Sept. 13th, 2005
Inevitable Beatle Blog

   As regular visitors to my message board know, I like to exchange comments with others about pop music. Hey, what else are we supposed to do? Exchange recipes (although I got an awesome recipe for meatballs from my mom)? I ran dry this week on comic book topics, so I thought I'd write about music. This is what is affectionately known as "filler"...

   Since childhood, like millions of others, I've been enamored with the music of the Beatles. I've heard all the albums countless times. Later, like a lot of Beatle fans, I began exploring new territory through the solo albums.

   In my angry young teens, I played John Lennon's Plastic Ono Band, Imagine, and Mind Games lots and lots (I have a special affection for the groove of "Meat City" from Mind Games). Some of the heavy-handed Lennon songs like "John Sinclair" never did much for me, but I understand the reason for John devoting himself to the cause of the day, sometimes at the expense of his popularity at the time.

   Someone who I think has been shortchanged over the years in terms of critical acclaim, is Paul McCartney. Over the decades, the shadow of Lennon has loomed large over Paul. Since his horrid assassination, John has achieved secular saint status while Paul still had to compete with his old material. McCartney may have made the history books as one of the best-selling songwriters, but he's mostly remembered for syrup-py ditties that topped the charts. Looking back, I conjecture that it was a very canny move, making silly love songs to insure he and his post-Beatle band, Wings, stayed at the top of the charts, while he could explore his more 'rocker' songs mostly for album cuts. Traditionally, ballads sell more than heavy metal, and even 80's metal bands like Motley Crue and Cinderella figured that including love songs = more sales!

   Another thing McCartney is to be admired for is taking the ballsy route the Beatles had, releasing singles that were not part of the latest albums, such gems as "Another Day", "Hi Hi Hi", the kickass "Junior's Farm" and penning "Live and Let Die" for the James Bond franchise. McCartney also didn't shy away from political subjects, such as the BBC-banned "Give Ireland Back to The Irish".

   McCartney also reinvented his musical stylings for both personal and legal reasons. It's a miracle any of the ex-Beatles would continue to write great music, considering that there were so many Beatle factions suing each other (inspiring the George Harrison song, "Sue Me, Sue You Blues"). Paul's wife, Linda McCartney's involvement in Paul's music was also a mix of personal and legal. In '67, after Beatles manager Brian Epstien died, the band signed a TEN YEAR CONTRACT, never envisioning the nightmare of having to share the profits from their solo albums equally amongst each other. Paul trained Linda to the best of her ability, so that Paul's songs, with Linda credited as co-author would keep more of the profits in the family. This created even MORE legal headaches, but the McCartneys soldiered on...

   Paul felt he needed other musicians for collaborative feedback, so Wings was formed. Wings was basically Paul and former Moody Blues member Denny Lane, with Paul's wife Linda occasionally adding the occasional percussion or keyboard support.

   The lead guitarists and drummers changed constantly, but that kept Wings, particularly Paul fresh. As you can tell from the majority of his post-Wings work, he seems to have run out of steam, IMHO, although I admire his tenacity to continue to release new music. When I mention to someone that I really enjoy Wings, it stops the conversation like a needle scratching a record to a halt (unintentionally, unlike rap artists who do it for effect).

   I'll get into the solo work of George, Ringo and further exploration of John's at another date. This is Paul's week. That stated, here's me as amateur music reviewer:


   McCartney - Like Lennon's Plastic Ono Band, it was Paul finding his way of shedding the Beatles image. Where John's found release with his primal scream therapy, Paul coped by retreating to the countryside with Linda and their kids. There's a bittersweet solitude in the resulting recording.

   Ram - Lord, I hated this album when I first heard it, as Paul and Linda sounded stoned through the entire recording with their weird vocal experimentations (not nearly as freaky as Yoko Ono's), but with each listen, it's become one of my favorites! The hard-thumping opening track "Too Many People" started yet another feud with Lennon, who's response was Imagine's "How Do You Sleep?"

   Wild Life - First four songs are great backwoods rockin', but then slows to a crawl afterwards. Maybe Paul should've saved those singles-only songs to punch it up the second half!

   Red Rose Speedway - Horribly produced, sounding very thin and dispassionate. Only redeeming value is the blisteringly-innovative guitar solo by Henry McCullough on the otherwise maudlin "My Love". Before then, ballads didn't have loud guitar breaks, for good or ill.

   Band on The Run - The only McCartney album nearly good enough to pass as a Beatles album. Paul had several near-death experiences and other hardships in Lagos, Nigeria which apparently fired him up creatively. There's a great review I just came across on http://www.superseventies.com/mccartney5.html that almost invalildates my whole blog, but I aint startin' over again!

   Venus & Mars - The one true Wings collaborative album. Denny's 'Spirits of Anchient Egypt' blends nicely into guitarist Jimmy McCulloch's 'Medicine Jar'. The latter is a cautionary tale about drugs which is disturbingly ironic considering Jimmy drank himself to death before he was thirty years old.

   Winds at The Speed of Sound - Very mellow 1976 album in the vein of Cliff Richard and Leo Sayer. However, "Beware My Love" is a minor-chord masterpiece that builds from a haunting start to some rapid-fire fuzz guitar riffs while Paul pounds the piano so hard and fast, you'd swear keys were flying off.

   Wings over America - Typical padded 1976 Live album with tamer versions of Paul's songs, both solo and as a Beatle. The one single, the live version of "Maybe I'm Amazed" sounds grander and fuller than the original on the first solo album.

   London Town - Back to a trio, Paul, Denny and Linda wrote and recorded this album on a boat, which gives it a breezy, experimental sound. Denny's "Deliver your Children" is about a lost soul on the run from the law. The ethereal "Don't Let It Bring You Down" is hypnotic.

   Back To The Egg - McCartney's least personal favorite album, I find it quite the guilty pleasure. It's a record that was so out-of-touch with the various music scenes that were going on at the time, and I think I admire that kind of bravery. Also, it's kinda catchy.

   After Paul was jailed for over a week in Japan in 1979 (for pot possession), he cancelled his tour and broke up Wings simultaneously.He released McCartney II, his first post-Wings album in 1980, and the next year, the sappy Tug of War, followed by the even more sappy Pipes of Peace. The only album/CD I thought came close to reliving past glories was 1989's Flowers In The Dirt, which was helped by Elvis Costello and David Gilmore. On a whim, I bought the mid-90's Flaming Pie and couldnt hang in there for multiple listenings, in hopes to warming up to it. Sorry, Paul, and thanks for all the hours of great listening pleasure, but the new stuff just hasn't won me over.

   One final note: The Beatles final movie, Let It Be, could be considered the first reality show. For the uninitiated, it's a film documenting the making of the album of the same name. Although it used to play at old movie houses with other rockumentaries, it's never been released commercially on Beta, VHS, or DVD, and I doubt it ever will. I saw it several years ago, via a friend's bootleg copy, and it's quite uncomfortable to watch. It's not even uncomfortable in an interesting way. It's dreary to watch the disintegration of such a legendary band captured on camera, with every participant quite aware (and quite disdainful) of the ever-present cameras. Thankfully, after that mess, they got their collective head together to ask producer George Martin to make one last great Beatles album, like they used to. Martin's only condition was that he call the shots to make it work. And with Abbey Road, they did.
 
To be continued...
 
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