|
Post by Kapitan on Oct 8, 2021 14:20:06 GMT
Another listen, which makes for I think four this week. My negativity has softened a little, but just a little. It's still my least favorite McCartney album to date, edging out none other than McCartney (I, that is).
But my annoyance with what I hear as its faults is tempered somewhat by my admission of what I hear as its strengths. I haven't got any major problems with "Coming Up," "On The Way," "Waterfalls," "Nobody Knows," "Summer's Day Song," or "One of These Days." They're all either cool songs, or cool performances of acceptable songs. Classics? Eh, not to me: not a-one of 'em. (Of course, to be one of McCartney's classics is asking a lot.) Still, that's a good EP right there.
"Bogey Music" and "Temporary Secretary" are a solid level lower in my estimation. (The latter actually is somewhat fun or funny in its way, but I can't imagine wanting to listen to it very often, which for me relegates a song into novelty territory.)
Then the instrumentals and "Darkroom" bring up the rear, with "Darkroom" being far and away my least favorite thing on the album. The instrumentals are just irrelevant to me. I can imagine wanting to create them; I cannot imagine wanting to listen to them much, and certainly not paying to do so. They're not interesting enough to warrant a lot of attention, yet they're too annoying to be background music.
This all leaves me waffling between a 3 and a 4. (The "EP" I outlined would probably get a 6, maybe even a high 6, from me.)
|
|
|
Post by kds on Oct 8, 2021 14:29:15 GMT
Four listens. You're braver than me.
|
|
|
Post by Kapitan on Oct 8, 2021 15:25:53 GMT
Four listens. You're braver than me. I really do want to be fair about it (not as if the album needs my endorsement or anything, either). Like little kids tasting foods, it's not fair to really judge it on one bite. And especially just knowing that there are people who find this really, really good, that makes me want to figure it out.
That said, I'm not going to keep listening to things I don't like indefinitely just because somebody else does. But especially when there are people whose tastes I respect thinking there's something there, I want to try to give the benefit of the doubt where I can. So four listens is, what, two and a half hours or something in my week (while I'm working, etc.)? It didn't kill me.
But I'm certainly not promising the same approach to everything!
|
|
|
Post by kds on Oct 8, 2021 15:31:40 GMT
Four listens. You're braver than me. I really do want to be fair about it (not as if the album needs my endorsement or anything, either). Like little kids tasting foods, it's not fair to really judge it on one bite. And especially just knowing that there are people who find this really, really good, that makes me want to figure it out.
That said, I'm not going to keep listening to things I don't like indefinitely just because somebody else does. But especially when there are people whose tastes I respect thinking there's something there, I want to try to give the benefit of the doubt where I can. So four listens is, what, two and a half hours or something in my week (while I'm working, etc.)? It didn't kill me.
But I'm certainly not promising the same approach to everything!
I can only guess that people who find it good do so because it's so different from what one would expect from Paul. Sometimes I do that with albums I just don't like, waiting for some sort of a-ha moment. The lone studio album from Queen + Paul Rodgers comes to mind. I'd listened to the album a few times way back in my Beatles / solo Beatles exploratory days, so I figured those listens, and my recent listen, were enough to go by. Or else, I probably would've played it for a second time, or maybe even a third.
|
|
|
Post by Kapitan on Oct 8, 2021 15:38:39 GMT
I definitely wasn't trying to say you or anyone else ought to listen more, etc. But it sounds like you had a much better handle on it than I did. My experience with it (other than "Coming Up") was minimal. Not none, but very minimal.
Now I feel like if somebody wanted me to explain my opinion beyond "I just don't much like it," I could explain why. So that's good enough for me.
|
|
|
Post by kds on Oct 8, 2021 15:49:32 GMT
I definitely wasn't trying to say you or anyone else ought to listen more, etc. But it sounds like you had a much better handle on it than I did. My experience with it (other than "Coming Up") was minimal. Not none, but very minimal.
Now I feel like if somebody wanted me to explain my opinion beyond "I just don't much like it," I could explain why. So that's good enough for me.
I didn't take it that way. My biggest memory of McCartney II goes back to my old friend who I've mentioned before who is a huge McCartney fanatic. Every time Paul released an album, it was a "masterpiece." When we were finishing high school, he was collecting Paul's full catalog on CD (you actually had to leave the house to do this back then), and he played him McCartney II. Even he laughed at how awful it was.
|
|
|
Post by Sheriff John Stone on Oct 8, 2021 16:04:18 GMT
I think there's 6 good to very good songs on McCartney II:
1. Coming Up 2. One Of These Days 3. Nobody Knows 4. Waterfalls 5. Summer's Day Song 6. Temporary Secretary (yes, I like that song very much; it's become somewhat of a cult favorite)
- I like Frozen Jap, too.
|
|
|
Post by Kapitan on Oct 8, 2021 17:05:03 GMT
I think there's 6 good to very good songs on McCartney II:
1. Coming Up 2. One Of These Days 3. Nobody Knows 4. Waterfalls 5. Summer's Day Song 6. Temporary Secretary (yes, I like that song very much; it's become somewhat of a cult favorite) It's funny that we agree on the best songs--even the number of good songs--almost exactly but are several points apart on our ratings. Must just come down to how good we each think those songs are. (I'd think more like "decent to good," while you have "good to very good.")
|
|
|
Post by Sheriff John Stone on Oct 8, 2021 19:49:49 GMT
I think there's 6 good to very good songs on McCartney II:
1. Coming Up 2. One Of These Days 3. Nobody Knows 4. Waterfalls 5. Summer's Day Song 6. Temporary Secretary (yes, I like that song very much; it's become somewhat of a cult favorite) It's funny that we agree on the best songs--even the number of good songs--almost exactly but are several points apart on our ratings. Must just come down to how good we each think those songs are. (I'd think more like "decent to good," while you have "good to very good.") I'll admit that sentimentality played a part in my grading. The McCartney II album came along at a very important part in my life and it definitely takes me back. So, it's very possible my grades are inflated a bit, but like some of you, I revisited the album after a long period, and I liked it! And, there are two 9s and another 7, so...
|
|
|
Post by Kapitan on Oct 8, 2021 20:02:06 GMT
Oh, for sure I know you're probably closer to the majority opinion. Like I was saying in some earlier posts, I don't think I could say it's objectively bad just because I don't like it, because I realize a lot of people really seem to like it.
It just struck me as funny how similar our impressions were, song-wise, but just on a different level of quality, I suppose.
|
|
|
Post by Kapitan on Oct 9, 2021 11:34:30 GMT
Last day to vote on McCartney II. Please do so, if you're inclined. And join in the discussion to let us know how you got to your rating, what you think about it.
(Speaking of, I settled on a 4. Just barely, but 4.)
Tomorrow we proceed.
|
|
|
Post by Kapitan on Oct 10, 2021 12:37:16 GMT
Eight voters have rated Paul McCartney's McCartney II an average score of 6.3. Thanks for participating.
I will update the first post with the rating, and soon we will continue with our next album.
|
|
|
Post by Kapitan on Oct 10, 2021 12:38:43 GMT
John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Double Fantasy (1980)After a five-year retirement spent focused on his family, John Lennon and Yoko Ono decided to record and release their first new joint album since Some Time In New York City (1972), and the first either of them had released since the mid-70s. John has referenced a pair of mid-year experiences as helping nudge him back into public musical life: hearing his ex-bandmate Paul McCartney’s single “Coming Up” (he preferred the studio version); and a sailing experience down the East Coast in which he ended up taking the wheel for spells while others were seasick or exhausted, which became something of an existential experience. The duo worked out demos first, and then chose Jack Douglas as a co-producer. Aerosmith, Cheap Trick, Patti Smith, and Alice Cooper had been among artists Douglas had recently produced. Lennon and Ono deferred to Douglas the selection of musicians—Lennon wanted to work with new people—and they began sessions in top secret in August 1980 in New York City. Interestingly, the musicians selected included drummer Andy Newmark, who had played with George Harrison on several albums in the ‘70s, and High McCracken, who had played with Paul McCartney in the early ‘70s. Also a part of the sessions were guitarist Earl Slick [David Bowie], bassist Tony Levin [Peter Gabriel, soon to be King Crimson], and Rick Nielson and Bun E. Carlos of Cheap Trick, though the lattermost’s contributions did not make the final album. They recorded well over an album’s worth of songs, and only after they decided they were satisfied with results did they make their plans public and begin speaking with executives about a record label. Eventually they signed with David Geffen’s new eponymous label, reportedly because he prioritized speaking to Ono first. “(Just Like) Starting Over,” released in October 1980, was Lennon’s first single in five years. It was a modest (by Lennon/Beatle standards) hit, reaching #8 in the UK and #6 in the US before beginning its decline. The album comprises 14 songs, seven apiece from Lennon and Ono. They basically alternate between writers/singers, except Lennon songs both close Side One and open Side Two, leaving two consecutive Ono songs to close the album. It has been described as a conversation between the two. Double Fantasy was released in mid-November 1980 to generally poor initial reviews. As had been the case with Paul and Linda McCartney, Lennon and Ono’s apparently happy marriage was the object of much of that criticism. In the UK, the album peaked at #14 before slipping into the 40s; in the US, it peaked at #11. Of course, Lennon was murdered on December 8, 1980—about three weeks after the album’s release. Several planned high-profile, negative reviews were withdrawn from publication (including Rolling Stone, The New York Times, and The Village Voice). The single “(Just Like) Starting Over” shot back up the charts, including to #1 in the US, UK, and several other countries. And the album topped the charts in the US and UK. Double Fantasy was awarded a 1981 Grammy for Album of the Year. Please listen to, discuss, and rate Double Fantasy, by John Lennon and Yoko Ono. www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mXLRgH1-fvjAuskyqzh33iL8vqDjK2XBg
|
|
|
Post by Kapitan on Oct 10, 2021 14:51:42 GMT
A few things I wanted to say off the bat, things that aren't really so much into the music specifically.
As I said in the shoutbox, it was really nice hearing John's voice! These "five years" spanned 11 albums by other ex-Beatles, meaning for us probably six or eight weeks? (Assuming we cut Ringo's short, and otherwise a week per album.) It has been like a macroalbum with the worst sequencing ever, another Paul song, another Paul song, another George song, a few Ringo songs, when the hell is the next John song!? Yes, of course I have been free to listen to anything I wanted throughout these weeks, but the truth is, these threads take a decent portion of my music listening. So whatever little listening I do, it feels odd to go back to Imagine or something.
The critical reaction to this album seems to have a theme Paul and Linda McCartney would have recognized: music critics really dislike their favorite rock stars singing about domestic bliss. It would be one thing if the times this criticism were leveled was for the worst of their albums, but that isn't the case at all. I wonder what that is about.
|
|
|
Post by Kapitan on Oct 10, 2021 15:01:00 GMT
I’ll post a handful of contemporaneous interviews as I get through them. (I know I’ve listened to some before, too.)
Here is one with Lisa Robinson from about two months before the album was released. John speaks a lot about his time off. The album wasn’t even quite finished yet, much less released, so they do not get into it, though they do talk about his experience getting back into writing and recording music. It concludes with an interesting bit of speculation about his reputation at the time versus what it might have been had he died in 1975 (rather than just retired).
|
|