new McCartney

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toomanyhatz
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Re: new McCartney

Postby toomanyhatz » 17 Sep 2018, 16:51

BOXO wrote:I'm sure it helped.

I'm enjoying the album. Bits of it, anyway. The lyrics are almost always terrible. Sometimes that doesn't matter, sometimes it does. They're mostly unignorable.


Yep. I know I"m more of a 'lyrics guy' than most here, but it's a fatal flaw of the album - and is honestly stopping me from fully embracing its musical charms, which are, frankly, being graded on a curve due to his age and diminished vocal skills anyway.

I mean, still good for him, but I don't think I need to own it and find I'm already losing interest in listening to it.
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Re: new McCartney

Postby Diamond Dog » 17 Sep 2018, 16:54

toomanyhatz wrote:
Yep. I know I"m more of a 'lyrics guy' than most here, but it's a fatal flaw of the album - and is honestly stopping me from fully embracing its musical charms, which are, frankly, being graded on a curve due to his age and diminished vocal skills anyway.

I mean, still good for him, but I don't think I need to own it and find I'm already losing interest in listening to it.


That's perfect. Exactly where I was over the weekend in my head - I actually got to the checkout stage and then thought "In a fortnights time, am I still going to be playing it"?

I decided I wouldn't. So, no, I won't be buying it for exactly the reasons you state Hatz.
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Re: new McCartney

Postby ChrisChopping » 17 Sep 2018, 21:41

The more I listen to it the more I love Despite Repeated Warnings. It manages to recall both Wings and The Beatles in pleasing ways and I actually like the lyrics on this one. I think it sustains it’s metaphor well throughout out and in fact, perhaps because it employs metaphor rather than Lennonesque sloganeering, it probably the best political song he’s ever done...

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Re: new McCartney

Postby toomanyhatz » 19 Sep 2018, 19:25

OK, trivia contest at my work with a selection of prizes - I won and took the ES CD as my prize. Good enough to own, but not to pay for. :D

Took it over the new Wilko Johnson, but I can probably pick that later since very, very few people at my work (a record company, ffs!) have a clue who he is.
Footy wrote:
The Who / Jimi Hendrix Experience Saville Theatre, London Jan '67
. Got Jimi's autograph after the show and went on to see him several times that year


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Re: new McCartney

Postby toomanyhatz » 25 Sep 2018, 22:00

..and it's basically his Sgt. Pepper - in that everybody's bestowing claims of greatness on it when in reality it's about his 5th best record of the last 20 years. :D

That said, this is pretty great - the song on the record I buy into most thoroughly. But even it suffers a bit for its lyrical laziness. But musically, one of his best recent songs (damning with faint praise, etc...):

Footy wrote:
The Who / Jimi Hendrix Experience Saville Theatre, London Jan '67
. Got Jimi's autograph after the show and went on to see him several times that year


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Re: new McCartney

Postby naughty boy » 25 Sep 2018, 22:06

I can't help feeling we're welcoming him and his style of music more than we have for a long time - not sure why this is. We might value him even more than we did ten or twenty years ago.

I mean, I feel it, I'm keen for him to put something great out. Whereas in the past, it was 'oh, another fucking McCartney record! why does he bother?'
Matt 'interesting' Wilson wrote:So I went from looking at the "I'm a Man" riff, to showing how the rave up was popular for awhile.

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Re: new McCartney

Postby toomanyhatz » 25 Sep 2018, 22:49

What I find mysterious about this is that I really think his last 3 or 4 records are all better than this, not counting odd side projects and that classical shit. Maybe it really is just that he's starting to be REALLY old, and we're just delighted he's still here. Maybe him being inspired even part time is enough for us. We didn't used to be this generous with his average stuff.
Footy wrote:
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Re: new McCartney

Postby Quaco » 26 Sep 2018, 18:59

Yeah, people are also being generous about his interviews, which are touted as being more honest or revealing, when they're still only 10% new material. Which is better than before, I guess. Also, he has better hair now, allowing himself to be grey and maybe a bit distinguished.
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Re: new McCartney

Postby NowhereMan » 26 Sep 2018, 19:41

Maybe ageing has helped him reign in some of the big headed/cockiness that rubs people the wrong way. He's still big on the idea of having hits obviously, but he doesn't seem quite as uptight as he has done in the past. He's somehow became weirdly cooler as an elderly man than at any time in the last 35 years.

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Re: new McCartney

Postby Sneelock » 26 Sep 2018, 20:11

having said all that...
I'm perfectly willing to nod in agreement that there's much nice to be said.
he seems engaged. it's got a good sound. it sounds well crafted. I agree with all that.

BUT (and it's a big butt)
I just don't think very much of the tunes. I hear good tracks but I don't hear good tunes. I know it's not fair to compare these tunes to OTHER tunes but I guess I'm just not a very fair guy.

this would be a stunning piece of work if it had better tunes - hell, even more C grade McCartney tunes.
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Re: new McCartney

Postby naughty boy » 01 Oct 2018, 15:53

He was on 60 Minutes last night - the full video should be up on youtube soonish.

Meanwhile here's a taster:

Matt 'interesting' Wilson wrote:So I went from looking at the "I'm a Man" riff, to showing how the rave up was popular for awhile.

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Re: new McCartney

Postby Quaco » 01 Oct 2018, 16:02

TootyFrooty wrote:He was on 60 Minutes last night - the full video should be up on youtube soonish.

Meanwhile here's a taster:


I like seeing musicians in their workspaces. That was pretty cool.

No one who ever interviews McCartney is normal. They're all either beautiful, stars themselves, star-struck, friends of his, or special in some way. I can't exactly describe it, but it's like he picks them, and it's always softball pretending to be hardball.
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Re: new McCartney

Postby naughty boy » 01 Oct 2018, 16:57

You're constantly - both sides - thinking of how it's coming across, as well as 'just' doing the job of asking/answering the questions.

This woman seems pretty relaxed but you just know she can't wait to tell her kids/mam/friends about the experience...

Matt 'interesting' Wilson wrote:So I went from looking at the "I'm a Man" riff, to showing how the rave up was popular for awhile.

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Re: new McCartney

Postby The Modernist » 01 Oct 2018, 17:00

The only person I know that's met him said he was really weird, disconcertingly so. I don't know what he did to create that impression on her, I wish I'd pressed her on it now.

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Re: new McCartney

Postby Quaco » 01 Oct 2018, 17:08

TootyFrooty wrote:You're constantly - both sides - thinking of how it's coming across, as well as 'just' doing the job of asking/answering the questions.

This woman seems pretty relaxed but you just know she can't wait to tell her kids/mam/friends about the experience...


Yeah, she can barely contain herself. He must be a god or something, for people to react this way. It's like Krishna coming down and you can't stop from smiling in his presence.
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Re: new McCartney

Postby Charlie O. » 03 Oct 2018, 01:30

Open question: If you were going to interview McCartney, what are some questions you'd like to ask him?
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Re: new McCartney

Postby Diamond Dog » 03 Oct 2018, 10:26

I'd love to see him interviewed by someone like Quaco - a musician who loves details and would ask challenging technical questions about all stages of the song writing/recording process. If Jimmy could stop drooling whilst doing so, we m,ay actually get to find some new things because, quite seriously, I'm sure there still is stuff he's completely forgotten that could be dredged up by the right person.

Not sure how he'd respond to something like "But why are your basslines on John & George's material seemingly always so much more intricate than on your own?" and just leave it there to hang....
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Re: new McCartney

Postby naughty boy » 17 Dec 2018, 14:05

last night:



is this historic? I'm not sure. I think it happened not too long ago
Matt 'interesting' Wilson wrote:So I went from looking at the "I'm a Man" riff, to showing how the rave up was popular for awhile.

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Re: new McCartney

Postby Bent Fabric » 17 Dec 2018, 14:34

Charlie O. wrote:Open question: If you were going to interview McCartney, what are some questions you'd like to ask him?


His work is always the thing.

In reviewing 55+ years of recordings, does he believe any special tracks were sort of unduly overlooked and undiscovered?

Does he feel like anything was lost when the more charmingly rough hewn areas of his early career (Beatles AND solo/Wings) were eventually sanded away pretty thoroughly in the 1980s/90s, as he and the rest of his peers moved towards a certain polish and perfection that, whatever its virtues, obfuscated a lot of the crucial character in his work? Did he ever make a conscious move to reverse that process?

Did it ever trouble him in any way that the actual once in a lifetime chemistry and magic of his first band was ultimately an unrepeatable experience? Was this an easy enough reality to shrug off and just make the most of?

Regarding musicians like Joe English or Denny Laine - were there aspects to their playing (or specific performances/ideas) that he can still recall as valuable or essential to the quality of the records?

Might he have opted/preferred to continue working with Laine had the latter not departed during the Tug of War sessions?

What does he remember about the specific character of the track "With a Little Luck" - a rather soothing and narcotic sound, all soft edges and round low end (no guitars, pianos, or anything else to provide jagged edges)? How deliberate a choice, how much chance does he feel played into the final outcome? Ditto "Let Em' In", "Arrow Through Me" and "Silly Love Songs" - relative to the trad. arr. rock band instrumentation, there's a nice understated sense of sonic space - mostly due to the complete and total absence of guitars.

His sense of scale - somewhere in the mid 1970s, his songs developed a surprising number of repetitions and expansive lengths (the three songs mentioned above, "Monkberry Moon Delight", "Goodnight Tonight", "Wonderful Christmastime", "Mull of Kintyre", "Coming Up", etc,) - did he ever notice his own work breaking away from a more concise model ("I'll Follow the Sun", "Good Day Sunshine", "Penny Lane", "Live and Let Die")? Was it the pot? Was there something completely subconscious about the instinct to go the bridge a third time, or sing a fifth verse?

"Arrow Through Me"? What do you remember about both the composition and the track?

To those, like me, who consider 2005's Chaos and Creation... something of a unique and special record...in some way wamer, more intimate-seeming, present and engaged, perhaps more unguarded or revealing than some other records - to what do you attribute these qualities? Is there a character that gets untapped when you do all of your own stunts (drums, guitars, bass, piano, etc.)? Did Nigel Godrich enable you to create things you mightn't have otherwise created? Is the record's character mostly just the product of a specific moment in time?

You've produced some great music largely unassisted in the area of production (McCartney, RAM, BOTR, many Wings records) - was there anything specifically that eventually drove you to work with producers as the years went on? Anything you believed you were missing? Is there anything you miss about working alone?

Glyn Johns was there at the beginning of Red Rose Speedway. He was not there a few weeks later. What happened?

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Re: new McCartney

Postby modharper » 17 Dec 2018, 14:58

Diamond Dog wrote:Not sure how he'd respond to something like "But why are your basslines on John & George's material seemingly always so much more intricate than on your own?" and just leave it there to hang....


I have asked him that!

The answer was quite simple: more elaborate basslines are harder to play when you're singing. On the others' songs, he could focus solely on his playing.
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