C/D Paul McCartney Solo

eternity = Eagles posting

Eternity=Eagles' codas

where's your kickstarter

Got the 2 CD version of "Pure McCartney" and really enjoying Sir Paul's non-chronological sequencing of the tracks. Hearing his wearier current voice up against the Macca of yore is also poignant to say the least. Groovy remastering job as well.

I see he's still trying to bury his best solo song ever, "Give Ireland Back to the Irish"

this 1978 interview on the South Bank Show is pretty good:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZDq6LSx5vA

this is a p cool thing he did post-Oldchella

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T73eXT41uTc

I'd love to see what a McCartney setlist would look like if he forced himself to work on a live show without any Beatles songs in it. I mean, I know what my favourite tracks are and what my choices would be, but I'd be very interested in which songs McCartney himself considers to be his solo best.

Again, I think it boils down to the fact that I'm bored of McCartney's interviews endlessly talking about The Beatles or his relationship with Lennon, and I'd be happy with any thoughts, anything at all, regarding his solo work (I include Wings in that of course)

I don't think he thinks it matters what his favorite solo material is. He's not there to entertain himself, he's there to entertain his audience - is how I think he breaks it down.

which is sorta the opposite of the more cantankerous/unpredictable Neil or Bob

Of course, but surely there must have been times, from 1970 up until present, when he's written something and thought "yeah, I'm proud of that one!"

He's always liked BOTR and performs many of its songs. Not a bad doc:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfQaqJn7dC8

He sang “Queenie Eye” from his 2013 album, “New” and "Four Five Seconds" at Oldchella in addition to Wings and Beatles songs

he seems quite down on McCartney II, I saw an interview where he says he thought some of the songs are good but the synthy production was too "cold". I get the impression that he's pretty influenced by the critical reaction his records get, so maybe the bad reviews for McCartney II explain it (and why he rates BOTR)? I remember seeing him talk about Back to the Egg being a relative commercial failure, and how in recent years he's met younger people who tell him it's quite cool to have some relatively obscure albums, like cult hits or whatever, anf how McCartney found this idea totally alien to him.

He gets defensive about Ram, which was his idea of a great record in 1971; he still tells the story of bumping into a guy while skiing who told him, "Great record, Paul."

I think soref sadly might be close to the mark regarding McCartney being easily swayed by critical opinion or even the amount an album has sold, which is a bit sad because surely he must have believed in many of those songs enough to record them. I just wonder if there's ever been a moment when a critic has savaged one of his solo tracks and he's thought "nah, fuck off! wrong!"

I think Morrissey might be a good parallel. First band that burned bright but fast, which has informed every little thing he's done since (and influenced countless other acts in its wake). McCartney's written some great tracks, he's written some terrible stuff, he's written a whole bunch of generally null set stuff, but I'm not sure how well even his good stuff stands up outside the context of the Beatles. Big difference obviously is that McCartney is a musical savant, which perhaps makes his MOR-ness more disagreeable.

Yesterday I learned that McCartney co-wrote and played on this worthless Steve Miller track, which sort of provided the seed for "Fly Like an Eagle."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lT2JGBeew00

woah, never heard that. cool.

Alfred should totally do that "McCartney song per day 1975-1989" that he was thinking about doing.

if you'll help!

Yeah, I'd totally contribute! I know his discography quite well by this point.

He's always liked BOTR and performs many of its songs. Not a bad doc:

📹

he played Temporary Secretary when I saw him live two years ago

I can think of shitloads of songs he doesn't play anymore that would go down well: 'My Brave Face', 'Only Love Remains', 'This One', 'Take It Away' etc.

he never ever plays No More Lonely Nights, which is weird considering it might be his last huge hit.

Yeah, that one too!

supposedly (well according to him anyway) he'd just had a big row with Lennon when he did the drum take on that Steve Miler track. he says he took his anger out on the drums and that you can 'hear it' but i never could really.

was listening to Mac unreleased stuff on youtube over the wkd, and heard a demo he did of My Brace Face w Costello. And wow, I never picked up how retro old school Beatles it is. The finished track 80s-izes it up a bit, but the demo sounds like something that would have been on Hard Days Night or Beatles for Sale.

indeed ! I didn't know that version and just listened to it following your post.

yeah those costello demos are all really good.

yeah, this is nice! reminds me once again of my theory that flowers in the dirt, had it been produced as an 80s roots-rock album (by say, don gehman), would be much better-remembered today.

It's one of my favourite McCartney albums as it stands!

i'm having deja vu so i'm pretty sure i've posted all of this not too long ago... but i really like it too! if he'd swapped in some of the b-sides for the weaker stuff (especially the godawful "motor of love") i think it would at the least be mentioned in the same breath as tug of war, way more often.

'Motor of Love' isn't one of his best solo tracks, but when I think about it the only thing I can find fault with is the lyrics, which are... typical McCartney filler stuff.

I get the impression that some of the contemporary reviewers did receive Flowers in the Dirt as, if not roots-rock, then at least as a return to something more gritty and raw after Hugh Padgham's production on Press to Play, e.g. this is from the NYT review:

He has also abandoned the self-conscious trendiness that made his last album of original material, 1986's ''Press to Play,'' sound posed and dated. Instead, he has found a sound that is varied and fresh, yet firmly rooted in his own past.

but the passage of time has kind of smoothed away the differences and they both sound very 80s now. I like the production on Flowers in the Dirt though, probably more so than the "live in the studio" sound he went for on Off the Ground

Yes, me too. Particularly the drum sound on things like 'Figure of Eight' (underrated song)

xpost A while back I went through and learned (to the best of my remedial abilities) how to play the first Elvis Costello album on guitar, and boy is it more Beatles-infused than I ever noticed.

LOVE "Figure of Eight," notably how it sounds DIY and hi-tech at once.

I have such an antipathy to "dated" as a pejorative. Ad the always sounds delicious dated, but the 12-string guitar sound of the mid '60s does not? AOK.

Uh that should say "Synths always sound dated..."

Distractions, We Got Married, This One, the othet singles -- I like it a lot.

Gonna give Flowers In The Dirt a listen... it's been a while! I've had the outro from 'We Got Married' stuck in my head for the last half hour.

It doesn't work out if ya don't work at it... doot doot do!

Okay, so I've just been reminded of how much I love 'Distractions', one of those McCartney songs that seems to come more from a personal place. Usually McCartney either shies away from the personal or obfuscates it.

with a Clare Fischer string arrangement!

'That Day Is Done' is another top tier McCartney track as well, IMO. I'd say if I had to pick one song from Flowers In The Dirt that I don't like as much as the others, I'd say 'How Many People' ...

It's a bit long -- my complaint about the album.

Yep, ten tracks would have been perfect!

Figure of Eight is great - actually had it stuck in my head for a couple days a week or two ago. Good walking-pace tune.

How Many People is dire though - and the other thing one might forget about Motor of Love is that it is about five hundred years long. This One and Back On My Feet would have made a much, much better back end to the record.

I don't really have a problem with 'dated' stuff... I mean, I'm on record as a fan of ''Ou Est Le Soleil,'' ''My Brave Face,'' etc. Just mean that the production on this album may be a barrier to people discoverng it, critics thinking to include it in ''the essential McCartney albums'' lists, etc., which is unfortunate since the material is so good.

To me the album stops after the last minute of "That Day is Done" and the thought of a McCartney album in which "motor" and "love" work in the same sentence and one in which he wrote a save-the-rainforests! anthem.

Yup, those are pretty much the two tracks I'd bump off the album and leave the rest of the sequencing as-is. 'We Got Married' would be the perfect side one closer, and 'That Day Is Done' actually feels like an album closer. I guess 'Don't Be Careless Love' works in the penultumate position too.