Concord Music Group gets Paul McCartney Back Catalogue (Pt. 3)

I think MAF is his "Wings-iest" album since Wings itself -- if you only listened to it a couple of times, you should give it another shot. "Only Mama Knows" rocks harder than everything since "Junior's Farm," "You Tell Me" has backing vocals that I'd SWEAR were Linda and Denny if I didn't know better, "Mister Bellamy" is cinematic and surprisingly deep, and "House of Wax" is good old fashioned Wings arena rock in the mold of "Beware My Love."

If the mastering kills it for you, the vinyl is slightly better.

 

And I'd add that "See Your Sunshine" is the "Wings-iest" track for me.

 

I've got the Japanese SHM-CD of MEMORY ALMOST FULL but I've never played it ... Never expected any sonic recescutation from the fact it's made of "super-high material" ...

 

Memory was a huge let down for me a(after the excellent Chaos) and to make it worse - I picked up the deluxe edition in that ridiculous package that doesn't fit with other cds. It's been sitting in a box with books for a couple years now. And worse than that, it was, what, maybe a few months later, the expanded set became a standard cd set.

What a waste. Even the largely forgettable Driving Rain had good singles.

 

I'm with you, Sean, and Paul on this point as well!

 

As am I.

I think Paul is ... and has been ... in a very good place musically.

And think about this: His current band has been with him — without a lineup change — for longer than Wings or The Beatles were together. That says something right there.

 

I agree with you on this and remember thinking the same things when MAF was released. It's a very "Wings"-like album. and that's a good thing.

 

I suppose it's not a coincidence that you don't like either of the Macca/David Kahne collaborations; although to me Driving Rain is by far the least successful of Paul's 1997-2008 run, I think it has the MAKINGS of a good-to-great album. And since I was just waiting patiently for a chance to defend Driving Rain.........

To me, Driving Rain is Paul's attempt to make another Wild Life. It shows in the speed it was recorded -- most of it was recorded in less than two weeks -- and in the intentionally rough quality of the songs, the vocals and the playing. This album is twice as long as Wild Life, though, and much more than twice as good. Once the duds are removed -- understanding that we will never agree on what those duds are -- I believe that Paul has a 10-12 song collection that ranks among his very best. Here's what I think would make a "classic" version of Driving Rain:

01. "Lonely Road"
02. "Vanilla Sky"
03. "She's Given Up Talking"
04. "I Do"
05. "Magic"
06. "Your Way"
07. "About You"
08. "Heather"
09. "Back In The Sunshine Again"
10. "Riding Into Jaipur"
11. "Rinse The Raindrops"

 

You'd drop 'Loving Flame' but keep 'Jaipur'?!

 

You and I agree on DRIVING RAIN, essentially. Only difference being you take points away for the lame stuff, whereas I choose to ignore it. I like you've included "Vanilla Sky" — nice call there. Also, I think "From A Lover To A Friend" is gorgeous, absolutely top-shelf. I certainly don't think Paul was looking to re-make WILD LIFE, though. I tend to think of ELECTRIC ARGUMENTS as being more of the WILD LIFE vibe, but that's me.

 

I've always found it very interesting how polarising 'Driving Rain' is. To me, it is light years stronger than Flaming Pie, stronger than Memory, and just as strong as Chaos. I loved it when it was released in 2001, and still consider it one of my all time favourite McCartney albums now.

 

I hear what you're saying.

I could never compare FLAMING PIE and DRIVING RAIN, they're so different ... and so great.

 

I know what you mean - they are very different.

Although it has some great tracks, Flaming Pie has never seemed as strong an album to me, though.

 

I like the jaggedness of Driving Rain. The fact that the vocals aren't perfected and some guitar parts cut out messily.

It's a good summer album. The problem with it for me is that the songs absolutely do not fit in well with each other - Your Loving Flame > Riding To Jaipur > Rinse The Raindrops?

Actually, for the talk in this thread about what is his 'Wings' sounding album, I feel DR captures the Wings vibe most. "Why don't we drive in the rain.." sounds like a Wings song circa Venus and Mars to me, and you can just imagine Macca in his 70's gear singing "Your Loving Flame".

 

I know -- it seems crazy, but I just can't get past the bad lyrics in "Your Loving Flame." If pushed to choose, I'd probably put it back in my track list, I guess, but that song abuses one of my Macca pet peeves -- his use of the word "love" as a generic fill-in word. I did a track-by-track breakdown of Driving Rain in one of the "Beatles Solo Albums" threads here once, and here's how I assessed the two tracks:

13. "Your Loving Flame" – 3:43
My goodness, this song SHOULD have been one of the greatest ballads of Paul's career, and it falls short once again because of weak lyrics. It has everything else -- great melody, "classic" McCartney-esque arrangement, swelling backing vocals -- but the song backfires in the opening lines. This is what I mean about using the word "love" as a "fill-in syllable" -- "How can I, hope to reach your love/ Help me to discover/ what it is you're thinking of." The song doesn't know what it's about -- why does the singer seem lost at first, needing help to "discover" the way in, and then in the next breath he's singing about the bliss of being inside the "loving flame," whatever that is. This song so desperately wants to be a modern-day "Maybe I'm Amazed," but that song made SENSE, and this one doesn't. It's a keeper, because everything ELSE about the song is great, but it bothers me when I think about it. Thus, I try not to think about it.

14. "Riding Into Jaipur" – 4:08
A really weird, unexpected surprise after the previous 13 songs, and the beginning of the REALLY weird, unexpected -- and daring -- end to the album. Inspired by a trip Paul had been on, I naturally couldn't help wondering in late 2001 if there was some OTHER inspiration behind it. It doesn't sound consciously Harrison-esque, but Paul must have known that recording a song like this would draw speculation that it was some kind of tribute to his ill former bandmate. It doesn't really matter, because the song is a fun one -- and another quasi-instrumental that doesn't try to be more than it is. After all the torturous effort to make "Your Loving Flame" a "meaningful" song, "Riding Into Jaipur" has one modest little verse, and otherwise lets the music do the talking.​

Just MY take on it, obviously.

 

Around the time 'Driving Rain' was released, McCartney asked what Wings would sound like if they had still been around, and he said they would sound like the material on Driving Rain. If I can find the quote, I'll post it.

 

That's what, to me, makes the Macca fan community -- at least THIS one -- so much fun: Nearly every one of his "bad" albums has its staunch defenders, and all his "good" ones have their critics. None of us would ever be able to come up with a critical ranking that everyone else agreed upon, and yet we all get along pretty well.

 

Flaming Pie might be my favourite album of his. I know when you look at the track-list it doesn't seem as strong as say Chaos.. or Memory Almost Full even, but there was magic in the air when he was recording FP, there's just something very special about it for me.

I think it was also a very important album to him, as it was the start of his come back as a solo artist. It had been a good while since Off The Ground was released, and he had disbanded that band lineup, so for him to get critical praise for FP must have given him confidence to move on to Driving Rain and form his the line up that would start him touring the world again.

Also FP is very special as it's his last album with Linda, and although it wasn't noticed at the time, in retrospect you can see the sadness of what he and Linda were going through echoed in the songs; eg, 'Somedays', 'Heaven On A Sunday'.

... And if all that's not enough it also has Ringo on two tracks (and his vocals) and George Martin orchestration on a couple of songs.

 

I think what makes McCartney my favourite solo beatle, is that don't dislike any of his albums. That does not mean they are all great, I'm very aware of that.
However, his discs use to be really peculiar. Songs that are not great have incredible appeal (Mc II, PTP etc). On Wings At the Speed of Sound he asked Denny and Joe English to sing on two songs that will ever be a mystery to us: The Note You Never Wrote and Must Do Something About It. They are not fab, neither weak, but we can't stop speculating wether they'd be stronger if they featured Paul in the lead vocals.

 

I think Flaming Pie is a very special album because coming on the heels of the Beatles' Anthology it seemed like Paul was inspired. He also seemed to have come to terms with his past.

After the Beatles broke up, Paul always seemed to be trying to distance himself from his old band and their sound (as multi-faceted and diverse as it was). But with Flaming Pie it seems like Paul finally accepted who he was, relaxed and just did what came natural. Since then Paul hasn't been trying so hard to avoid Beatle connection and his music has benefitted greatly as a result.

Flaming Pie isn't my favorite of his latter day albums, but it certainly was the start of this great new era.

 

Yes, and a track such as "The Song We Were Singing" wouldn't have existed without Anthology, probably. Love that song and how it capped the Anthology era for me. Also, always thought "The World Tonight" had parts that sounded like George.

 

The title track is divisive, but I'm in the minority, I believe, that really likes this track. Top 3 on the album for me. You're so right about the "Wings Vibe" -- it's on this song as much as any we talked about earlier from MaF.

 

I agree ,I have always felt “ Flaming Pie” was his best solo record of the 90’s and beyond.

 

I agree with all the songs you picked except "Vanilla Sky", which is kind of a snore IMO. I like all of Driving Rain except the title track...and "Freedom", which is out of place here. It would have been better just as a charity single IMO. I think "From A Lover To A Friend" is one of Paul's best tunes in his solo career. I love everything about the song. Great vocal & bass by Paul. "Tiny Bubble" & "Spinning" are fine pop tunes. "Your Loving Flame" probably would have been as big as "My Love" if it came out in the '70's. I don't mind the 65 min length (or whatever it is) because it sounds so fresh. This is a case where I feel cutting several of the songs actually weakens the album. But leave it to Paul to name the album after the weakest track (for me). Kind of perversely funny in a way.