The Beatles' Solo Careers Poll - Voting and General Discussion Thread

"All these years later I would like to liberate some of the songs from the big production that seemed appropriate at the time

George otm re: Cloud Nine.

haha

at the speed of sound sounds oddly drowsy (so it feels v similar to red rose speedway to me) but the singles are great and "beware my love" is awesome

i guess "she's my baby" wasn't a single but it should've been one

"beware my love" has kind of a norman whitfield-era temptations groove running beneath it

the song that has been stuck in my head since i started this post-beatles trawl: "jet"

I really don't hear big production CN other than on "If That's What It Takes."

i was listening to an unremastered copy of cloud nine last night, sounded p good to me but i don't hate a lot of the artifacts of that production era

jeff lynne productions may be infinite prisms of reverb but they still feel v tasteful

i wanna get as far into mccartney's career as possible but it's... so long. still hoping to hear press to play and flowers in the dirt, and i've also always been curious about the fireman records

also chaos and creation in the backyard features jason falkner from jellyfish on guitar! (his second appearance in this thread!) so i kinda have to hear that

verdict on at the speed of sound is that it has a lovely first side and a drippy second side, but "san ferry anne" is a hell of a deep cut

I've written 60,000 words on "Press" to date and hope to write 12,000 more.

idk quite what to make of london town but i kinda think it's awesome. the first five tracks, where paul leans into his swervier melodies, seem to set up a weirder record than we actually get though (hopefully a preview of the new wave stuff on back to the egg, which i've still only heard "getting closer" from), as soon as "children children" and "girlfriend" happen it's like we've settled into an actual wings record instead of a cool speculative one. also got v surprised by "girlfriend" bc before this i was only familiar with mj's cover

The first side of LT is sweet! Back to the Egg is the one on which conventional wisdom is correct. Sorry, dudes! I love "Arrow Through Me" and the addled "Old Siam, Sir," can tolerate "Getting Closer," and will dump the rest.

so so pleasantly surprised by "with a little luck" tho, what a cool song that doesn't seem like it deserves to be almost six minutes long, but then, suddenly, it does!

i do like that on every paul record (so far) there's at least a moment if not several where i'm like "oh huh, that's interesting, you've never done that before"

he's never consistent exactly but his songwriting really grows

"London Town" the song should be better-known. the lyric isn't wildly great ("ordinary people it's impossible to meet" - barf) but love that tune and that great soft rainy-day late 70s production....mmmm. in that same vein, but stronger, "With A Little Luck" is one of his very best singles imho. i grew up with it on All The Best so i never had any sense of how well-known or obscure it might be. a #1 in the US! rarely heard now, i fear. don't you feel the comet exploding?

a #1 in the US!

i've never heard it in my whole life!

on listen two i may prefer london town to venus and mars. it's the first time aimless and scattered wings has really worked for me. i mean, what in the world is "morse moose"

a great song

it's true. i put it next to "open your box" on my ballot just bc they feel like they belong together

here's hoping a london town... naked will someday allow shakey to hear "morse moose" without the "morse code" synth (guitar?) effect running through. though i also think it's fair to follow sic's cue and just rock out to the twin freaks mashup with "coming up." that album for me peaks with "mumbo" but boy it's a garden of trainspotting delights for the lifelong paul fan.

i guess i love "getting closer" bc it reminds me of abba

curious what you think of "Again and Again and Again"

xgau otm!

London Town [Capitol, 1978]

McCartney's lyricism is so capricious, so given to inanity and icky-poo, that only at its very best--"With a Little Luck" and the affectionate goof on "Famous Groupies"--does it come on strong. But from its slices of life to its romantic reassurances this is nowhere near as feckless as the Old Band on the Run claque claims--even on the one about the fairy who'll invite us to tea Linda adds a few harmonies that are as charming as they're meant to be. And at the very least you have to be impressed by how steadfastly Paul has resisted supersessions--he's been loyal to his group, which has now recorded longer than the Beatles. B

Finally checking out Old Wave. Maybe it's just taking a couple days off the Ringo marathon but it's sounding a lot better than those last few records. Would never have picked Ric Ocasek's as a good sound for Ringo and Joe Walsh to try and rip off but it at least clears out all the sonic clutter and just gives us Ringo trying to belt out some rock tunes. Makes me wish this had been combined with Gone Troppo in a Cuban Linx-esque dynamic duo "ex-Beatles have fun going new wave" kinda deal.

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

^^^ like, this isn't going to change the world or anything but it is wayyyyy more enjoyable than you'd expect from a Ringo cut in 1983. compare to idk Frankie Valli's "Streetfighter" or the Monkees' "Every Step of the Way" and it's damned good. the next song leans charmingly into Ringo's sad-sack schtick with a litany of bad news: "The martians have invaded, it's hopeless."

it's pretty inane but not godawful. and yet he couldn't even get a US label to release it.

curious what you think of "Again and Again and Again"

― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, May 22, 2018 11:05 AM (six minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

turns out i love it

more on old wave: "Be My Baby" taking us back to the trusty old talkbox glories of "Rocky Mountain Way"... "Everybody's In A Hurry But Me" is just a Starr/Walsh/Entwistle/Clapton jam session, apparently... yeah this is a cool album idk man. the cover of "She's About A Mover" doesn't really bring much to the song but it's the kind of thing that should be showing up as a cover on a Ringo record. his cover of "I Keep Forgettin'" doesn't seem to be on youtube. so who knows.

i wish, btw, that george had stuck by covers a bit more! his rendition of "If Not For You" is just so lovely.

this is really just my rockist lizard brain getting switched on but my favorite part of any wings song is when the guitars get thick. (np: "old siam, sir")

back to the egg is fuckin awesome. the simultaneous synth/guitar solo in "to you"? i love hearing paul this loose but not, like, wild life loose

London Town has its highlights, but I'd rank Venus and Mars and Back to the Egg above it. Love 'Cafe on the Left Bank' and 'With a Little Luck' ... it's interesting that Brad is honing in on a lot of the same songs that I rate highly.

Okay, Brad is now my favourite person in the entire universe and I'll never post anything snarky on the 1975 thread ever again.

someone give me the nobel peace prize

nobel prize for lit, thanks to the bits of fiction you've contributed here

Egg does benefit from a producer (Chris Thomas) instead of Paul.

you gotta defrost your ears re: back to the egg alfred

listening to "To You" for the first time in years and wondering why Paul is shouting on my neck.

u love "old siam"! embrace shouty paul

I didn't say I loved it – sometimes Paul has moments of lunacy only he can record.

otm

The descending section in between the verses (I'm hesitant to call it a chorus) on 'Old Siam Sir' fucking rules.

And “Spin It On” rules

yep

McCartney this millennium is his most consistent period with lots of great songs

I love Chaos and Creation in the Backyard and have a lot of time for Memory Almost Full. Driving Rain I find a bit hit and miss, but it's worth hearing for 'Rinse the Raindrops' alone. New starts off fairly well, but I always end up switching it off about halfway through.

"That Was Me" and "Ever Present Past" are on my list.

good LORD how did I miss these lines from "Deliver Your Children": "If you want good hens/You better feed that hen"

lol good EGGS