Flaming Pie
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In my rediscovery of McCartney, I have been listening to Driving Rain. There are some outstanding tracks, but I think it is my least favourite from what I have listened to so far (and knew already), namely: New, Memory Almost Full, Chaos and Creation, Press to Play, Flowers in the Dirt, McCartney II and Ram. I'd be interested in your views of this album. I think it's great, just not as great as those mentioned above. Maybe it just seemed a little over-smooth and programmed? Not sure. My favourite tracks were She's Given Up Talking, From a Lover to a Friend, and Spinning on an Axis. They were seriously good.
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Definitely one of my favourite albums of his, meant a lot to me when it was released. Lonely Road, I Do, Magic, Heather, Your Loving Flame and Rinse the Raindrops are classics in my world..
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Danish Macca:
Definitely one of my favourite albums of his, meant a lot to me when it was released. Lonely Road, I Do, Magic, Heather, Your Loving Flame and Rinse the Raindrops are classics in my world..
What a great bass sound on the whole album!
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I agree with all comments. Some fantastic bass playing. In my opinion, at least among fans on this site, his most underrated album by far.
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I like it, don't love it. Yes, the bass is great. About half the tracks are solid, a quarter so-so, a couple are weak, and there's "Freedom," which is best forgotten.
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Bruce M.:
I like it, don't love it. Yes, the bass is great. About half the tracks are solid, a quarter so-so, a couple are weak, and there's "Freedom," which is best forgotten.
Agreed, with the title track also best forgotten. "1,2,3,4,5, let's go for a drive..." Huh? One of his few albums I don't have. Though Lonely Road is good.
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beatlesfanrandy:
Bruce M.:
I like it, don't love it. Yes, the bass is great. About half the tracks are solid, a quarter so-so, a couple are weak, and there's "Freedom," which is best forgotten.
Agreed, with the title track also best forgotten. "1,2,3,4,5, let's go for a drive..." Huh? One of his few albums I don't have. Though Lonely Road is good.
"1, 2, 3, 4, can I have a little more? 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, I love you!"
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Love that album! Especially the tracks From a lover to a friend, She's given up talking, Your Way, About You, Heather, Back in the sunshine again and Rinse the randrops. I know a lot of people on the board here are not that keen on the album (and I don't understand why), but imho it's one of his best. A real revelation after his albums in the eighties and nineties. For me it's like a 'come back' album, and the first of five great solo albums to come (including The Fireman's Electric Arguments). What I like most of it, is it's freshness; it's sounds like Macca had a whole lot of fun making it. I do agree with the comments on Driving Rain though. I think it's the album with the weakest title track...
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Iowa Hawkeye Beatlefan:
I agree with all comments. Some fantastic bass playing. In my opinion, at least among fans on this site, his most underrated album by far.
I agree with this - while not my favorite Paul McCartney album, I was quite optimistic with what I heard, especially given that this was Paul's first proper studio album since Linda's death and the vibe I got was that he's really getting back on his feet after a couple of tough years...He sounded in good form for the most part (exception was when I heard excerpts of From a Lover to a Friend prior to the album's release - I was a bit concerned for his voice) And as an aside, the 'count' during (the song) Driving Rain is harmless and far from offensive...doesn't bother me in the least...and yeah, I'm glad Freedom made the final cut...I heard that song for the first time the other day in a long time and it brought me back to that entire immediate post 9/11 period...both sad, but proudly patriotic
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The reason that "1,2,3,4,5" bothers me, but "1,2,3,4, can I have a little more" doesn't: "All Together Now" has a light atmosphere with the acoustic guitar and harmonica (or harp, as John would say?), perfect for a childlike rhyme, but "Driving Rain" has a kind of full-throated, almost aggressive thing going (maybe more suited to an "Only Mama Knows"-type narrative). That was the first full song I heard from that album (the website had had that looping piano riff from "From a Lover to a Friend"), and I thought the musical backing was superb and exciting, but the lyrics just didn't match up with it, in my opinion. I do enjoy the album, especially the musical performances, but I think where it suffers is: a) it's too long by a couple of tracks (not meaning "Rinse The Raindrops," which I think is great, just that the album is too long in general); and b) I think "From a Lover" and "She's Given Up Talking" drag down the pacing so early in the album; would have been better with another uptempo track as #2, and then spread out those other two further down the track sequence. I realize that the sequence as it is kind of traces Paul's path from losing Linda to finding Heather (yippee!
: ), but again, just my opinion! -
Not a great album, i think Americans like it more than British because he did the Driving Rain Tour to promote it but we got missed on this tour
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favoritething:
The reason that "1,2,3,4,5" bothers me, but "1,2,3,4, can I have a little more" doesn't: "All Together Now" has a light atmosphere with the acoustic guitar and harmonica (or harp, as John would say?), perfect for a childlike rhyme, but "Driving Rain" has a kind of full-throated, almost aggressive thing going (maybe more suited to an "Only Mama Knows"-type narrative). That was the first full song I heard from that album (the website had had that looping piano riff from "From a Lover to a Friend"), and I thought the musical backing was superb and exciting, but the lyrics just didn't match up with it, in my opinion. I do enjoy the album, especially the musical performances, but I think where it suffers is: a) it's too long by a couple of tracks (not meaning "Rinse The Raindrops," which I think is great, just that the album is too long in general); and b) I think "From a Lover" and "She's Given Up Talking" drag down the pacing so early in the album; would have been better with another uptempo track as #2, and then spread out those other two further down the track sequence. I realize that the sequence as it is kind of traces Paul's path from losing Linda to finding Heather (yippee!
: ), but again, just my opinion!
I don't care for the 1,2,3,4,5 either. -
For those who want to criticize the title track, that is fine, but most of the rest of the album is suberb. The critics, who not are not always fans of Paul, generally gave this very good reviews. Rolling Stone rated it as a 4 star album, as did Allmusic. The BBC rated it as favorable. I would argue it is one of the top 5 albums in his whole post-Beatles catalog, ahead of almost all Wings albums.
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One of my favorites...definitly one of his best post-Wings albums, I´d say it`s my No. 2 after NEW (post - 70s that is). Unfortunatly Paul`s worst song ever Freedom was added on the album. Kindly press to stop after Rinse the raindrops. wink
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rich n:
especially given that this was Paul's first proper studio album since Linda's death and the vibe I got was that he's really getting back on his feet after a couple of tough years...
Not very high on my list apart from Riding To Jaipur, Heather and Your Loving Flame but, because of the above, it was so welcome and I tried to like it....
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Don't like "She's Given Up Talking" and "Heather" but love the other songs
I lost my "Driving Rain" cd 
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Just got this again..been listening to it alot on my MP3..Best part is I took out songs I didnt like ...IMO...About You SHOULD have opened the album...(Gone are Spinning On Axis/Riding Into Jaipur/Freedom) ..it's sad and Beautiful in alot of the songs..more then I remember when it came out..
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I made a thread about the album that is not there anymore. It's a great rocking album on half of the tracks, with great melodic bass lines and instruments. for me I think it is the most underrated Paul McCartney album ever. melodic, rocking, full of energy, wonderful vocal, fresh subjects and music that is not similar to any previous albums. As I mentioned before this album will be looked at with more and more respect through the years.
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Maybe Press to Play or Back To The Egg are underrated Paul McCartney albums too
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Well BTTE was underrated - but isn`t anymore certainly not on this board. I don`t think the same thing will ever be true with Press. Problem with that album is that it didn`t age well because it`s such a product of the 80s. I rather liked it when it was released but nowadays I would`t listen to it. It sounds stuck in this 80s sound, partly because Paul used a lot of 80s session musicians and Phil Collins`producer Hugh Padgham. Would be nice to hear stripped down versions of Footprints, Stranglehold.
