McCartney in the Eighties

[Carl's Son]

Sorry if this has already been done recently but this is an era of McCartney I've been delving into lately and I wasn't very familiar with most of it.

Yes, there's a poll so pick a favourite but more general thoughts on this topic also encouraged!

My own thoughts to follow...

[Osgood]

Only familiar with CHOBA B CCCP and Pipes Of Peace. The choice was rather obvious.

[Carl's Son]

McCartney II

At its worst(bogey music) this album is faintly embarrassing, but much of it I really love. Coming Up is the obvious stand out but Frozen Jap and Temporary secretary are other favourites of mine. Waterfalls is often held up as a highlight but I find both slight and a bit twee.
I think some of the outtakes are better/more interesting than stuff that ended up on the actual record but overall I'm very fond of this album. Apparently Coming Up was about the last thing recorded during the McCartney II sessions which suggests to me he was really getting a handle on the synths and what he could do with them at that point. It would've been interesting to see what would've happened if he'd pushed on in this direction for one more album.

[NMB]

Tug of War, McCartney II, Pipes of Peace, Give My Regards, Press to Play in that order, so pretty much a steady decline.

I haven't heard Choba or Flowers although I did recently purchase the latter.

Tuf of War's actually a pretty strong album.

[Carl's Son]

Tug of War/Pipes of Peace

I'll group these two together, I'm not the first to have done so. I've always been a bit dubious of these couple of albums, there's an aesthetic to Macca at this point that I find it difficult to get on board with. Highly polished, slightly bland, mor production, guest stars, super session men. I think of it as his, "solo superstar," period.
There's actually a lot to love between the two albums but I took me a long time to actually listen to them properly because I'm pretty ambivalent about all the biggest songs from them. Tug of War seems to be straining to hard to be epic and significant, Take it Away is slick and bland, Pipes of Peace is a bit twee and Ebony and Ivory is treacly.
Even Here Today, clearlyva very personal song. A touching and tasteful tribute to John. But it's not something I actually want to listen to very often or something that draws me in to listen to the rest of the album. Usually when people write/talk about this song they point out,"and Paul still plays this one live to this day!" As if to show the deep significance the song has to Paul. I hate to sound cynical but I always find myself thinking, "yeah, and he plays Something for George and I'm sure if Ringo dies he'll stick in Photograph or find a nice way to introduce With a Little Help From My Friends. I'm sure the song was/is a sincerely felt tribute to John but playing it at every show feels more like giving the public what they want from, The Paul McCartney Live Experience!!"

By all accounts Paul was getting pretty tired of being in Wings by the time of his Japanese drugs bust but they continued to rehearse some new material after that and apparently George Martin also had a hand in telling Paul to stop messing about pretending to be in a band and just get session guys in to make the records sound however he wanted. Personally I'd like some more Wings harmonies and Lawrence Juber all over the record. There's a few great outtakes on the Pipes of Peace Archive edition and partly I suspect I like them because they've not been overproduced into polished, finished versions.

[Carl's Son]

If I had any say in the matter I'd scrap Tug and Pipes and take one final Wings album featuring the following:

Cage
Somebody Who Cares
The Pound is Sinking
Something That Didn't Happen
Rainclouds
I'll Give You a Ring
So Bad
Sweetest Little Show
Ode to a Koala Bear
It's Not On
Ballroom Dancing
Keep Under Cover
Wanderlust

Not nessessarily in that order...Anything else I can take or leave. Although Say Say Say/What's that You're Doing? Would make a pretty cool double A side standalone single.

[Carl's Son]

Give My Regards to Broad Street

Can't see anyone voting for this unless No More Lonely Nights is their favourite thing ever. Still not really familiar with the other new tracks and the covers seem pretty pointless. Ringo refused to play on the remakes of Beatle classics. Good for him. He also supported Brexit so it's swings and Roundabouts...

[yomptepi]

All grist to the mill that he did indeed die in 1966.

[Quaco]

Flowers in the Dirt is pretty strong. I have real affection for a lot of that stuff. Least embarrassing post-Speed of Sound album.

Tug of War has some good stuff too, though.

[toomanyhatz]

It's between Tug of War and Flowers in the Dirt. Both have some weak spots (and it'd be a better world if any memory of "Ebony and Ivory" or "Ou Est Le Soleil" were wiped off the planet), but some great ones too.

The stuff in the middle's pretty awful.

[Sneelock]

McCartney II has "Temporary Secretary" which is the best song in the history of the world!!!!

[Moleskin]

McCartney II is damn terrific. I don't much like "Waterfalls" (too long) but "One of These Days" is among my favourites, "On The Way" and "Nobody Knows" are good rockers... "Summers Day Song" is lovely, and "Coming Up" got John back in the studio. The edits serve the material well I think. None of the songs are better in the double album versions, just longer.

[Moleskin]

There is nothing that can be salvaged from Press to Play and Broad Street.

I like "No More Lonely Nights" but it should have been a standalone single.

[Moleskin]

Pipes Of Peace is disappointing compared to its sibling record. The singles are the only good bits really, the rest should have stayed on the cutting room floor.

[Moleskin]

Flowers is too long but a great relief after the previous 3 albums (and thank godd we didn't ever get Return to Pepperland). I think Paul was rejuvenated by writing with Costello, he took more care over his solo compositions for the album.

[nathan]

One of the most frustrating thing is that I think Paul really did have an 80's adult pop record in him in the vein of Private Dancer, So or No Jacket Required. Talk More Talk off of Press to Play and No More Lonely Nights is about as successfully close as he got to that style and sound. His itch to get weird or overly goopy always did him in and resulted in a lot of really dull material. Not quite adult pop nor quirky pop ditties.

But Tug of War and McCartney II stand as pretty fucking good albums. Nowhere near the highs of much of his 70's output though I do have a very soft spot for half of McCartney II and will throw down with that thing at a moment's notice.

I have only listened to Flowers in the Dirt once in my life. I have never once felt compelled to play it again. But have listened to Pipes of Peace at least a handful of times, for what it's worth. I think Press to Play is miles better than either.

And I don't blame anyone for never making it to the end of Press to Play but However Absurd just might be the finest thing he farted out in the 80's.

[nathan]

FYI, fresh hell awaits all those who venture further. Do not toy with forces beyond your comprehension. You will die.

[Snarfyguy]

FYI, fresh hell awaits all those who venture further. Do not toy with forces beyond your comprehension. You will die.

The one time I saw him play, this song was when everybody took a bathroom break or went to the concession stand.

[Hugh]

If McCartney had not written this then I would not have been able to answer a BCB Songs About Cameras thread with Biker Leica Nikon.

[Quaco]

One of the most frustrating thing is that I think Paul really did have an 80's adult pop record in him in the vein of Private Dancer, So or No Jacket Required. Talk More Talk off of Press to Play and No More Lonely Nights is about as successfully close as he got to that style and sound. His itch to get weird or overly goopy always did him in and resulted in a lot of really dull material. Not quite adult pop nor quirky pop ditties.

This is an interesting view, interesting because I've never heard it put quite that way, that McCartney -- the most successful artist of all time, and one prone to cheesy soft rock -- never really created a classic of cheesy soft rock. I think you're right.Maybe it's because it was he, and not people like Phil Collins or Michael Jackson, who was once a '60s baby boomer icon, and so it was never OK for him to fully sell out. There were always people like me thinking -- and McCartney hearing us -- that he needed to do another Revolver or something. Thus he never fully committed to the pop as he should have. Looking back, it would have been better if he had, instead of everything being a little pop, a little silly, a little creative, a little dorky, and so on.Also, maybe he should have submitted to a producer like Quincy Jones or Phil Ramone; he was cursed by being able to do it mostly all by himself.