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Post by B.E. on Sept 28, 2021 23:22:25 GMT
Anyone else get Bruce Springsteen/E Street Band vibes from the ending of "Again and Again and Again"?
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Post by Kapitan on Sept 28, 2021 23:34:52 GMT
Anyone else get Bruce Springsteen/E Street Band vibes from the ending of "Again and Again and Again"? I don't think I would've thought of it, but since you mention it ... yeah. I think specifically the way he takes the lead off the rhythm of the chorus of singers to something more like a call-and-response sort of thing (though not technically that either). There is something about the song in general that--again, just now that you mention it--I could imagine as a Springsteen album-of-the-time song.
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Post by lonelysummer on Sept 29, 2021 4:30:45 GMT
One thing that puzzles me: the album came out in the summer, but the tour for it didn't happen until November. What were they doing in the months between? Well, we know Paul was doing McCartney II. What were the other guys doing? No wonder Denny was chomping at the bit to play live. Maybe he was working on his 1980 solo album Japanese Tears? I don't know, I'm just guessing. But I know that album (released in Dec. '80) included various material recorded earlier, possibly including during that down-time?
I find it odd that Paul went directly into what would become McCartney II, well before Wings broke up. Maybe it's common knowledge among big fans, but I've never been a big enough one to look into that. Did he think he was recording a solo album? Demoing a Wings album? Just fooling around? Because presumably had he not been busted for weed in Japan, that tour would have continued, made a bajillion dollars, and at least theoretically given Wings reason to carry on. (I know his relationship with Laine was also beginning to turn, so maybe this was it regardless.)
Anyway, I look forward to learning about this. And since McCartney II is next in line, I guess I don't have to wait long.
Are you sure that Japanese Tears was released in 1980? I remember getting the single sometime that year, but it wasn't until summer of 1984 that I finally saw the album - in a Peaches store. His wife JoJo sings on it, and Steve Holly plays drums on a lot of the tracks.
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Post by Kapitan on Sept 29, 2021 11:53:08 GMT
Are you sure that Japanese Tears was released in 1980? I remember getting the single sometime that year, but it wasn't until summer of 1984 that I finally saw the album - in a Peaches store. His wife JoJo sings on it, and Steve Holly plays drums on a lot of the tracks. Not from personal experience or anything--I'd never heard of it until these posts--but based on his wiki discography and allmusic.com discography, yes, it was released in 1980. But it also seems it was released in the states on "Takoma Records," so I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't have the greatest distribution.
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Post by kds on Sept 29, 2021 12:15:44 GMT
I've landed on a seven for Back to the Egg. I was tempted to go 8, as the album is enjoyable, but as I said, I think the back end is somewhat, I don't know, it's just there. For an album with only a 41 minute run time, I find myself thinking about what I'm going to listen to next during those last three songs.
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Post by Kapitan on Sept 29, 2021 12:43:04 GMT
I've landed on a seven for Back to the Egg. I was tempted to go 8, as the album is enjoyable, but as I said, I think the back end is somewhat, I don't know, it's just there. For an album with only a 41 minute run time, I find myself thinking about what I'm going to listen to next during those last three songs. I'm almost certainly going to be a 7, too. I wanted to listen again before I decide, since we've got several days to go.
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Post by kds on Sept 29, 2021 13:15:36 GMT
I've landed on a seven for Back to the Egg. I was tempted to go 8, as the album is enjoyable, but as I said, I think the back end is somewhat, I don't know, it's just there. For an album with only a 41 minute run time, I find myself thinking about what I'm going to listen to next during those last three songs. I'm almost certainly going to be a 7, too. I wanted to listen again before I decide, since we've got several days to go. I might listen again before the week's out to see if anything sways me to raise it to an 8, but seven feels right. That's probably my average for Paul's 70s output, other than outliers like Band on the Run, which I think is incredible, and Wild Life, which I think is terrible.
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Post by Kapitan on Sept 29, 2021 13:22:39 GMT
Yeah, that is about right: these albums are mostly in that territory of 7ish. And really, that's about 2 points or so higher an average than I'd have guessed if you asked me six months ago, when I'd either barely or not heard the post-BotR stuff.
Usually I've thought about doing ex-Beatle best-ofs ... but now I'm just thinking of making my own Wings comp.
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Post by kds on Sept 29, 2021 13:35:41 GMT
To be honest, I was actually expecting to find more gems in the 70s Paul / Wings catalog. Most of those albums I either hadn't listened to in a long time, or never listened to, so I was actually expecting more from Ram, Red Rose Speedway, and Venus and Mars. They're all decent albums but, and I think I was expecting to find more albums on the same level as BOTR. Granted, they all have their highlights, but this exercise really hasn't motivated me to fill in the many holes in my Paul McCartney / Wings CD collection.
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Post by Kapitan on Sept 29, 2021 13:45:12 GMT
I think we started from opposite sides on the issue. You knew more McCartney/Wings than I did, and I wasn't only ignorant of a lot of it but not really interested or expecting much. (I'm still not sure why, considering I've had much/most of the earlier and later McCartney. I just avoided Wings.)
So for me, 7 is better than I figured for sure. But I would admit it's not as if I've discovered a dozen all-time-great songs among these albums. But instead just a bunch of solid stuff.
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Post by kds on Sept 29, 2021 14:49:24 GMT
I think we started from opposite sides on the issue. You knew more McCartney/Wings than I did, and I wasn't only ignorant of a lot of it but not really interested or expecting much. (I'm still not sure why, considering I've had much/most of the earlier and later McCartney. I just avoided Wings.)
So for me, 7 is better than I figured for sure. But I would admit it's not as if I've discovered a dozen all-time-great songs among these albums. But instead just a bunch of solid stuff.
I guess I knew more about them based on a two disc comp of mostly Wings material, and having listened to most of the albums in full back in the 1990s. And maybe I just remembered that material being so much better than what Paul's done in the last 20 years. I don't know.
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Post by lonelysummer on Sept 30, 2021 3:58:01 GMT
Are you sure that Japanese Tears was released in 1980? I remember getting the single sometime that year, but it wasn't until summer of 1984 that I finally saw the album - in a Peaches store. His wife JoJo sings on it, and Steve Holly plays drums on a lot of the tracks. Not from personal experience or anything--I'd never heard of it until these posts--but based on his wiki discography and allmusic.com discography, yes, it was released in 1980. But it also seems it was released in the states on "Takoma Records," so I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't have the greatest distribution. OK, that's the version I have. Most of his albums didn't even get released over here. He's never been a good businessman, never had good management. His current manager is his girlfriend, she's pissed off nearly everyone in his inner circle.
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Post by lonelysummer on Sept 30, 2021 4:14:45 GMT
I'm rating it an 8. I think it's a great SOUNDING album. I don't know how much of that to attribute to co-producer Chris Thomas, the engineers, or the band. Or where it was recorded. If the album has a weakness, it's the lyrics. Most of them don't seem to be ABOUT anything. "Winter Rose/Love Awake" has a nice lyric that one writer compared to the sentiment in "Let it Be". A lot of Paul's lyrics on BTTE just seem sloppy, like "say you don't love him, my salamander" - which I heard as "say you don't love him, my gal Amanda". "Radio play me a song with a point". Well what is the point? So I'm deducting at least one point for weak lyrics. For whatever reason, Denny has been demoted from the co-writer status he had on London Town. I think that was a mistake. I think Denny is generally a better lyric writer than Paul. Denny has just one song on this album, "Again and Again and Again" and I can at least understand what he's singing about. Too bad they left off a second song he wrote during these sessions, "Weep For Love" - that ended up on Japanese Tears. I love the big fat sound of the Rockestra on the two songs they're on. "So Glad to See You" is the more memorable of the two IMO, particularly for the vocals of Paul, Denny and Linda near the end. Paul seemed intent on proving he could rock hard on this album. "Old Siam Sir", "Spin it On", "To You" and "So Glad to See You Here" are among the hardest rocking tracks in the Wings catalog. "Baby's Request" finds him dipping into the well that gave us "You Gave Me the Answer", "Honey Pie", and "When I'm 64". Then there's oddball little acoustic tracks like "We're Open Tonight" - kind of a hypnotic feel about it, but then it's over before you're ready for it to be". It's a good album, but not quite at the same level as London Town and Speed of Sound; one of the best songs from these sessions, "Daytime Nighttime Suffering", was relegated to b-side status. I believe the unreleased "Cage" is also from these sessions; sometimes it's hard to understand why one song is chosen over another. Still, in context, BTTE seems pretty strong compared to a lot of what Paul would do as a solo artist in the 80's and beyond. Hope we someday get an archive edition with a bonus disc from the 1979 UK tour.
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Post by Kapitan on Oct 1, 2021 18:31:46 GMT
Strong 7 for me. And in fact, I think this album had an 8 hidden inside it, were there some editing and re-sequencing. My main gripes relate mostly to trying to follow the concept (which almost always detracts from an album more than it adds to one, in my opinion): the very existence of the not-a-song-but-not-not-a-song opener "Reception;" the even less necessary "The Broadcast;" the inclusion of "Rockestra Theme;" and the strange sequencing of the final few tracks especially. There isn't a fully fleshed-out song that I dislike on the album.
“Reception” need not exist, even though I like the groove. I’d rather it be a song, and if not, not.
“Getting Closer” is great! It reminds me of Squeeze or Elvis Costello as much as other McCartney music, without sounding like a real departure for him, either. It isn’t unnatural coming from him at all. I'd like it as the true album opener, or maybe just with some snippets of sound effects (if a person thinks it's too abrupt) fading into it.
“We’re Open Tonight” is pretty. I like it. The textures are cool, little additions throughout. The background voices are an interesting addition, though I don’t like the little woos after them. Pretty insignificant, but nice. I don’t mind it not being more than it is. It's one of the worst songs on the album, and I'd still probably put it in 5-6 territory.
“Spin it On” is great, one of my favorite Wings songs so far, for sure. I love it. It is like punk rockabilly.
“Again and Again and Again” is a strong album track. I don’t LOVE it, but I like it, especially the little break in the verses before the last line, “I love.” Nice organ sound and part, as well. Generally I like the arrangement, with the full-band hits throughout adding some flair rather than everyone just strumming away. I’d have liked to see a little more Laine on this album.
“Old Siam, Sir” was apparently one of the more collaborative compositions on the album (despite being credited to Paul alone) and it was the lead-off single from the album, but it’s second-tier for me. It’s fine, but not among my favorites from the album. I do like Paul’s screaming, though, as usual. At this point I have to note that we've had three consecutive, and four of five, rock-leaning tunes. That goes back to my sequencing comment. I'm not sure an album that does (eventually) have the sonic diversity is best served lumping together one type of songs (though to be fair, they are different types of rock songs).
“Arrow Through Me” is the perfect example of the kind of song that, 20-25 years ago, I’d have pointed to as why post-Beatles (and especially Wings) Paul McCartney sucks. I listen now—with fresh ears, by the way: I didn’t know it then—and love it. But the disco feel, the soft pop, the electric piano sounds, it would have been like an arrow through a younger me. Great arrangement, and the scratch of his voice, man … great performance.
I could do without the “Rockestra Theme,” but I don’t mind it, either. Pretty insignificant. Cool sounding though. Personally, I’d say it wasn’t worth the efforts it must have required to get everyone involved there: Paul could have overdubbed himself doing every part himself, or used Wings to do so, and I suspect it’d have been just as good.
“To You” is not a standout, but it is another good album track. It reminds me the kind of song that would have been a non-album B-side that people later praised as an unheralded minor classic. Something about it reminds me of Queen from that same era (as does “Spin it On,” for that matter).
“After the Ball / Million Miles” is a decent gospel ballad. I say decent not because of any flaws in it—it’s a fine recording of a great performance by Paul in particular. It’s just not a really great song. I’m not sold on the concertina for the “Million Miles” part, but it’s fine.
“Winter Rose / Love Awake” again has a hoarse Paul, which I’m just a sucker for in ballads in particular. The harpsichord is a really nice addition. The difference between these two (or four) ballads in a row is startling. McCartney is so versatile. Even within this song, going from the vaguely classical feeling “Winter Rose” to the more typical pop ballad “Love Awake” shows range. I really like both of these songlets. Again, though, I need to note that we've got two (but kind of four) ballads in a row. Strange sequencing, despite again having a diversity of ballads just as there was a diversity of consecutive rockers.
“The Broadcast” seems entirely unnecessary to me. If it were a closing snippet, that would be one thing. I'd accept it as a little gimmick to close us out. But as it is, meh: I'd definitely cut it entirely.
“So Glad to See You Here” is fine. It’s more a feeling than a song for me. It has the feel of an opener, which I get as part of the so-called concept of the album. But almost ending the album with a second-rate opener is a strange decision. In fact, I'd prefer ENDING the album (with a second-rate opener) in a way, like one last kick in the ass to energize the crowd. But...
“Baby’s Request” is fine, but a poor choice for closer in my opinion. And just mildly annoying as what feels like the third consecutive closer on the album.
I really enjoyed this album, as I've said already in this and previous posts. I am befuddled to some extent at the critical disdain. But I suppose critics need something to do.
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Post by Kapitan on Oct 2, 2021 10:41:52 GMT
Last day for Back to the Egg today. (I accidentally set up the poll to give an extra day, ending Monday. But it's ending tomorrow, which is the standard week.) If you have yet to chime in or vote, please do so!
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