I can hear you now - “What’s Paul McCartney doing in this series?” Certainly, a former Beatle never left the public consciousness? It’s true, the cute one has had a long and prosperous solo career since the group split. His records have outsold those of his former fab bandmates in any way you care to measure, and he enjoyed some dominant chart-topping years in the mid- to late-70s. From his solo debut McCartney, through Venus and Mars in 1975, Paul’s every post-Beatles move was front page news in the music world. The critics were on board most of the time, too. “Maybe I’m Amazed,” “Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey,” “My Love,” “Band on the Run,” even “Silly Love Songs” were all given kudos for being sufficiently Beatle-ish. He tossed out non-LP singles, like “Live and Let Die” and “Junior’s Farm,” and scored as big with the public as the higher-profile albums. His “Wings Over the World” 1975-76 tour smashed attendance records and was a nearly impossible ticket to get your hands on.
Some slight cracks in Paul’s commercial armor first started to appear with Venus and Mars. “Listen to What the Man Said” went to #1 as the first single, but the next two, “Letting Go” and “Venus and Mars/Rock Show” fell far short of the top, the latter not charting at all in the U.K. After Venus and Mars, Sir Paul’s album sales started a slow, but overall steady, decline, and his singles success became notably less automatic. Although it’s impossible to ignore the ongoing presence of a former Beatle, he’s rarely reached the height of musical influence as a solo artist he had in 1975/76, and his audience has dwindled noticeably, like every other “classic rock” act. The audience for his records, that is. He can still sell out any live venue in the world at premium ticket prices. He has a back catalog to build a dream setlist from like few others.
Paul McCartney / Paul McCartney & Wings – I’m going to take a quick look at Sir Paul’s albums from 1976’s Wings at the Speed of Sound to the present day. There were still some magnificent and hugely popular singles released from a lot of these, which kept him in the public eye (for his new music) until radio play stopped being a viable promotional tool for classic rockers in the U.S. and Britain. I’m leaving out greatest hits compilations (although you should own or stream Wings Greatest) and live albums, genre exercises (Paul fancied himself a classical and/or Broadway composer for a while), and albums of non-McCartney cover songs (Kisses on the Bottom, Run Devil Run). There are hardcore fans who will point to any of the albums on the remaining list and tell you it’s the best one Paul ever made, and who am I to argue with personal taste? But the common denominator to them all is that they represent overall declining sales figures and impact on the public consciousness in a musical, but certainly not celebrity (and definitely not Beatles), context. I'm certain that most everyone reading this will be unfamiliar with a number of these albums, and that's why Paul McCartney is part of this series.
What happened next:
• Wings at the Speed of Sound (1976)
• London Town (1978)
• Back to the Egg (1979)
The final trio of Wings albums saw the band fracturing. Long-time members leaving, new ones being added, or Paul and Linda recording as a trio with guitarist Denny Laine. A more democratic (read: uneven) approach was taken for Wings at the Speed of Sound, with Linda and the rest getting a chance to contribute material and sadly, in some cases, sing. “Let ‘Em In” and “Silly Love Songs” were the slight but enormous hits, but deeper album track “Beware My Love” is one of Paul's all-time great rockers. London Town was recorded with the aforementioned trio, like Band on the Run, but they forgot to write the rock songs that made BOTR so compelling, and it sounds slight by comparison. Back to the Egg featured a new Wings lineup and sounds like what it is – a “let’s throw stuff at the wall and see what sticks” kind of project. No hit single to speak of. “Getting Closer” got as high as #20 on the charts, but I bet you can’t sing it from memory.
• McCartney II (1980) – Wings is no more at this point, Sir Paul fully embraces the synthesizers and drum machines that were the rage of the day and goes back to making an album completely solo, like his first one. “Coming Up” was a fabulous single, shooting Paul back to the top of the charts. The rest of the album is experimental, even head-scratching in parts, but has an undeniable, quirky, charm. Mojo magazine in the U.K. put it at #26 on their list of “Top 50 Eccentric Albums.” Sounds about right.
*****Tug of War (1982) – After Paul had scratched his experimental solo itch, he rang up former Beatles producer George Martin to help create a proper collaborative (and hopefully, hit) record, and it worked. The initial recordings were abandoned after the murder of John Lennon, but resumed a few months later with guests Stevie Wonder, Ringo, jazz bassist Stanley Clarke, and Carl Perkins. Paul and Stevie’s duet “Ebony and Ivory” became a worldwide smash, of course, and the album sold in huge numbers. Reviewers generally praised the renewed classic Beatle/Paul style of songwriting, and Tug of War is held in high esteem by his dedicated fans. Definitely one to seek out if you only heard the singles the first time around.
• Pipes of Peace (1983) – Still working with George Martin, Pipes of Peace is made up of leftover tracks from the Tug of War sessions, fleshed out with some new tunes. The newer songs were more in the mold of the McCartney II electronic stuff than Tug of War’s pop/rock. His killer collaboration with Michael Jackson, “Say Say Say,” put Paul at the top of the world singles charts once again. Overall, the album sounds like a slighter, more playful, version of Tug of War, and there’s an attractive off-handedness about it that I never mind hearing.
After Pipes of Peace, Sir Paul took an ill-advised detour, fancying himself a film composer with Give My Regards to Broad Street, an album and film comprised of completely unnecessary, and decidedly inferior, reworkings of some classic solo and Beatles songs and some pretty mediocre new ones. It was globally panned, and rightly so. Paul seemed to be humbled by the experience, and I believe that feeling led to his next batch of albums.
• Press to Play (1986)
• Flowers in the Dirt (1989)
• Off the Ground (1993)
• Flaming Pie (1997)
• Driving Rain (2001)
Press to Play starts a period of Paul’s career that feels like he was searching for inspiration, aware of the absence of a songwriting partner and foil on a par with John Lennon, likely triggered by John’s shocking death and the slagging of Broad Street. He never lost his amazing gifts for melody, production, singing, arranging, and playing, there are a few fabulous songs on all of these records. But there are big chunks of all of them that sound like he was going through the motions without any particular direction, a noticeable departure from what had come before. His long-time fans were mostly onboard, of course, but the records weren’t attracting much in the way of new, younger, listeners. His world tours remained immensely successful, as always, and he was releasing live albums at almost the same clip as studio music.
Press to Play found Paul working with Hugh Padgham, producer of some smash modern-sounding rock albums by Peter Gabriel, latter-day Genesis, and the Police. On Flowers in the Dirt, he called up Elvis Costello to fill the Lennon co-writer seat (they didn’t get along, most of EC’s contributions were cut from the final release). He ditched fussy studio production altogether on Off the Ground, cutting it live in the studio with his touring band, and tried a collaboration with ELO’s leader, and producer-to-the-Wilburys, Jeff Lynne on Flaming Pie. For Driving Rain, he ditched his former batch of musicians, hired new ones, and cut the album in under two weeks, still looking for a way to shake things up.
To be fair, these five albums would be a damned impressive resumé for almost any other musician or band. There are pure McCartney delights to be found on all of them. “My Brave Face,” “Put It There,” “Hope of Deliverance,” “Mistress and Maid,” “Somedays,” the McCartney/Steve Miller collab “Used to Be Bad,” and “Magic” would be fine additions to any personal McCartney playlist. There’s certainly nothing on them would make you want to turn the record off. But for Beatle/Wings-level expectations, they tend to sound like McCartney didn’t seem to have anything in particular to say to his fans anymore. His core audience had aged and were distracted by their unfolding lives of kids and jobs. Punk, new wave, and disco had changed pop music's commercial landscape in profound ways. Some of these records sold better than others, fans accepted the inclusion of the new songs in his live shows well enough (as long as he didn’t throw in too many), and reviews were generally favorable but not ecstatic. And that last sentence highlights the problem - Paul wanted, and had come to expect, more. Next time out he would collaborate with someone willing to take off the kid gloves and finally give him the creative kick in the arse he needed.
*****Chaos and Creation in the Backyard (2005) – The story goes that it was George Martin who hooked Paul up with producer Nigel Godrich. Godrich was the world’s hottest alternative rock sound-shaper at the time, having produced Radiohead’s OK Computer and Kid A, Beck’s Sea Change, and R.E.M.’s Up, among many others. Godrich was hesitant to take the job because he thought an artist of McCartney’s stature wouldn’t allow him to sufficiently control the album’s sound and direction. His style was pushy and blunt, much like Paul’s. They got a couple of songs finished and decided that, despite the head-butting (Godrich told McCartney he wouldn’t record any new songs he didn’t like. Cheeky thing to say to a Beatle, no?), they wanted to complete a whole album.
What they ended up with is easily my favorite post-Wings record. The upbeat tracks, like the opener “Fine Line” sound fresh and vital. Sir Paul will always write love ballads, but instead of cute and sentimental the ones here are intimate, clear-eyed, and romantic, showing an emotional vulnerability he had rarely, if ever, displayed previously. Like McCartney and McCartney II, Paul plays almost every instrument on the album, save the horn and string overdubs. The sound of the record has some trademark Godrich indie-rock touches; a bit of tape looping here, some synth washes or distorted guitar there, but the overall effect is warm and reflective, and effectively highlights Paul’s prodigious gift for writing memorable melodies. The pair knew at the end they wouldn’t become ongoing creative partners, they were too much alike to mesh easily, but the album they left behind is a stunner. It reached the top ten of the album charts in both the U.K. and the U.S. and generated five Grammy nominations (none of which it won).
• Memory Almost Full (2007) – The chronology gets shuffled a bit here. Paul was already working on this one when he took a break to make Chaos and Creation with Nigel Godrich. Memory has the unsentimental reflective lyrical focus that carried over to Chaos, and another fine batch of relaxed, unforced melodies. Less fussy and moody than Chaos, Paul was working with long-time producer David Kahne, who mostly got out of his way. Nothing groundbreaking here, just another perfectly fine latter-day McCartney record. A marketing partnership with Starbucks put the album in front of, and in the ears of, millions of Starbucks customers, helping the album to reach gold-level sales without a hit single.
• New (2013) – After a six-year break, Sir Paul returned by working with four of his favorite producers, including Giles Martin, son of the Beatles’ legendary producer George. He also continued his exploration of new marketing opportunities, releasing tracks exclusively through iTunes and Amazon. But sales dropped significantly, New didn’t become a gold record in either the U.K. or U.S. It’s the most modern-sounding pop record since McCartney II, all sleek propulsion, echo, and shiny surfaces. Paul brought a mostly strong set of new songs to this somewhat disjointed record, but the first evidence of his narrowing vocal range (he was 71 when the album was released) is evident. “Early Days” is an decent acoustic ballad about the very young Beatles, the only song that looks back instead of forward.
• Egypt Station (2018) – Another long break between albums, Paul put a lot of time and effort into this one, including providing the cover painting. Sales-wise, it was worth the effort, Egypt Station was his first U.S. #1 album since Tug of War, 36 years prior. It’s an ambitious, conceptual album, with producer Greg Kurstin (Adele, Taylor Swift, Foo Fighters, a zillion others) providing modern, but still warm-sounding, production. Paul’s 76 here, and his singing reflects his age. The first cracks in his vocal armor that appeared on New are even more evident on Egypt, his voice gets a lot of support from the production. Like New, the lyrics on Egypt are more reflective and a tad darker than what you typically think of when you’re contemplating his career. Both New and Egypt Station remind me of the five albums mentioned earlier (Press to Play through Driving Rain), but with the artist feeling more confident and focused. It's a lack of the musical surprises and emotional honesty of Chaos and Creation in the Backyard and Memory Almost Full that makes them sound like a slight step down to my ears.
• McCartney III (2020) – McCartney III is Paul’s 2020 pandemic lockdown album, made entirely solo at home. It was an impressive worldwide hit, reaching #2 on the Billboard chart, #1 on the U.S. Rock Albums chart, and became his first #1 U.K. album since 1989’s Flowers in the Dirt. It’s not a “pandemic” record, McCartney isn’t writing lyrics about the state of the world, it’s far more nostalgic than that. I truly love about half of it, the other half leaves me scratching my head at times. The mostly vocal-less opener “Long Tailed Winter Bird” is an impressive bright flash of McCartney’s songwriting genius, effortlessly catchy and somewhat odd at the same time (there’s a fine reprise of the song at the end of the album with lyrics and a very pretty melody added). The more traditional pop efforts of “Find My Way” and “Seize the Day” are excellent, and the lovely ballads like the nostalgic “Pretty Boys” and “Women and Wives” finally pull off the latter-day Dylan trick of being written for a more limited vocal range. Far more effective than trying to cover up the change with production trickery. What keeps me from rating this album near the top of his discography are a couple of songs, the annoying “Lavatory Lil” and the dirge-like “Deep Deep Feeling,” that I don’t care to ever hear again. And “Deep Deep Feeling” goes on for more than eight minutes, too much of a melody-less thing. I was also put off some by the marketing of McCartney III, specifically the decision to release the vinyl version in an uncountable number of “limited edition” color variations, which led completist fans and collectors to buy multiple copies of the same album, a somewhat crass exploitation of the current vinyl boom. Nevertheless, the parts of the record I like, I like a whole lot.
Sir Paul is still in working mode, showing no signs of retirement or resting on his laurels. He recently said simply that making music “is what I do,” and has no plans to stop. Touring, now that he’s 79, is another matter. Nothing is planned at this writing, and with the pandemic, combined with his advanced age, it seems unlikely that he will ever launch another of the full-scale tours we’ve seen in the past. But you never know, maybe the vegetarian lifestyle he discovered in 1975 will keep his batteries charged for many years to come. (UPDATE: Since I posted this, Sir Paul has announced a tour for 2022.)
A final note: I finally had a chance to attend one of Sir Paul’s live spectacles in 2016, at a large festival (Desert Trip) that drew fans from all over the world. Of course, he had a setlist other artists can only dream of. Sure, it was a 3-hour marathon with a state-of-the-art light show and impeccable sound, and Paul is nothing if not a world-class, charismatic performer. But what struck me hardest was the non-stop overwhelming love and adulation a crowd of people still showers on a Beatle, especially when he plays songs written with his former partner, John. It was emotional, to say the least, and a profound demonstration of their, and Paul’s, enduring impact across the globe. I’ve never seen anything else quite like it.
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