EGYPT STATION
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belly wrote:
Need to listen to this album loud, in the car or on good speakers at home - takes on a life of its own then!
I totally agree with you. I wasn't ever keen on I Don't Know but hearing it on the album on good speakers it does sound a whole lot better than it ever did coming from the internet.
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joyce wrote:
Paul just released a new music video for "Fuh You". It may have been filmed in Liverpool in July, when there were reports of such activity at that time. Paul is not in this video, however.
The 'Fuh You' video was definitely filmed in and around Liverpool in July.
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I feel like Caesar Rock is a song I'm not supposed to like, but do anyway...album's great btw, Happy With You, Ceasar Rock, Do It Now are stuck in my head at the moment. Funny enough, the songs I like the least seems to be the ones that were released on video a month or two ahead of the release...Still aborbing, so please excuse the less than detailed review
But as far as his voice, it's not 1969 or 1976 anymore...so what? Still sounds very good...while some of his vocals are what I've come to expect these days, there are other points where he seems to recapture a biit of what I thought he had lost. Anyway, I'll keep tracking along with this album and update my thoughts as pieces and bits sink in
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B J Conlee wrote:
Bruce M. wrote:
Gave it a second spin and a few tunes are growing on me, especially Dominoes and Who Cares. The jury's still out on People Want Peace and Despite Repeated Warnings, plus a few others, but I suspect I'll mostly end up liking it. On this album Paul sounds like he's got something on his mind, which I like and which hasn't always been the case (although it's been more the case the last 20 years or so.
I'm glad there are people who manage not to be bothered by the state of Paul's voice. To me, his singing is now the equivalent of Muhammad Ali's boxing the last 5 ofrso years of his career. His speed, agility and strength were mostly gone, but he got by -- and even won some important fights -- with strategy and skill. Paul's basically doing the same thing, working around his vocal limitations when he can, using them for effect when he must. But it's really hard for me to listen to a song like Confidante and not wish he'd sung it years ago.
Interestingly, I don't find myself wishing I could hear this album sung with Paul's crystalline voice of 1970 or so. What I find myself longing for is to hear it sung with his Flaming Pie-era voice -- older and a bit weathered, but still capable of great beauty when the occasion demanded. Sigh...
Bruce, I'm still digesting Egypt Station myself. As I listen to ES on various short, errand type rides in the car I continue to "stretch" the songs in their order. Just something I have always done listening to a new Paul album.
I'm now just into the final third of the CD (including the extra tracks from my Target purchase) starting with Caesar Rock. I have to hear these songs several more times before I'm close to fully digesting ES.
This morning I just read another review (so many over the last week) by Kitty Empire from the Guardian. Very thoughtful review and yet another one that is real positive (4 out of 5 stars). She is critical of a few small parts of ES but overall she likes ES a lot.
But, while I love all the positives reviews and praises for ES (as people here know I'm a big time fan), I'm personally still struggling with one key aspect of ES. With the first 10 tracks (including the 42 seconds of the opening station), I love the songs in general, the production and playing, the spirit of many of the lyrics, the experimentation etc., I'm having difficulties with Paul's vocals on most of the songs. Your point about longing for even Paul's Flaming Pie "older" voice on ES is well taken. I feel the same way but I even wish for Paul's more recent Chaos and Memory Almost Full voice. I'm having trouble getting past the fact that Paul's voice (especially on the slower numbers) has noticiably deteriorated over the last 7-8 years or so. In the case of some of these songs, the vocal is getting in the way of my love for Paul's music. Some of these songs could be (or almost be) classics but I fear they will never get their due. I'm speaking about songs like Confidante, Hand in Hand and even Happy With You and I Don't know. They are beautiful Macca songs but I just wished Paul had even his Chaos voice.
Paul does seem better on the more uptempo, and rock type numbers. Like you, my 2 favorites so far (again only up to Ceasar Rock) are Who Cares and Dominoes. I love both of those songs and mostly his vocals don't get in the way of how good/great the songs are.
As someone else pointed out with his vocals on "I Don't Know" (another terrific song) you wonder if Paul would had done far less touring over the last 3-4 years, his more rested voice would have substantially elevated the track to classic level. I feel the same way about "Confidante".
BJ, I have listened to the album from start to finish four times. Three times on the stereo at home and once in the car driving to Asheville NC. My thoughts about it are below:
I Don't Know - this song has really grown on me since my initial reaction. I think it is better on good sound system and in album context. Piano intro is just freaking beautiful and I like the lyrics to the song. In a perfect world, I would have loved to hear him sing this 15 years ago but his "old" voice does fit this song.
Come On To Me - pretty good single and it will play well live. I did not like the extended repetiton of lyrics at the end, thought it dragged on but it will be fine live because he will get the audience to clap and sing along with it.
Who Cares - I absolutely love it, uptempo song and about a very current problem in the world today. He should have made this a single and promoted it, maybe it would have caught on with the younger generation due to the topic of the song.
Fuh You - I know many people have dissed the song but it is catchy and makes you want to click your fingers and dance. My daughters who are in their late twenties came over to visit and when they arrived this song was just starting. They heard it coming thru the door and they started dancing and they had no idea who it was when they first came in.
Confidante - Another song I just love, great guitar picking . IMO this song has a CHAOS feel to me and it kind of has a similar sentiment as "How Kind Of You" from CHAOS.
Hand In Hand - Nice song but is it me or does the vocal not even sound like McCartney.
Dominoes - Definitely one of the better songs on the album.
Caesar Rock - actually like it, song kind of picks up the pace again of the album.
Despite Repeated Warnings - Enjoyed it more than I thought I would. Sometimes when I read he is doing song like this I get worry that it will drag on but this had some nice tempo shifts and came off well.
Station II - This like "Opening Station" would have fit in nicely on Fireman album - lol.
Drag You Down/Naked/C Link - Pretty cool way to end the album, really like the guitar playing on it. I think this would be pretty cool live but doubt it will happen
Overall I would give the album an A- grade. Good quality through out the album with excellent diversity in sound. Only negatives are I wished the album rocked a bit more and his voice was a bit better.
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Thanks Yankeefan...you are making me feel better already. Like you, I love, love the song"Confidante". The guitars, melody are great and just so classic Paul but not at all crazy about his vocal here. If I were Greg Kurstin, I would have asked Paul to do some more vocal takes until he got it right. His vocals on a similar song like "Happy With You" for example are much superior. Hopefully, Paul will do "Confidante" on tour and perhaps he will get an improved live version. It does not ruin Egypt Station (ES) for me. I just got to get used to it I guess. The song is definitely that good.
I couldn't agree with you more about "Who Cares". I also think it should have been the "first" single coming out of the gate. Just love it and it rocks. I think of all the songs on ES, it could possibly be the one that the young kids might be drawn to. As you say, the subject matter (internet bullying) is current which is a big plus and you can dance to it. Watching the "live" version of "Who Cares" at the NYC Grand Station Concert on Friday night shows how good the song will go over on tour. And you could tell the 2 young girls on stage just loved dancing to "Who Cares". I can imagine it being played at "clubs".
I think if Capitol and Paul were smart, they will market "Who Cares" as the next single. "Come On To Me" has been very successful on the Adult Contemporary chart (#6) and I think this song is better.
So far I think ES is another very good "late career" Paul album. I also like:
*I Don't know - Liked this one from the beginning and on the CD it sounds even better
*Come On To Me - again hearing it on the CD you get all the benefits of the full production and all the instrumentation
* Happy With You - ...Like Confidante, I love the guitar picking and the lyrics; it sounds so Paul and Beatlesque
*People Want Peace -starting to grow with me
*Hand in Hand - Another one where I wished Paul's vocal was better but I love the song. Since I have a wedding on my mind, it could be a classic Wedding song
*Dominoes - One of the frst songs (after the intro "single" songs) on ES that I really love. Has a strong ELO/Traveling Wilbury sound to me. Like the guitar sounds at the end.
* Back in Brazil - didn't like this in the beginning but it's starting to grow with me especially the music. Latin and Jazz style.
* Do It Now - Another one I really like. Typical Paul strong piano ballad and for some reason his vocals sound really good here. Just makes me think that he could have done a better vocal take on Confidante and Hand in Hand.
In fairness, I still haven't listen enough to the rest of ES yet. Really liking what I've heard so far despite a couple of vocal misteps (mainly Confidante and Hand In Hand). Great production, creativity and diversity so far.
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Not going into any great depth on ES other than to say its easily his best album since Flowers in the dirt,honestly didnt think he still had this sort of quality left in him,and his voice yes it sounds tired and old..it is tired and old and his songwrtiing relects this and just adds to it.
If,and i hope to heaven its not,this album is to be Pauls swansong its a hell of a way to sign off,but trouble is we know theres more to come from him the man seems invincible,but will it reach the same sort of quality? i doubt it myself,i rate it that highly.
But this is Paul and if nothing else he always surprises everyone.
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oobu24 wrote:
Only the deluxe editions (Blue & Orange - McCartney; Black- Amazon) come in a gatefold, such as the one Paul is holding. Spotify (green) and B&N (red) have the traditional right side opening.
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I'm still unsettled in my overall impression besides the fact that I totally love Dominoes and Who Cares, and like I Don't Know a lot. I'm pretty sure I could live without Ceasar Rock and Back in Brazil, but there's nothing on the album I really dislike. I'm even learning to tolerate Fuh You as a sort of guilty pleasure.
Meanwhile, Come On To Me is taking off on U.S. Adult Contemporary radio. (as previously noted, you have to create an account to access the charts on AllAccess.com, but it's free). Egypt Station is holding onto no. 1 on the Amazon CD/vinyl bestseller list and at no. 7 on their digital albums list.
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Early numbers indicate that Egypt Station will enter the Billboard Top 200 album chart at # 2 in the coming week. If only it could have legs for a couple of weeks (doubtful but who knows) would be incredible to see it reach #1.
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Hunt You Down in my opinion should have been a complete song it has such a good groove and vibe going on production harmonies etc.. such a shame as it would have made a cracking single
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rich n wrote:
I feel like Caesar Rock is a song I'm not supposed to like, but do anyway...album's great btw, Happy With You, Ceasar Rock, Do It Now are stuck in my head at the moment. Funny enough, the songs I like the least seems to be the ones that were released on video a month or two ahead of the release...Still aborbing, so please excuse the less than detailed review
But as far as his voice, it's not 1969 or 1976 anymore...so what? Still sounds very good...while some of his vocals are what I've come to expect these days, there are other points where he seems to recapture a biit of what I thought he had lost. Anyway, I'll keep tracking along with this album and update my thoughts as pieces and bits sink in
First, before I add to my comments above - the word in bold is supposed to be 'absorbing', but it seems I can no longer edit the post...
But anyway, add Dominos and Despite Repeated Warnings to the songs I'm stuck on...and speaking of the latter, while that song overall sounds nothing like 'Gratitute' from MAF, he stole a bass line from that song (maybe second verse of Despite Repeated Warnings???) and it put my right back there for that momentary bass line...LOL
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Totally agree, would love to hear it live too.
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Everything Aflutter wrote:
Early numbers indicate that Egypt Station will enter the Billboard Top 200 album chart at # 2 in the coming week. If only it could have legs for a couple of weeks (doubtful but who knows) would be incredible to see it reach #1.
Most recent McCartney albums enter the charts in the top 10 but usually don't stay there more than a week, hope this will be different.
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Bill813 wrote:
oobu24 wrote:
Only the deluxe editions (Blue & Orange - McCartney; Black- Amazon) come in a gatefold, such as the one Paul is holding. Spotify (green) and B&N (red) have the traditional right side opening.
Thanks for that info. My Spotify green arrived just yesterday. Luckily I went to Target for their version last Friday.
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Contacted customer service about the where-a-bouts of the Green Spotify vinyl release and received this email responce
Hello ,
Thank you for the email.
Please accept my sincere apologies for the delay in shipping your order.
I am afraid we are still awaiting a delivery of the order from our supplier and do not have an exact date when this is due.
As soon as the stock arrives your order will be supplied and you will be sent an email confirmation once it leaves.
Should you wish to cancel your order, please let us know and we can arrange for you.
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what's about "nothing for free" as further radio single? IMO it could be a HIT; it's such an modern and funny song
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I've listened to "Egypt Station" a bunch over the last few days - I really, REALLY love it. The standout songs for me at the moment are "Happy With You", "Hand In Hand", "Dominoes", "Back in Brazil", "Do It Now", "Despite Repeated Warnings", & "Hunt You Down/Naked/C-Link". The whole record is exceptionally well produced, chock full of well written, cleverly constructed songs with awesome melodies, interesting arrangements, and great performances (both musically and vocally).
"Fuh You" is definitely the weakest link on the record IMO (just from a pure "song" standpoint), but I still enjoy it - I think it's a harmless, fun, super catchy pop song. Like the man himself said, "It's only a fun song anyway. It's not trying to be important."
The quality of the material on the run of albums he's released from "Chaos and Creation in the Backyard" to "Egypt Station" is really remarkable, and the pure musical invention on this record astounds me. Several reviews I've read have made the "Ram 2018" comparison, and I can definitely understand that because of the eccentricity and stylistic variety (and I really dig that, as "Ram" is one of, if not my favorite McCartney LP). Still digesting the new songs, hearing new layers reveal themselves with every listen. Great stuff!
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Random musings on a Wednesday morning.... (Next album title)
Thinking about how Paul hinted at the possibility of taking the brass section on the tour dates... HELL YES...PLEASE!
Then thinking of the other closer before the bonus tracks, Hunt You Down/Naked/C-Link
This would sound amazing live. Could even see the horns repeating his notes in C-Link... could even see the mighty trio of Rusty/Paul/Brian exchanging blues hooks....
OMG, bring it on!!! Is it next Monday night yet???????
Think I'd like to hear about 6 tracks from the Album live...
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rich n wrote:
I feel like Caesar Rock is a song I'm not supposed to like, but do anyway...album's great btw, Happy With You, Ceasar Rock, Do It Now are stuck in my head at the moment. Funny enough, the songs I like the least seems to be the ones that were released on video a month or two ahead of the release...Still aborbing, so please excuse the less than detailed review
But as far as his voice, it's not 1969 or 1976 anymore...so what? Still sounds very good...while some of his vocals are what I've come to expect these days, there are other points where he seems to recapture a biit of what I thought he had lost. Anyway, I'll keep tracking along with this album and update my thoughts as pieces and bits sink in
Spot on Re Paul’s voice . I’m fine with Paul’s voice , and sometimes On the album he’s still surprising me in a good way .
Liking the album more with every listen . I thought it was good quality from the get go - it’s been very well engineered and produced .
Favourites at the moment are Dominoes , people want piece , Happy with You , fuh you and I don’t know . I thought fuh you was initially throwaway but now I find myself singing it loads !
hope the album does well chartwise . It deserves to
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B J Conlee wrote:
Anthony B. wrote:
I've listened to "Egypt Station" a bunch over the last few days - I really, REALLY love it. The standout songs for me at the moment are "Happy With You", "Hand In Hand", "Dominoes", "Back in Brazil", "Do It Now", "Despite Repeated Warnings", & "Hunt You Down/Naked/C-Link". The whole record is exceptionally well produced, chock full of well written, cleverly constructed songs with awesome melodies, interesting arrangements, and great performances (both musically and vocally).
"Fuh You" is definitely the weakest link on the record IMO (just from a pure "song" standpoint), but I still enjoy it - I think it's a harmless, fun, super catchy pop song. Like the man himself said, "It's only a fun song anyway. It's not trying to be important."
The quality of the material on the run of albums he's released from "Chaos and Creation in the Backyard" to "Egypt Station" is really remarkable, and the pure musical invention on this record astounds me. Several reviews I've read have made the "Ram 2018" comparison, and I can definitely understand that because of the eccentricity and stylistic variety (and I really dig that, as "Ram" is one of, if not my favorite McCartney LP). Still digesting the new songs, hearing new layers reveal themselves with every listen. Great stuff!
Anthony,
Always love your posts. And when you visit, I can easily hear my favorite cover of Paul's "Put It There".
Is your Brother, Father and of course you considering playing any of the new "Egypt Station" songs in your future sets. Several fit your acoustic style very well. For starters, I would love to see a video of you guys doing "Happy With You"...one of my favorites so far. It has that "Put It There" feeling.
Since you are singers, here are a few other requests and a couple of questions:
Hand in Hand - I also love this one. I'm getting married next month (10/27) and I'm considering putting this one on my "Wedding" playlist. I wished Paul's voice was a little stronger however. As singers, one question to you would be... I love the bridge on "Hand in Hand" ("We can make this dream come true, Only if we want it to"....part) but I wished Paul and Greg Kurstin would have repeated it during the 2nd half of the song. Just thinking that repeating the bridge might have made the song a little better. It is ony 2:35 in length so a repeat of the bridge would still only make it a 3:00 minute song. In general, what do you think. Still love the song and getting used to Paul's voice.
Confidante - Another acoustic one that I like quite a bit. I love the guitar chords and melody but my main problem that I have expressed in a couple of posts is that Paul's voice in parts is very shaky. Just seems like Paul and Greg should have done more vocal takes until he got it right. Is "Confidante" a hard song to sing? He sings "Happy With You" (a similar song) much better.
People Want Peace - This one is really growing with me and I think it is another one that you guys could do well. Would probably go over well with today's audiences. What do you think?
Do It Now - Really like this one too. I know it is basically a piano number but are you considering doing this one. As a side not, I think Paul's vocal on "Do It Now" is very good and strong. I wonder why he can "still" sound so good on certain songs like here and comparatively weak on others. Any thoughts.
Like you however I still love Egypt Station. I think it is "top tier" McCartney as far as albums go. Of all his albums, I have about 8-9 albums as top tier and this is certainly one of them. I'm still digesting the last third or so of the album at this point.
PS My absolute favorites at this point are "Who Cares" and "Dominoes". I love it when he tackles a serious subject like "Bullying" and the former does a great job on this.
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