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| From | Mark Smith <markmsmith@gmail.com> |
| Subject | Re: New McCartney |
| Date | Tue, 27 Sep 2005 15:24:30 +0100 |
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Michael wrote-
"I guess my biggest beef though with the new album is,
where has his ability to write good lyrics, and write pop songs gone? On any
album between 1970 and 1980 there are at least a few good straight pop
songs, with nice grooves and good basslines... something that you could
still find on albums up to Flaming Pie. On this one, all we have is Fine
Line, which has some of the most insipid lyrics i've heard... "everything is
better when you come home to stay".. what is that?"
Go back and listen to Promise To You Girl which I think is even more of the
kind of song you are looking for than Fine Line. I do quite like this record
and it is certainly an improvement over Driving Rain which I found pretty
turgid. There are a couple of songs such as English Tea that I think play to
the old McCartney strengths but I don't necessarily think that the
production highlights them as such. Plus lyrically I think it's pretty
strong from someone who's lyrics have rarely been his best strength. I find
them more reflective than perhaps he has been in the past. There are no
bikers like icons here.
For anyone who has heard the Divine Comedy's Regeneration, Riding Into
Vanity Fair could have come straight off that record. The whole mood of it
is much like the DC album - same producer Nigel Godrich and string
arrangements by Joby Talbot who was in DC may have helped.
I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the state of McCartneys voice now. I
think it has deteriorated a lot (though of course that's just a sign of
age). He sounded pretty bad, really straining for the notes on the
appearance he did on BBC Radio 4 a couple of weeks ago and whilst this is
less obvious on the album I still think vocally he's well passed his best.
Mark
On 9/27/05, Michael Carpenter <Stagefright@msn.com.au> wrote:
>
> Josh wrote..
>
> > Having played Chaos & Creation a bunch now, I think the word I'm
> settling
> > in on is "boring." I liked it a lot at first, but its kind of sitting
> > there for me. (Although I think "Jenny Wren" is outstanding, and I've
> > heard him speak of it as a follow-up to "Blackbird," both songs
> referring
> > to a woman as a "bird.") Here's my test: put all the songs from this
> > album into a playlist on your iPod, and drop "Beware My Love" in there,
> > and hit shuffle. See what you think.
> >
> > Obviously your mileage may vary. But I was enjoying Chaos until "Beware
> > My Love" happened to come up on my iPod, and I thought to myself, if
> that
> > was on the new one, it would be the standout track by like a million
> > miles. Shortly thereafter I went through it to decide which tracks to
> > import, and song-for-song, not a lot of them made the cut.
>
> Unbelievably, just tonight almost the EXACT same thing happened. When i
> first heard the new album, i thought the first 3 songs were promising, and
> 30 minutes later felt let down, bored and disappointed. Friends told me to
> try again, and i did a few days later, and liked it a bit more after a few
> listens (and watching the DVD), but still was quite down on it... i just
> thought it was boring. So tonight while driving home i had another listen
> and started to think it was ok.
>
> Then while bathing my child tonight, i had my iTunes on on shuffle, and
> Beware My Love came on. Now, i love this song, but it was an album track
> from one of his less heralded albums of the 70's. And it was EASILY the
> best
> McCartney song i'd heard all day....
>
> I know.. i know.. BML was 30 years ago, and he was still a young man with
> something to prove. I guess my biggest beef though with the new album is,
> where has his ability to write good lyrics, and write pop songs gone? On
> any
> album between 1970 and 1980 there are at least a few good straight pop
> songs, with nice grooves and good basslines... something that you could
> still find on albums up to Flaming Pie. On this one, all we have is Fine
> Line, which has some of the most insipid lyrics i've heard... "everything
> is
> better when you come home to stay".. what is that?
>
> Maybe Linda was his muse, because the last 2 albums have just been devoid
> of
> the very things i love about Macca. I can forgive Wild Life, and Young
> Boy,
> but i may never recover from Driving Rain, and this new one may not get
> much
> more airing..
>
> Like i said, we're always hardest on the ones we love... and i will say
> that
> he will always be possibly my greatest musical hero, and he owes me
> nothing,
> as he's given me so much already.
>
> MC
> www.myspace.com/thesupahip <http://www.myspace.com/thesupahip>
>
>
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