Paul McCartney - The Official "Memory Almost Full" Album Thread (part 3)

(just getting caught up on this thread after missing out for nearly a week...)

Actually, NINE people share production credits on Flowers:
1. Paul McCartney
2. Mitchell Froom
3. Neil Dorfsman
4. Trevor Horn
5. Steve Lipson
6. Elvis Costello
7. David Foster
8. Chris Hughes
9. Ross Cullum

And that's one of my biggest gripes with the album. Then, of course, the superlative "Flying To My Home" doesn't make the cut, but the barely-there "Rough Ride" makes it as track #2 (!). Remember the "Put it There" video? Where Paul is talking about composing "Rough Ride"? He starts to play it on guitar and after repeating himself for a minute or so, gives an embarassed chuckle and says something like (paraphrasing here) "it doesn't sound like much, does it"... It makes the preceding disc's eccentricities ("Pretty Little Head", "Talk More Talk") seem positively profound by comparison...

Side One's closer "Put it There" has all it needs, is crisp, clear & Beatle-y, in a good way. Side Two's closer ("Motor of Love") is drenched in syrupy backing vocals that would have made someone like Barbra Streisand think "overproduction", yet Paulie just wallowed in it. I like a lot of FitD, but it's weaknesses preclude it from being the "return to form" that so many wanted to proclaim it at the time. I may prefer the stronger songs of Flowers, but I think I prefer Press to Play (the original 10-song lp lineup) as an "album experience".

Now, how many other posts do I need to get caught up on?

 

Once you get past the three singles from Double Fantasy, all of the melodies start to feel a little formless, I'm afraid.

 

I know he called it top 40 fluff. That's what I was referring to when I mentioned that he "reduced" it to mere fluff. To me, it was Lennon successfully experimenting with the dance music of that period, making it more than pop triffle.

Beautiful Boy would still be hailed as a classic, regardless of what happened. The difference between Beautiful Boy and Coming Up is that the former is childlike, whereas the latter is simply childish. Big difference.

 

We're getting off the Macca track here, John, but I do agree with you to a certain extent. Sometimes, though, I think the flatness of the production and the rote performances by the session men were contributing factors in the less-distinguished moments on the 1980 material.

 

As best I can tell, no one outside of the hardcore Beatles/Lennon fan universe hails "Beautiful Boy" as a classic. And even within the hardcore fan community, it's not a universally acknowledged classic.

I suspect that "childish" is a code word for "disco," which is a synonym for "bad" in your world. But if I'm wrong, please feel free to correct me. Lennon reportedly liked "Coming Up," for what it's worth, unless that's just an apocryphal story.

 

As with George Harrison's last album, there are few albums that I have ever wanted to like more than Double Fantasy, for obvious reasons. But once you get past the three singles, the songs just aren't there, and not even Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr could have saved them. But the session men certainly did turn in some rote performances on the material as well. The Cheap Trick-backed "I'm Losing You" hints at what could have been, and I even prefer the primitive boombox demos of songs like "Real Love" to the slick material that made the official album.

 

What about cleaning up the syrup? I think there's nothing awful about the song, Motor Of Love. It's the production that makes it bad. I'd love to hear this track with Paul and his piano only. Maybe a few other instruments, but try to keep it simple!

 

Not true, I know many Beatles fans. And even those who worship Paul revere Beautiful Boy, and acknowledge it as a classic.

(With my best Charles Grodin hangdog expression) John, I'm very disappointed. On another thread a few month's ago, you and I had a good discussion on our love for disco. You're probably not going to find a bigger supporter of disco than me on these forums. Hell, the reason why I love Whatever Gets ... so much is that it's such a catchy dance song. Regarding Coming Up, by childish, I'm not referring to the beat, which is actually good. It's the ramschackle vocal performance and corny arrangement on top of the beat, which makes it sound like something that wouldn't have passed muster on The Muppet Show.

 

On what planet?

 

Signing off now...

 

Sorry I forgot that you like disco. "Coming Up" is not the greatest disco track ever, that's for sure, but the live version is not the disaster that people make it out to be, either.

 

I haven't heard the live version, I'm curious how it differs from the original.

 

If you've heard the hit single version, you've heard the live version. The live version is the one that's on comps like Wingspan. Most people who like the song seem to agree that the live version is superior to the studio version that leads off McCartney II.

 

Coming Up! LIVE 1979 Video:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=gPufKFUzFM8

 

God forbid anyone should make any kind of criticism of McCartney. Hey, I love the guy too. But to pretend he hasn't made any garbage is ridiculous. Try not being so sensitive. For Gods sake, it's not as if I blasphemed Maybe I'm Amazed or No More Lonely Nights. It's Coming Up, for crying out loud!

 

Another expert on conventional wisdom.

I'm outta here too.

 

If you can't take the heat for criticizing "Coming Up," make sure you steer clear of negative observations about Abbey Road.

 

Truth hurts, pal. Sorry for not being part of the flock.

 

I know what you're getting at. But Coming Up and Abbey Road? Kind of a big difference there, don't you think?

By the way, someone makes a silly comment about Lennon, I respond, while also complimenting Paul when it's warranted, and by dissing an inconsequential song like Coming Up, I'm the bad guy?

 

I don't think "Coming Up" is worth debating - it is what it is, a fun dance/pop song. I certainly don't think it's as good as Abbey Road. But plenty of Paul's other solo material is as good or better than his contributions to Abbey Road, which was, for all intents and purposes, his second solo album (his contributions to the White Album having been his first), and foreshadowed all of the strengths and weaknesses of his subsequent solo work.

 

Dan Halen, Coming Up is just as good as those songs you posted! If anyone thinks Coming Up is disco then you don't know what disco is. Coming Up is a fast and funky rocker, it has absolutely nothing to do with disco, it does have some r&b elements to it, listen to the version on his live album Tripping The Live Fantastic, they give it more of an r&b treatment.

Coming Up is one of McCartneys classics and every time he performs it the crowd loves it, there's absolutely nothing childish about it!

Mr. Halen a few post back you said that Lennons Rock & Roll album was him cutting loose with the music that inspired him, well that's the problem with that album, I kept listening waiting for him to finally cut loose and he never did. An album with the title rock and roll should do just that, now McCartneys Run Devil Run, that's rock and roll looking for a fight!

 

If I recall correctly, Paul and his current band do a great version of "Coming Up" on the Back in the U.S. DVD.