PAUL SOLO/POST BEATLES' ANTHOLOGY
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BJ Conlee has a great 1980s disc.
I really like these ideas. What is obvious is that it is so easy to undervalue his 1980s work. But that is so wrong.
So agree with stuff like:
From M2: Waterfalls, Coming Up (album version), One of these Days
Just from TOW: Tug of War, Take it Away, I'll Give You a Ring, Wanderlust (gorgeous), The Pound is Sinking (I could listen to it over and over and not tire of it).
Keep Under Cover (I like some of the demos on YouTube more than the POP album version).
No Values (been singing this to myself this week), Not such a Bad Boy
Stranglehold (I am revisiting PTP and this sounds sounds so good) and Good Times Coming/Feel the Sun
Footsteps (beautfiul) and Move over Busker (fun rocker).
Tough on a Tightrope (just a wonderful song, "I often been accused of giving too little, it's got me confused..."
Squid (yes, I absolutely love this instrumental, it sounds like a volcano erupting to me, just wonderful).
Distractions (perhaps Paul's most beautiful vocal when he sings, "And we spend our time counting shooting stars...."
Back on My Feet (underrated collaboration with Elvis C.).
Figure of Eight
Could you make the case that the 1980s, when Paul was commercially in decline and critically unacclaimed was actually his decade of best music? Don't know if anything rose to the brillance of Ram or Band on the Run but the 1980s was just a goldmine of great songs. It is funny because I really became a huge fan in the 1980s and I was considered uncool by friends in college because I listened to McCartney. I remember friends not liking Press to Play when I was loving it. But now in retrospect, the 1980s were a great decade for Paul, particulary when we dig into B-Side and the Return to Pepperland album.
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thrillington wrote:
BJ Conlee has a great 1980s disc.
I really like these ideas. What is obvious is that it is so easy to undervalue his 1980s work. But that is so wrong.
So agree with stuff like:
From M2: Waterfalls, Coming Up (album version), One of these Days
Just from TOW: Tug of War, Take it Away, I'll Give You a Ring, Wanderlust (gorgeous), The Pound is Sinking (I could listen to it over and over and not tire of it).
Keep Under Cover (I like some of the demos on YouTube more than the POP album version).
No Values (been singing this to myself this week), Not such a Bad Boy
Stranglehold (I am revisiting PTP and this sounds sounds so good) and Good Times Coming/Feel the Sun
Footsteps (beautfiul) and Move over Busker (fun rocker).
Tough on a Tightrope (just a wonderful song, "I often been accused of giving too little, it's got me confused..."
Squid (yes, I absolutely love this instrumental, it sounds like a volcano erupting to me, just wonderful).
Distractions (perhaps Paul's most beautiful vocal when he sings, "And we spend our time counting shooting stars...."
Back on My Feet (underrated collaboration with Elvis C.).
Figure of Eight
Could you make the case that the 1980s, when Paul was commercially in decline and critically unacclaimed was actually his decade of best music? Don't know if anything rose to the brillance of Ram or Band on the Run but the 1980s was just a goldmine of great songs. It is funny because I really became a huge fan in the 1980s and I was considered uncool by friends in college because I listened to McCartney. I remember friends not liking Press to Play when I was loving it. But now in retrospect, the 1980s were a great decade for Paul, particulary when we dig into B-Side and the Return to Pepperland album.
Personally, I think the 00's (2000-2009) was better with "Driving Rain, CHAOS and Memory Almost Full" but to each their own.
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I gotta say I love 80's Paul, especially early to mid. Probably because I was at that age where I'd bought all of The Beatles records and was relishing new releases from Paul (remember those good old days where one had to save up money to buy the records, rather than "stream" them)..... good times... made one appreciate the music more... hence, I've always held Pipes of Peace and Press to Play with high regard. I listened to them when they were released. I've got Press to Play on vinyl, casette, and along with INXS Listen Like Thieves, it is the first CD I ever bought. There are some great under-appreciated songs of Paul's from the 80's. That I love.
BJ, I absolutely love all your recommendations for this imagined album. For me, though, I have the vast, vast majority of songs already. So, I am not the target audience. Although, some of the B-sides you are talking about I only have on vinyl... so I could do with an upgrade! Cos I don't have a record player anymore.
All in all, BJ, a great anthology that you are suggesting.... no arguments from me... well, apart from a couple of songs here and there that are omitted.... but I'm still hankering for the raw releases, the things we haven't heard before. Different versions. Raw Paul. "Naked" Paul. The sort of stuff John has done with his latest release. That's the anthology I want to hear from Paul... and sometime soon.
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Yankeefan2 wrote:
thrillington wrote:
BJ Conlee has a great 1980s disc.
I really like these ideas. What is obvious is that it is so easy to undervalue his 1980s work. But that is so wrong.
So agree with stuff like:
From M2: Waterfalls, Coming Up (album version), One of these Days
Just from TOW: Tug of War, Take it Away, I'll Give You a Ring, Wanderlust (gorgeous), The Pound is Sinking (I could listen to it over and over and not tire of it).
Keep Under Cover (I like some of the demos on YouTube more than the POP album version).
No Values (been singing this to myself this week), Not such a Bad Boy
Stranglehold (I am revisiting PTP and this sounds sounds so good) and Good Times Coming/Feel the Sun
Footsteps (beautfiul) and Move over Busker (fun rocker).
Tough on a Tightrope (just a wonderful song, "I often been accused of giving too little, it's got me confused..."
Squid (yes, I absolutely love this instrumental, it sounds like a volcano erupting to me, just wonderful).
Distractions (perhaps Paul's most beautiful vocal when he sings, "And we spend our time counting shooting stars...."
Back on My Feet (underrated collaboration with Elvis C.).
Figure of Eight
Could you make the case that the 1980s, when Paul was commercially in decline and critically unacclaimed was actually his decade of best music? Don't know if anything rose to the brillance of Ram or Band on the Run but the 1980s was just a goldmine of great songs. It is funny because I really became a huge fan in the 1980s and I was considered uncool by friends in college because I listened to McCartney. I remember friends not liking Press to Play when I was loving it. But now in retrospect, the 1980s were a great decade for Paul, particulary when we dig into B-Side and the Return to Pepperland album.
Personally, I think the 00's (2000-2009) was better with "Driving Rain, CHAOS and Memory Almost Full" but to each their own.
Correct! To Each their own.....But I far prefer the 80's Paul. But, yes, to each our own. For me, the 80's songs are better. The voice is better. Remains an underrated period. I continue to love listening to this period of Paul.
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thrillington wrote:
BJ Conlee has a great 1980s disc.
I really like these ideas. What is obvious is that it is so easy to undervalue his 1980s work. But that is so wrong.
So agree with stuff like:
From M2: Waterfalls, Coming Up (album version), One of these Days
Just from TOW: Tug of War, Take it Away, I'll Give You a Ring, Wanderlust (gorgeous), The Pound is Sinking (I could listen to it over and over and not tire of it).
Keep Under Cover (I like some of the demos on YouTube more than the POP album version).
No Values (been singing this to myself this week), Not such a Bad Boy
Stranglehold (I am revisiting PTP and this sounds sounds so good) and Good Times Coming/Feel the Sun
Footsteps (beautfiul) and Move over Busker (fun rocker).
Tough on a Tightrope (just a wonderful song, "I often been accused of giving too little, it's got me confused..."
Squid (yes, I absolutely love this instrumental, it sounds like a volcano erupting to me, just wonderful).
Distractions (perhaps Paul's most beautiful vocal when he sings, "And we spend our time counting shooting stars...."
Back on My Feet (underrated collaboration with Elvis C.).
Figure of Eight
Could you make the case that the 1980s, when Paul was commercially in decline and critically unacclaimed was actually his decade of best music? Don't know if anything rose to the brillance of Ram or Band on the Run but the 1980s was just a goldmine of great songs. It is funny because I really became a huge fan in the 1980s and I was considered uncool by friends in college because I listened to McCartney. I remember friends not liking Press to Play when I was loving it. But now in retrospect, the 1980s were a great decade for Paul, particulary when we dig into B-Side and the Return to Pepperland album.
Great Post Thrillington. You make a great point about the 80's. When I thought about Paul needing a new and far better "Compilation" than Pure McCartney (with all the B-sides, good unreleased stuff etc) I of course started with the 70's and then proceeded to the 80's. I found that you would also need 2 discs for the 80's because Paul was just as prolific in the 80's. Now that it is 20-30 years later I think his 80's output was as good as his 70's if you take each decade as a whole. That's why I put both decades together on the previous page here.
What happeded to Paul in the mid 80's was not so much the "quality" of his music as Thrillington points out, but he got "overexposed" with the big duets. With Paul getting hooked up with Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson, his big hits made it too big and he got way overplayed. Overexposure can be as "deadly" for even an artist as well known as Paul. After Ebony and Ivory and Say Say Say...Paul continued to be overexposed with the hit "The Girl is Mine"again with Michael Jackson. Right after that Top 40 hit came the "Broad Street" movie which was a total flop especially with all the remakes like Silly Love Songs, old Beatle songs etc. It did yield another big hit however with "No More Lonely Nights"so again Paul was constantly on Top 40 radio back in the early 80's. After that, Paul released 2 more songs "Spies Like Us" and "We All Stand Together" which were "bad" relative to Paul McCartney standards. By the mid 80's, people on the whole were sick of Paul and I think even Paul realized that he needed to "hide away" from Top 40 radio. As we know, it wasn't until 1989's Flowers in the Dirt and the subsequent "Live" World Tour that Paul got back on track. Looking back now, Paul was still very prolific in the 80's Decade and he wrote a lot of great stuff.
Even as a huge Paul fan, I never bought the "Press to Play" Album by the time it was released in August 1986. Even I got tired of Paul. No wonder "Press to Play" did so poorly in sales. In retrospect, it wasn't the quality of the album, it was the "timing". Fast forward to 2013 or 2014 and I accidently found a CD copy of Press to Play at a independent record store. It had 3 extra songs on it which was my motivation for buying it. I was still assuming that I probably wouldn't like it because of all the bad reviews I had remembered from the mid-80's but I was curious. Much to my surprise, I got to really like the album as a whole especially fpr the extra tracks like Tough on a Tightrope, It's Not True And Write Away. Except for just a couple of mediocre tracks I was shocked how much i liked the album.
I do like my 80's List (Disc 1 and 2) a lot. This kind of new Compilation is not for every Paul fan especially if they already have huge record and CD collections of Paul stuff, but I think for average Paul fans, they would love to have this sort of compilation especially adding all the B-Sides and Unreleased tracks. Now you guys are motivating me to continue with the next Decades!
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toris wrote:
Yankeefan2 wrote:
thrillington wrote:
BJ Conlee has a great 1980s disc.
I really like these ideas. What is obvious is that it is so easy to undervalue his 1980s work. But that is so wrong.
So agree with stuff like:
From M2: Waterfalls, Coming Up (album version), One of these Days
Just from TOW: Tug of War, Take it Away, I'll Give You a Ring, Wanderlust (gorgeous), The Pound is Sinking (I could listen to it over and over and not tire of it).
Keep Under Cover (I like some of the demos on YouTube more than the POP album version).
No Values (been singing this to myself this week), Not such a Bad Boy
Stranglehold (I am revisiting PTP and this sounds sounds so good) and Good Times Coming/Feel the Sun
Footsteps (beautfiul) and Move over Busker (fun rocker).
Tough on a Tightrope (just a wonderful song, "I often been accused of giving too little, it's got me confused..."
Squid (yes, I absolutely love this instrumental, it sounds like a volcano erupting to me, just wonderful).
Distractions (perhaps Paul's most beautiful vocal when he sings, "And we spend our time counting shooting stars...."
Back on My Feet (underrated collaboration with Elvis C.).
Figure of Eight
Could you make the case that the 1980s, when Paul was commercially in decline and critically unacclaimed was actually his decade of best music? Don't know if anything rose to the brillance of Ram or Band on the Run but the 1980s was just a goldmine of great songs. It is funny because I really became a huge fan in the 1980s and I was considered uncool by friends in college because I listened to McCartney. I remember friends not liking Press to Play when I was loving it. But now in retrospect, the 1980s were a great decade for Paul, particulary when we dig into B-Side and the Return to Pepperland album.
Personally, I think the 00's (2000-2009) was better with "Driving Rain, CHAOS and Memory Almost Full" but to each their own.
Correct! To Each their own.....But I far prefer the 80's Paul. But, yes, to each our own. For me, the 80's songs are better. The voice is better. Remains an underrated period. I continue to love listening to this period of Paul.
Thanks for your comments Toris. Yes we are all big Paul fans and in my opinion, all Post Beatles' Paul periods/decades are great and different. I like the raw Paul but I also love his ballads, country, soul and folky kind of stuff too. Looking at my 70's list, i start out with "Oh Woman, Oh Why" and my 4th song is "Give Ireland Back to the Irish". Talk about "raw" Paul vocals!
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"What happeded to Paul in the mid 80's was not so much the "quality" of his music as Thrillington points out, but he got "overexposed" with the big duets. With Paul getting hooked up with Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson, his big hits made it too big and he got way overplayed. Overexposure can be as "deadly" for even an artist as well known as Paul. After Ebony and Ivory and Say Say Say...Paul continued to be overexposed with the hit "The Girl is Mine"again with Michael Jackson. Right after that Top 40 hit came the "Broad Street" movie which was a total flop especially with all the remakes like Silly Love Songs, old Beatle songs etc. It did yield another big hit however with "No More Lonely Nights"so again Paul was constantly on Top 40 radio back in the early 80's. After that, Paul released 2 more songs "Spies Like Us" and "We All Stand Together" which were "bad" relative to Paul McCartney standards. By the mid 80's, people on the whole were sick of Paul and I think even Paul realized that he needed to "hide away" from Top 40 radio. As we know, it wasn't until 1989's Flowers in the Dirt and the subsequent "Live" World Tour that Paul got back on track. Looking back now, Paul was still very prolific in the 80's Decade and he wrote a lot of great stuff."
"Even as a huge Paul fan, I never bought the "Press to Play" Album by the time it was released in August 1986. Even I got tired of Paul. No wonder "Press to Play" did so poorly in sales. In retrospect, it wasn't the quality of the album, it was the "timing". Fast forward to 2013 or 2014 and I accidently found a CD copy of Press to Play at a independent record store. It had 3 extra songs on it which was my motivation for buying it. I was still assuming that I probably wouldn't like it because of all the bad reviews I had remembered from the mid-80's but I was curious. Much to my surprise, I got to really like the album as a whole especially fpr the extra tracks like Tough on a Tightrope, It's Not True And Write Away. Except for just a couple of mediocre tracks I was shocked how much i liked the album."
BJ, I will have to agree to disagree with you about the quality of his 80's music not being the main cause of McCartney's fall from grace in the 80's. IMO, "McCartney II" was just awful (critics at the time agreed) as I have said fairly often on this board. I admit I am not a fan of "electronica" and the overall sound of this album irritated me. TOW was a classic and I absolutely loved it, I think the title song is one of the most overlooked "gems" in McCartney's solo career. I loved "Take It Away" and always wished he had done it live - oh well. Next up is "Pipes Of Peace" which is bloody awful and a bunch of songs not good enough to be on TOW. The movie "Give My Regards To Broadstreet" is a major flop and is mixture of Beatle songs/solo songs but does include a few new songs which I personally liked. ( No More Lonely Nights, Bad Boy, No Values). He releases "Press To Play" which is a mixed bag, some good songs but not consistent and people hated the 80's sound. I have a soft spot for the song "Press" because I loved the video and it came out when I got engaged to my wife. Thankfully, McCartney concludes the 80's on a high note and begins a comeback. FITD is very good album with a little editing could have been great. He has a bunch of new songs to tour with and they sound great live. Wrapping it up, the 80's has two freaking awful albums (McCartney II, Pipes of Peace), mediocre album (Press To Play), good album (FITD) and excellent album (TOW). Hard to rate "Broad St" album because it is mostly previously recorded songs from his career.
As for overexposure, there are plenty of artists who have had hit songs that got constantly played and was never issue with their career. The problem with the songs you mentioned are that they appeared to the public as blatant attempts to get a hit and making good music was not the real goal. In the 80's, you could have sang the telehone book with Michael Jackson and it would have been a hit -lol. Yes, McCartney in retrospect should have scaled things back a bit in the 80's but that was his decision. I was actually kind of surprised he was so "out there" after Lennon died, I thought he might have become more reclusive.
Once again, just my opinion but the 80's was not one of his better decades. McCartney was much more succesful commercially and wrote better music in the 70's. Due to Linda McCartney's illness and death the 90's was a low key decade but had the wonderful "Flaming Pie" and the best 50's cover album ever IMO (with three very good original songs) "Run Devil Run" and solid album "Off The Ground". The "00"s had his best solo album (CHAOS) ever IMO and the excellent MAF. DR was mixed bag album but still had some excellent moments. (Lonely Road, About You). The "10's" was another scaled back decade but can anybody knock the quality of "New" and "Egypt Station".
Wrapping it up, each decade has had wonderful moments and that is why a "Compliation" like the one you are creating would be wonderful to a bunch of us on this board. We will all agree to disagree on which period was better but isn't it fantastic that we have so many decades to choose from.
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Great previous Post Yankeefan. I'm going to start with the 90's shortly and then I will go to your favorite Decade. It's hard to argue...they are all terrific in my opinion.
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New Paul McCartney Post Beatles Compilation By Decade
The 90's (1 Disc)
1. Hope of Deliverance - LIve Version at the Ed Sullivan Theatre NYC (early 1993 to Promote the new album Off the Ground) IMO Better than Studio Version
2. Off the Ground - Live Version of the title track at the Ed Sullivan Theatre NYC (early 1993)
3. Peace in the Neighbourhood - Live Version at the Ed Sullivan Theatre NYC (early 1993)with a great guitar solo by Robbie McIntosh at the end and with great harmonies from Hamish Stuart.
4. Get Out of My Way - from Off the Ground (studio version and great rocker)
5. Golden Earth Girl - from Off the Ground (great ballad and one of the best tracks on the Album imo
6. Long Leather Coat - B-side to the Hope of Deliverance Single and on OTG - The Complete Works (Disc 2)
7. Keep Coming Back to Love - from OTG-The Complete Works (Disc 2)- Nice Soul/R&B style...Paul/ Hamish Stuart Cowrite
8. I Can't Imagine- B-Side to C'Mon People Single and from OTG- The Complete Works (Disc 2) - very good hidden gem.
9. Kicked Around No More - from OTG-The Complete Works (Disc 2) - Nice soul and R&B type track
10. Big Boys Bickering - from OTG-The Complete Works (Disc 2) - Warning...Paul says the "F" word a couple of times
11. Sweet Sweet Memories - from OTG-The Complete Works (Disc 2) - Nice Pop style song
12. Young Boy - from Flaming Pie (great up-tempo song with a great guitar solo by Steve Miller)
13. Love Come Tumbling Down - B-side to Beautiful Night Single (great B-Side)
14. Heaven on a Sunday - from Flaming Pie and great hidden gem
15. Calico Skies - from Flaming Pie and one of Paul's best Solo songs
16.. The World Tonight - from Flaming Pie and great rocker
17. Souvenir - from Flaming Pie and great soul style Paul song
18. Little Willow - from Flaming Pie and one of Paul's all time great Solo songs
19.. Same Love - B-Side to Beautiful Night (nice ballad and great piano intro by Nicky Hopkins)
20. Great Day - Special Acoustical track from the 2020 Remastered Flaming Pie (love Linda's harmonies with Paul)
21. Somedays - from Flaming Pie with great George Martin strings and orchestration
22. Beautiful Night - from Flaming Pie and one of Paul's best Solo Songs
23. Run Devil Run - title track from Run Devil Run and great rocker in the 50's Style
24. What It Is - from Run Devil Run (great song that Paul wrote for Linda in the mid 90's)
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Well this is some interesting discussion of McCartney by decades. I like BJ's discussion of how Paul was overexposed in the 1980s. I don't know if I would say that the 1980s were the best decade, just that Paul got knocked in the 1980s when in reality he produced some really good "lost" track and album tracks.
I don't know how I would rank the decades. This would be fun podcast.
With the 1990s, Off the Ground: The Complete Works was great. I remember finding it as a import in a music store in the town that I live. I just love the tracks from that CD that BJ lists on the 1990s Anthology disk. I also liked Off the Ground (the single album) quite a bit. Flaming Pie was great with 3-4 standout songs and many good songs. Paul even recorded Young Boy in my home state of Idaho. Then, I really like the two original songs on RDR.
I will wait until BJ finishes the decades compilation before I rank the decades.
One thing that I noticed with the Take it Away podcast was that Ryan and Chris perhaps overvalued older Paul (70s in particular) and perhaps undervalued later Paul. I think that Yankeefan2's point that Paul's best decade was the 00's is interesting. I rank Chaos as one of his best 3 albums and MAF is certainly in my top 5-6 McCartney albums. Driving Rain is spotty but then you have Electric Arguments (which I would put on a Macca Anthology though it is a Fireman album) and that album is really strong. I am going to wait to rank the decades.
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B J Conlee wrote:
New Paul McCartney Post Beatles Compilation By Decade
The 90's (1 Disc)
1. Hope of Deliverance - LIve Version at the Ed Sullivan Theatre NYC (early 1993 to Promote the new album Off the Ground) IMO Better than Studio Version
2. Off the Ground - Live Version of the title track at the Ed Sullivan Theatre NYC (early 1993)
3. Peace in the Neighbourhood - Live Version at the Ed Sullivan Theatre NYC (early 1993)with a great guitar solo by Robbie McIntosh at the end and with great harmonies from Hamish Stuart.
4. Get Out of My Way - from Off the Ground (studio version and great rocker)
5. Golden Earth Girl - from Off the Ground (great ballad and one of the best tracks on the Album imo
6. Long Leather Coat - B-side to the Hope of Deliverance Single and on OTG - The Complete Works (Disc 2)
7. Keep Coming Back to Love - from OTG-The Complete Works (Disc 2)- Nice Soul/R&B style...Paul/ Hamish Stuart Cowrite
8. I Can't Imagine- B-Side to C'Mon People Single and from OTG- The Complete Works (Disc 2) - very good hidden gem.
9. Kicked Around No More - from OTG-The Complete Works (Disc 2) - Nice soul and R&B type track
10. Big Boys Bickering - from OTG-The Complete Works (Disc 2) - Warning...Paul says the "F" word a couple of times
11. Sweet Sweet Memories - from OTG-The Complete Works (Disc 2) - Nice Pop style song
12. Young Boy - from Flaming Pie (great up-tempo song with a great guitar solo by Steve Miller)
13. Love Come Tumbling Down - B-side to Beautiful Night Single (great B-Side)
14. Heaven on a Sunday - from Flaming Pie and great hidden gem
15. Calico Skies - from Flaming Pie and one of Paul's best Solo songs
16.. The World Tonight - from Flaming Pie and great rocker
17. Souvenir - from Flaming Pie and great soul style Paul song
18. Little Willow - from Flaming Pie and one of Paul's all time great Solo songs
19.. Same Love - B-Side to Beautiful Night (nice ballad and great piano intro by Nicky Hopkins)
20. Great Day - Special Acoustical track from the 2020 Remastered Flaming Pie (love Linda's harmonies with Paul)
21. Somedays - from Flaming Pie with great George Martin strings and orchestration
22. Beautiful Night - from Flaming Pie and one of Paul's best Solo Songs
23. Run Devil Run - title track from Run Devil Run and great rocker in the 50's Style
24. What It Is - from Run Devil Run (great song that Paul wrote for Linda in the mid 90's)
Some random thoughts. He did "Get Out Of My Way" very well at the Ed Sullivan theater also and that version would be cool. I love "Long Leather Coat" and "Big Boys Bickering" and not surprised you included them but glad you did -lol. I was not a big fan of "Golden Earth Gir" but that is just me - ha ha. You nailed it on the "Flaming Pie" songs and you know I have always wanted "Little Willow" to be part of the acoustic set. The "Run Devil Run" original McCartney songs are great and he really did excellent job mixing them in with the wonderful 50's covers. Very nice disc.
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I think Paul had as much great music in the 80's as in any other decade. It's just that the 80's also included some of his worst songs, and some of those songs (like the Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson duets) got a ton of airtime and this damaged his reputation a bit. There are really only a handful of Paul songs that I actually dislike, but the majority of those are from the 80's. IMO, all of Paul's decades are consistently great, except the 80's which was a mix of great and not so great. I think the 90's, 00's, and 10's were all consistently great song for song, they just had a little less quantity than the 70's or 80's.
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B J Conlee wrote:
New Paul McCartney Post Beatles Compilation By Decade
The 90's (1 Disc)
1. Hope of Deliverance - LIve Version at the Ed Sullivan Theatre NYC (early 1993 to Promote the new album Off the Ground) IMO Better than Studio Version
2. Off the Ground - Live Version of the title track at the Ed Sullivan Theatre NYC (early 1993)
3. Peace in the Neighbourhood - Live Version at the Ed Sullivan Theatre NYC (early 1993)with a great guitar solo by Robbie McIntosh at the end and with great harmonies from Hamish Stuart.
4. Get Out of My Way - from Off the Ground (studio version and great rocker)
5. Golden Earth Girl - from Off the Ground (great ballad and one of the best tracks on the Album imo
6. Long Leather Coat - B-side to the Hope of Deliverance Single and on OTG - The Complete Works (Disc 2)
7. Keep Coming Back to Love - from OTG-The Complete Works (Disc 2)- Nice Soul/R&B style...Paul/ Hamish Stuart Cowrite
8. I Can't Imagine- B-Side to C'Mon People Single and from OTG- The Complete Works (Disc 2) - very good hidden gem.
9. Kicked Around No More - from OTG-The Complete Works (Disc 2) - Nice soul and R&B type track
10. Big Boys Bickering - from OTG-The Complete Works (Disc 2) - Warning...Paul says the "F" word a couple of times
11. Sweet Sweet Memories - from OTG-The Complete Works (Disc 2) - Nice Pop style song
12. Young Boy - from Flaming Pie (great up-tempo song with a great guitar solo by Steve Miller)
13. Love Come Tumbling Down - B-side to Beautiful Night Single (great B-Side)
14. Heaven on a Sunday - from Flaming Pie and great hidden gem
15. Calico Skies - from Flaming Pie and one of Paul's best Solo songs
16.. The World Tonight - from Flaming Pie and great rocker
17. Souvenir - from Flaming Pie and great soul style Paul song
18. Little Willow - from Flaming Pie and one of Paul's all time great Solo songs
19.. Same Love - B-Side to Beautiful Night (nice ballad and great piano intro by Nicky Hopkins)
20. Great Day - Special Acoustical track from the 2020 Remastered Flaming Pie (love Linda's harmonies with Paul)
21. Somedays - from Flaming Pie with great George Martin strings and orchestration
22. Beautiful Night - from Flaming Pie and one of Paul's best Solo Songs
23. Run Devil Run - title track from Run Devil Run and great rocker in the 50's Style
24. What It Is - from Run Devil Run (great song that Paul wrote for Linda in the mid 90's)
Great list! Personally, I'd probably switch out Peace in the Neighborhood, and replace it with Wine Dark Open Sea, but that might be an unpopular opinion anyway.
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B J, the best of your '90s list so far are all the songs you listed from Flaming Pie! I absolutely LOVE that album!
And your language warning for Big Boys Bickering cracked me up!
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Yankeefan2 wrote:
B J Conlee wrote:
New Paul McCartney Post Beatles Compilation By Decade
The 90's (1 Disc)
1. Hope of Deliverance - LIve Version at the Ed Sullivan Theatre NYC (early 1993 to Promote the new album Off the Ground) IMO Better than Studio Version
2. Off the Ground - Live Version of the title track at the Ed Sullivan Theatre NYC (early 1993)
3. Peace in the Neighbourhood - Live Version at the Ed Sullivan Theatre NYC (early 1993)with a great guitar solo by Robbie McIntosh at the end and with great harmonies from Hamish Stuart.
4. Get Out of My Way - from Off the Ground (studio version and great rocker)
5. Golden Earth Girl - from Off the Ground (great ballad and one of the best tracks on the Album imo
6. Long Leather Coat - B-side to the Hope of Deliverance Single and on OTG - The Complete Works (Disc 2)
7. Keep Coming Back to Love - from OTG-The Complete Works (Disc 2)- Nice Soul/R&B style...Paul/ Hamish Stuart Cowrite
8. I Can't Imagine- B-Side to C'Mon People Single and from OTG- The Complete Works (Disc 2) - very good hidden gem.
9. Kicked Around No More - from OTG-The Complete Works (Disc 2) - Nice soul and R&B type track
10. Big Boys Bickering - from OTG-The Complete Works (Disc 2) - Warning...Paul says the "F" word a couple of times
11. Sweet Sweet Memories - from OTG-The Complete Works (Disc 2) - Nice Pop style song
12. Young Boy - from Flaming Pie (great up-tempo song with a great guitar solo by Steve Miller)
13. Love Come Tumbling Down - B-side to Beautiful Night Single (great B-Side)
14. Heaven on a Sunday - from Flaming Pie and great hidden gem
15. Calico Skies - from Flaming Pie and one of Paul's best Solo songs
16.. The World Tonight - from Flaming Pie and great rocker
17. Souvenir - from Flaming Pie and great soul style Paul song
18. Little Willow - from Flaming Pie and one of Paul's all time great Solo songs
19.. Same Love - B-Side to Beautiful Night (nice ballad and great piano intro by Nicky Hopkins)
20. Great Day - Special Acoustical track from the 2020 Remastered Flaming Pie (love Linda's harmonies with Paul)
21. Somedays - from Flaming Pie with great George Martin strings and orchestration
22. Beautiful Night - from Flaming Pie and one of Paul's best Solo Songs
23. Run Devil Run - title track from Run Devil Run and great rocker in the 50's Style
24. What It Is - from Run Devil Run (great song that Paul wrote for Linda in the mid 90's)
Some random thoughts. He did "Get Out Of My Way" very well at the Ed Sullivan theater also and that version would be cool. I love "Long Leather Coat" and "Big Boys Bickering" and not surprised you included them but glad you did -lol. I was not a big fan of "Golden Earth Gir" but that is just me - ha ha. You nailed it on the "Flaming Pie" songs and you know I have always wanted "Little Willow" to be part of the acoustic set. The "Run Devil Run" original McCartney songs are great and he really did excellent job mixing them in with the wonderful 50's covers. Very nice disc.
Yankeefan...You raise a good point about "Get Our of My Way". I liked all the OTG songs Paul and Band did on the Ed Sullivan Theatre "Live" Broadcast to promote the album. I clearly remember seeing that Show (I think on MTV) and then I've seen them on Youtube. I liked them better than the original studio versions. There was something missing on some of Paul's vocals on the "Off the Ground" album imo. In retrospect I agreee that the "live" version of "Get Out of My Way" would be a better choice. Maybe Paul and his Band needed an audience to "loosen" up. That's why I think many of the "live versions" are better. An even better example is "Peace in the Neighbourhood". I didn't like the album version but I loved his "live" version on that special show. As I said, the Band (especially Robbie, Hamish and Wix) did a great job. Robbie did a great guitar solo to end the song. I also never cared for the album version of "C'Mon People. In a similar way, i've heard much better versions of that song during the subsequent tour "The New World Tour"on Youtube.
Golden Earth Girl is a riskier choice I agree. It's one of those "love or hate" songs but I always loved the melody and believe it or not, the lyrics. Biker Like an Icon was another "love or hate" type song but again the "live" versions are so much better. I think I picked the best OTG songs although Paul and the Record Company were pushing "C'Mon People and Biker a lot harder. Winedark Open Sea is a good song too but that was included on the "Pure McCartney" Compilation. As several have said...you can always quibble over a selection or two.
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Hey McCall...thanks again for your imput. I did mention "Peace in the Neighbourhood" on my response to Yankeefan above. If you haven't seen the Ed Sullivan Theatre show (you can find it on Youtube) check out the Off the Ground tracks that Paul and his Band did on that show. I think that they were all better than their counterpart studio versions. In Particular, I thought the "live" version of "Peace" was far better. I really liked my "B-Sides" on the 90's List. Paul had so many "extra" songs during the Off the Groud Sessions that, as you know, he had enough for a whole extra album (The Complete Works) worth of songs.
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Nancy R wrote:
B J, the best of your '90s list so far are all the songs you listed from Flaming Pie! I absolutely LOVE that album!
And your language warning for Big Boys Bickering cracked me up!
Thanks Nancy. Yes, I remember how shocked I was when I first heard "Big Boys Bickering". A pretty good song imo. BTW..Happy Belated Birthday
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thrillington wrote:
Well this is some interesting discussion of McCartney by decades. I like BJ's discussion of how Paul was overexposed in the 1980s. I don't know if I would say that the 1980s were the best decade, just that Paul got knocked in the 1980s when in reality he produced some really good "lost" track and album tracks.
I don't know how I would rank the decades. This would be fun podcast.
With the 1990s, Off the Ground: The Complete Works was great. I remember finding it as a import in a music store in the town that I live. I just love the tracks from that CD that BJ lists on the 1990s Anthology disk. I also liked Off the Ground (the single album) quite a bit. Flaming Pie was great with 3-4 standout songs and many good songs. Paul even recorded Young Boy in my home state of Idaho. Then, I really like the two original songs on RDR.
I will wait until BJ finishes the decades compilation before I rank the decades.
One thing that I noticed with the Take it Away podcast was that Ryan and Chris perhaps overvalued older Paul (70s in particular) and perhaps undervalued later Paul. I think that Yankeefan2's point that Paul's best decade was the 00's is interesting. I rank Chaos as one of his best 3 albums and MAF is certainly in my top 5-6 McCartney albums. Driving Rain is spotty but then you have Electric Arguments (which I would put on a Macca Anthology though it is a Fireman album) and that album is really strong. I am going to wait to rank the decades.
Great point about the "Take it Away" podcast with Ryan and Chris. I still remember listening to the specific "Press to Play" episode. I was waiting for the boys to crucify "Press to Play" and to my surprise they really liked the album. I felt the same way about the album once I heard it much later myself.
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I love 90's Paul too
He toured Australia on the back of Off the Ground... I went to both concerts... AT THE MCG... THE Stadium.... bigger and best.
My fave from Off The Ground.... I Owe it all to You... my fave.... One of Paul's best. I just love it.
Winedark Open Sea.
Golden Earth Girl.
Those three.... by a mile
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toris wrote:
I love 90's Paul too
He toured Australia on the back of Off the Ground... I went to both concerts... AT THE MCG... THE Stadium.... bigger and best.
My fave from Off The Ground.... I Owe it all to You... my fave.... One of Paul's best. I just love it.
Winedark Open Sea.
Golden Earth Girl.
Those three.... by a mile
Great point about "I Owe it All to You". I was considering that track. I remember seeing a "Live version"on Youtube.
I loved Hamish's backgrond singing and much better than the studio version. Anyway, another song that I wouldn't mind switching from one of the other OTG tracks. I mentioned "Winedark Open Sea" in an earlier post. Again, another case where the "live" version was so much better. As I said, I think it was a case where the Band (including Paul) needed to work together. That was a great Band especially Robbie, Hamish and Wix. I saw the Off the Ground tour in Philadelphia and I thoght it was a great show and especially the OTG songs that I had never heard "live" until that show.