| Not much of a sale. $2 off on every CD; $4 off on double sets (and N.C., in
spite of usual high prices, discounts their double sets to begin with). Only
at the brand new Burlington store, Vine Brook Plaza (right across from
Burlington Mall), until the end of August.
Considering the quality of Lechmere's selection, I wasn't able to find much of
anything at their one-day Saturday sale and ended up spending a lot more at
N.C. instead.
I was not aware that "Venus and Mars" was out, although really the only ones I
want are "London Town", "Pipes of Peace", "Back to the Egg" and "Tug of War".
I have imports of "Band on the Run", "Ram" and "McCartney". I had scratchy
used imports of several others, and the usual horrible domestics of the rest.
I'm reviewing my tapes tonight to see which ones I feel are worth having. I
remember "Speed of Sound" sounding a lot better to me the last time I heard
it, and "Wings Over America" ranks as one of my favourite live rock albums of
all time.
Was "Venus and Mars" on Capital or CBS? I know CBS started issuing some on
CD shortly before the switch, as I once saw copies of "Tug of War",
"Broadstreet" and "Pipes of Peace" on CD long before I had a CD player.
The only ones I know of on Capital are "Band on the Run", "Press to Play" and
"Wings' Greatest".
It would be real nice if they'd release a compilation of all the singles,
including the B-sides (which I usually prefer to the A-sides). I sold my
unplayable domestic singles (used, scratchy, etc.) many years ago ASSUMING that
Rock 'n Mania's supply of imports would never dry up. I managed to replace a
few of them in time, but am still missing some key singles. It is next to
impossible to find them ANYWHERE now, new, used or import. Many of them
aren't really worth having, but most are at least worth a listen (with the
exceptions of "Wonderful Christmastime" and "Check My Machine").
I am hoping that the plans for compiling rare Beatles material will rub off on
the McCartney project as well. The resulting disc would be superior to at
least half of the McCartney and Wings albums that actually came out. There's
also quite a bit of unreleased material and GOOD live material (which I've
seen on TV or heard on the radio). There should be enough material for a
two-disc set, at least.
Maybe I'll eventually decide "McCartney", "Ram" and "Band on the Run" are
worth having on CD as well, after I hear reviews vs. the vinyl. I was upset
to see they later added "Helen Wheels" to "Band on the Run", though, as it
was always out of place. Not really a bad song, but it doesn't fit with the
album for a number of reasons (different Wings line-up, the album as a whole
is a concept album and has carefully thought-out segues, the style contrasts
too much with the actual album). Maybe the earlier CD was the import, since
the U.K. vinyl doesn't include "Helen Wheels" (this is the only place where
McCartney albums differed between the U.S. and the U.K.).
Mark
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| I listened through all my McCartney compilation tapes this week, as well as
the vinyl that I kept.
My British import of "Band on the Run" would be hard to improve upon. My
British import of "McCartney" had some minor damage, but nothing I can't live
with (most stores have a "no returns" policy on imports, which is ridiculous
considering what they charge). The sound quality is excellent. The Japanese
import of "Ram" is, as I said, flawless. Not that I care. In listening to
this album again, I have found the performances bothersome in all cases, with
only "Too Many People" retaining long-term listenability for me. On
"McCartney", Paul seems honest and like he's having fun, even though it's all
multi-tracked. Maybe he had lost his studio and ensemble discipline by "Ram",
or maybe he didn't like who he was working with (Seiwell, a troublesome
alcoholic, on drums, and veterans Hugh McCracken and Dave Spinozza on
guitars). The album sounds instrumentally clinical, with unemotive and often
overly affected vocals. Also, Linda's "harmonies" are more bothersome on this
album than anywhere else. Don't get me wrong; these are GREAT songs, and I'd
love to hear McCartney do remakes of them or to see some live material
released. But I have lost my interest in seeing this on CD, even if I didn't
have the Japanese vinyl.
The only song on "Wild Life" that grabs me is "Mumbo" (although "Some People
Never Know" is pleasant, if a bit tedious). But the incoherency of the lyrics
bothers me. Still, it has raw power and some hot guitar licks from Denny
Laine (making his debut on this album). This album was unrehearsed, and it
shows. McCartney's embarassed by it now, so it's possible he'll try to
prevent its release on CD.
"Red Nose Bleedway" sounds like children's songs to me, for the most part.
There are a few leftover "Ram" tracks here ("Get On the Right Thing" is one of
them). "Big Barn Bed" is like a non-energetic remake of "Mumbo", and could be
greatly improved if McCartney changed the rhythm somewhat on the vocal line.
I believe this will come out on CD, as the schmaltzy "My Love" (sounded OK on
"Wings Over America", though) was a major hit, and the critics LOVED this
album when it came out. Parts of the medly are good, but it's hard to edit
them out of context and "Lazy Dynamite" makes me want to vomit.
"Venus and Mars" was the first REAL Wings album. Finally, a rock group with
fully contributing members; vocally, compositionally and in terms of
arrangement. Unfortunately, it was an experiment that failed, but give the
big PM ego credit for trying. I prefer all of these numbers live, as with the
follow-up album "Speed of Sound". The latter had bigger hits, so I am
surprised it didn't come out on CD first. Both albums have good songs but
lame performances. Although Denny Laine has some hot guitar licks that ALMOST
make up for the lackluster performances from Geoff Britten and Jimmy McCulloch
(later, Joe English played drums, and he was somewhat of an improvement).
"London Town" is part-Wings, part solo. Most of the stronger material was
done by the McCartney/McCartney/Laine trio, the one that produced "Band on the
Run". There's more variety than usual on this album, which is both good and
bad. Overall, the album could use more raw energy, but surprisingly has
McCartney's biggest stateside hit of all time so will probably be out on CD
shortly. Ironically, that song, "With a Little Luck", is the ONE song on the
album that I literally cannot stomach. This album was very crisply recorded,
and has a lot of folk overtones, so probably would benefit from the improved
S/N of CD technology.
"Back to the Egg" continues to amaze me. While all the other mainstream acts
were doing shallow imitations of the underground acts of the time, and the
buying public didn't know any better until later when those groups became
mainstream, Wings got it right from the start. Rather than imitate, McCartney
called upon his roots and jumped right into the movement head first with his
heart. He recruited two young players of some established credibility (I
believe one or the other had played with Elvis Costello or some other early
punk star), Laurence Juber and Steve Holly, and delivered a burning album of
revved-up blues-punk and new-wave ballads. This album has more variety than
any McCartney has ever done, in my opinion, and has the most energy and
professional performances as well as the tightest ensemble playing. Due to
the complexity of textures, I can hardly wait to get this on CD.
Unfrotunately, every single from the album was a flop for some reason
(although "Arrow Through Me" did all right on the Adult Contemporary charts).
The prerelease single, "Goodnight Tonight", was a better seller, and hopefully
will be included on some CD package shortly. This is the material Paul
trained his new group on, and is a tongue-in-cheek parody of the disco of the
time if you listen closely. The B-side is distinct in that it has so many
transitions, but is ultimately a flawed performance.
Of the other singles, I decided that all were flawed and could stand revisions
and remakes at some point. The flaws are fatal in all cases, although only
upon repeated listenings. "Oh Woman Oh Why" is the song I find the most
interesting of the rare material, and "Sally G" has some fine playing by some
Nashville greats.
I rejected the "commerciality" of "Tug of War" at first, but now consider it
McCartney's finest solo album in many ways. Likewise with "Pipes of Peace",
although the performances sound a bit unfinished in places. I believe thse
both came out on CD on the CBS label at first, but it appears Capital has to
wait five years after the initial release date before reissuing them, which is
a shame if true. "Broadstreet" was the final CBS release ("Back to the Egg"
was the first), and likewise will probably be unavailable for awhile. I found
it rather clinical, and was embarassed by Ringo's lifeless drumming. I guess
it's hard to match music to video and still have something interesting to
listen to on its own.
The "Press to Play" CD is definitely one of the better CD's I've heard, and I
should mention that most of the music is quite good also. There's a lot of
variety on this album, with more raw emotions than on the more mellow
predecessor albums. If you've only heard the singlee, "Press", don't judge
the album on that song, because it's very atypical of the album as a whole.
If you generally like McCartney, you'll probably like the "Press to Play" CD.
besides, with all the extra tracks on there (most of which are good), there's
pretty much something for everyone on this one!
McCartney is a boss bass player. It's good that he's back to playing bass on
his own albums once again. There is no one else quite like him, who has the
sense of melody, rhythm and harmony combined with the inventiveness,
tastefulness and restraint and tonality.
It is McCartney's bass playing that has benefitted the most, in my opinion,
from the Beatles and McCartney CD's.
Mark
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| My comments were more opinionated than I meant them to be, due to being in a
rush, but no one seems offended so there must be somewhat of a concurrence on
the general statements. I haven't heard McCulloch's post-Wings recordings,
but should check them out. I used to assume that Denny Laine did all the
rhythm work and that anyone else was the lead guitarist (unless I'm mistaken,
the credits never specify who plays lead and who plays rhythm), but maybe they
swapped off also. For that matter, I'm not sure how much of the guitar work
is McCartney. I seem to remember him switching to guitar for awhile and
having Denny Laine do the bass chores. I'm trying to remember the McCartney
TV special, as that gave some clues.
Does anyone know who plays the fast flamenco runs at the end of "Goodnight
Tonight"? Did they bring in some famous session man like Paco de Lucia for
that?
According to Waltham Record Shop, EMI is releasing a "McCartney's Greatest
Hits" CD in early October, which will include "Press", "Ebony and Ivory",
"Maybe I'm Amazed", "Too Many People" and various other hits through the
years, possibly including some Wings hits that were left off the earlier
compilation also (I expect to see "Coming Up" and "Arrow Through Me", as
well as "Helen Wheels").
I don't know whether "Band on the Run" is a lot of overdubs and mostly
McCartney with Denny and Linda mostly just supplying vocal harmonies, or
what. I know the basic tracks were recorded at Ginger Baker's studios in
Lagos, Nigeria. Some famous percussionist was involved in the sessions on
congas, but beyond that I don't know (other than Howie Casie on saxophones
as usual). The orchestral backing was later added in London. Although I
think McCartney knows quite a bit about drumming for a "non-drummer", the
drumming on "Band on the Run" seems a bit too "live" to be overdubbed or
to have been played by McCartney himself.
I am holding off on all McCartney CD's until the Greatest Hits package is
released, as I expect it may make many of the earlier albums "obsolete" to
all but the die-hard fans (the later albums, in my eye, are almost flawless
and couldn't be pared down by more than a couple of songs each).
Mark
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