EGYPT STATION
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Kestrel wrote:
wingsoverkc wrote:
No song on Chaos charted at all in the US, and barely made a blip in the UK. Chaos only went as high as #6 in the US and barely made the Top Ten in the UK; in three weeks Chaos was out of the Top 200 in the UK! Egypt Station, on the other hand, debut at #1; Come On To Me made it to #6 on the singles chart on the Adult Contemp. Yes I do agree that Who Cares should be released NOW! A superior rocker with a great message. Anyway, my two cents.
To quote Roger Waters from 1987:
'It's absolutely ridiculous to judge a record solely on sales. If you're going to use sales as the sole criterion, it makes Grease a better record than Graceland.'
Airplay isn't the main criterion for evaluation, either, is it? Why should sales or airplay knock Egypt Station out of the running for major prizes...voters and judges will listen to the entire work itself to determine nominations and winning, won't they? For major releases from someone like McCartney with his standing and status in the music world.
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SusyLuvsPaul wrote:
Kestrel wrote:
wingsoverkc wrote:
No song on Chaos charted at all in the US, and barely made a blip in the UK. Chaos only went as high as #6 in the US and barely made the Top Ten in the UK; in three weeks Chaos was out of the Top 200 in the UK! Egypt Station, on the other hand, debut at #1; Come On To Me made it to #6 on the singles chart on the Adult Contemp. Yes I do agree that Who Cares should be released NOW! A superior rocker with a great message. Anyway, my two cents.
To quote Roger Waters from 1987:
'It's absolutely ridiculous to judge a record solely on sales. If you're going to use sales as the sole criterion, it makes Grease a better record than Graceland.'
Airplay isn't the main criterion for evaluation, either, is it? Why should sales or airplay knock Egypt Station out of the running for major prizes...voters and judges will listen to the entire work itself to determine nominations and winning, won't they? For major releases from someone like McCartney with his standing and status in the music world.
Well, personally I totally disagree that airplay should have any influence on chart positions. Its a total joke that some singles / albums can become hits and make the charts without anyone ever buying them.Whatever McCartney's 'standing and status in the music world is', it has no bearing on how good or not his latest work is. 'Egypt Station' should be judged on its own merit and not be judged by who made it or what they've done before. And although personally I think 'Egypt Station' a good album, I don't think its anywhere near good enough to start picking up awards. Not unless its been a bad year for albums. It might do in the US of course, but that wholly depends on what ES is up against. Not every album (there must be hundreds if not thousands released every year) can be nominated, there are just too many.
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I always thought Grease was a better album than Graceland. IMO Graceland was one of the most over rated albums of ALL TIME.
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B J Conlee wrote:
B J Conlee wrote:
Beatles4Ever&Ever wrote:
SusyLuvsPaul wrote:
I hear you Kestrel (he prefers "Chaos and Creation" to "Egypt Station"), but I think I prefer ES to Chaos, although Chaos is brilliant. Egypt Station is less somber and melancholy with more different music styles. So many people just love, love,love "Egypt Station" and I expect it to snag a Grammy nom for "Album of the Year." If it doesn't, I'll go burn the place down (just kiddin') wink, wink
It should win, too, methinks !
Oh, they'll find some way to give it to Drake, or Rhianna or the never-goes-away, Taylor Swift. Or to some new artist making a splash that we may not even know about!
Beatles4Ever
Back in October, I thought that EG getting multiple Grammy nominations was a sure thing but now I'm not so sure. My fear is the old adage...out of sight, out of mind. Capitol and Paul did a very good job promoting ES prior to its release (and the whole Carpool Karaoke thing didn't hurt for sure) but since ES reached # 1, Capitol has been non-existent. Everything concerning Paul over the last month is either the Wildlife/Red Rose Remasters and/or the White Album remix.
And whenever you do see any mention of ES from Capitol relative to marketing and /or advertising they just keep repeating the same 3 lead songs (the Double A single Come On To Me and I Don't Know and Fuh You. Egypt Station is far more than these 3 songs. While Come On To Me did a good job for ES on the Adult Contemporary Charts, it has now run its course. And while "Don't Know" in my opinion, is a very good song, the other 2 aren't even close to the best songs on ES. Where is a follow-up single for any one of these...Who Cares, Dominoes or Happy With You. I'll leave that answer to our resident chart expert, Bruce. The problem is that except for the people who actually bought the album, no one is hearing the really good songs on Egypt Station on the radio, TV or other medium from what I can see. Maybe Bruce is hearing some inside information that will give me some hope.
I've said this before, but Paul is not helping himself. ES received some of the best reviews Paul has ever received for a Solo album, and yet he is only playing 3 ES song on his current tour. I did notice that he (Thank God) played "Who Cares" on his latest Paris Show but why not songs like Happy With You, Dominoes, Hand-In-Hand, I Don't Know, People Want Peace, Do It Now etc that are far better than Fuh You .
I hope I'm wrong and that the voters have not forgotten about Egypt Station and have only read the press releases from Capitol. If they only listen to the "lead" songs that Capitol keep pushing, Paul doesn't have a chance of winning.
My original point was that I'm "now" not sure that ES is going to win any Grammy awards. As Bruce pointed out (and I did too) Capitol did a great job of "pre-release promotion and marketing for ES but probably about a month a go they just stopped.
It doesn't matter that some of us here "love" the song "Fuh You" but forever reason, the track hasn't made one dent on any of the charts. If you remember, Paul spent some time with the "Hit producer" Ryan Tedder when he couldn't get together with his regular ES producer (Greg Kurstin) because of a conflict in their schedules. Paul as the story goes wasn't too happy on the song they were working on (Fuh You) and supposedly Ryan Tedder asked Paul what he wanted to accomplish from their sessions. Paul told him he wanted a hit and it sounds as though Ryan talked him into continuing with the song. As we know, it then ended up on the proper album.
I think Paul took a chance on the song becoming a hit and even came up with the controversial title hoping that it would further boost its chances. Personally I don't like the title nor the lyrics in general compared to so many of the songs on ES. I admit Fuh You is catchy and that since it is only a little over 3 minutes in length I didn't think as a big time fan that the song marred the album in general I said that in my review many pages back.
Again, it doesn't matter at all that I didn't like the song (for me it's the title/lyrics). The fact is that Paul's/Capitol's "gamble" didn't work by placing "Fuh You" as one of its main "lead" ES songs. The fact that it failed shouldn't mean that you just "stop" marketing a very good album in general. As I said, "Who Cares", "Happy With You" and "Dominoes" are all potential follow up "successes" to "Come On To You" on the Adult Contemporary Charts. I personally think that all 3 songs are more typical McCartney type melodic songs than "Fuh You" and all have far more meaningful lyrics than the latter. I was also shocked that a couple weeks ago on National Bullying Week (if I have that name correct) "Who Cares" wasn't announced as the follow-up single for Egypt Station. This is especially true when Paul had apparently done a video with Emma Stone for "Who Cares".
I'm just stating my concern that from a marketing point of view, ES seems to totally off the radar. From beginning to end in my opinion, ES is a very good album but except for people who bought the album, no one is hearing the really good songs on any of the media.
I'd say BJ has it exactly right here. However much any of us love it, ES has pretty much dropped off the face of the earth as far as the music industry goes, and obvious promotional opportunities have gone by with... nothing. The failure to get Who Cares out there as a single with the previously hyped but yet unseen video is just bizarre.
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SusyLuvsPaul wrote:
Kestrel wrote:
wingsoverkc wrote:
No song on Chaos charted at all in the US, and barely made a blip in the UK. Chaos only went as high as #6 in the US and barely made the Top Ten in the UK; in three weeks Chaos was out of the Top 200 in the UK! Egypt Station, on the other hand, debut at #1; Come On To Me made it to #6 on the singles chart on the Adult Contemp. Yes I do agree that Who Cares should be released NOW! A superior rocker with a great message. Anyway, my two cents.
To quote Roger Waters from 1987:
'It's absolutely ridiculous to judge a record solely on sales. If you're going to use sales as the sole criterion, it makes Grease a better record than Graceland.'
Airplay isn't the main criterion for evaluation, either, is it? Why should sales or airplay knock Egypt Station out of the running for major prizes...voters and judges will listen to the entire work itself to determine nominations and winning, won't they? For major releases from someone like McCartney with his standing and status in the music world.
Because Album of the Year almost never goes to an album that isn't a major hit. We may not like it, but that's how it is and has been for a long time.
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Beck won "Album of the Year" a couple years ago, and his wasn't a major hit, but still won. But like you said that's rare. Kanye West stormed up to the stage when Beck won, protesting. Variety "the show biz bible" had a short article recently speculating about what albums would be Grammy-nominated for that honor, and Egypt Station wasn't in it (though it deserves to be); Drake and maybe Cardi B and others of that ilk were mentioned and possibly Kacey Mulgraves.
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The Grammys aren't all that cool anyway; there's a world of excellent music they never tap into or acknowledge. Music that is superior to the "top ten." If ES gets nominated though I'll be saying the Grammys are pretty cool. (eye roll)
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The Grammys are c(rap). Lost respect for them a long time ago.
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wingsoverkc wrote:
I always thought Grease was a better album than Graceland. IMO Graceland was one of the most over rated albums of ALL TIME.
Bite you tongue! Graceland a brilliant album.... took me awhile to get into it, but it is a classic... although, I do have a soft spot for the Grease soundtrack. Some good stuff on there.... Not that I will readily admit it!
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I didn't mean "Egypt Station" should be Album of the Year because it's by a famous music legend; I meant that McCartney having made the album would draw a lot of attention and consideration to ES, whatever its sales figures and chart numbers are. It ought to win because of its wonderful music, I think. A Bruno Mars album won at the Grammys last year.
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Bruce M. wrote:
B J Conlee wrote:
B J Conlee wrote:
Beatles4Ever&Ever wrote:
SusyLuvsPaul wrote:
I hear you Kestrel (he prefers "Chaos and Creation" to "Egypt Station"), but I think I prefer ES to Chaos, although Chaos is brilliant. Egypt Station is less somber and melancholy with more different music styles. So many people just love, love,love "Egypt Station" and I expect it to snag a Grammy nom for "Album of the Year." If it doesn't, I'll go burn the place down (just kiddin') wink, wink
It should win, too, methinks !
Oh, they'll find some way to give it to Drake, or Rhianna or the never-goes-away, Taylor Swift. Or to some new artist making a splash that we may not even know about!
Beatles4Ever
Back in October, I thought that EG getting multiple Grammy nominations was a sure thing but now I'm not so sure. My fear is the old adage...out of sight, out of mind. Capitol and Paul did a very good job promoting ES prior to its release (and the whole Carpool Karaoke thing didn't hurt for sure) but since ES reached # 1, Capitol has been non-existent. Everything concerning Paul over the last month is either the Wildlife/Red Rose Remasters and/or the White Album remix.
And whenever you do see any mention of ES from Capitol relative to marketing and /or advertising they just keep repeating the same 3 lead songs (the Double A single Come On To Me and I Don't Know and Fuh You. Egypt Station is far more than these 3 songs. While Come On To Me did a good job for ES on the Adult Contemporary Charts, it has now run its course. And while "Don't Know" in my opinion, is a very good song, the other 2 aren't even close to the best songs on ES. Where is a follow-up single for any one of these...Who Cares, Dominoes or Happy With You. I'll leave that answer to our resident chart expert, Bruce. The problem is that except for the people who actually bought the album, no one is hearing the really good songs on Egypt Station on the radio, TV or other medium from what I can see. Maybe Bruce is hearing some inside information that will give me some hope.
I've said this before, but Paul is not helping himself. ES received some of the best reviews Paul has ever received for a Solo album, and yet he is only playing 3 ES song on his current tour. I did notice that he (Thank God) played "Who Cares" on his latest Paris Show but why not songs like Happy With You, Dominoes, Hand-In-Hand, I Don't Know, People Want Peace, Do It Now etc that are far better than Fuh You .
I hope I'm wrong and that the voters have not forgotten about Egypt Station and have only read the press releases from Capitol. If they only listen to the "lead" songs that Capitol keep pushing, Paul doesn't have a chance of winning.
My original point was that I'm "now" not sure that ES is going to win any Grammy awards. As Bruce pointed out (and I did too) Capitol did a great job of "pre-release promotion and marketing for ES but probably about a month a go they just stopped.
It doesn't matter that some of us here "love" the song "Fuh You" but forever reason, the track hasn't made one dent on any of the charts. If you remember, Paul spent some time with the "Hit producer" Ryan Tedder when he couldn't get together with his regular ES producer (Greg Kurstin) because of a conflict in their schedules. Paul as the story goes wasn't too happy on the song they were working on (Fuh You) and supposedly Ryan Tedder asked Paul what he wanted to accomplish from their sessions. Paul told him he wanted a hit and it sounds as though Ryan talked him into continuing with the song. As we know, it then ended up on the proper album.
I think Paul took a chance on the song becoming a hit and even came up with the controversial title hoping that it would further boost its chances. Personally I don't like the title nor the lyrics in general compared to so many of the songs on ES. I admit Fuh You is catchy and that since it is only a little over 3 minutes in length I didn't think as a big time fan that the song marred the album in general I said that in my review many pages back.
Again, it doesn't matter at all that I didn't like the song (for me it's the title/lyrics). The fact is that Paul's/Capitol's "gamble" didn't work by placing "Fuh You" as one of its main "lead" ES songs. The fact that it failed shouldn't mean that you just "stop" marketing a very good album in general. As I said, "Who Cares", "Happy With You" and "Dominoes" are all potential follow up "successes" to "Come On To You" on the Adult Contemporary Charts. I personally think that all 3 songs are more typical McCartney type melodic songs than "Fuh You" and all have far more meaningful lyrics than the latter. I was also shocked that a couple weeks ago on National Bullying Week (if I have that name correct) "Who Cares" wasn't announced as the follow-up single for Egypt Station. This is especially true when Paul had apparently done a video with Emma Stone for "Who Cares".
I'm just stating my concern that from a marketing point of view, ES seems to totally off the radar. From beginning to end in my opinion, ES is a very good album but except for people who bought the album, no one is hearing the really good songs on any of the media.
I'd say BJ has it exactly right here. However much any of us love it, ES has pretty much dropped off the face of the earth as far as the music industry goes, and obvious promotional opportunities have gone by with... nothing. The failure to get Who Cares out there as a single with the previously hyped but yet unseen video is just bizarre.
Not so bizarre IMO. With the White Album storming up the charts & the deluxe re releases of WL and RRS coming up for the X- mas market it would be futile to promote ES with a new single. Remember that the super deluxe edition of ES with additional bonus tracks ( on top of Get Started & Nothing for free) is still in the pipeline. I think they will tie in the Who cares Video with that release in the new year when there‘s less competition. A release after ES gets at least a nomination for Album of the year at the Grammys would make perfect sense.
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Bruce M. wrote:
FWIW, I think Confidante -- People Want Peace -- Hand in Hand -- Dominoes is probably the best 4-song run on any post-Beatle Macca album.
Bruce...you defiintely hit one of my favorite sections of ES. Funny thing is that my new wife is what I would consider a typical McCartney "casual" fan. She, of course, knew many of Paul's songs (she's 63) but it was mainly Beatles and the 70's big Wings' hits. But until she met me (she know's my music obsession with all things Paul) she had never kept up with Macca's solo career from the 80's on. She got me into Spotify and I got her into the Paul McCartney Spotify channel. She immmediately liked some of his music she wasn't familiar with (e.g. the best songs on Flaming Pie). Her comment was that she didn't realize that he was still writing and singing really good songs from his later career. I must add that her taste in music is quite broad and for me personally it has been terrific because she is getting "me" into some great music that I had overlooked. Definitely not top 40 type stuff however. I'm now getting into more artists and styles from various genres and eras.
Getting back to your point, I have been playing ES while taking her to work and it is the precise section of ES that she loves the most. She says that she can't get those 4 songs (along with Happy With You and Who Cares) out of her head. I would also be hard pressed to name 4 songs in a row from other Paul Solo Albums better. Off the top of my head, I would throw out...English Tea, Too Much Rain, A Certain Softness and Riding to Vanity Fair. That's not too bad either in my opinion.
As far as the 4 ES songs in general, I loved Confidante, Hand in Hand and Dominoes right from the start but "People Want Peace" has really grown with me. I love the bridge especially and the overall arrangement. I would be thrilled if Paul played any one of them on his tour. I know...Dream on!
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wingsoverkc wrote:
I always thought Grease was a better album than Graceland. IMO Graceland was one of the most over rated albums of ALL TIME.
Paul Simon was a Grammy darling for decades. If he did something it must be good and be recognized, or so seemed the reasoning by the Academy. So it got nominated. He and Garfunkel won many awards for just that same reasoning....as did Stevie Wonder: for being who they were. IMO
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Frank wrote:
Bruce M. wrote:
B J Conlee wrote:
B J Conlee wrote:
Beatles4Ever&Ever wrote:
SusyLuvsPaul wrote:
I hear you Kestrel (he prefers "Chaos and Creation" to "Egypt Station"), but I think I prefer ES to Chaos, although Chaos is brilliant. Egypt Station is less somber and melancholy with more different music styles. So many people just love, love,love "Egypt Station" and I expect it to snag a Grammy nom for "Album of the Year." If it doesn't, I'll go burn the place down (just kiddin') wink, wink
It should win, too, methinks !
Oh, they'll find some way to give it to Drake, or Rhianna or the never-goes-away, Taylor Swift. Or to some new artist making a splash that we may not even know about!
Beatles4Ever
Back in October, I thought that EG getting multiple Grammy nominations was a sure thing but now I'm not so sure. My fear is the old adage...out of sight, out of mind. Capitol and Paul did a very good job promoting ES prior to its release (and the whole Carpool Karaoke thing didn't hurt for sure) but since ES reached # 1, Capitol has been non-existent. Everything concerning Paul over the last month is either the Wildlife/Red Rose Remasters and/or the White Album remix.
And whenever you do see any mention of ES from Capitol relative to marketing and /or advertising they just keep repeating the same 3 lead songs (the Double A single Come On To Me and I Don't Know and Fuh You. Egypt Station is far more than these 3 songs. While Come On To Me did a good job for ES on the Adult Contemporary Charts, it has now run its course. And while "Don't Know" in my opinion, is a very good song, the other 2 aren't even close to the best songs on ES. Where is a follow-up single for any one of these...Who Cares, Dominoes or Happy With You. I'll leave that answer to our resident chart expert, Bruce. The problem is that except for the people who actually bought the album, no one is hearing the really good songs on Egypt Station on the radio, TV or other medium from what I can see. Maybe Bruce is hearing some inside information that will give me some hope.
I've said this before, but Paul is not helping himself. ES received some of the best reviews Paul has ever received for a Solo album, and yet he is only playing 3 ES song on his current tour. I did notice that he (Thank God) played "Who Cares" on his latest Paris Show but why not songs like Happy With You, Dominoes, Hand-In-Hand, I Don't Know, People Want Peace, Do It Now etc that are far better than Fuh You .
I hope I'm wrong and that the voters have not forgotten about Egypt Station and have only read the press releases from Capitol. If they only listen to the "lead" songs that Capitol keep pushing, Paul doesn't have a chance of winning.
My original point was that I'm "now" not sure that ES is going to win any Grammy awards. As Bruce pointed out (and I did too) Capitol did a great job of "pre-release promotion and marketing for ES but probably about a month a go they just stopped.
It doesn't matter that some of us here "love" the song "Fuh You" but forever reason, the track hasn't made one dent on any of the charts. If you remember, Paul spent some time with the "Hit producer" Ryan Tedder when he couldn't get together with his regular ES producer (Greg Kurstin) because of a conflict in their schedules. Paul as the story goes wasn't too happy on the song they were working on (Fuh You) and supposedly Ryan Tedder asked Paul what he wanted to accomplish from their sessions. Paul told him he wanted a hit and it sounds as though Ryan talked him into continuing with the song. As we know, it then ended up on the proper album.
I think Paul took a chance on the song becoming a hit and even came up with the controversial title hoping that it would further boost its chances. Personally I don't like the title nor the lyrics in general compared to so many of the songs on ES. I admit Fuh You is catchy and that since it is only a little over 3 minutes in length I didn't think as a big time fan that the song marred the album in general I said that in my review many pages back.
Again, it doesn't matter at all that I didn't like the song (for me it's the title/lyrics). The fact is that Paul's/Capitol's "gamble" didn't work by placing "Fuh You" as one of its main "lead" ES songs. The fact that it failed shouldn't mean that you just "stop" marketing a very good album in general. As I said, "Who Cares", "Happy With You" and "Dominoes" are all potential follow up "successes" to "Come On To You" on the Adult Contemporary Charts. I personally think that all 3 songs are more typical McCartney type melodic songs than "Fuh You" and all have far more meaningful lyrics than the latter. I was also shocked that a couple weeks ago on National Bullying Week (if I have that name correct) "Who Cares" wasn't announced as the follow-up single for Egypt Station. This is especially true when Paul had apparently done a video with Emma Stone for "Who Cares".
I'm just stating my concern that from a marketing point of view, ES seems to totally off the radar. From beginning to end in my opinion, ES is a very good album but except for people who bought the album, no one is hearing the really good songs on any of the media.
I'd say BJ has it exactly right here. However much any of us love it, ES has pretty much dropped off the face of the earth as far as the music industry goes, and obvious promotional opportunities have gone by with... nothing. The failure to get Who Cares out there as a single with the previously hyped but yet unseen video is just bizarre.
Not so bizarre IMO. With the White Album storming up the charts & the deluxe re releases of WL and RRS coming up for the X- mas market it would be futile to promote ES with a new single. Remember that the super deluxe edition of ES with additional bonus tracks ( on top of Get Started & Nothing for free) is still in the pipeline. I think they will tie in the Who cares Video with that release in the new year when there‘s less competition. A release after ES gets at least a nomination for Album of the year at the Grammys would make perfect sense.
this last point is a good one relative to the competition from "other" Paul music that was concurrently being promoted (incl. the White Album). As Bruce pointed out, Paul/Capitol should had the "Who Cares" single / video out much earlier. Once the Wildlife / RRS rereleases and the Whie Album promotion started, Capitol probably thought that there was too much competition.
I do agree that If Paul does get a Grammy "nomination" for Album of the Year, it would then make a lot of sense to release the "Who Cares" single/video into the market. But it is precisely getting the "nomination" that is the biggest "if" and my biggest fear because of how the interest in ES totally "dropped off the face of the earth" from the music industry as Bruce says.
I agree with Kestrel that "only" albums that are commercial hits should be considered for the big awards. That's totally not fair in my opinion. Unfortunately it seems to me that it is probably during the "nomination" process where "politics" enters into the mix. It is logical that the "nominated" albums will be strongly and fairly (as much as possible) scrutinized by all the judges in this process (which increases Paul's chances with ES in my opinion) but there are no doubt many very good non "hit" albums that never get nominated. Relative to Paul, we will just have to wait and see. ES was at least a #1 album when it was released whice helps its chances getting nominated.
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SusyLuvsPaul wrote:
I didn't mean "Egypt Station" should be Album of the Year because it's by a famous music legend; I meant that McCartney having made the album would draw a lot of attention and consideration to ES, whatever its sales figures and chart numbers are. It ought to win because of its wonderful music, I think. A Bruno Mars album won at the Grammys last year.
I got what you meant, but the order of your sentences should have been:
“For major releases from someone like McCartney with his standing and status in the music world, voters and judges will listen to the entire work itself to determine nominations and winning, won’t they?”
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Yes. Next time I will re-write your post for you, LOL
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B J Conlee wrote:
Frank wrote:
Bruce M. wrote:
B J Conlee wrote:
B J Conlee wrote:
Beatles4Ever&Ever wrote:
SusyLuvsPaul wrote:
I hear you Kestrel (he prefers "Chaos and Creation" to "Egypt Station"), but I think I prefer ES to Chaos, although Chaos is brilliant. Egypt Station is less somber and melancholy with more different music styles. So many people just love, love,love "Egypt Station" and I expect it to snag a Grammy nom for "Album of the Year." If it doesn't, I'll go burn the place down (just kiddin') wink, wink
It should win, too, methinks !
Oh, they'll find some way to give it to Drake, or Rhianna or the never-goes-away, Taylor Swift. Or to some new artist making a splash that we may not even know about!
Beatles4Ever
Back in October, I thought that EG getting multiple Grammy nominations was a sure thing but now I'm not so sure. My fear is the old adage...out of sight, out of mind. Capitol and Paul did a very good job promoting ES prior to its release (and the whole Carpool Karaoke thing didn't hurt for sure) but since ES reached # 1, Capitol has been non-existent. Everything concerning Paul over the last month is either the Wildlife/Red Rose Remasters and/or the White Album remix.
And whenever you do see any mention of ES from Capitol relative to marketing and /or advertising they just keep repeating the same 3 lead songs (the Double A single Come On To Me and I Don't Know and Fuh You. Egypt Station is far more than these 3 songs. While Come On To Me did a good job for ES on the Adult Contemporary Charts, it has now run its course. And while "Don't Know" in my opinion, is a very good song, the other 2 aren't even close to the best songs on ES. Where is a follow-up single for any one of these...Who Cares, Dominoes or Happy With You. I'll leave that answer to our resident chart expert, Bruce. The problem is that except for the people who actually bought the album, no one is hearing the really good songs on Egypt Station on the radio, TV or other medium from what I can see. Maybe Bruce is hearing some inside information that will give me some hope.
I've said this before, but Paul is not helping himself. ES received some of the best reviews Paul has ever received for a Solo album, and yet he is only playing 3 ES song on his current tour. I did notice that he (Thank God) played "Who Cares" on his latest Paris Show but why not songs like Happy With You, Dominoes, Hand-In-Hand, I Don't Know, People Want Peace, Do It Now etc that are far better than Fuh You .
I hope I'm wrong and that the voters have not forgotten about Egypt Station and have only read the press releases from Capitol. If they only listen to the "lead" songs that Capitol keep pushing, Paul doesn't have a chance of winning.
My original point was that I'm "now" not sure that ES is going to win any Grammy awards. As Bruce pointed out (and I did too) Capitol did a great job of "pre-release promotion and marketing for ES but probably about a month a go they just stopped.
It doesn't matter that some of us here "love" the song "Fuh You" but forever reason, the track hasn't made one dent on any of the charts. If you remember, Paul spent some time with the "Hit producer" Ryan Tedder when he couldn't get together with his regular ES producer (Greg Kurstin) because of a conflict in their schedules. Paul as the story goes wasn't too happy on the song they were working on (Fuh You) and supposedly Ryan Tedder asked Paul what he wanted to accomplish from their sessions. Paul told him he wanted a hit and it sounds as though Ryan talked him into continuing with the song. As we know, it then ended up on the proper album.
I think Paul took a chance on the song becoming a hit and even came up with the controversial title hoping that it would further boost its chances. Personally I don't like the title nor the lyrics in general compared to so many of the songs on ES. I admit Fuh You is catchy and that since it is only a little over 3 minutes in length I didn't think as a big time fan that the song marred the album in general I said that in my review many pages back.
Again, it doesn't matter at all that I didn't like the song (for me it's the title/lyrics). The fact is that Paul's/Capitol's "gamble" didn't work by placing "Fuh You" as one of its main "lead" ES songs. The fact that it failed shouldn't mean that you just "stop" marketing a very good album in general. As I said, "Who Cares", "Happy With You" and "Dominoes" are all potential follow up "successes" to "Come On To You" on the Adult Contemporary Charts. I personally think that all 3 songs are more typical McCartney type melodic songs than "Fuh You" and all have far more meaningful lyrics than the latter. I was also shocked that a couple weeks ago on National Bullying Week (if I have that name correct) "Who Cares" wasn't announced as the follow-up single for Egypt Station. This is especially true when Paul had apparently done a video with Emma Stone for "Who Cares".
I'm just stating my concern that from a marketing point of view, ES seems to totally off the radar. From beginning to end in my opinion, ES is a very good album but except for people who bought the album, no one is hearing the really good songs on any of the media.
I'd say BJ has it exactly right here. However much any of us love it, ES has pretty much dropped off the face of the earth as far as the music industry goes, and obvious promotional opportunities have gone by with... nothing. The failure to get Who Cares out there as a single with the previously hyped but yet unseen video is just bizarre.
Not so bizarre IMO. With the White Album storming up the charts & the deluxe re releases of WL and RRS coming up for the X- mas market it would be futile to promote ES with a new single. Remember that the super deluxe edition of ES with additional bonus tracks ( on top of Get Started & Nothing for free) is still in the pipeline. I think they will tie in the Who cares Video with that release in the new year when there‘s less competition. A release after ES gets at least a nomination for Album of the year at the Grammys would make perfect sense.
this last point is a good one relative to the competition from "other" Paul music that was concurrently being promoted (incl. the White Album). As Bruce pointed out, Paul/Capitol should had the "Who Cares" single / video out much earlier. Once the Wildlife / RRS rereleases and the Whie Album promotion started, Capitol probably thought that there was too much competition.
I do agree that If Paul does get a Grammy "nomination" for Album of the Year, it would then make a lot of sense to release the "Who Cares" single/video into the market. But it is precisely getting the "nomination" that is the biggest "if" and my biggest fear because of how the interest in ES totally "dropped off the face of the earth" from the music industry as Bruce says.
I agree with Kestrel that "only" albums that are commercial hits should be considered for the big awards. That's totally not fair in my opinion. Unfortunately it seems to me that it is probably during the "nomination" process where "politics" enters into the mix. It is logical that the "nominated" albums will be strongly and fairly (as much as possible) scrutinized by all the judges in this process (which increases Paul's chances with ES in my opinion) but there are no doubt many very good non "hit" albums that never get nominated. Relative to Paul, we will just have to wait and see. ES was at least a #1 album when it was released whice helps its chances getting nominated.
For some reason Paul isn‘t a favourite at the Grammys. BUT Chaos was nominated for album of the year - and it only reached 6 on Billboard. And very occasionally non-Hit albums get Album of the year : Herbie Hancock won with „ The Joni Letters“ - Jazz Interpretations of Joni Mitchell songs. Now if ever there was a non- commercial album ...so yes it‘s gonna be tough but IMO ES stands a good chance.
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Frank: "I think Egypt Station stands a good chance" of being Grammy-nominated for Album of the Year. Hay, from your fingertips to God's or Goddess's ears...I read in USA Today paper while ago the Grammy noms will be announced Dec. 7, this coming Friday, and that the four major categories each have eight slots this year. Up from four or five. More artists will have a chance. They mentioned the ubiquitous Taylor Swift for "Reputation," Beyonce and Jayzee, Cardi B I think, the ubiquitous Drake, Kacey Mulgraves as possibilities. Nothing set in stone yet.
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SusyLuvsPaul wrote:
Yes. Next time I will re-write your post for you, LOL
Susy, sorry, just meant that perhaps that was the reason you were misunderstood by Kestrel. I was on your side!
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Beatles4Ever&Ever wrote:
wingsoverkc wrote:
I always thought Grease was a better album than Graceland. IMO Graceland was one of the most over rated albums of ALL TIME.
Paul Simon was a Grammy darling for decades. If he did something it must be good and be recognized, or so seemed the reasoning by the Academy. So it got nominated. He and Garfunkel won many awards for just that same reasoning....as did Stevie Wonder: for being who they were. IMO
That's unfair, I think. Stevie's mid-'70s albums that racked up all those Grammys were brilliant. But the Grammys have often been just clueless. For example, album of the year for 1968 was Glen Campbell's "By the Time I Get to Phoenix." I am not making this up. https://www.grammy.com/grammys/awards/11th-annual-grammy-awards