NEW.. The best Macca Solo Studio Pop Rock Album since:
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Steve:
Best since Chaos..... But hey, he's on a roll..... Chaos, Memory and New are all very good.... Lets just hope its not another 6 years until the New new one appears....
Seems like he'd concentrate on his songwriting and making new music above all else, career-wise, now--he doesn't have time to wait "another six years," he ought to fire out new albums like Willie Nelson is (five in five years, Nelson has)--if Paul wants to, that is, but God how I hope he wants to ("Proper" albums although a Fireman project on which he sings would be quite welcome.)
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SusyLuvsPaul:
Steve:
Best since Chaos..... But hey, he's on a roll..... Chaos, Memory and New are all very good.... Lets just hope its not another 6 years until the New new one appears....
Seems like he'd concentrate on his songwriting and making new music above all else, career-wise, now--he doesn't have time to wait "another six years," he ought to fire out new albums like Willie Nelson is (five in five years, Nelson has)--if Paul wants to, that is, but God how I hope he wants to ("Proper" albums although a Fireman project on which he sings would be quite welcome.)
"If he wants to" - that's the key. I just read a quote from Paul in the Lewisohn book on the Beatles where he says he hates the word "ought," as in he "ought" to do something; if someone suggests that, he's likely to do the opposite.
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Another month has gone by since I wrote this original Post. All I have to say is that I like this album (NEW) even more. The 1st 8 songs (up to Everybody Out There) in my opinion are tremendous...probably better than any previous Paul Solo album. It's the last 7 (including the 2 bonus tracks) that I like better now than I did after its 1st month after release. I'm not saying these latter 7 are better as a whole than the 1st 8 but they have grown in stature with me. I now think that Hosanna, Road and Scared are all good album cuts. I Can Bet is a great rocker and the 2 bonus cuts provide some country/rockabilly feel giving NEW even more diversity. Probably the track that took me the longest to really like is Scared but it did finally resonate with me after hearing my Sister singing it. Now I like it and gives NEW that good piano ballad. It was great to see that Rolling Stone placed it at # 4 for all of 2013. Not sure that a Paul Solo album has ever placed that high on RS's Year End Album list. That to me was confirmation that NEW is really a good album. In my opinion, Paul's best Solo albums (Post Wings) previous to NEW are Tug of War, Flaming Pie and Chaos. To me, it could be a "toss-up" between any of these 3 and NEW. At this point, I just give NEW a slight edge looking at an album fully from beginning to end. I love NEW's diversity and consistency. I love the rockers on NEW and I also think that NEW has at least 4 Macca classics...Alligator, Queenie Eye, Early Days and New. As I said before, I think all of us would agree that NEW certainly enhances Paul's Solo Catalog and his legacy.
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IMO NEW definitly is better than MAF ! Except for You Tell Me, Mr. Bellamy and the completely underrated Vintage Clothes MAF was a pretty average Paul album. The only stinker on NEW is On My Way to Work. I think Driving Rain and Chaos were excellent in their entirely different ways. DR strong on rock and CHAOS strong on slow cuts. That`s why I think NEW has a slight edge over thoses two. It`s an excellent mix that gels well as an album. When Tug of War came out I thought it was brilliant, but would I listen to it today ? Hardly. I´d rather go for Back To The Egg or older albums. So yeah probably I think NEW is his best since the 70`s - with DR and CHAOS very, very close on its heels.
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Frank:
IMO NEW definitly is better than MAF ! Except for You Tell Me, Mr. Bellamy and the completely underrated Vintage Clothes MAF was a pretty average Paul album. The only stinker on NEW is On My Way to Work. I think Driving Rain and Chaos were excellent in their entirely different ways. DR strong on rock and CHAOS strong on slow cuts. That`s why I think NEW has a slight edge over thoses two. It`s an excellent mix that gels well as an album. When Tug of War came out I thought it was brilliant, but would I listen to it today ? Hardly. I´d rather go for Back To The Egg or older albums. So yeah probably I think NEW is his best since the 70`s - with DR and CHAOS very, very close on its heels.
Tastes do vary. I still listen to Tug of War more than any other Paul album and more than most Beatles albums. If you haven't listened to it in a while, you might want to give it a try again.
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They are all good! Hard to rank as our moods & tastes change. Currently I'm turned on by "New" however next month it will be something different.
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My Top 10 1. New 2. Band On The Run 3. Off The Ground 4. Chaos & Creation 5. Memory Almost Full 6. Drving Rain 7. Flaming Pie 8 . Flowers In The Dirt 9. Ram 10. Tug Of War