"Off The Ground" re-release
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Guitarman147:
Hmm. Seems a bit odd to re-release just this one album out of the blue, for no apparent reason. Especially considering that Off the Ground is one of Paul's lesser-known albums. Personally it's one of my favourites and I never quite understood why it wasn't received all that well. I was hoping it might get some form of Archive Collection treatment at some stage, but perhaps this re-release makes that more unlikely. I was actually hoping all of the post-Beatles albums, at least up to Off the Ground, would be released as part the Archive Collection, because they've really put the effort in and made a terrific job of the re-releases so far, and the albums really do sound as good as they can possibly sound. I wouldn't expect big box sets for each and every album but at least remasters of the original albums, perhaps with a bonus CD or DVD included.
At this point, it looks like V&M/Speed of Sound are coming next, followed by Tug of War/Pipes of Peace. Nothing rumored after that, but we'll have to see. Hard to imagine skipping Red Rose Speedway, for sure, but Off The Ground seems remote.
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I knew Archive editions of Venus & Mars and Speed of Sound were on their way at some point, but I hadn't heard about Tug of War and Pipes of Peace. That's great news as far as I'm concerned - I'm particularly keen on Pipes!
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Really excited to hear about Speed Of Sound, my favourite Wings album along with London Town. Best line-up of the band.
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ewanme:
Really excited to hear about Speed Of Sound, my favourite Wings album along with London Town. Best line-up of the band.
OTG is 1 of my least favorite of his recordings. I like the 2 Elvis collaborations & some of the more obscure album cuts. But this is forced pop at Macca's worst. Also, some of the worst Macca lyrics. The 2nd CD does nothing to change my mind. A big letdown after the promise of Flowers.
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RMartinez:
OFF THE GROUND may be weak compared to, say, TUG OF WAR or BAND ON THE RUN. But it certainly can hold its own with FLOWERS IN THE DIRT. Even FLAMING PIE. It buries everything since.
Uh... No, No, NO. OTG is Paul's weakest album of the last 20 years. This reissue, especially coming now, just baffles me.
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lost my original OTG too many house moves. I will have a look at it.
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wingsdgm:
I Bet FLAMING PIE does
God, I hope so! One of Paul's best albums.
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OTG yielded Paul's biggest selling single worldwide since The Beatles. Golden Earth Girl is a classic, as is the second single C'mon People. The title track is fantastically catchy, great live too. Looking for changes, the 2 Elvis collaborations, Biker, Peace..so many great tracks!
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Count me among the fans of this album. It really feels like a band working together and giving it their all. "Flowers In The Dirt" was a bit too scattered, with all the different producers (it needed a Giles Martin type, to pull it all together like "New"). Yes, "Looking For Changes" is a bit awkward in the lyric department, and "Get Out Of My Way" doesn't feel quite genuine and heartfelt, despite the fantastic horn arrangement. But there are so many great tracks, from "The Lovers That Never Were" to "Winedark Open Sea" to "I Owe It All To You" to "Mistress and Maid" to "C'mon People"... even "Biker Like An Icon", which gets bashed by many fans, to me is just fun. And this album has his greatest bunch of B-sides ever, in my opinion.
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Bruce M.:
RMartinez:
OFF THE GROUND may be weak compared to, say, TUG OF WAR or BAND ON THE RUN. But it certainly can hold its own with FLOWERS IN THE DIRT. Even FLAMING PIE. It buries everything since.
Uh... No, No, NO. OTG is Paul's weakest album of the last 20 years. This reissue, especially coming now, just baffles me.
That's your opinion. I say, and it is my opinion, it was a pretty good album. Having said that, I have no idea why that one is being re-released out of sequence. But then again, Paul does a lot of things like that. If it is such a non-consequential LP, why even re-release it? And it IS better than DRIVING RAIN, CHAOS, and maybe even NEW and MAF. But we are splitting hairs. Since 1988, in my opinion, the best were FLOWERS and FLAMING. OTG is a close third.
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ewanme:
OTG yielded Paul's biggest selling single worldwide since The Beatles. Golden Earth Girl is a classic, as is the second single C'mon People. The title track is fantastically catchy, great live too. Looking for changes, the 2 Elvis collaborations, Biker, Peace..so many great tracks!
Did sales of Hope of Deliverance within the few countries it was popular in (which didn't include the US or the UK) really soar to the point where it was considered strong 'world wide'...here in the US, we - as Paul fans - only know the song along the same lines as we know about Mull of Kintyre...basically a song that was popular somewhere else, but not here...And from my perspective even less so, because aside from the US charts, the UK charting system seems to be the other 'big' one to really legitimize a single as being 'truly' successful. Now of course to be fair, we're talking about 'success' based on the 'Paul McCartney Scale' and a big seller in any country would be quite a feat for a new or modest band...
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I think Hear Music is just gradually trying to re-release his whole catalogue, bit by bit. They did quietly re-release the formerly Capitol titles "Run Devil Run" and "Driving Rain" and "Chaos And Creation In The Backyard" in 2011, again just as straight reissues with no bonus content, so my guess is they're now starting to fill some more holes in the catalogue, at least the albums that are not planned to have Archive Edition re-releases. The word is that "V&M"/"Speed Of Sound"/"Tug of War"/"Pipes of Peace" are on the way. Other than them, the only Paul/Wings major studio albums not released on Hear Music so far are: Wild Life Red Rose Speedway London Town Back To The Egg Broad Street Press To Play Choba B CCCP (if you call that one major) Flowers In The Dirt Flaming Pie
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The whole reissue thing probably is only relevant in the US. You can still get the original OTG CD in Europe, as you can get any other Paul CD. It seems that only in the US titles were deleted after Paul left Capitol. Oh and I think It`s a pretty weak album. Peace in the neighborhood is such an awful track...it`s the type of song which ruined Paul`s reputation in the 80s and early 90s. To state that OTG is better than Driving Rain and Chaos and New is just mind boggling.
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Frank:
The whole reissue thing probably is only relevant in the US. You can still get the original OTG CD in Europe, as you can get any other Paul CD. It seems that only in the US titles were deleted after Paul left Capitol. Oh and I think It`s a pretty weak album. Peace in the neighborhood is such an awful track...it`s the type of song which ruined Paul`s reputation in the 80s and early 90s. To state that OTG is better than Driving Rain and Chaos and New is just mind boggling.
Mind boggling based on what? Certainly not sales. OTG sold as well or better than those. Paul even played a song off of OFG in Brazil in 2013. We won't be hearing any songs off of DRIVING RAIN or CHAOS anytime soon. Or ever. And there aren't even any 2014 tour dates announced, while NEW has been on the shelves for a few months now. I hope Paul plays material off of NEW in 2014, but if he doesn't it would not surprise me.
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RMartinez:
Frank:
The whole reissue thing probably is only relevant in the US. You can still get the original OTG CD in Europe, as you can get any other Paul CD. It seems that only in the US titles were deleted after Paul left Capitol. Oh and I think It`s a pretty weak album. Peace in the neighborhood is such an awful track...it`s the type of song which ruined Paul`s reputation in the 80s and early 90s. To state that OTG is better than Driving Rain and Chaos and New is just mind boggling.
Mind boggling based on what? Certainly not sales. OTG sold as well or better than those. Paul even played a song off of OFG in Brazil in 2013. We won't be hearing any songs off of DRIVING RAIN or CHAOS anytime soon. Or ever. And there aren't even any 2014 tour dates announced, while NEW has been on the shelves for a few months now. I hope Paul plays material off of NEW in 2014, but if he doesn't it would not surprise me.
I fully expect him to play "New" songs on tour, probably the four he has been playing. He kept "Sing The Changes" in the setlist for quite a while, so I don't see why he would jettison "New" so quickly. Frank: the Capitol versions of the albums I mentioned still seem to be available here in the U.S., so I don't know exactly what the strategy or the deal is. My mind is also not boggled, although I think "Chaos" is still the best of all the ones you mentioned.
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I love Off the Ground as well!!
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Frank:
The whole reissue thing probably is only relevant in the US. You can still get the original OTG CD in Europe, as you can get any other Paul CD. It seems that only in the US titles were deleted after Paul left Capitol. Oh and I think It`s a pretty weak album. Peace in the neighborhood is such an awful track...it`s the type of song which ruined Paul`s reputation in the 80s and early 90s. To state that OTG is better than Driving Rain and Chaos and New is just mind boggling.
I'm with you. OTG does have moments -- and I'll buy the reissue, since my old copy is my original cassette and basically dead -- but Peace in the Neighborhood, Golden Earth Girl, Biker Like an Icon and several other tracks are just not in the league with Paul's best. That said, I do like the title track, Hope of Deliverance and the 2 Elvis Costello collaborations, so it's not a total misfire.
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Well, these are all just opinions and nothing more. Seems OTG will be re-released. Those who like it can buy it. Those who don't, well, don't buy it. I will buy it.
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I like the album, although the production could have been drier.
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The Bob Clearmountain mix of the title song is a ripper!
...overall I enjoy the album, but as someone posted, Peace In The Neighbourhood is pretty lame, and the production lacks something: other than that, I like it!