At the mercy of a busy day... who can bear to turn their head away...

[jimmyether]

The new Paul McCartney is looming large in our household this weekend. Let me just give you this run-down. It arrived at my doorstop on Friday from Amazon. I immediately put it on. By the end of the album I said to myself "Best thing he's done since Venus and Mars.". I listened again with slight skepticism, but then said to myself "Best thing he's

Comments

[jervo]

Anyway, back to Macca. I have to ask myself, "if this were some unknown artist, would I feel the same about this record?". It's hard to say. But I do think a lot of people need to take a serious look at this record and ask the reverse question... "if you heard this and didn't realize it was Paul, would you approach it with the same critical slant?"

I think it's safe to say that there's a lot of music on the record that you wouldn't even recognize as being Paul McCartney - especially some of the legnthy instrumental sections (especially in "How Kind Of You" and the hidden track after "Anyway" - and "Anyway" is such a killer song). For my money, the only real clunker is "English Tea", mostly because it's unnecessary - unless, of course, every McCartney record needs one cheeseball song, in which case it fits, and he is sorta making fun of himself

[jimmyether]

Tug of War is a decent album, but FAR from his best post-Beatles efforts. In fact, I would put it near the bottom. You must check out Ram, Venus and Mars, Band on the Run, Red Rose Speedway, McCartney, Back to the Egg, Wild Life, and McCartney II. In that order. :)

I actually love "English Tea", but I'm a sucker for those kind of light English piano tunes. It has an almost "Penny Lane"/"When I'm Sixty-Four" vibe to me. It's a "forget your troubles" kind of song. I think it works well on the album to give a break from the heavier mood of the other songs.

I think if you listen to a lot of his older catalog, you'll hear a lot of the same elements of songs like "How Kind...". And the bonus track is VERY reminiscent of McCartney I. I mean, there is certainly some Godrich influence on the approach, but Paul was doing that kind of slightly experimental stuff before Nigel was born. He was the king of tape loops before anyone knew what they were.

Mercy kills me the most though.

[pierrotlefou]

Tom Dowd and the Language of Music! That's the name of that wonderful film. Thank you! I'd completely forgotten. I caught it on Sundance last year but then this year when I wanted to recall the name of it, I consistently drew a blank.

Sweet!

[jimmyether]

You should get/rent the DVD. There a literal TON of bonus interviews that are in many ways more interesting than a lot of the stuff they used in the film. Especially Les Paul's bits.

That movie also gave me a lot more respect for Phil Ramone... not to mention all the southern rockers (though I still refuse to listen to Lynard Skynard). No joy on Eric Clapton though. Still hate him.

[pierrotlefou]

No joy on Eric Clapton though. Still hate him.

You and me both.