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

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