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

also unfortunately i don't think i understand why "my love" is so bad, though it def is macca desperately trying to rewrite "something"

lmao exactly

"How would George play this? OK, Henry, your solo is GREAT, man."

btw the not-so-big surprise of this thread is how consistently great George's solos are, even at his hackiest. On paper the idea of a slide solo bores me, but he 99.9 percent of the time is terser, more sarcastic, or more liquid than expected. Like, he always knows what the song means. The dude is one of my top ten favorite guitarists ever.

means = ever

lol means = needs

I hate phones

red rose speedway doesn't really make any kind of sense as an album but it's kind of adorable. i love the arrangements of "get on the right thing" and "little lamb dragonfly." the production is almost confectionary, just clouds of sugar

yeah those are two songs i always totally forget about and then find totally enjoyable when they're on.

c moon rules. "was that the intro i should have been in?"

Brad may dig the chord/tempo changes on this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzHJcW5wpP0

'Little Lamb Dragonfly' was never really one that grabbed me, although it's a favourite of many in the McCartney hardcore. 'Get On The Right Thing' has some neat ideas and I like the drum sound on it, but doesn't 100% work for me.

'Big Barn Bed' is okay (you can hear him break into an early draft of it during the fade of the 'Ram On' reprise on Ram) but the main highlights for me are 'My Love' (all-time McCartney favourite) and 'Single Pigeon' ...

I have absolutely no use at all for the Medley (absolute waste of time) or 'When the Night' ...

'C Moon' is great - always loved that one.

Speedway is a good sounding record. Better than BOTR, I think.

Actually, looking at the tracklisting, I'd somehow forgot 'One More Kiss' and 'Loup' were on Red Rose Speedway. I like both of those - 'One More Kiss' has the kind of melody that wouldn't have sounded out of place on an early Beatles record, and 'Loup' has that neat Floyd-like section in the middle.

the medley is weirdly kinda bad yeah. it's weird, you'd think paul connecting unrelated songs would be the main attraction at this point in his career, with "uncle albert" and "band on the run" coming out in the surrounding years

That's what I thought when I first heard it way back, plus this was the guy that had a big hand in piecing together the Abbey Road medley from scraps of unfinished Lennon and McCartney songs. The Red Rose Speedway medley just doesn't feel focused at all - individually the different parts aren't very good, and together the whole thing feels a bit of a mess. I don't like it at all and find it a bit of a slog, come to think of it.

Paul’s pre-Beatles solo LP will likely figure heavily in my ballot.

https://i1-wp-com.cdn.ampproject.org/ii/w820/s/i1.wp.com/rockcriticsarchives.com/bookshelf/shipper01a.jpg

i love band on the run, it's so charming. "nineteen hundred and eighty five" is one of the coolest songs paul ever wrote

Yeah, love that song too, and one time heard a great version of it one Sunday evening whilst changing trains at Times Square by Beatles tribute band The Meetles.

lol means = needs

I hate phones

whoa i LOVE "magneto and titanium man"

otm -- the keyboard!

"letting go" also rocks

that's long been one of my favorite solo Macca favorites -- and a total bomb on the charts.

yesssss to magneto

The Speedway medley --- I want to say I read that the original idea, when this was a double album, was that each of the first three bits would have been sprinkled around the different sides, so that when they start appearing in "Power Cut" it's this awesome payoff. Or maybe I just imagined that, but it makes a *little* more sense than just unrolling these fairly trifling songs one after the other as your closer. Ambition exceeding his grasp - I still like it, but if each section was really convincing as a song in itself, it could have been spectacular.

Fan of “Love in Song” if we are talking Venus and Mars.

I love 'Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five', particularly the way it builds up to that ending!

'Magneto', 'Letting Go' and 'Love In Song' all favourites of mine, but then I rate Venus and Mars quite highly in general. I get 'Medicine Jar' stuck in my head quite a fair bit too, and McCartney didn't write that one!

AND THE CRIMSON DYNAMO
JUST COULDN'T CUT IT NO MO'!

A few other McCartney songs that deserve shout outs:

No Words
Tomorrow
She's My Baby (I might be alone in my appreciation of this one)
Jenny Wren
Junk

HI DERE

i love "She's My Baby," "mopping her up" and all. That's a real pop-into-my-head-at-the-grocery-store tune.

No Words

ok so: i started constructing a ballot i may never complete, but this is currently my no. 1

also "junk" is so lovely

wow i’m really glad i heard “getting closer”

On paper the idea of a slide solo bores me

you have never listened to classic country i take it?

No, I never listen to any country music.

I am so loving BN's deep Wings dive, and that it keeps paying out dividends.

Lol alfred

I am so loving BN's deep Wings dive, and that it keeps paying out dividends.

― noel gallaghah's high flying burbbhrbhbbhbburbbb (Doctor Casino), Sunday, May 20, 2018 3:00 PM (thirty-four minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yup, me too!

Back to the Egg in general has become a huge favourite of mine, and it sucks that there weren't more albums with that line-up.

I've always kind of liked this Ringo song. Roger Manning and Andy Sturmer from Jellyfish are on it. He covers a Posies track on the same album.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAjq2uxLfpY

^^ by far his most listenable album after 1974.

Giving Wings at the Speed of Sound another listen today... definitely one of the patchier Wings albums for a couple of reasons (side two can fuck off entirely apart from 'Silly Love Songs' and 'Warm and Beautiful') but I forgot how much I love 'The Note You Never Wrote' ...

I wish there was a 12" instrumental of Paul McCartney's 'Temporary Secretary'

Non-Macca Speed of Sound jam "Wino Junko" is one of my favorite dumb Wings songs.

omigod why haven't I paid attention to Red Rose Speedway's "When the Night"???

the na na na na na na na na na naaaaght
fell on me

is "Loup" his attempt at writing Sly & Family Stone's "Thank You For Talking To Me Africa"?

4 ballots in already! Off to a good start

against my better judgment i'm making one

just curious, did the ballots make it to 100?

i'd like to list 100 songs, but i want to genuinely like every song on my list, and i'm not sure that's possible

100 song ballot really useful for when i inevitably put every non-apple jam all things must pass song on my ballot