I agree with Yankeefan that Paul does better when he works with 1 main producer who is not afraid to disagree with Paul. I still think that "Flowers in the Dirt" is in the top third of Paul's Post Beatles' albums but the slight downfall of FITD was that Paul just had too many "cooks in the Kitchen". Despite that problem, the 1st eight songs on the finished album actually jell and gave the album a great start. I really like My Brave Face, Rough Ride, You Want Her Too, Distractions, We Got Married, Put It There, figure of 8 and This One. It's the final 5 songs on the CD where the album/CD takes a less favorable route in my opinion and all the various producers and Paul screwed up the album as a whole. Again this is my opinion only.
As usual with most of Paul's final released albums, he had many better song alternatives. The last 2 songs on the FITD final CD were the worst. Motor of Love and Ou Est Le Sole didn't deserved to be on the album compared to the terrific songs that could have taken their place. Motor of Love has some decent parts but it is far too long (6:18) and gets too repetitive and I don't know where to begin with the very last track. The producers involved say that they don't like "Rock and Roll" and that is where the problem begins and ends. Conversely, Paul had so many good songs he could have put on FITD. They incude but not limited to:
Back on My Feet
Flying to My Home
Loveliest Thing
The Lovers That Never Were (Paul and Elvis's original demo)
Tommy's Coming Home (Paul and Elvis's original demo)
Twenty Five Fingers (Paul and Elvis's original demo)
So Like Candy (Paul and Elvis's original demo)
My theory to what happened is that Paul felt that after spending so much time on these last 2 songs with those producers that he felt "obligated" to put them on the album. Any one of those 7 songs above would have been far better than Motor of Love and Ou Est Le Sole. The simple demo version of "Lovers That Never Were" in my opinion should have been a "stone cold lock" of being on FITD. Paul's vocal is just so good in my opinion and the song itself is miles better than Motor of Love and Ou Est Le Sole. The final tracklisting on a Paul McCartney album should "never "be based on "obligation". It should be based on releasing the best possible full album. Paul didn't have that problem with Chaos and Creation and with Nigel Godrich. Paul and Nigel had already sorted those decisions out long before the album was released. It's always a problem and very confusing I think to Paul when you have a bunch of people giving their imput.
I also thought that the "demo version" of "Don't Be Careless Love" was far better than the released album version. I never cared for Paul's vocal on that track. And while "How Many People" on the album is ok, I thought the "live" version of "How Many People" with Hamish taking a stronger vocal position singing with Paul was so much better. These are reasons that I thought FITD could have been an almost perfert album instead of what you got. The last third of FITD was a letdown to me as a whole.