C/D Paul McCartney Solo

Beatles beat the rest hands-down - that much we know. Beyond that, RJG is probably right. But the best post-Beatles Macca I know is VENUS & MARS - a bit of a 70s masterpiece. TUG OF WAR also has great stuff; his work with Costello has its moments; and so does the FLAMING PIE LP (1997).

I did the CDR thing with McCartneys back catalogue a year or two ago and managed to get 4 really good chronological comps. I would guess that a lot of people would like much of this stuff if they sat down and listened to it. McCartney solo though is almost dismissed and I don't think that the Wingspan comp kicked off the resurection of the post Beatles stuff that I or probably he expected.

What I really can't get over is the fact that Paul himself doesn't realise how rubbish he is nowadays. Wake up!

He really seems to think his solo work is comparable to the Beatles. It's not. Maybe it was always going to be a dissapointment by the Beatles standards, but by _any_ standards it's awful. And still he doesn't get it.

Maybe if we all stood outside his house with placards saying "Paul, your music is now shit!" he'd get it. But I doubt it. He'd probably think "Hey those guys have spelled 'hit' wrong".

Dud.

Favourite videos: Goodnight Tonight, Pipes of Peace.

Also C: "Jet," "Too Many People," "Let Me Roll It," "Spin It On" (Wings go thrash!)

good old dad.

I don't think I've even seen a copy of WINGSPAN in a record store.

I reminded my dad about the 'all the best'-for-christmas thing on friday night when we were in a car. he didn't really remember. he said "and why did she [my mum] buy you that instead?" and I told him again and he understood. then he asked "and why did you want 'faith'??" and the answer was...I was six...I had seen it advertised on television.

Yes, COMING UP is great.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0316860328/qid=1045408789/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_3_1/026-5101041-0610836

It's an intimate scrapbook.

Capitals are the new italics.

If that's not a special offer I'll EAT MY HAT. Note controversial opinion expressed herein: the best solo Paul McCartney work did not appear until FLOWERS IN THE DIRT. Before anyone rushes to order it, please note that it appears to be two-dimensional.

I used to listen to my mum's copy of "All The Best" all the time. On vinyl, too.

amazing.

Love Coming Up and C Moon too.

And then I wake up.

I had "All the best" on CD for many years, never listened to it, but I'll agree that "Venus and Mars" is a neglected classic, as is the first McCartney LP, very primitive but rather homely.

I had dreams about WINGSPAN last night. or it featured in my last night's dreams. I think it was really big and cost one hundred and twenty-five pounds or twenty-five pounds and was sealed in plastic and didn't tell me the tracklisting.

record shopping w/ allyC, yesterday, we saw many mccartney/wings albums. WINGS AT THE SPEED OF SOUND looked OK but was on cassette and three pounds fifty.

Does anyone else like 'Hope of Deliverance'? I think it has a haunting melody.

p.s. 'for your love'+'bus stop'=gouldman.

Dud: 'Wings at the Speed of Sound', 'Flaming Pie', 'Driving Rain' (a little better than 'FP'), 'Press to Play' (interesting yet not successful experimentation from Macca in 1986...) & 'Back to the Egg' (consistently average, only 'Old Siam Sir' makes any real impression).

Many albums of his i'm mixed about... yet, overall 'Classic', I maybe go towards this strongly as the general consensus is so unfairly a 'dud' opinion. You have to look deep into his work, and will find much that is good...

Took me a few listens, but I like this one well enough. Sounds like a Rutles song! And a good one! I think the range is mostly D3 to D4. Paul does hit one F# above that near the end. I kind of imagine he can hit the notes in that octave fairly well. If I'm missing sonic cues suggesting pitch correction, I'd be interested to know what those are.

Kind of think this one could work well in the context of the album, too (with its thematic element), so hopeful on that.

Sounds like a Rutles song!

ha, otm.

not sure what you guys who can't hear ringo aren't hearing -- his voice is super clear to me, even if age and vocal processing has brought him and paul a little closer together in timbre than they used to be.

harmonies sometimes veer close to jeff lynne/elo territory (e.g. on the line "we didn't worry where the road was going to lead us to").

Dirk and Barry!

Shocked and stunned

Listening now. Yeah, it does sound like something off of Archaeology.

even comparing the Watt to Mutt Lange is so out of line, super insulting to Lange.Watt's productions sound like AI.

yeah I don't at all hear Mutt in this sheen.

brian johnson fed through the watt vocal garbler is a terrifying idea

this is well off-topic but i just learned that the watt-produced morrissey track is from the unreleased album he recorded with basically the red hot chili peppers which makes it so much funnier

I will say Home to Us is very catchy and memorable, usually I get through his new stuff and couldn't remember a note when I'm done.

does Ringo play drums on it?

I believe so, yeah.

The vocal processing is odd but the song is lovely!

The vocals on Ringo's drums were processed too.

Should really have got Pete Best in to play the drums.

Swirls like a 64kbps mp3 file but the song Is charming doggerel. I think Watt has a sound which simulates pop sheen when filtered by octogenarian ears.

Just today I got a substack alert about a Pete Best story.

My feeling about the production is that it has charm but also feels a little generic. I don't hear it as sheen. There are at least three rhythm guitars, probably more. I kind of like the treatment of the backing vocals, although if you're going to have Chrissie Hynde, it would be nice to be able to pick her voice out.

Giving the album a listen now, it is good!

I streamed it in the background (albeit with the volume up) and it's not bad. tbf I haven't given it a close listen, but it's definitely better than expected, and I was expecting something much worse.

His voice is shot bur still:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ob3nHfBHPkg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaWFoV6MLvY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lce7Jr5YF80

The run of songs on the end sounded great, looking forward to listening to it more closely.

It has its moments. Other than the singles and maybe one or two other songs on here I’m not hearing the supposed “nostalgic overview" talked up in the press. A mellotron line here and maybe a flute there? Pretty unexciting. Though I really like the opening track. Should’ve stayed in that lane (ahem!).

what was meant by 'nostalgia' is that paul went to see the oasis reunion tour and thought it was great

Lots of online discussion still of Paul's ability in 2026 to hit or not high notes, and sounding more ragged vocally. Plus how he deals with is current voice on the new album

https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/2026/05/30/after-hearing-paul-mccartney-snl-i-thought-he-should-hang-it-up-i-was-wrong/

from Geoff Edgars article in Washington Post-

Two things changed my mind. First, my wife told me I was being a jerk and asked why I thought it was my job to tell one of the greatest artists of our time to take a seat. Second, I waited a few days before opening my keyboard.

I realized, after SNL, that it feels like we’re being asked to choose sides when it comes to McCartney and other musical icons who aren’t turning 64 but closing in on 94. Do we want to hear a diminished legend or force one into retirement?

...
As for live-on-stage Paul? McCartney, who has toured frequently in the last decade, doesn’t currently have any dates announced. I now hope he decides to head out after all.

Because that’s what our heroes should be doing. Aging naturally and without fear. Brian Wilson, the Beach Boys leader, returned to the stage in his late 50s and mesmerized the audience, as his younger and impeccable band offered musical and emotional support. Joni Mitchell, damaged but still a masterful interpreter, has used a few, select gigs to deliver her perfect phrasing through a deeper voice — more Nina Simone than “Blue”-era Joni.

Is this the state of music criticism at the Jeff Bezos Times?

Should've worked in an angle about how lower taxes might make him less reluctant to tour

exactly

It's more libertarian to not force him into retirement

"Ripples in a Pond" is an absolutely lovely song.

Struck again by what a run of great albums he’s had this century.

It's tempting to say mortality is the driving force, whether it's working through grief or facing his own mortality, and except for Tug of War coming in the wake of Lennon's death, I can't think of many examples where it's been the subject of his work prior to Flaming Pie.

(Granted Flaming Pie and Run Devil Run are from the previous century, but I think of them as being apiece with the later stuff.)

I didn't really like the album as a whole, but I decided I was going to just listen to the whole thing in the car, uncritically, and just take in the musicality and melodicism. Wouldn't you know, the whole thing was just pleasant and enjoyable?