I pulled this album out for a listen for the first time in a long time tonight. I honestly think this may be Paul’s best solo album. If not his best it ranks right up near the top for me. Just about every song on it is good, and there is not much filler like you find on many of his albums. Any other fans of this one?
I find it a bit mixed. "The World Tonight" is a very cool song, the title track is cute, and everything on it is at least pleasant, but a lot of it just doesn't move me or even stick in my mind. Now I think Flowers in the Dirt, from roughly the same period, is a fantastically good album.
I like "Flowers", but overall like "Pie" better. I just listened to "Flowers" the other night as well.Originally Posted by Mister Triscuits
I really like "The Songs We Were Singing".
Interviewer of reprobate ne'er-do-well musicians of the long-haired rock n' roll persuasion at: www.velvetthunder.co.uk and former scribe at Classic Rock Society. Only vaguely aware of anything other than music.
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I'll take Flowers over Pie. Don't get me wrong, Pie is a very good record but FitD is a bit better, imho. However I think Chaos and Creation in the Back Yard is better than both and is my favorite solo Paul album.
Bill
She'll be standing on the bar soon
With a fish head and a harpoon
and a fake beard plastered on her brow.
After the largely dull 'Off The Ground', this is such a turnaround and a 'return to form' if ever there was one. The songs come first and are kept fairly small-scale, rather than the big budget slick production and the self-consciously 'anthemic' quality that marred a lot of 'Off The Ground'. 'Beautiful Night', 'Calico Skies' and 'Little Willow' are my favourites on here. Certainly the latter two are kept very sparse, whilst the first is shot through with typical McCartney melodic greatness and would have stood up on any album he did in the past.
I do, however, think he made better albums after this. There are too many mid-tempo chuggers on here, the three songs with Steve Miller all sound much the same. It's a problem typical of the CD age of albums being too long. Nevertheless I think it was important in his career and he started to be taken more seriously again. I was young when this came out so didn't hear it until *years* later, but I still remember there being a bit of a buzz around this album in the wake of the 'Beatles Anthology' (which he acknowledges in the sleevenotes).
RE; 'Flowers In The Dirt'. I remember absolutely loving the very Beatle-esque 'My Brave Face' from the first listen, 'Distractions' and 'Figure Of Eight' I was also quite fond of...the rest took a while longer to grow on me because of the production. But eventually I did come to see this as being as good as 'Flaming Pie'. I'd rather it had ended with 'That Day Is Done', though...the last three songs have dated badly IMHO.
Chaos was a nice return to form wasn't it?
I think I had Flaming Pie. I don't remember now if it was that one or some other Paul solo album. When Chaos and Creation was released all I read were gushing, positive reviews so I got that one and another Paul solo album. I'm almost sure it was Flaming Pie. To be honest I didn't really like either. I tried to, and I wanted to like them but I threw in the towel after listening to them for a couple months. I traded them away. I don't remember any songs but I do remember thinking it sounded a little too "adult contemporary." Those albums just didn't do anything for me. For whatever reason, Beatles solo records never interested me. Besides some of the early McCartney hits from the early 70s, and a couple of early Lennon hits I never cared to explore the solo output.
I actually like Off The Ground more!And I like Memory Almost Full. I'm a contrarian.
For my money, the only solo Beatles albums I own or am likely ever to own are:
McCartney - Band on the Run (not solo, I know)
Harrison - All Things Must Pass and Living In the Material World
Lennon - probably one of Imagine, Walls and Bridges or Mind Games.
I haven't heard Flaming Pie. I have heard a number of McCartney solo albums, and mostly I find that each contains a number of songs i quite like but don't feel I must have, plus a number that are rather lame. "New" is no exception. For some obscure reason he put most of the really interesting tracks on that album right towards the end.
Of the albums he's done since 'Flowers...', only two are weaker IMHO- 'Off The Ground' and 'Driving Rain'. Both have their moments but are somewhat overcooked. On 'Off The Ground' it's the singles which are particularly weak, I think, either overdoing the whimsy ('Biker Like An Icon') or going for a big 'message' ('Hope Of Deliverance', 'Looking For Changes', 'C'Mon People'). I reckon of all his albums, that's the album I've played least. But I remember really liking 'The Lovers That Never Were' on that.
As for 'Memory...', I agree, that's a great record and the first one I got not long after its release. I don't much care for the mastering of that or 'Chaos' though...too loud. But those two have such strong material, and a much more mature feel ('Dance Tonight' aside!).
Never liked this one. He sounds very work-out and sad (understandably, as his wife had passed away). I prefer Run Devil Run and the couple that came after. Really liked his third Fireman album, too.
For that which is not,
there is no coming into being
and for that which is,
there is no ceasing to be;
yea of both of these the lookers into truth have seen an end.
Bhagavad Gita
Agreed. Despite some excellent material, I find it difficult to listen to those albums because they are so severely brickwalled. Really harsh and fatiguing to listen to. I haven't heard New yet...is it the same?
I'm glad I don't have to deal with all of the digital harshness. I have vinyl for all of them so this isn't an issue for me.
Bill
She'll be standing on the bar soon
With a fish head and a harpoon
and a fake beard plastered on her brow.
Just because you have them on vinyl is no guarantee a different master was used, though it's possible, especially for the older albums...
The harshness is nothing to do with the digital format, it has to do with the master tape being compressed all to hell. On vinyl you get that plus clicks and pops (a/k/a "warmth").
I think Linda was still alive at this time, she briefly appears in the video for 'Beautiful Night', but was certainly ill.
'Heaven On A Sunday' is an underrated gem on here, a gorgeous laid-back vibe on that one.
You're right, she died about a year later.
Obviously, you are not a vinyl fan. But you can't master vinyl like you do compact discs. Maybe the problem is in the original master tape but I have had cd copies of Flaming Pie, Memory Almost Full and New along with the vinyl. In my opinion, the vinyl sounds better. Clean, well cared for vinyl should have relatively few pops and clicks. Pops and clicks don't equal warmth. They equal pops and clicks.
Bill
She'll be standing on the bar soon
With a fish head and a harpoon
and a fake beard plastered on her brow.
I think "New" sounds great although I am not an expert audiophile by any means. My favourite McCartney solo album bar none. Made my 2013 'best of' list on SoT.
Regards,
Jon
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