hear "Yellow Submarine" as their gateway into the Beatles, I got into solo McCartney as a result of "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey.")

Sorry I missed on the covers project, totally woulda been into that!

One of my friends suggested a full-LP "Ram" cover band for Halloween one year, which sounds like a dream.

the backlash to the backlash!!!!!

http://www.pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/16651-ram/

Is not wrong.

Half the album is listenable but "Uncle Albert" was and remains a piece of shit – and I'm the guy who defends Press to Play.

It's strange how UA/AH got to number one in the USA, but never even got released as a single here.

Also that "Back seat of my car" (which is great), only got to 37 or thereabouts. Were the great UK public really so bored of McCartney then?

^^^ Drunk talk, you'll regret that later

Bought the deluxe version of this with a gift card I had sitting around from Xmas. It sounds terrific, I've always loved this album. (My dad had it when I was a kid, and I remember hearing it a lot in like 1974-75). The accompanying disc with the singles from the same period is great as well, and mastered so well that, e.g., I hear backing harmonies in "Another Day" that I've never heard before, and I've heard that song at least a hundred times.

er xp to Alfred, not Mark G

oh I love "Another Day," which nails the domestic vibe that John kinda misses in "Just Like Starting Over."

#26 on the midweeks.

Too late for me, however, I did this review some while back with only the ancient vinyl original to hand.

I like the 'Uncle Albert' part of UA/AH, but I've never really been keen on the 'Admiral Halsey' part.

I've always had a fondness for Ram, although it's probably my 5th favourite McCartney album overall.

I always thought "Hands across the water" was pretty damn brilliant myself.

this album is amazing front-to-back imho

third best Beatle solo album behind ATMP and Imagine

yeah, Ram is really, really great. I grabbed a bunch of his other solo stuff based on the awesomeness of Ram and was kind of bummed that it's head and shoulders above the rest (there's some decent stuff on McCartney and McCartney II, and a few Wings songs that grab me, but nothing so consistently fantastic as Ram).

I haven't checked the credits lately but isn't the first and last Macca album until TOW to feature session men? Does he play that terrific bass lick in "Too Many People"?

Paul plays everything on this record, except for some random shit (vox/keybds) credited to Linda. He recorded it at home.

for someone so often pilloried for his sentiment and cloyingly obvious lyrics, it's funny how much of this album's lyrics are elliptical proto-nonsense. nothing is expressed in a very straightforward matter, everything is buried in a lot of goofy stoner imagery

matter manner

but Hugh McCracken, Dave Spinozza, etc are in the credits.

Paul plays everything on this record, except for some random shit (vox/keybds) credited to Linda. He recorded it at home.

Yeah, no. He recorded it at CBS Studios in New York, with Denny Seiwell on drums, the guitar guys listed above by Alfred, and orchestra overdubs arranged by George Martin.

In the book in the deluxe edition, Seiwell says he got a call from his booking place about an audition, showed up to discover Paul and Linda in some craphole studio with just a drum set, and Paul asked him to play various beats -- straight rock, a shuffle, something funky, etc. All unaccompanied. He just wanted to hear the dude play.

hmm maybe I was thinking of McCartney I

oh yeah he played everything on that one

whatever shakey, we know you've never even heard Ram before

THAT WAS YOUR FIIIIRST MISTAKE

that jayson greene review is wonderful! the paragraph on 'Smile Away' in particular, the track at the heart of the album, the self-consciously rockin' track that is almost annoyingly cute until it starts to dawn on you that this is a very odd person's way of tell you that he's actually already on the other side of being very pissed off

I am heading to the store to buy the 2CD of this and it had better already be there

/telling you

if not, smile on!

I dunno man, I rate Band On The Run, Venus And Mars, Flowers In The Dirt and Chaos And Creation In The Backyard over this one. With Flaming Pie and the very underrated Back To The Egg very very closely behind Ram. His weakest releases for me are: Wild Life, Wings At The Speed Of Sound and that run from 1983-1986 which I'd consider to be the 'dud stage' of his solo career (Pipes, Broadstreet, Press To Play), although there's one or two admittedly sterling tracks on these.

right there
that's it
YES

I take issue with 'Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey' being branded one of McCartney's five best solo songs... fucking hell, no. Don't agree with that whatsoever. At all.

Nothing makes me happier than infuriating the sententious, smug likes of Jon Landau and Dave Marsh and while I'm glad the Admiral Halsey part Killed The Sixties Dream it doesn't mean I have to relive it.

right there
that's it
YES

― go down on you in a thyatrr (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, May 24, 2012 5:24 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah, I don't mind 'Press' at all, even though it took me quite some time to warm to it. I'm still not a massive fan of the production values on the whole album, though!

I've always felt like "Big Barn Bed" from Red Rose should have been on this album as well. I mean, it kind of is, but it should have been on it for real...

Oh yeah, you can hear a snatch of it at the end of 'Ram On (Reprise)'... I keep forgetting about that. I remember reading at some point or another that Red Rose Speedway was meant to be a double album!?!

I never really got into this one on my own, but over the past year friends of mine (from different ends of my friendship spectrum, strangely enough) have been throwing it on during hangouts, leading me to believe it's been gaining some canon-momentum (or whatever) within the past few years. "Heart Of The Country" and "Ram On" stand out for me as pretty great and would've been worthy of placement on a Beatles LP that never happened.

yeah – it's been a sleeper for years. A Macca CD-R a friend burned for me in 2001 had practically the whole album.

an alternate universe where young Paul skipped church the morning of July 6, 1957

wtf how do people know this shit

i thought i was a beatles nerd

the problem with nerdom is that someone always knows a squib you don't.

'Too Many People', 'Dear Boy', 'Eat At Home' and 'Back Seat Of My Car' were the ones that stood out to me on first listen to Ram, if I remember. 'Long Haired Lady' and the title track are still incredible. 'Smile Away' and 'Heart Of The Country' are decent/alright. 'Monkberry Moon Delight' and '3 Legs' less so.

The end of "3 Legs" is pretty sweet, where it cuts into that half-time bit or whatever it is.

Two-disc version of this is on Spotify btw.

And I haven't said it yet on this thread, I don't think, so I'll say also that Thrillington rules.

I like it how it took McCartney until 1989 to clear up for once and for all how involved he was with the Thrillington album. Nobody had ever bothered to ask him what his role was in the Thrillington album up until then. I don't think his name is even mentioned anywhere on the sleeve, except for the songwriting credits. It became so much more of a collectors item after that, of course.

And yeah, Thrillington does indeed rule. I prefer Ram, of course, but Thrillington is a highly listenable vanity project. And McCartney likes his vanity projects.

Eh, I don't know why it has to be called a "vanity project."

Also disagree with the Jayson Greene, Pitchfork assertion that Ram is "utterly lacking grandiose ambitions."

Eh, I don't know why it has to be called a "vanity project."

― timellison, Thursday, May 24, 2012 11:34 PM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Aw, come on. Re-recording your album in instrumental form under a pseudonym with an arranger before the actual album is even out, for NO OTHER REASON or PURPOSE than BECAUSE YOU CAN just absolutely reeks of 'vanity project' to me!

No, I don't agree. The reason or purpose was just because he could? I don't think the reason or purpose was any different than the making of most albums.

McCartney, because of his status as an ex-Beatle, was allowed to indulge himself in projects like this more than most. And if you're allowed to indulge yourself, you're naturally going to indulge yourself. McCartney did on several occasions, and Thrillington was one of the results. A vanity project. Which was made because he could get away with making it.

He had the vision to do a record like Thrillington. Many could have done the same, if perhaps on a smaller budget. Of course, those theoretical artists would have needed to really want to go through with a project like that. McCartney was the type of guy who was up to the task.

I don't think he was "indulging" anything.

ram is on Spotify?? hm not here in the UK unless i'm going blind. no Macca/ Wings at all.

tim, you're interpreting "indulging" pejoratively

tim, you're interpreting "indulging" pejoratively

― go down on you in a thyatrr (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, May 25, 2012 12:56 AM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah, this! I didn't mean "indulging" in a negative way at all. I'd gladly take an album full of McCartney indulging himself over many, many other artists indulging themselves. I truly enjoy things like Thrillington and I'm glad that McCartney had the opportunity to make them. Not everyone would have been able to have the opportunity to do so, I suspect not even McCartney himself if his musical career had started in 1970 and he'd never been a Beatle.

interpreting "indulging" pejoratively

Well, I think that's a normal reaction to seeing it used in conjunction with the term "vanity project!" There was also some question raised about the "reason" and "purpose" of the album.

xp Yeah I was listening on Spotify earlier.. I was certain Ram was on there several months ago also, but was pulled sometime between then and this week.

Looks like it's currently Spotify's only proper full-length from any of the Beatles.. theres also stray tracks on some comps here and there.

that was a lie... sorry Ringo fans.

baffled by all the hate directed at "admiral halsey" itt. every part of that song is great.

rain solo

I see no "Ram" McCartney on Spotify.

I do see "The Ram Project" by Dave Depper, looks like a cover project (not played it)

telephone solo

http://drownedinsound.com/in_depth/4145012-paul-mccartney-discusses-songwriting-and-ram-with-mansuns-paul-draper

Do you think you were influenced by the early prog-rock movement, I guess you wouldn’t say RAM was a prog-rock album? Do you think you were influenced by seeing Pink Floyd at the Roundhouse...

What I take the influence back to was A Teenage Opera. That was a very early record in the late 60s, by Keith West... it was his only, like, big hit. That was episodic, there was a bit and it went 'buh-buh-bum', then it went there, and there, and there [Sir Paul makes some stacking gestures with his hands]. I think that was the first record I heard, and we heard, and we thought ‘that’s interesting’. You can have a song here, then you can cut like a film to another song, and you can even cut the tempo and go slow and so on. That was really the one that was the biggest influence, and then lots of people started doing it. We'd do it a bit, prog-rock did it, Townshend started doing it a bit, The Who opera and all that.

-

who knew Excerpt From A Teenage Opera was SO influential??

I see no "Ram" McCartney on Spotify.

Assuredly his best record, and the one where the overstuffed detail-ridden arrangements and production really reward endless listening; there's nothing undercooked on this record at all. Amazing that it so convincingly carries a "homemade" vibe given that it's actually a pretty precise studio creation of the sort he seemingly couldn't be bothered with on his notionally slick studio albums (London Town, Press To Play, etc.). It has this amazing mix of "gorgeous" and "earthy," helped to no small degree by the choice of offbeat lyrical themes (simple life in the country vs. psychedelic gibberish about gypsies and Monkberry Moon Delight) and the prominence of Linda's backing vocals, which take off the sheen and give everything this great straw-like texture. Love this album.

Hadn't noticed the remaster coming out.... am now checking out the bonus stuff on Spotify. This version of "A Love For You" is....weird. Feels very "Flaming Pie" or Brian Wilson "Smile" - are these 2012 recordings being mixed in? Glad to see some of this stuff making its way out of the vaults in any case.

http://drownedinsound.com/in_depth/4145012-paul-mccartney-discusses-songwriting-and-ram-with-mansuns-paul-draper

― piscesx, Monday, May 28, 2012 2:08 PM (7 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Meh. I found that interview quite bland, actually. Not that it's the fault of DrownedInSound or Paul Draper, but rather McCartney himself. I've often found it really frustrating whenever I read interviews that are usually to do with his solo work, but he usually ends up steering the conversation so he ends up talking about John Lennon or the fucking Beatles. It's frustrating as a fan, because The Beatles thing has been talked about so much that there's nothing really left to say... it just doesn't interest me at all. Yet, he's had a solo career since 1970 and has barely talked about any of that stuff, with a couple of notable exceptions. Q Magazine managed to get a decent interview with him on solo work a couple of years back (and they even pretty much said in the opening paragraph, if I remember, that they had to seriously try to stop him from talking about The Beatles)... and Mojo did an excellent piece on McCartney through to Band On The Run but went no further.

Pretty much everyone knows what John Lennon or George Harrison were going through and what inspired even some of their lesser albums or songs. With Paul, it can sometimes be unclear as to where it all came from. He really needs to open up more on his solo work, in my opinion. And it's not like all of his songs aren't about anything... stuff like 'Wanderlust' is based on a real life incident, for example.

Wow. This is great. I'd never heard it before today and have played it 4 times through already. The reissue sounds wonderful. It sounds to me today like a missing 3rd disc from The White Album. The bonus disc is great also.

I only know this and McCartney II. Is the Wings stuff worth looking into as well? I've always been put off because of Mull of Kintyre, which I hate as much as Yesterday and Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da. Or The Long and Winding Road. Jees. McCartney Beatles tunes could be some shit schmatlz.

There's not much that hits as consistent a sweet spot as Ram, IMO - but you might give Band on the Run a few spins and see if it clicks for you. That and Red Rose Speedway are the closest to Ram in spirit IMO, but RRS is a little more schmaltzy and a little more aimless. It's definitely not all "Mull of Kintyre" with this guy - the great thing about the Wings period is how totally all over the map it is. That also means there's a fair bit of crap, but as I always say, that's part of the charm of exploring this guy's catalogue IMO.

i had a similar initial reaction to Ram and then went down the band on the run/red rose speedway/mccartneyII route and came out severely disappointed, but Ram will always be awesome.

aw mull of kintyre is great

anyway me and by brother and sister bought our mom the deluxe box set for mother's day and she is absolutely in love with it. it's very pretty.

McCARTNEY (1970)
Search: 'Every Night', 'Junk' and 'Maybe I'm Amazed'.
Destroy: 'Man We Was Lonely'.

RAM (1971)
Search: 'Too Many People', 'Ram On', 'Dear Boy', 'Heart Of The Country', 'Eat At Home', 'Long Haired Lady' and 'Back Seat Of My Car'.
Destroy: 'Monkberry Moon Delight'.

WILD LIFE (1971)
Search: It's very hard to recommend much from this album. Side two is the better side: 'Some People Never Know', 'I Am Your Singer', 'Tomorrow' and 'Dear Friend'. With a little bit more care put into the writing/recording these compositions could have been great. 'Some People Never Know' in particular is too long.
Destroy: 'Mumbo and 'Bip Bop'. Seriously Paul, what the fuck?

RED ROSE SPEEDWAY (1973)
Search: 'Big Barn Bed', 'My Love', 'One More Kiss', 'Little Lamb Dragonfly', 'Single Pigeon', 'Loup (1st Indian On The Moon)'
Destroy: 'When The Night' (lazy garbage), and the whole Medley at the end of side two.

BAND ON THE RUN (1973)
Search: 'Band On The Run', 'Jet', 'Bluebird', 'No Words', 'Nineteen Hundred And Eighty Five'
Destroy: 'Mrs. Vandebilt' and 'Picasso's Last Words (Drink To Me)'.

VENUS AND MARS (1975)
Search: Everything!
Destroy: Nothing!

WINGS AT THE SPEED OF SOUND (1976)
Search: 'Let Em In' (yes, really), 'The Note You Never Wrote', 'Silly Love Songs' and 'Warm And Beautiful'
Destroy: Everything else on the album is, in my humble opinion, shite.

LONDON TOWN (1978)
Search: 'Cafe On The Left Bank', 'I'm Carrying', 'Backwards Traveller', 'Cuff Link', 'Children Children' and 'With A Little Luck'.
Destroy: 'I've Had Enough', 'Famous Groupies' (what the fuck, man, seriously?) and 'Name And Address'.

BACK TO THE EGG (1979)
Search for everything except for 'Spin It On', which is crap.

McCARTNEY II (1980)
Search: 'Coming Up', 'Temporary Secretary' and 'Waterfalls'.

TUG OF WAR (1982)
Search: 'Tug Of War', 'Take It Away', 'Somebody Who Cares', 'Here Today', 'The Pound Is Sinking', 'Wanderlust'.
Destroy: 'Ballroom Dancing' (urgh!) and 'Dress Me Up As A Robber'.

at this point we hit a slump in McCartney's catalogue...

PIPES OF PEACE (1983)
Search: 'Pipes Of Peace', 'Say Say Say', 'So Bad' and maybe 'The Man'.
Destroy: everything else. Just don't even bother. Especially 'Average Person' which in particular is goddamn awful.

GIVE MY REGARDS TO BROADSTREET (1984)
Search for 'No More Lonely Nights' and destroy the hell out of everything else.

PRESS TO PLAY (1986)
Search: 'Stranglehold', 'Only Love Remains', 'Footprints' and 'Press'.
Destroy: 'Good Times Coming'. Christ. 'However Absurd' could have been great, but McCartney's vocal on that track is just... ehhh...

And this is the point where, in my opinion, McCartney begins to 'get it back'...

FLOWERS IN THE DIRT (1989)
Definitely search: 'My Brave Face', 'You Want Her Too', 'Distractions', 'We Got Married', 'Put It There', 'Figure Of Eight', 'This One' and 'That Day Is Done'.
Destroy: 'Rough Ride', 'How Many People' and 'Motor Of Love'.

OFF THE GROUND (1993)
Search: 'Hope Of Deliverance', 'Golden Earth Girl', 'The Lovers That Never Were' and 'C'mon People'.
Destroy: 'Peace In The Neighborhood', 'Get Out Of My Way' and 'Winedark Open Sea'.

FLAMING PIE (1997)
Search: 'The Song We Were Singing', 'The World Tonight', 'Somedays', 'Young Boy', 'Calico Skies', 'Flaming Pie', 'Little Willow' and 'Beautiful Night'.
Destroy: 'Heaven On A Sunday' (cack!), 'Used To Be Bad' (cack!) and 'Really Love You' (cack!)

DRIVING RAIN (2001)
Search: 'Lonely Road', 'From A Lover To A Friend', 'She's Given Up Talking', 'I Do', 'Your Way', 'About You', 'Heather' (LOL!), 'Your Loving Flame' and 'Rinse The Raindrops'.
Destroy: 'Driving Rain', 'Tiny Bubble', 'Magic', 'Spinning On An Axis' (*groans*), 'Back In The Sunshine Again' (*retches*), 'Riding Into Jaipur' and, most importantly, 'Freedom' (*vomits beautifully*).

CHAOS AND CREATION IN THE BACKYARD (2005)
Search: Everything!
Destroy: Nothing!

MEMORY ALMOST FULL (2007)
Search: 'Dance Tonight' (yes, really), 'Ever Present Past' (yes, really), 'See Your Sunshine', 'Only Mama Knows', 'You Tell Me', 'Mr. Bellamy', 'House Of Wax' and 'The End Of The End'.
Destroy: 'Gratitude' (fucking hell, Paul), and 'Nod Your Head' (*shakes his head*).

Yeah, side two of Wild Life is probably closest to Ram. Nice stuff.

"San Ferry Anne" is a nice tune on Speed of Sound, by the way. Glad to see "Single Pigeon" pointed out.

10/10 posting Turrican. Cheers. I think I'm gonna have to experience most of that vomiting for myself though. Not really feeling the Monkberry Moon repulsion at this stage, but let's see...

I'm loving Linda on this: "is this the only thing you want me for"

Though this might me be the schmaaltz I was posting about earlier. It's fantastic though.

a VERY good introduction to solo Macca/ Wings for the uninitiated is this double CD

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-X6X5Ba9WGMM/T2HD_k0-PrI/AAAAAAAAAfw/Qlkz7wAUkh8/s640/paul+mccartney+wingpag+and+history+album+cover+2001.jpg

oh and also for anyone who's never seen it, the accompanying WingSpan documentary is ball-jigglingly exciting and is available in full 90 minute glory on You Tube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIpzZO31m-E

That's a very good compilation indeed. There's one or two selections on there which personally I would have left off, and there's one or two I may have included, but on the whole it's a good summary of the years from 1970 to about 1984. My introduction to solo McCartney was the 1987 compilation 'All The Best!' which has 'Once Upon A Long Ago' on it (which is also a "search", btw!). There really needs to be a complation which covers McCartney's post-1984 years, or which takes in all eras of his solo career.

10/10 posting Turrican. Cheers. I think I'm gonna have to experience most of that vomiting for myself though. Not really feeling the Monkberry Moon repulsion at this stage, but let's see...

― kraudive, Sunday, June 3, 2012 7:26 PM (51 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Brace yourself, a journey through McCartney's solo discography can be a hell of a ride, but it's well worth checking everything out. There's a lot of material there, over 300 songs easily! Some greatness, some goodness, some crap.

New album later this year maybe!

I hope so! I'm still undecided at the moment whether or not to treat the Electric Arguments album he did as The Fireman as part of his 'proper' solo discography. I dunno, I just sometimes think it has more in common with McCartney's usual work than anything he did previously as The Fireman.

it's weird to me that this album was ever considered less than a masterpiece. it looks like even 8 years ago there were haters. I mean I love some odd McCartney albums (McCartney 2 and Back to the Egg, namely) and can see why some people don't like them, but this seems so obviously his best collection, maybe only equalled by Band on the Run.

the songs on wild life recommended above were, I think, recorded at the same time as Ram, so it's not a surprise that they were good.

got the shit kicked out of it at the time by just about everyone supposedly. does seem baffling has to be said. Eat At Home pisses on most of Abbey Road.

most under-rated Macca album at this juncture is Tug Of War i'd say. i mean.. Take It Away, Here Today, etc. could never see the fuss about Flowers In The Dirt.

tug of war has a kind of bad 80's production sheen to it that is hard for me to get past, plus some lousy songs, but the ones I like I like a lot (the pound is sinking and wanderlust, for example)

I'm watching that amazing "Ram Off" bootleg DVD. "Three Legs" is still my favorite song, cos it most sounds like something that could have been on the "White Album". Lots of that album sound like it. It's sort of a shame he went off and formed Wings, cos if he had just stayed home, raising his kids, recording DIY records all through the 70's it may have resulted in some incredible stuff!

I think there's a lot that's owed to Paul in the lo-fi community, particularly with the first album. Stuff like "Beat Happening" probably wouldn't have happened without some of his early post-Beatles music.

Personally, I think he did a huge swan dive in quality after "Ram" - tho MCcartney II rules, obviously.

It's cool to see footage of, like, Paul setting up drums in his living room!

probably worth posting this again for anyone who's not seen it

http://thequietus.com/articles/01922-paul-mccartney-the-beatles-wings-the-best-of

The arrangements on this album are brilliant btw. It's sort of mystifying that people didn't think this was any good, including him!

The best songs on FITD have unexpected chord changes, discreet guest appearances (e.g. David Gilmour on "We Got Married") and quite better than average lyrics.

TOW will most likely get the remastering treatment as it was for a while an album so overrated that now it's underrated.

The best thing to do is to find a Macca-obsessed friend and ask him to burn a free-ranging CD-R: b-sides, album tracks, single mixes. That's what I got in 2001.

btw "No More Lonely Nights" is a real corker, his best of the eighties ("Press" is second, duh).

i wonder which others could possibly now come out in like six CD box sets with replica t shirts for 200 quid. Band On The Run is really the only other one guess.

xp at one point tug of war was his only 5 star album on allmusic. i always thought it was his most highly-rated one.

i disagree with a lot of yr s/ds turrican (the RRS medley is A+) but thank you for searching warm and beautiful. rarely is such a terrible set of lyrics redeemed by beautiful music. also, back to the egg. there's the last pre-90s paul album that would ever receive a reissue/critical reevaluation.

"Arrow Through Me" is a splendid take on EL Lay-Toto rock.

the songs on wild life recommended above were, I think, recorded at the same time as Ram, so it's not a surprise that they were good.

― akm, Monday, June 4, 2012 1:37 AM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Well, I know 'Dear Friend' was recorded during the Ram sessions, but I'm not sure about the others!

also, back to the egg. there's the last pre-90s paul album that would ever receive a reissue/critical reevaluation.

― of family bonds and individual triumph. Narrated by Tim Allen, (zachlyon), Monday, June 4, 2012 2:07 AM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Back To The Egg and Venus And Mars are definitely the two Wings albums I find myself returning to the most. I enjoy listening to both from start to finish for different reasons. Love 'Getting Closer', 'Again And Again And Again', 'Old Siam Sir', the aforementioned 'Arrow Through Me'...

btw "No More Lonely Nights" is a real corker, his best of the eighties ("Press" is second, duh).

― go down on you in a thyatrr (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, June 4, 2012 1:54 AM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Definitely agree with you, Re: 'No More Lonely Nights'!

TOW will most likely get the remastering treatment as it was for a while an album so overrated that now it's underrated.

― go down on you in a thyatrr (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, June 4, 2012 1:53 AM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

In my mind, the three that are most likely to get the remastering treatment are Venus And Mars, Tug Of War and Flowers In The Dirt. I think it's still a bit too soon for everything from Flaming Pie onwards!

i have no recollection of band on the run being reissued in 2010 but apparently that happened

would love to think red rose speedway is a dark horse, but maybe that's just me

Yeah, Band on the Run kicked off this whole series, iirc. But I don't believe it any bonus material like the more recent three did.

fyi, there is an advertisement in the Ram one that says Venus and Mars, Over America, and Speed of Sound are the next three to be released in the series.

anybody own Wings Over America? It gets good reviews here and there.

whoa, one of the b-sides to Temporary Secretary is pretty fucking rad:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w40MUrFq3xM

^^^chillwave

we discussed "Secret Friend" in the Macca II thread and yes it's good.

xp wings over america is good. smh @ speed of sound, wtf

Speed of Sound has the much-awaited debuts of Geoff English and Linda as singers.

linda's solo comp makes for some interesting listening. it's not bad, maybe an acquired taste.

secret friend is a beardo favourite.

anybody own Wings Over America? It gets good reviews here and there.

― go down on you in a thyatrr (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 4 June 2012 23:25 (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I have a vinyl copy of this! It's not bad, although I admittedly don't dig it out that often. I'll have to give this another listen sometime this week.

I'd definitely welcome a Venus And Mars remaster. Wings At The Speed Of Sound is down there as one of my least favourite McCartney albums, though, and I personally think there are a couple of other McCartney albums that deserve it more.

I need to hear "Letting Go" and remastered.

Venus and Mars remaster is already available on iTunes.

Just the album - no extended package.

Speed of Sound is sort of a perfect distillation of Wings but completely unremarkable for it.

I guess that's why it's their best seller.

I imagine they're eventually going to do 'em all, so the duds were going to have to trickle as well. The only Wings I've ever owned prior to this batch were vinyl copies of Band on the Run and Over America.

Re: Wings Over America, I actually pulled that out about a week ago for Sunday afternoon background listening. It's...okayish but I think I might unload it soon - a 3XLP live album is a LOT of Wings in a row, and very few of the renditions are particularly interesting. They sound like the studio versions, played live with a little more audience-working by McCartney. They were a pretty decent sort of arena bar band, and it's probably fair to say that the Speed of Sound stuff sounds a little more rocking, but they can't really improve on the Band on the Run and Venus and Mars material, and the Beatles covers are all forgettable as hell. They do "Go Now" okay I guess, plus Denny Laine doing "Richard Cory" is, well, about what you'd expect, and "Soily" is cool enough, always liked that one.

Definitely not essential though.

I think I've hated on Speed of Sound on ILX before - - - I love the singles and a few other things (Warm and Beautiful, She's My Baby, Wino Junko!!!) but the overall sound feels mushy and muffled to me. (Well, "Beware My Love" ain't bad.) You long for a George Martin to step up the crispness of things. Maybe the remaster might actually make a difference for that one!

Also, uh, "Cook of the House," god bless 'er.

I might change my grade if "Sally G" were part of the original track list.

<3 Sally G!

A legit, comprehensive McCartney b-sides comp really would be great. I guess these remasters will basically end up putting those back on the radar. As a teenage McCartney fan in the mid-90s, I of course prized those extremely marked-up British imports that had the B-sides (and also the terrible cover art, with the original image shrunk down and stuck in a sea of white for no reason). Think I had a couple of 'em, definitely Flowers in the Dirt.

I suppose we'll get "Girls School" soon enough.

Vocal arrangement on "Dear Boy" is so hot.

speed of sound is pretty bad except for letting go. surprised they aren't doing london town before that (which is better...not great, just better). I would totally be one of three people to buy a back to the egg deluxe set.

"Letting Go" is on V&M, no?

Deluxe BTTE would be great - some awesome non-album singles, studio junk and b-sides at that point if I remember right. "Boil Crisis," "Robber's Ball" maybe?

I would totally buy a BTTE box.

I would invest in a Back To The Egg boxset as well!

Rhapsody seemed to pull all of the McCartney/Wings albums as well...I did see them there at one point but wasn't in the mood to check it out at the time. Paul doesn't need my money anyway.

As I mentioned, the Venus and Mars remaster is already available as a download-only release (Wild Life too, from 2010), so I don't know if Speed of Sound or Wings Over America are getting deluxe treatments.

mccartney pulled his music from streaming sites a few months ago.

Well, the new Ram is on Spotify now. Maybe they're trying it out. I don't know what was on there before - I don't remember anything in the time Spotify has been available in the U.S.

Speed of Sound has the much-awaited debuts of Geoff English and Linda as singers.

― go down on you in a thyatrr (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 4 June 2012 23:53 (Yesterday) Permalink

Linda sang on a couple of tracks on Wild Life - quite nicely too.

And she sings on Ram. And, according to Paul in the accompanying book in the box set, she sang a high harmony on "Let It Be." (!!)

linda and paul harmonies are great, wonderful sharp/warm contrast, very bitter and lovely.

still no Macca here on Spotify in the UK.

I love her harmonies generally. But "Cook of the House" really is the equivalent of a greeting card not meant to be shared with neighbors.

you can say that about a ton of paul's solo stuff though

most of Paul's good solo work is akin to pot brownies he shares with neighbors.

ha perhaps

full disclosure linda mccartney is the reason i was vegetarian for the first 20 years of my life. 'cook of the house' has always felt very canonical to me. i think my mom has some of the lyrics stenciled in her kitchen somewhere.

George Harrison is why I'm suspicious of Krishna.

Listening to that Wingspan documentary - it's pretty good so far! Or at least by the standards of me being a huge Beatles nerd, where I'm just pleased to have new nuggets of information I've never heard.

thanks for reminding me to check that out again! i watched the first two parts yesterday and had the same positive reaction.

It trails off badly, sad to say - - - gets really vague right around the time Wings actually becomes a band. Nice to get some loose impressions of that period, and some sense of how Linda felt about the whole thing, but of course as people were saying upthread, I'm just hungry to hear Paul talk about these songs, these albums, song by song.

wow, i can't believe how down i was on this album in 2004 -- it seems like such a warm, likable album now. even the backing harmonies that used to drive me crazy seem endearingly batty -- like paul couldn't keep himself from indulging in every ridiculous thing he wanted to throw into every song.

Paul dislikes talking at length about Wings, doesn't he?

Kinda seems like a huge pain in the arse that somehow made him a ton of money.

Wings would have been awesome if he would have just treated it as another one-off project, for an album or so

somewhere in the doc where he was explaining why Wings was such a creative band name I turned it off. :-/

I WANT TO LIKE WINGS. I WANT TO LIKE THIS STUFF

Wings would have been awesome if he would have just treated it as another one-off project, for an album or so

― Mad God 40/40 (Z S), Wednesday, June 6, 2012 8:57 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Agreed - or changed the name every time the lineup changed! That would have made for a really fun catalogue.

Wild Life - The Tallboys
Red Rose Speedway - The Rolling Bears
Band on the Run - Wings
Venus and Mars - Alt!
Speed of Sound - Blank White Paper
London Town - Your Friend Gigantus
Back to the Egg - Lando

Lol

Ah, I was thinking more:

Wild Life - Wings
Red Rose Speedway - McCartney and Wings
Band on the Run - Wings Over Easy
Venus and Mars - Wingz Energi
Speed of Sound - Athletico Wings 1980
London Town - Dr Wings the Night Nurse Tripper
Back to the Egg - Omlet

lol Mark.

Did you see the time Spizz posted on ILM, btw?

Lol at both Wings renames post. Tim, where is Spizz post?

No one answered his question, unfortunately.

Lawrence Of Arabia 7" early version - Does anyone know more?

He shoulda stuck to DIY records out in the country.

Thanks for the overview upthread, Turrican - I love this album but am unfamiliar with most of his others. I need to revisit McCartney for sure.

.. then to balance the mega-hype of Ram I decided to create an alter ego. We took personal ads in Private Eye and the Evening Standard saying, "Percy Thrillington seeks the love of his life." People eventually began to ask, "Who is this Percy Thrillington who keeps taking out small ads?" And then on holiday in Ireland with Linda we decided to find an actual Percy. We found a lad working in a farmer's field. We went up to him and asked, "Would you mind doing a photo shoot?" And so for a modelling fee we persuaded him to put on a dinner jacket and Linda took some pictures. And this Irish farmhand became Percy Thrillington.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2008/nov/29/paul-mccartney-the-fireman-interview

anyone ever see these photos, press ads etc?

McCartney in the early 70s seems like such a much more interesting guy - alternately down in the dumps on slacker benders, enjoying the relief of 4-track DIY recording, throwing together goofball inside-joke stunts. So much less of that unflagging public persona clarity and showmanship which defines him for basically the entire rest of his career. I sort of love that stuff too, but man, does this guy play it close to the vest.

I don't really see a significant change post-'70s. People just got burnt out on McCartney interviews and the pop/rock albums were not always top-tier. Still, there have been three Fireman albums, Liverpool Sound Collage, four classical albums, etc.

Pitchfork interview reveals Paul McCartney invented hipsters:

Pitchfork: When you went to the nearby town in Scotland, were people unfazed by the fact that Paul McCartney was in their grocery store?

PM: Yeah, a little bit. People get used to it when you live locally, because you go to into the pub with them, or you go to dinner with your local solicitor, or you hang with a couple of guys working on the farm. You gradually get to know other people, and they become very protective of you. The only people who would bother us would be the tourists, but it was never a real problem.

Also, you gotta remember, I had a big black beard, and not everyone recognized me as a Beatle. When we went to New York, I'd go to Harlem or wherever and I had this beard and an old thrift-shop jacket on, like a Vietnam vet-- I used to joke with people, like, "I look the guy who might mug you." People didn't want to look me in the eye. It was quite a good cover at the time.

One of things about beards is that, when men reach a certain age, they'd like to see if they can grow one. It's a phenomenon I understand very well. So I thought, "I'm gonna be in Scotland, there's nobody to see me if I fail." After you get over the itchy face, you go, "Oh, I don't have to shave, that's cool." And then you move into the philosophical thing-- people say, "Oh, you look weird, you have a beard." And you say, "No, actually, it's weird to shave." Having a beard is natural. When you think about it, shaving it off is quite weird. [laughs]

That Pitchfork interview ain't bad - short, but they ask some reasonable questions and it gets Paul talking at least a little bit in specifics about what was going into the record, although it's not much you wouldn't have guessed. Cute stuff anyway. Here's hoping they can pin him down on Red Rose Speedway and London Town, about whose creation I know next to nothing.

Listening to this today, always great for a rainy day. Occurs to me for the first time: how much might the vibe/approach of this been inspired by Nilsson? Granted their sensibilities were always pretty similar - pre-war pop, dooty-doot-doot-doo stuff, etc., but I feel the like "wacky stoned guy making an album by himself and not touring, string together medleys, follow your sense of humor" kind of approach is similar.

"Uncle Albert's" radio voice is such an ape of "Yellow Submarine"

if i don't really like the Beatles-era-Paul-songs, will i like Ram?

Its already too late for you I'm afraid.

♫ doo dee doo yee oo doo doo ♫

I adored this at 14 years old. Then was eclipsed and soon erased from memory by the predictable underground's incipient mainstream

While on a school outing to Whitby, my best mate stole from a quaint little family-run bookshop, at my behest, a copy of Christgau's Rock albums of the 70s (in exchange for a half-melted Topic extracted from my trouser pocket).

Over subsequent years I came to realize how closely my own tastes matched those of Xgau, but as he'd rated Ram a C+, I mentally filed it away with those other credulous enthusiasms of burgeoning youth: Racey, David Soul, and god knows what else.

This thread, 30 years later, finally inspired me to give it another go, and to my great surprise was moved by its casual home-made delicately-produced ambiance, that was at the same time professional produced with elegance and style. It's charming, sweet, home-spun, and sincere yet never mawkish or sentimental. The harmonizing of Paul and Linda are such a contributory factor to the overall unpretentious down-to-earth family-oriented minor pleasures herein that she fully deserves co-credit (also, the minor pleasures to be found within this record together amount to a major one. I loved this as a child; then stupidly abandoned it for decades on say so of Mr Xgau (whose low ratings of McCartney's other output I generally agree with). Only gave Ram another chance because of this thread. My young self was right all along - this is A+ all the way.

"erased from memory by the predictable underground's incipient mainstream"

It's nearly 6am, been drinking all night - fuck knows what that was supposed to mean

was moved by its casual home-made delicately-produced ambiance

honestly sad Paul started Wings in the 70s rather than just continued making DIY records w Linda

JBR saying it's really bad in the second post!

really REALLY bad

reading about the background about this a couple things leap out to me as unexpected: 1) this was recorded in New York!? It has such a homespun rustic feel to it, I was surprised that it wasn't recorded similarly to McCartney (ie begun at home on a 4-track) and 2) critics sure did hate it, including the other Beatles. The latter's maybe not that surprising but the former is def odd. People had it in for Macca back then I guess.

Yeah, I agree, it sounds quite "home made" in places rather than sounding like it was recorded in an expensive New York studio. I think the critics had it in for Macca because in their eyes he was perceived to be just pissing about (or "squandering his gifts" as I read someone put it once) whereas George was busting out triple albums and John was going through his "everything is all about me and Yoko" phase. It's taken years for people to catch up and realise this is the charm of McCartney's earlier records. There's a breeziness that's absent from Harrison's dour Spector-rock, and nobody wants to hear a millionaire superstar whining on about how much his life sucks anymore, a la John's Plastic Ono Band, so in the long term those early McCartney records have held up quite well. Apart from Wild Life, which I still think is mostly gash.

The critics would probably have been more satisfied if McCartney had made his debut with something like Band On The Run, or some kind of "statement"

found a copy the other day. so happy. this album means a lot to me. I notice new things about it every time I come back to it.

nobody wants to hear a millionaire superstar whining on about how much his life sucks anymore

lol isn't this basically all mainstream chart darlings now - Kanye, Beyonce, Drake etc.

(personally I really love the *sound* of those first couple Lennon solo albums more than anything else fwiw)

Hehehe... well yeah, that's true, but I don't think either of those artists have created anything quite like Plastic Ono Band. It's still tiresome to hear, though. I totally agree about the sound of those first couple of Lennon albums, though... I enjoy how simple and uncluttered the arrangements are.

yeah the combination of strict economy and minimalism with the slapback echo is so striking

It's the most un-Spector-like record with Spector's name on it!

i fucking love plastic ono band

i love ram as well. and all things must pass. those beatles were pretty good!

It's the most un-Spector-like record with Spector's name on it!

nah that's Some Time in New York City, his contributions (if there actually are any) are literally inaudible

I love the roughness of that guitar tone on 'I Found Out'

goddamn when the backing vocals kick in and the bass jumps up an octave (I think that's what's happening?) at 2:45 on the coda of "Smile Away", that is some quality rockin

according to what I've read, Spector was hardly involved on JLPOB; it's a Yoko-John production.

Lennon asked Spector, who had produced Lennon's hit "Instant Karma!" earlier that year,[4] to co-produce the album. Spector played piano on "Love",[5] but Lennon and Ono produced the album largely on their own, as Spector was unavailable during most of the recording sessions. Spector mixed the album for three days towards the end of October.[2]

yeah that's discussed in the Spector productions thread

although fwiw I don't consider mixing "hardly involved", mixing is a big deal

true

I get the sense that some of the critical hate for this album came from a general disillusionment with the 60s ideal that McCartney represented. Lennon was more in tune with the creeping cynicism and "aren't the 70s a drag" vibe, while McCartney was still spinning out whimsy. It made some listeners question if his music was ever as serious as they had believed, like somehow the tossed off Uncle Albert medley cheapened the medley on Abbey Road.

I love this album; had no idea McCartney had so much Beatle-juice left in him. I always imagine Dear Boy would be a fun one to bash out on a baby grand in some hotel lobby.

Ram [Apple, 1971]

"Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" is a major annoyance. I tolerated McCartney's crotchets with the Beatles because his mates balanced them out; I enjoyed them mildly on McCartney because their scale was so modest; I enjoy them actively on "Monkberry Moon Delight" because it rocks and on "Smile Away" because it's vulgar and funny. But though nothing else here approaches the willful rhythm shifts and above-it-all silliness of the single, most of the songs are so lightweight they float away even as Paulie layers them down with caprices. If you're going to be eccentric, for goodness sake don't be pretentious about it. C+

Ram On came on my Discover Weekly Spotify playlist this morning and I'd forgotten how great even some of the tossed off bits on that record are.

Ram On is the eye of the duck of that album. So sweet

The vocal harmonies all over this record are really lovely... you can really tell Paul worshipped The Beach Boys.

I dislike the album, even after giving the reissue a few years ago several chances (and I loathe "Uncle Albert," for me the worst major solo Beatles single). But "Eat at Home" is still a good cunnilingus song.

as cunnilingus songs go

he's got a few

"Eat at Home" vs. "She's My Baby"

It's a bonus track on the Special Edition of Ram, but anyway I was previously unaware of Little Woman Love vs. TVC15. I'm pretty sure there's a common ancestor, but I don't know what it is.

The vocal harmonies all over this record are really lovely...

there's some grating stuff though. "Long Haired Lady" would be the worst song on any album it appeared on. sometimes if I'm in the right mood the twee charmingness of it is okay but if it was on a Beatles album i would say yeah the Beatles suck.

i've come to really love both of mccartney's first two albums a lot -- the self-titled one has a genuinely melancholy feel, even the instrumentals feel laconic and lonely, like paul's sitting in a room by himself, picking up one instrument after another and messing about with it, trying to cheer himself up. whereas this one is bursting with fun and playfulness, maybe a bit too much ("uncle albert" is at once dazzling and empty, like the abbey road medley without the emotion), but lots of it is on par with paul's late beatles work ("smile away" could have fit onto abbey road, i can easily imagine a great lennon backing vocal for it). and yeah like someone said upthread i wish this album had gotten better reviews so paul had kept making records like this instead of starting wings.

"Long Haired Lady" would be the worst song on any album it appeared on.

whaa?

The "Bees are buzzing" bit with the phased, space echoed acoustic guitars is just all kinds of amazing and totally worthy of the Beatles.

"I get the sense that some of the critical hate for this album came from a general disillusionment with the 60s ideal that McCartney represented. Lennon was more in tune with the creeping cynicism and "aren't the 70s a drag" vibe, while McCartney was still spinning out whimsy."

Yeah, but it's not really psychedelic whimsy per se. I don't see McCartney from "Lady Madonna" on as being particularly of "the '60s."

I absolutely adore "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey," by the way. It's "You Know My Name (Look up the Number)" made into a number one hit.

Yes.

The 'long haired lady' hate is about the intro, yeah?

I'm less keen on 'Monkberry', its too long really.

how come no one talks about the backseat of my car? it's better than the long and winding road. dang it's one of the best songs ever written!

Long Haired Lady is great wtf? I think 'Eat At Home' is the only weak point, sounds like a b-side, but even that has its charm.

xpost oh yeah when that intro comes in it's like "A day in the life" as in "OK, last track you guys, but you ain't heard nothing yet.."

was introduced to this album through the instrumental bootleg (believe it was officially released as part of the deluxe reissue) which I'm sure is mentioned upthread since it's very very good - also a great album with vocals (even if Macca may be exaggerating a bit on Monkberry...)

any thoughts on the shared credits Paul/Linda - similar working relationship as Lennon/McCartney, pro forma, smth in btween?

Lennon/Macca didn't work together, mostly, sometimes did.

I would guess that Paul and Linda did work together on things, they were quite close, even though the publishers were all "You just want to keep 50% of the publishing you swines"

i love the long outro on 'long haired lady'

Did you ever hear the remix?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWp80UZx64U

Ha, wow, that's actually not too bad -- and yes, the coda is pretty great.

Weird we're having this conversation at all -- I love this song pretty much unconditionally.

'The Back Seat of My Car' is probably the best song on the record!

CANTAWTAAAAAAAA

Cantawtaw!. what a great album.

Steen was I, from the drive
Of the enemy's HOOS

Heart of the Country is better than some Beatles songs

the moment in Three Legs where he sings "and he can run" and the beat starts is my favorite moment on the album.

The terrible sound of TO MAH TO

“Heart of the Country” is the life I keep trying to aspire to.

Also, Thrillington...

wah wah wheeeeeeeeee

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhEU7Z7HPH0

clicked through that, rather slavish recreations but quite nice in places.

theres yet another reissue of this imminent, a half speed mastered version. I love this album as much as anyone but I don't know why this album needs to be reissued every other year

I figured it was so that people could keep making money off of something in perpetuity

I just sprung stupid (comparatively) money for a copy of the 2012 mono Ram. I have Hoffman-level Beatles obsession rn and I feel both icky and (I feel) fine about it.

caught up in my first ever real beatles phase, i listened to this for the first time in ages this week (had only listened once before & didn't get it at all) & i'm really astounded

paul really really loved the beach boys huh

One of the best 420 albums ever if you are in a mindset where you can tolerate all the Paulness.

A Paul-esque mix of the good and unbearable.

paul can have extremely bizarre and bad instincts at times but i don't think he really indulges those at all here, the paul quirks on display here are the most compelling ones

you’re talking to people who hate “uncle albert”

haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaands across the water

The budder wouldn’t melt, so I puddit it the pie.

I like all but one song here, but there's something off about the production on the whole thing, like everything in the mix is at the wrong level or in the wrong place. The mix sounds amateur even for 1971, even compared to Emmitt Rhodes. I had always assumed Ram was mostly home recordings, and I was startled to learn it was cut in New York with a bunch of professionals.

“dear boy” is such a great song, sounds like paul imagining what smile was supposed to be like, and not landing too far off

i also love the pop-up book mixing, which is pretty white album, not unprecedented

I’m glad you’re having some Ram fever, ufo! I think I’ve listened to Ram more than most Beatles albums. I couldn’t post my Spotify Wrapped because my top five were all like Beatles, Neil Young, etc, so you know it’s extreme

"Eat at Home" has terrific guitar.

One of the best 420 albums ever if you are in a mindset where you can tolerate all the Paulness.

A Paul-esque mix of the good and unbearable.

Pretty much OTM. Re: the latter, "Smile Away" is like that at the same time. Fun and catchy but also pretty awful in its inanity. "Monkberry whatever" irritates the hell out of me - like a bad Cookie Monster impression.

The only cuts I like without qualification are "Too Many People" and "Back Seat of My Car," both great. "Heart of the County" has grown on me - charming and modest little number.

Not on the album, but I actually love the B-side "Oh Woman, Oh Why," a great, bizarre oddity.

His b-sides during this period run good to great

ufo don't forget to listen to "another day", as well, which was a non-album single recorded in the ram sessions and released as his first post-beatles single. it's track 1 on the second disc of one of the remastered versions. it fits right into the Ram ethos and sounds great

"Monkberry whatever" irritates the hell out of me - like a bad Cookie Monster impression.

joyless opinion

also wtf you don't like "dear boy" without qualification? macca haters get out

COOKIE

^Never gets old.

i intend to keep doing it, in an effort to prove that it cannot get old!

I cannot fathom disliking the production on Ram.

the divisive recording where some listeners -- but not all -- distinctly hear "COOKIE!" repeated on every other beat throughout the entire album

Only John said "Cookie" ("Hold On") - when he does it, it was great. Paul just drives it into the ground.

"Dear Boy" is all right. Honestly, Macca hater? That's like the GOP with their cult-like "RINO" paranoia, this isn't some doctrinal purity test.

If confirmed for the McCartney Supreme Court, will you agree to uphold the sanctity of “ram on”?

welcome, ufo, you're in for many treats, however deep you dive.

this album just rules. imho one of paul's most consistent set of songs, and the combination of the kind of country-rock bedrock with all the different slightly offbeat choices in arrangement and production REALLY works for me. would never have compared it to The White Album before, but that totally clicks.

My little sister and I quote bits of this album at each other like it's fucking Withnail & I

"Weee-a-leedle be a gypsy gadaround" is a weird thing for people to overhear in the supermarket

TOO MANY REACHIN FOR A PIECE OF CAKE

"monkberry moon delight" is my favorite solo paul song. clearly i am the only one who grasps the true essence of paul.

“Monkberry” was my entry point for RAM. I won’t stan for it now, but it’s an essential piece of an essential album so

Also wtf, the mix and production are perfect! It’s not supposed to be an Eagles record - it’s deliberately RAMshackle.

Some folks go so far as to say that Paul invented indie-pop with RAM. I dunno about that. If he did, he did it by accident (he once said something to the effect that the critics ruined RAM for him and that fans made him love it again, which suggests that he wasn’t as sure in his vision for it as it might seem).

I just wish he had other records I could enjoy as much as I do this one. I like my Paul rough & scrappy.

I bet Linda did too.

"monkberry moon delight" is my favorite solo paul song. clearly i am the only one who grasps the true essence of paul.

Best song on RAM

When was the Cookie Monster first seen on American tv?

Wiki says he was in the very first episode of Sesame Street, November 10, 1969, trying to eat a letter "W." Apparently he got his name sometime in the 1969-1970 season, and "C is for Cookie" in 1971-1972. Similar "eating" Muppet characters, with non-cookie themes, appeared in Jim Henson TV spots developed in 1966, with the first one making air in 1967.

AM OFTEN MAKING AIR AFTER EATING COOKIE

sounds like paul imagining what smile was supposed to be like, and not landing too far off

yeah this was exactly my thought about most of the album. also not too far off the vibe of the weird post-smile late 60s beach boys albums & but certainly more fully realised than those

and thanks karl for the "another day" mention, would have certainly forgotten to check it out otherwise

my piano was boldly outspoken in attempts to repeat its refrain

didn't mean to be so aggro about this but if you're like "i, a person who likes the beatles and has thoughts about paul mccartney, only like two of the songs on his excellent album ram without qualification," afaic you are trying not to like it. free yourself

i listen to RAM more than any other Beatles/solo release. it's very hard for me to not feel charmed and inspired by a happy family man living out on a farm making loopy macca music.

Some folks go so far as to say that Paul invented indie-pop with RAM. I dunno about that.

How about Paul invented Elephant 6?

Bees are buzzing about my sweet delectable baby
Birds are humming about their big surprise
Who’s your favorite person, dear phenomenal lady?
I belong to the girl with the flashing eyes

I wanna horse
I wanna sheep

Another Day and Oh Woman, Oh Why are so rad

didn't mean to be so aggro about this but if you're like "i, a person who likes the beatles and has thoughts about paul mccartney, only like two of the songs on his excellent album ram without qualification," afaic you are trying not to like it. free yourself

― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Saturday, December 11, 2021 12:35 AM (six hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Quoting without further comments

First time I heard this album I couldn't sleep the night because bits from it kept circling round my head

I know it's tongue-in-cheek, but in all seriousness, I don't like disliking music. It brings me no pleasure in having less music to enjoy, especially from someone who's already had a hand in creating so much of my favorite music. I give everything many chances because I don't believe in dismissing any work on the first try, or even the second or third time around. If people see a lot in something, I want to see what they're seeing too.

I've played Ram and really all of Paul's music many times - I still hold on to a lot of it "just in case" and that includes a copy of Ram. Even the worst stuff has something brilliant - a hook, the singing, a great bass line, etc. - and sometimes that feels like a saving grace but a lot of times it's frustrating coming from someone who's capable of delivering the whole package. I'm glad you guys love Ram, it amazes me that it's got a devoted following that swears by it, but honestly, I've never been able to sit through the whole thing without getting massively irritated half the time. I mean, Adam Sandler has his fans too, I can accept that without liking his shit. Meanwhile, I get a lot more out of Band on the Run, Run Devil Run and Memory Almost Full (which tbh I rejiggered with four cuts from Chaos & Creation but that's another story). I like Ram more than a lot of other Wings/McCartney albums, but I just don't see it being this landmark achievement of any kind. Calling it ground zero for indie pop always seemed like an enormous stretch, one that ignores a lot of music from the previous decade.

I guess that should be "I dislike Ram less than a lot of the Wings/McCartney albums"

It got dropped during some recent phone upgrade but for about 12 years my iPhone ringtone was the ukulele intro to “Ram On.”

One of the things I found listening to all the 70s McCartney releases was that the musical quality didn't correspond with any other aspect. You couldn't say, "He's only good when he:
- rocks (or does ballads)
- is serious (or is whimsical)
- is autobiographical (or writes characters)
- sounds familiar (or experiments)
- does rock and pop (or does other genres)"
...because he's done both good and bad material of all sorts. The one thing that unites the bad songs for me is a certain self-conscious attention to effects, like we can see Paul looking over the song with an arched eyebrow, thinking, "This is really gonna get 'em!"

Sure but there’s something about McCartney’s sheer skill as a performer and songwriter that almost always elevates the song above whatever conceit he’s concocted (this is super obvious in Get Back where his farting around on the soundstage is almost always interesting).

I think in part that’s why his work is so easy to go back to and re-examine. The conceit is transparent—“I’m going to do Tin Pan Alley/Buddy Holly//Little Richard/Elvis Costello here!”—but the execution is almost always more interesting in some way, even if not always mind-blowingly so.

Back on topic, I find “Hey Diddle” to be an absolute ear-worm. The sweet blend of Linda’s vocals with Paul’s, the third grade concert recorder interlude, the lilt in Linda’s voice on the line “Ah but don’t you fear/The next time around/She’ll be there.” Even if it wasn’t on the record proper, this thing just feels like the apotheosis of the Ram aesthetic.

'hey diddle; is indeed great, love this record but hadn't listened to unreleased cuts. 'rode all night' is downright weird