Paul's Albums: Rank 'Em
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In no real particular order other than the ones I like the least have been moved to the bottom(starting with MAF).The ones I like the very least have been removed completely(FP,Press etc etc). My favorite seems to rotate for me anyway. Usually it is Ram, but then I get in the mood for something else... Ram McCartney Band on the Run Wild Life Venus and Mars Red Rose Speedway Back to the Egg McCartney II Tug of War Chaos and Creation in the Backyard Driving Rain Memory Almost Full London Town New At the Speed of Sound
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I decided to rank them by genre: original, covers/remakes, live _________________ Band on the Run Ram Venus and Mars Tug of War Back to the Egg Chaos and Creation in the Backyard New Red Rose Speedway Flaming Pie Flowers in the Dirt Memory Almost Full Press to Play Wings at the Speed of Sound McCartney II McCartney London Town Pipes of Peace Off the Ground Driving Rain Wild Life _________________ Run Devil Run Thrillington Give My Regards to Broad Street Chobba B CCCP Kisses on the Bottom _________________ Wings Over America Back in the U.S. Unplugged Good Evening New York City Tripping the Light Fantastic Paul is Live
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Been listening to Tug of War all week. Keep in mind that when that album was released, Rolling Stone gave it 5 stars and called it "McCartney's masterpiece" claiming that only Band on the Run came close in terms of his solo output to that point. Having said all that, I don't consider Rolling Stone's opinions all that much, but I am surprised that Tug of War is not near the top of more of your lists. It is an amazing album and Paul's voice....well, words cannot describe...
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No one else on this board has all of Paul's albums? That's surprising.
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Ram Back To The Egg Venus And Mars Wings Over America Memory Almost Full Band On The Run McCartney Red Rose Speedway Flaming Pie Tug Of War New Flowers In The Dirt Wings Wild Life Wings At The Speed Of Sound Electric Arguments Off The Ground Run Devil Run McCartney II London Town Chaos and Creation.. Press To Play Wingspan Drving Rain Pipes Of Peace Paul Is Live Kisses On The Bottom Good Evening NY Rushes Wings Greatest Give My Regards to.. CCOP It Nevers stays The same...
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Ram Back to the egg Band on the run Driving Rain Venus and Mars New McCartney Tug of war McCartney 2 Chaos and Creation London Town Red Rose Speedway Flaming Pie Pipes of Peace Memory almost full Speed of Sound Wild life Off the ground Flowers in the dirt Press to play
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Ram Chaos And Creation In The Backyard Band On The Run Flaming Pie London Town Back To The Egg McCartney II Wild Life Red Rose Speedway Memory Almost Full Tug Of War Flowers In The Dirt Press To Play McCartney New Pipes Of Peace Wings At The Speed Of Sound Venus And Mars Driving Rain Off The Ground
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Flaming Pie Tug Of War New Venus and Mars Band On The Run Chaos And Creation In The Backyard Off The Ground Flowers In The Dirt McCartney Driving Rain London Town At The Speed Of Sound Wildlife Back To The Egg Press To Play McCartney II Red Rose Speedway Kisses On The Bottom Memory Almost full Ram Run Devil Run Give My Regards To Broad Street Pipes Of Peace
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Ram Wings Over America Band OnThe Run Venus and Mars Pipes of Peace Red Rose Speedway Memory Almost Full At The Speed of Sound Back To The Egg Run Devil Run McCartney Tug of War Off The Ground London Town New Press to Play Flowers In The Dirt Flaming Pie McCartney II Driving Rain Chaos an Creation in the Backyard Wildlife
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Bruce M.:
Tug Of War Chaos And Creation In The Backyard/Memory Almost Full (tie) Flaming Pie Run Devil Run Band On The Run Venus And Mars McCartney Back To The Egg New Flowers In The Dirt Driving Rain London Town Wings At The Speed Of Sound Off The Ground Kisses On The Bottom CHOBA B CCCP Red Rose Speedway Ram Press To Play Give My Regards To Broad Street McCartney II Wild Life Pipes Of Peace
You and I are pretty much on the same page, I would probably tweek your order a little bit. I loved "Run Devil Run" also and I know some people would probably not rate it high due to their were only three original McCartney songs. IMO - I think it might be one of his best ever vocal performances on a record. Like You, I am one of those that did not think RAM was a masterpiece. I enjoyed some of it (Too Many People, Dear Boy, Backseat of My Car) but the rest was ordinary.
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I'll just list my top 10 fave albums that Paul has been strongly associated with over the last 45 years: 1. Band On The Run 2. Chaos And Creation In The Backyard 3. New 4. Ram 5. Flowers In The Dirt 6. McCartney 7. Driving Rain 8. Venus And Mars 9. Electric Arguments 10. London Town.
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1-Band on the run,2-Flaming pie,3-Pipes of peace,4-McCartneyII,5-Tug of war,6-Off the ground,7-Memory almost full,8-New,9-Flowers in the dirt,10-chaos and creation in the backyard,11-London town,12-Wings over America,13-Wings at the speed of sound,14-Run devil run. That´s the albums that i really love from Paul!
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Chaos and Creation Band on the Run Flaming Pie Ram McCartney Memory Almost Full Venus and Mars Tug of War Off the Ground Back to the Egg New Red Rose Speedway Flowers in the Dirt London Town Wings at Speed of Town Wild Life McCartney II Pipes of Peace Driving Rain Press to Play
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With the new Remasters, it is a good time to readdress this topic. I am listing my top 15 with reasons. Albums not making this list does not mean they didn't have some portions of brilliance but as a whole album, they weren't as good as my 15. For example, Red Rose Speedway had a very good 1st half but really fell off the cliff on the 2nd half. Here are my top 15: Best Quality Macca Post Beatles Albums #1 Tug of War - This to me is the Best Solo Beatle Quality Album from any of the 4. Tug of War (the Song), Wanderlust, Here Today, Take It Away are all on the level of Paul's best Beatle songs and the rest of the album is high quality too. #2 Band on the Run - Best Beatle Solo Album from a Hits/Sales point of view. Because BOTR has been hurt a little because Paul has overplayed the big songs in his live shows and classic rock radio has done similarly on the big hits. That doesn't take away from the fact that BOTR contains a great mix of pop-rock songs. #3 Flaming Pie - great mix of Pop songs with more honest and personal lyrics than you normally get from Macca. Somedays, Little Willow, Calico Skies, Beautiful Night and a couple of others are Beatle quality songs. #4 Chaos and Creation - Similar to Flaming pie...great mix of songs with more personal and high quality lyrics #5 Memory Almost Full - great quality of songs...Only Mama Knows, You Tell Me, House of Wax, Mr. Bellamy, That Was Me and a few others are Beatle quality. The 2 clunkers Gratitude and Nod Your Head hurt MAF because the above albums have no clunkers on this level. I personally love MAF but always skip those 2 tracks as much as try to like them #6 Venus and Mars - very good rock and pop album where the strength of many of the songs subsequently shows on Wings Over America #7 Ram - Shows Paul's electric side with off the wall lyrics and mix of genres. Shows why Paul musically was the greatest individual Beatle. He has so many different sides to him musically. John still had the most charisma of the 4. #8 Wings Over America.- While this is a live album of basically previously released studio songs, it shows what a great Band Paul had assembled and the results of the recording proves it. Even the lesser known songs were very well received. Loved the fact that Paul didn't use his main fame as a Beatle to shape the content of the concert...only 5 Beatle songs were played. #9 Flowers in the Dirt - Good mix of Pop and Rock where Paul got back to his songwriting roots. Actually like Paul's solo songs here better as a whole than the Paul/Elvis collaborations. #10 Off the Ground - Another solid album with a good mix of rock and pop. Also like the 2 Macca/Elvis collaborations #11 New - still might be a little too "new" to see how this album holds up with time but I like a good number of the songs. good mix of rock and pop #12 Run Devil Run - Although only 3 original McCartney songs, I love the way Paul makes some of the covers his "OWN". Lonesome Town, All Shook Up and Brown Eyed Handsome Man sound great but nothing like the originals. Also, Paul has always had a great rock voice and this album proves in 2001 he still had those great chops #13 McCartney 2 - In my opinion, an underrated album that again shows Macca's electric side. Good mix of songs that shows Paul's strength alone in the studio virtually playing all the instruments. #14 Back to the Egg - Another highly underrated album with a good mix of rock and Pop. Should have fared better commercially. Also pretty consistent. #15 Electric Arguments - Paul working in collaboration with the Producer Youth has a good varied collection of rock and pop songs. So different than Paul's other albums which is a good thing showing his musical diversity
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On Ram above, I meant to use the word "eclectic" not electric. Big difference. Sorry.
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Run Devil Run was recorded early 1999. Cracking album: one of my absolute faves. Played the HELL out of it upon release. What's not to like? McCartney energised, great (mostly rarer) 50's songs, 3 great originals (What It Is should have been a single), Chris Thomas producing BUT... FABULOUS SHOULD HAVE MADE THE ALBUM!
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moptops:
Run Devil Run was recorded early 1999. Cracking album: one of my absolute faves. Played the HELL out of it upon release. What's not to like? McCartney energised, great (mostly rarer) 50's songs, 3 great originals (What It Is should have been a single), Chris Thomas producing BUT... FABULOUS SHOULD HAVE MADE THE ALBUM!
__________________________________________________ Moptops, You're so right. Run,Devil Run is a fabulous CD. I would have rated it higher except Paul only wrote 3 of the songs. Still one of my favorites. Of the 3 Macca penned songs, I too liked What It Is the best. Just a great track and supposedly, it was written while Linda was still alive. Linda loved the song. And Yes, Fabulous should have definitely been on the album. Love that song too.
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not easy I put RAM number 1 then a bit of daylight and maybe Band on the Run depends on the mood
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Gotta be Band on the Run, simply because it was the one that put Paul back at the top of the pile. Just when he was probably full of doubt. May not be my Go To album, much for the same reasons I don't listen to Hey Jude all that often anymore... because they've both been "over played". But still, both are brilliant. And overplayed on my stereo system at one point. And will be defining. Tug of War.... Venus and Mars... Back to the Egg.... Ram.... no particular order. And sitting in the wings, the greatest live album in my reckoning.
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toris:
Gotta be Band on the Run, simply because it was the one that put Paul back at the top of the pile. Just when he was probably full of doubt. May not be my Go To album, much for the same reasons I don't listen to Hey Jude all that often anymore... because they've both been "over played". But still, both are brilliant. And overplayed on my stereo system at one point. And will be defining. Tug of War.... Venus and Mars... Back to the Egg.... Ram.... no particular order. And sitting in the wings, the greatest live album in my reckoning.
___________________________________________________ Great points Toris. It just shows that Paul's Post Beatles' output and overall quality is much better than many critics give him credit. The 70's period that you reference was great and then you have Tug, Flowers and Flaming Pie covering the 80's and 90's. Many critics (which I agree) also have been quite favorable towards Chaos and Memory Almost Full for recent albums. You combine them all and you have quite a stellar Post Beatles' career.