ram
well, until a few months ago i hadn't heard an album that was up there with Pet Sounds for me in terms of quality and emotional value. However, I've been listening to Ram by Paul McCartney for the past few months and I have to say it's gotten to be right up there with Pet Sounds for me. Of course, no album will ever be as good as pet sounds (and SMiLE goes in another category), but Ram is just amazing. I intend on having Ram be an album which is my album that is meaningful to me alone (whereas pet sounds always meant something to me in relation to others). So, this isn't going to be one that I push on people or discuss with other people I guess. It's not that I allow music to be ruined, but i think i'd just like to have music where I have memories of just litening to it rather than thinking about other things when listening to it. It should be general, not specific (this probably makes no sense, ack).
Anyway, the whole album flows beautifully and the songs build up like a story. McCartney gets criticized as a lyricist, but he's written some pretty good lyrics (which is demonstrated on this album). He makes nice use of link tracks and i suppose he was inspired by brian wilson through the album, but he certainly put his own spin on things. I liked "McCartney" and the analog sound he had on it, but Ram was like a punk album in a way. He did what he wanted to do on it, recorded it in only a few weeks because he knew where he was going with it. "Dear Boy" is just brilliant, as is "Uncle Albert" despite how it may get knocked, it's an amazing orchestral piece and it fits perfectly on the album. Of course "Too many people" is great, because it was about hypocrites (it was a stab at lennon) and of course, lennon did that postcard of himself holding a pig as a retort. Then of course "Heart of the Country" and "Eat at Home"/"Long haired lady" are great (the latter remind me of something from van dyke parks). Then there's last track "Back seat of my car" is like a (to quote george martin) "Orchestral climax". I'd mention each track on the album but they're all wonderful. The "rockin'" songs on it just rock as well. It's an album where each time I listen to it i hear something new and that's the way an album should be. You can listen to it in the dark and the fact that it's played through analog actually doesn't take away from it, because it's that good. I can't talk about any of the Beatles albums like this beacuse there are tracks that just don't belong on them and so they don't make for complete albums. Eg- Sgt. Pepper has "Lucy in the Sky w/ Diamonds" and "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite" and another track which I like them all, but they just don't belong on it if it's going to be an album. Same goes for Revolver, Abbey Road (Octopus's Garden, Something, She's so Heavy *that didn't need to be that long*). So yes, I guess i'm a "Macca snob" just like I'm a Brian wilson snob. I may go on and say that I can listen to macca because he has musical depth where as the rest of the beatles music sounds like beatles music and so it bored me. Alot of people don't take mccartney seriously, but george martin took him seriously and his opinion has always been held in high regard by me. On the other hand, Ringo criticized Ram.. his opinion has never really mattered much (period).
Anyway, the whole album flows beautifully and the songs build up like a story. McCartney gets criticized as a lyricist, but he's written some pretty good lyrics (which is demonstrated on this album). He makes nice use of link tracks and i suppose he was inspired by brian wilson through the album, but he certainly put his own spin on things. I liked "McCartney" and the analog sound he had on it, but Ram was like a punk album in a way. He did what he wanted to do on it, recorded it in only a few weeks because he knew where he was going with it. "Dear Boy" is just brilliant, as is "Uncle Albert" despite how it may get knocked, it's an amazing orchestral piece and it fits perfectly on the album. Of course "Too many people" is great, because it was about hypocrites (it was a stab at lennon) and of course, lennon did that postcard of himself holding a pig as a retort. Then of course "Heart of the Country" and "Eat at Home"/"Long haired lady" are great (the latter remind me of something from van dyke parks). Then there's last track "Back seat of my car" is like a (to quote george martin) "Orchestral climax". I'd mention each track on the album but they're all wonderful. The "rockin'" songs on it just rock as well. It's an album where each time I listen to it i hear something new and that's the way an album should be. You can listen to it in the dark and the fact that it's played through analog actually doesn't take away from it, because it's that good. I can't talk about any of the Beatles albums like this beacuse there are tracks that just don't belong on them and so they don't make for complete albums. Eg- Sgt. Pepper has "Lucy in the Sky w/ Diamonds" and "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite" and another track which I like them all, but they just don't belong on it if it's going to be an album. Same goes for Revolver, Abbey Road (Octopus's Garden, Something, She's so Heavy *that didn't need to be that long*). So yes, I guess i'm a "Macca snob" just like I'm a Brian wilson snob. I may go on and say that I can listen to macca because he has musical depth where as the rest of the beatles music sounds like beatles music and so it bored me. Alot of people don't take mccartney seriously, but george martin took him seriously and his opinion has always been held in high regard by me. On the other hand, Ringo criticized Ram.. his opinion has never really mattered much (period).