{"id":22591,"date":"2022-03-13T05:30:25","date_gmt":"2022-03-13T09:30:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=22591"},"modified":"2023-02-07T07:25:39","modified_gmt":"2023-02-07T12:25:39","slug":"march-through-time-paul-mccartney","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2022\/03\/13\/march-through-time-paul-mccartney\/","title":{"rendered":"March Through Time: Paul McCartney"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Paul McCartney is one of the world\u2019s most popular songwriters and performers. He\u2019s also one of the wealthiest, and with good reason. His solo work continues to this day, but most fans focus on the live shows (if they can afford the ticket prices). Rather than attempt to cover his entire output, I\u2019ll confine my comments to his first quarter-century or so of post-Beatles releases.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><i><b><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-22592\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/mtt_macca.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"350\" height=\"350\" srcset=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/mtt_macca.jpg 612w, http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/mtt_macca-300x300.jpg 300w, http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/mtt_macca-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" \/>McCartney<\/b><\/i><b> (1970)<\/b> \u2013 Made at a time when one-man-bands were quite uncommon, it\u2019s a homespun affair that nonetheless reflects the care and skill of its maker. And the songs hold up.<\/li>\n<li><i><b>Ram<\/b><\/i><b> (1971)<\/b> \u2013 Somewhat dismissed at the time of its release, this record has since undergone a reassessment; it\u2019s now recognized as an excellent album. \u201cBack Seat of My Car\u201d is the best McCartney tune most people have never heard.<\/li>\n<li><i><b>Wild Life<\/b><\/i><b> (1971)<\/b> \u2013 Somewhat dismissed at the time of its release, this record has not received a reassessment akin to the one afford its predecessor. It\u2019s a bit slight, but by no means bad. Odds are you\u2019ve not heard any of it, which is weird when one thinks about it.<\/li>\n<li><i><b>Red Rose Speedway<\/b><\/i><b> (1973)<\/b> \u2013 This one flew under the radar as well. Its structure is not unlike <em>Abbey Road<\/em>, and there are some gems buried among the, well, not-gems. Remarkably, the bonus tracks appended to latter-day CD reissues are among the best. For all his myriad gifts, Paul hasn\u2019t always been the best arbiter of his music\u2019s quality.<\/li>\n<li><i><b>Band on the Run<\/b><\/i><b> (1973)<\/b> \u2013 A classic, of course. But you knew that.<\/li>\n<li><i><b>Venus and Mars<\/b><\/i><b> (1975)<\/b> \u2013 A sentimental favorite, this one finds McCartney and his band leaning into their newfound fame. Even the deep cuts are stellar.<\/li>\n<li><i><b>Wings at the Speed of Sound<\/b><\/i><b> (1976)<\/b> \u2013 A bit more democratic, which means that there are weak spots. But some of the best tunes come from the band members not named McCartney! A must-hear.<\/li>\n<li><i><b>Wings Over America<\/b><\/i><b> (1976)<\/b> \u2013 A triple album, it\u2019s Wings beating all other comers at the live album game. A great souvenir for those of us who didn\u2019t make it to the show.<\/li>\n<li><i><b>London Town<\/b><\/i><b> (1978)<\/b> \u2013 Alas, the band fell apart. This trio album (Paul, Linda, Denny Laine) has a breezy character, some good songs, and not a lot of rock.<\/li>\n<li><i><b>Back to the Egg<\/b><\/i><b> (1979)<\/b> \u2013 With new members and a terrific set of songs, this album found Paul on fire, making his most eclectic set of songs in years. Underrated to be sure.<\/li>\n<li><i><b>McCartney II<\/b><\/i><b> (1980)<\/b> \u2013 This, on the other hand, is overrated, at least in my view. A bit sterile and one-dimensional, it takes the one-man-band approach too far. It\u2019s a critical fave, but I must dissent.<\/li>\n<li><i><b>Tug of War<\/b><\/i><b> (1982)<\/b> \u2013 A melancholy album, featuring the production talents of Paul\u2019s old pal George (Martin). Some really good songs in there, but a few clunkers as well.<\/li>\n<li><i><b>Pipes of Peace<\/b><\/i><b> (1983)<\/b> \u2013 Don\u2019t get me started. This one\u2019s dross. I like to blame Michael Jackson (the era\u2019s most overrated artist) but Paul deserves his lumps as well.<\/li>\n<li><i><b>Give My Regards to Broad Street<\/b><\/i><b> (1984)<\/b> \u2013 Okay, so the film was unwatchable. But the music here has its moments. The remakes of classics don\u2019t hold a candle to the originals, but they don\u2019t stink. And the version of \u201cNo More Lonely Nights\u201d with David Gilmour is lovely.<\/li>\n<li><i><b>Press to Play<\/b><\/i><b> (1986)<\/b> \u2013 There are actually a few decent tunes amid the piffle here, but not enough to make it worth listening to all the way through. And all-star cast makes not a bit of difference.<\/li>\n<li><i><b>\u0421\u043d\u043e\u0432\u0430 \u0432 \u0421\u0421\u0421\u0420<\/b><\/i><b> (1988)<\/b> \u2013 The first hint that Paul still had some good work left in him, this record found him relaxing and doing what he does best: entertain.<\/li>\n<li><i><b>Flowers in the Dirt<\/b><\/i><b> (1989)<\/b> \u2013 The triumphant return. Working here and there with Elvis Costello, he made a great record. Simply essential.<\/li>\n<li><i><b>Off the Ground<\/b><\/i><b> (1993)<\/b> \u2013 A more modest affair \u2013 sort of a <i>Wild Life<\/i> to <i>Flowers<\/i> \u2013 it still has some really good songs. But \u201cBiker Like an Icon\u201d is\u2026 just awful.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>As you&#8217;d expect by now, the rest of Paul&#8217;s output features some true gems and some okay ones. Worth finding is 1977\u2019s <i>Thrillington<\/i>, an easy listening instro version of <i>Ram<\/i>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Paul McCartney is one of the world\u2019s most popular songwriters and performers. He\u2019s also one of the wealthiest, and with good reason. His solo work continues to this day, but [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22592,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,65],"tags":[1663],"class_list":["post-22591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-essay","category-review","tag-paul-mccartney","cat-27-id","cat-65-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22591"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22591\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24878,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22591\/revisions\/24878"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}