Revisiting "Memory Almost Full"
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MAF sounds so much better on vinyl. The songs are great anyway, but the cd experience is ruined by everything being normalised up to the max. There's no light and shade on the Cd mix, and it's tiring after a while! They certainly did a better job of mastering the New Cd. I highly recommend MAF on vinyl though B-)
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stuartshire:
MAF sounds so much better on vinyl...
I'm curious to hear it on vinyl now.
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Music is very subjective so we Macca fans are always going to have diverse opinions of Paul songs/albums. I do think (just my opinion) that all of Paul's albums have been high quality since Flowers in the Dirt. That being said, I think that MAF is a good to very good CD. MAF has many good songs with my favorites being Dance Tonight, Ever Present Past, Only Mama Knows, Mr. Bellamy, all the songs in the loose medley, House of Wax and End of the End. During my last house move, I somehow lost my MAF CD. Based on this post and the fact that a few years have gone by, I need to buy MAF again and see if I like it more now or less. I know that when MAF came out (I was at the Starbucks listening party in Philly) I really liked it until the track Gratitude came on. Gratitude was one of the few Macca songs in his whole Catalog that I found hard to listen to. Vocally it just terrible to me. As much as I tried to like it, the song was just grating to my ears. While I know that I will instantly get some people telling me it's one of their favorite songs, I have to be honest with my own feelings. I am interested to see if my feelings about Gratitude would be any different today. With all the good songs on MAF, I do definitely need to have it in my Macca library. I also didn't like Nod Your Head. Maybe it was the video but I just thought it was a dumb song. I thought at the time that Dance Tonight would have been a perfect song after the serious "End of the End" and that Ever Present Past (which is a real favorite) would have been a great opener. Anyway just my opinion. In comparing all his good albums since Flowers, I still think that Chaos, New and Flaming Pie are a tad bit better than the rest because of their total consistency with no clunkers. Again just my opinion. As much as I will always see Paul in Concert (if possible), I just think it is a crime that he doesn't do any tracks from all these great albums since the late 80's.
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I haven't listened to Memory Almost Full in a long time. I gave it a spin on my way to work I still don't like Gratitude and Feet In The Clouds. It's a shame with Feet In The Clouds because it is such a great tune, but all the 'verys' make this a tough song for me to listen to. To me it sounds like he ran out of lyrics or something. C'mon Paul you are better than that. I do like the bonus tracks on the deluxe edition. For me it's not his best record but not his worst either. I still rate NEW higher than this one.
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I think it's definitely one of his best. The only track I don't care for is The End of the End. The rest are great, but particularly You Tell Me, Vintage Clothes, That Was Me, Dance Tonight and Mr Bellamy.
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I love Feet In The Clouds and think the "very" part is great. I love what he does with it, overdubbing his harmonies like that. I'd love an entire album of that kind of stuff. One of his best songs. Showcases his talents in a lot of ways. Brilliant.
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I love this record but the mastering turns me away every time. I must ask how did that even pass? How could Paul literally accept that way too hot mastering that sounded like a FM radio rip?
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dcshark:
I haven't listened to Memory Almost Full in a long time. I gave it a spin on my way to work I still don't like Gratitude and Feet In The Clouds. It's a shame with Feet In The Clouds because it is such a great tune, but all the 'verys' make this a tough song for me to listen to. To me it sounds like he ran out of lyrics or something. C'mon Paul you are better than that. I do like the bonus tracks on the deluxe edition. For me it's not his best record but not his worst either. I still rate NEW higher than this one.
I LOVE the "verys" in Feet in the Clouds, and the fact that he basically stops the song for a whole minute and spins them into this little piece of vocal chamber music. This is precisely the sort of flash of genius that makes me love McCartney. Try as I might, I don't think I'll ever warm to the album "New" as much as MAF, although there are parts of it I like a lot.
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SoilyCompany76:
I love this record but the mastering turns me away every time. I must ask how did that even pass? How could Paul literally accept that way too hot mastering that sounded like a FM radio rip?
Sounds perfect to me, perhaps it's your headphones.
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Nope, I agree. Everything is fortissimo. No light or shade...
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audi:
stuartshire:
MAF sounds so much better on vinyl...
I'm curious to hear it on vinyl now.
Well worth it buddy.
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Cord:
SoilyCompany76:
I love this record but the mastering turns me away every time. I must ask how did that even pass? How could Paul literally accept that way too hot mastering that sounded like a FM radio rip?
Sounds perfect to me, perhaps it's your headphones.
No, the sound is terrible. I stopped playing it for friends after seeing the faces they'd make when hearing all the clipping. There's no excuse for an album like Revolver sounding so superior to MAF.
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Adiophiles get really worked up over this -- on Steve Hoffman's boards there's been pages and pages and pages on this issue. Fortunately, my ears aren't that sensitive. I think I can tell what they're talking about, but not enough for it to really bother me. But I will say in general I think David Kahne's production is not one of the album's strengths.
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My favorite MAF song is House of Wax. I was listening it while in Rome and it worked so well against a historical backdrop.
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Listened to it last night all the way through for the first time in several years. I've always liked "Dance Tonight" and "Ever Present Past", but my favorite is "That Was Me". I never gave "House of Wax" a chance until last night. I turned it up and listened to it intently. I really like it! In a small way, it almost reminds a bit of "However Absurd".
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liv4art:
My favorite MAF song is House of Wax. I was listening it while in Rome and it worked so well against a historical backdrop.
Love House of Wax & also Only Mama Knows, Mr Bellemy, Vintage Clothes & That Was Me. sigh...great album. He did an interview maybe it was on his recording studio's rooftop (?) with a BBC or TV reporter & he sang That Was Me & she even made up a verse. When was that? I looked on youtube but can't find it.