More and more people appreciating Paul's and Wings' music
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RRA:
Obviously I think this development is two-fold: (1) The re-issues and how well they've been programmed/scheduled, giving a chance for obscure titles/tracks to be re-evaluated by the public and critics. Look at the people impressed by MCII that it came from the "Hey Jude" guy. (2) A new generation of critics who don't subscribe to the critical Baby Boomer groupthink of the 1970s. (Consider for example how Queen were critically reviled back in the day, Rolling Stone calling them fascist.)
This is a huge one, and the thing I think is the biggest factor. For whatever reason, critics were on John's nuts and subscribed to the groupthink that Paul was a soft square, and they blamed him for the Beatles' breakup...it became the conventional wisdom and the consensus...it certainly was when I grew up (in the 1980s/90s). I broke free from that mindset, luckily, but I think as you said, so many people now that are younger don't have any of that baggage and so appreciate it for what it is right off the bat, without any preconceived notions.
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The Wings songs always seem to go down a treat, especially during this current tour!
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The roar 2 nights ago in Boston when they started Band On the Run was massive! Same with Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five.
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DrBeatle:
This is a huge one, and the thing I think is the biggest factor. For whatever reason, critics were on John's nuts and subscribed to the groupthink that Paul was a soft square, and they blamed him for the Beatles' breakup...it became the conventional wisdom and the consensus...it certainly was when I grew up (in the 1980s/90s). I broke free from that mindset, luckily, but I think as you said, so many people now that are younger don't have any of that baggage and so appreciate it for what it is right off the bat, without any preconceived notions.
One word why: Vietnam. That generation never got over that conflict, and they're still more or less fighting over it decades later in politics over other issues. Remember when John died, he was eulogized as the peace activist...even though he had quit that for 7-8 years before he died, in fact he was already speaking of dissillusionment with that era. Of course for a whole new generation of critics and fans, Vietnam for them just means nothing. It's just that place Sylvester Stallone in that 80s action movie went to and killed everybody. (Or that war which America lost several wars ago.) Then add two little, other elements: (1) Paul for a time was blamed for breaking up the Beatles because of his lawsuit, though now we know the whole story. (2) First post-Beatles solo albums by George and John were homeruns. I like MCCARTNEY, but...its not a homerun album. If Paul had taken the time to crank out some good songs instead of instrumental jams, instead of wanting to stick it to Klein and his ex-co-workers, maybe his solo career would've been better received as a whole?
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Excellent points, all of them, RRA. You hit it out of the park with that post! I have nothing to add because you said everything I would've said exactly.
Funny though, how George and John went downhill, for the most part (although I like most of Imagine and Walls and Bridges) while Paul got better and better (RAM, Band on the Run, Venus and Mars, etc).
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I think the number of Wings songs is just fine. If we're going to have more of anything in the set list it should be post-1995 solo material. But I would love some different Wings tunes. I mean really, can we give Let Me Roll It and Live and Let Die a rest for just one tour, so maybe we could hear I've Had Enough and Getting Closer?
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^I agree with that. Apart from Listen to What the Man Said and Live and Let Die, it's all Wings stuff from Band on the Run. I was hoping he'd play Venus and Mars/Rockshow/Jet or some other Wings tunes, but still, I'm not complaining about the show I saw!
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DrBeatle:
^I agree with that. Apart from Listen to What the Man Said and Live and Let Die, it's all Wings stuff from Band on the Run. I was hoping he'd play Venus and Mars/Rockshow/Jet or some other Wings tunes, but still, I'm not complaining about the show I saw!
He would make my day if I heard he played "Beware My Love" live.
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yankeefan7:
DrBeatle:
^I agree with that. Apart from Listen to What the Man Said and Live and Let Die, it's all Wings stuff from Band on the Run. I was hoping he'd play Venus and Mars/Rockshow/Jet or some other Wings tunes, but still, I'm not complaining about the show I saw!
He would make my day if I heard he played "Beware My Love" live.
Oh yeah! Let 'Em In would be great, too.
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yankeefan7:
DrBeatle:
^I agree with that. Apart from Listen to What the Man Said and Live and Let Die, it's all Wings stuff from Band on the Run. I was hoping he'd play Venus and Mars/Rockshow/Jet or some other Wings tunes, but still, I'm not complaining about the show I saw!
He would make my day if I heard he played "Beware My Love" live.
You took the words right out of my mouth - "BML" is one of his alltime best IMO, and it's a great one to perform live also.