Flowers In The Dirt a real masterpiece
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I'm a big admirer of "Press To Play". There's some wonderful material underneath the very dated production, but most people seem to forgive "Flowers" for the (now) dated production values, so why not "Press To Play"?
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I love the songwriting of Flowers In The Dirt, but I believe that it suffers from some over-the-top production that, unfortunately, marks the decade musically for me. I still rank it very highly in his catalog, and to me, it represents the beginning of a resurgence in his career that is still going very strong today. Coming off of Pipes of Peace, Give My Regards..., and Press To Play, I know a lot of people had written him off (as a fan, I still love things about those albums, but I also believe that they were subpar for him).
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calicoskych2001:
Ammar:
just to make a note that " Ou Est le Soleil " was an extra track, it wasn't on the original release..so it did not weaken the album at all.
It wasn't part of the vinyl album, but was certainly on the CD which was released at the same time!
And the cassette - strangely, that song is tagged at the end of the CD...but if memory serves me correctly, it ended side one of the cassette The video was pretty cool, using the video game theme
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definitely a great album, probably my favorite Macca album of the 80's. I like the collection of songs a lot, not really one that I can't listen to. a good mix of simple/complicated, slow/uptempo. though somewhat absent is the full on rocker.. Figure of Eight is a fav of mine, I think its a really strong lyric and the song is just so full and beautiful, has a life of its own and whatnot.. and the B-side Flying to My Home is my fav of the entire lot, that should have been the rocker on the album. And Paul's voice still sounds good on the record. I read in some other threads folks debating the deterioration of Paul's voice.. I agree with some that at this point in time Paul does not have the same silky smooth voice he once had. how could he, his vocal chords are as old as he is now. but I think on Flowers he could still pretty much do what ever he wanted vocally. and it allowed him to pull off those sweet melodies he heard in his head.
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I absolutely loved "Flowers in the Dirt" when it first came out and it has stood the test of time for me. Still one of my very favorite albums. Stand outs: That Day is Done, This One, My Brave Face, We Got Married, and Put it There. I remember how exciting it was to hear some of them live during the 89/90 tour...I have such a distinct memory of "We Got Married" and "This One" performed live. Feels like yesterday
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i cant believe some of you are so 'negative' about pauls work on 'flowers'. this is the paul mccartney forum after all.perhaps you should tone down your unreasonable comments
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rich n:
calicoskych2001:
Ammar:
just to make a note that " Ou Est le Soleil " was an extra track, it wasn't on the original release..so it did not weaken the album at all.
It wasn't part of the vinyl album, but was certainly on the CD which was released at the same time!
And the cassette - strangely, that song is tagged at the end of the CD...but if memory serves me correctly, it ended side one of the cassette The video was pretty cool, using the video game theme
Maybe I shouldn't admit it but I really liked Ou Est Le Soleil. Scout's honor. Ou est...le Soleil...dans le tete - isn't that the refrain? I thought it was pretty cool.
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where is ,the sun where is ,the sun in the head ,working....
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the seat of consciousness is in the mind...the light of the sun (consciousness)--that makes sense, although i believe it's in the solar plexis, your tummy area too, based on a direct personal spiritual epiphany (gnosis) when i was only 20...suddenly i could feel my soul inside ('the kingdom of heaven is within you') , a feeling so blissful, radiant light filled, heavenly. i was transported & transformed. on a natural high that lasted strongly about three days and even after, after effects and the precious memory lingered. during its height i wished everyone could feel their soul inside them too. i listened to the song 'amazing grace' and truly felt the truth of its lyrics. ever since i 'know' everyone has a soul which is invisible and ever lasting, which doesn't perish when the physical body does. the words to 'ou est soleil' might go 'sur le tete' instead of 'dans le tete' but that means the same thing, 'in the head.'
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high_wilusa:
rich n:
calicoskych2001:
Ammar:
just to make a note that " Ou Est le Soleil " was an extra track, it wasn't on the original release..so it did not weaken the album at all.
It wasn't part of the vinyl album, but was certainly on the CD which was released at the same time!
And the cassette - strangely, that song is tagged at the end of the CD...but if memory serves me correctly, it ended side one of the cassette The video was pretty cool, using the video game theme
Maybe I shouldn't admit it but I really liked Ou Est Le Soleil. Scout's honor. Ou est...le Soleil...dans le tete - isn't that the refrain? I thought it was pretty cool.
My college roommate played a cassette that his girlfriend made off a French radio station, where "Ou Est..." was a hit at the time. I also love it because of our beloved Linda's inimitable keyboard work.
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Susy, I don't always agree with everything you say, but you always have a very interesting and leftfield way of looking at things. Are you an artist? I think your art would be very worthy and interesting. Anyone who has a truly unique perspective on this world is worth listening to.
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A great album. In my opinion it's only surpassed by the brilliant Chaos and Creation. If I were to list my 50 favorite McCartney songs probably 4 or 5 of them would come from this album (especailly the version with the 3 bonus tracks; Back on My Feet, Flying to My Home and Lovliest Thing).
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Dustbin Lid:
Susy, I don't always agree with everything you say, but you always have a very interesting and leftfield way of looking at things. Are you an artist? I think your art would be very worthy and interesting. Anyone who has a truly unique perspective on this world is worth listening to.
She's a helluva folk songwriter; THAT'S for sure!
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I listened to it to death during the summer of 89 and then saw him for the first time live in 1989 at Bercy in Paris, what a year that was and for other reasons too. Excellent album with many memorable songs. I don't think that the two Costello colloborations on side 2 were very well produced, they're "plodding" if anything and "You want her too" is a bit silly, The Girl is Mine revisited...that leaves My Brave Face, very tight, an excellent single, why the heck has he stopped playing it live ! About the Macca/Costello collaborations I think Costello got the better ones, apart from My Brave Face, Veronica was great (I think Paul once said it was a song he helped Costello finish) but mostly "So Like Candy", wow that's one of my favorite songs ever with Wanderlust, such a beautiful melody. I wonder how they shared the songs, based on who did the most writing?
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SusyLuvsPaul:
'how many people' 'distractions' and 'don't be careless love' are my least favorite songs on 'flowers in the dirt.' i don't know why, exactly, but 'distractions' kind of depresses me. 'how many people' kind of bores me as i don't much like reggae music and find it too simplistic and dull. 'don't be careless love' there's something about it i don't care for, an alfred hitchcock style english morbid element describing violent acts (although warning to avoid them) such as in 'maxwell's silver hammer' (which is a very cute peppy number though, paul just loved it back then, wonder if he does, now?) and the line in 'rocky raccoon' 'to shoot off the legs of his rival.' these are the only times he's used violent, macabre imagery. i think. then in part of the song they or paul sounds like he's singing from under water, it's a weird sound i blame elvis costello for instigating. i love 'rough ride' and the lush, gorgeous, starry eyed 'motor of love' though and have gone into detail on those songs previously. 'rough ride' sounds sophisticated, the cultured reflections of a brilliant mature man. yet he's admitting a certain fear, a poignant touching worry about his chances of going to heaven 'got to get inside, what do i do?" 'ou est le soleil' (dans la tete) --i think it sounds sort of exciting you can't ignore it or claim it makes no impression. i fancied paul's singing in french again, as he did on 'michelle.' it's a rush, a vivid strong fast effect like something fierce coming at ya, gets my blood boiling and the old ticker thumps rapidly with a basic earthy reaction of red hot excitement (i make it sound like it could give me a heart attack (LOL.) it's very stirring and primal. rather like the exotic 'world music' type ditty 'pretty little head' on 'press to play'... ooooo, i feel like running around in the tropical rain forest with cool paintings adorning my shiny wet naked body and wild beautiful markings on my sweaty visage -- like being at 'woodstock.' (laughs merrily) ops: :
Susy, I cannot believe how much I disagree with you on this album!! To me, all 8 of the first tracks are excellent or very good. Then Don't Be Careless Love is just good, That day is done is very good, How Many People is pretty cheesy and a bit embarassing, Motor of Love is terrible and even more embarassing, and then Ou Est Le Soleil is quite interesting and ok. For me the absolute standout is Distractions which I cannot get out of my head and I think is just brilliant and so lush-sounding. But you say it depresses you? : Please tell me you've changed your mind a bit on this album since you wrote this 2 years ago!
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^^^LOL - I'm like a hybrid of the both of you. Of the songs you've discussed I like Distractions, That Day is Done, Motor of Love, and How Many People...I don't care for Don't Be Careless Love and I'm luke warm on the studio version of Rough Ride (absolute DO NOT like the live version)... Of the remaining songs, I really like 'We Got Married, This One, Put it There and Figure of Eight. I'm ok (but not estatic) with My Brave Face and You Want Her Too... I guess You Want Her Too and Rough Ride are the only two I could do without...overall I think it's a very strong album and although part of this could be due to the memory of it being the album being 'plugged' the first time I saw Paul live, I find it to be filled with many memorable moments
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Don't worry, Wobble, I like "Distractions" more now and don't find it depressing. Especially ever since I read Ammar's entire eloquent appreciative thread on that one song "Distractions" and listened to it again a couple of times There's much in it to admire. I still don't care much for "Don't Be Careless Love" and its odd melody and tune and sound effects of the voices. Or its lyrics. I appreciate "How Many People" a bit more, now. Intriguing of him, at least, to put a song on the cd of such a different genre than the rest. Added a lot to the album's pleasing variety
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A very good album, but could have been great. Paul returns to power pop with this album. There are 3 songs which I dont like: rough ride, distractions, & how many people. If he replaced those with his better B-sides at the time, this album would be a masterpiece.
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JoeySmith:
A very good album, but could have been great. Paul returns to power pop with this album. There are 3 songs which I dont like: rough ride, distractions, & how many people. If he replaced those with his better B-sides at the time, this album would be a masterpiece.
I think the age of 'better B sides than songs on final album' started in earnest with the Off The Ground period. For the FITD time period, I think there was The First Stone, Good Sign, Flying to my Home (not sure you can count Back on my Feet since that was a good year and half before the album was released)...And of those three, only Flying to my Home is worth discussing possibly replacing a current track from FITD (in my opinion) Imagine Flying to my Home in place of Don't Be Careless Love The entire complexion of the album would be upgraded despite already being a strong album
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rich n:
^^^LOL - I'm like a hybrid of the both of you. Of the songs you've discussed I like Distractions, That Day is Done, Motor of Love, and How Many People...I don't care for Don't Be Careless Love and I'm luke warm on the studio version of Rough Ride (absolute DO NOT like the live version)... Of the remaining songs, I really like 'We Got Married, This One, Put it There and Figure of Eight. I'm ok (but not estatic) with My Brave Face and You Want Her Too... I guess You Want Her Too and Rough Ride are the only two I could do without...overall I think it's a very strong album and although part of this could be due to the memory of it being the album being 'plugged' the first time I saw Paul live, I find it to be filled with many memorable moments
KInd of funny how people differ, I love "Rough Ride" and thought it was even better live. IMO - It was nice hearing a McCartney song being a little "funky".