'Press To Play' Paul interview 1985
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Very informative Paul interview / article about the recording of 'Press To Play'.
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Kestrel wrote:
Very informative Paul interview / article about the recording of 'Press To Play'.
Cool interview and I probably like this album more than most people - lol
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Thanks for the article. Press to Play is one of the more interesting albums imho.
Press t Play was what I call my "lost McCartney album". It was a timing thing for me. I was going through some life altering events personally. I had recently got fired from my job, going through a divorce and becoming a single parent all at once. With all of these things, I wasn't keeping up with the latest Paul album.
I never bought the album at the time and the reviews were so bad so I wasn't motivated. I also didn't love the single from the allbum called Press. The other thing is that I was disappointed for the most part with Pipes of Peace (after Tug of War) and the Broad Street album which was primarily a bunch of remakes.
Fast forward to many years later and I had retired, moved to Florida and I had a lot more times on my hand. I had purchased a bunch of Paul's old albums (all CD's) from the Collection Series and I really enjoyed hearing them again and the extra tracks. I think it was around 2015 that I found the Press to Play CD at an independent record store. I still remember hesitating to buy it because of the original lousy reviews but thank God I bought it anyway. It didn't hurt that the CD contained 3 extra tracks from the original album.
Maybe because my expectations weren't' high but as I started to grow into the album, I was pleasantly surprised. Compared to Pipes of Peace and especially Broad Street, Paul seemed very loose on the tracks and he wasn't trying to make Top 40 hits. It had Paul's usual variety that I really liked. Tracks that became favorites were Stranglehold, Good Times Coming/Feel the Sun, Footprints, Only Love Remains, and Move Over Busker. Some of the other cuts were ok to pretty good. Didn't love the closer "However Absurd" but it was ok. Not surprisingly and judging by Paul's past history of leaving off good songs from albums, I really like the extra tracks...Write Away, It's Not True and Tough on a Tightrope. All in all, it became a very enjoyable album for me. I never understood the "hate" for the album except for some of the tracks being a little too 80's from a production point of view. But for me, I didn't mind the production as a whole.
Speaking of players on the album, I liked most of the Paul/Eric Stewart collaborations and I really liked the extra guitar work from Carlos Alomar who was previously on David Bowie albums. I still consider Press to Play one of Paul's most underrated albums.
It felt even better later on when I started listening to the "Take It Away" Podcast on Paul's Post Beatles career and specifically all of his Wings and Solo albums. When it came to the Press to Play episode I was surprised how well Chris and Ryan and their special guest for the episode, Kit O'Toole (a music critic) liked Press to Play and all 3 of them felt Press to Play was a hidden gem in Paul's Discography. The guys were a lot younger than many of the critics that had panned Press to Play originally. Chris and Ryan didn't get into Paul until he was already a solo artist and the 80's Production didn't bother them in general calling it good 80's production.
I can't wait for Paul to do a Remaster/Archive treatment for Press to Play. I've seen on Youtube where there are a bunch of alternative versions on several of the tracks and of course it still didn't include one of my favorite unreleased songs from the sessions called Yvonne. Can't wait for the Archive version of Press to Play is released.
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BJ, Kit O'Toole also writes for Beatlefan magazine which I have subscribed to since late 1980. It is published here in Georgia where I live. The latest issue just arrived and I'm still reading the last one!
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B J Conlee wrote:
Thanks for the article. Press to Play is one of the more interesting albums imho.
Press t Play was what I call my "lost McCartney album". It was a timing thing for me. I was going through some life altering events personally. I had recently got fired from my job, going through a divorce and becoming a single parent all at once. With all of these things, I wasn't keeping up with the latest Paul album.
I never bought the album at the time and the reviews were so bad so I wasn't motivated. I also didn't love the single from the allbum called Press. The other thing is that I was disappointed for the most part with Pipes of Peace (after Tug of War) and the Broad Street album which was primarily a bunch of remakes.
Fast forward to many years later and I had retired, moved to Florida and I had a lot more times on my hand. I had purchased a bunch of Paul's old albums (all CD's) from the Collection Series and I really enjoyed hearing them again and the extra tracks. I think it was around 2015 that I found the Press to Play CD at an independent record store. I still remember hesitating to buy it because of the original lousy reviews but thank God I bought it anyway. It didn't hurt that the CD contained 3 extra tracks from the original album.
Maybe because my expectations weren't' high but as I started to grow into the album, I was pleasantly surprised. Compared to Pipes of Peace and especially Broad Street, Paul seemed very loose on the tracks and he wasn't trying to make Top 40 hits. It had Paul's usual variety that I really liked. Tracks that became favorites were Stranglehold, Good Times Coming/Feel the Sun, Footprints, Only Love Remains, and Move Over Busker. Some of the other cuts were ok to pretty good. Didn't love the closer "However Absurd" but it was ok. Not surprisingly and judging by Paul's past history of leaving off good songs from albums, I really like the extra tracks...Write Away, It's Not True and Tough on a Tightrope. All in all, it became a very enjoyable album for me. I never understood the "hate" for the album except for some of the tracks being a little too 80's from a production point of view. But for me, I didn't mind the production as a whole.
Speaking of players on the album, I liked most of the Paul/Eric Stewart collaborations and I really liked the extra guitar work from Carlos Alomar who was previously on David Bowie albums. I still consider Press to Play one of Paul's most underrated albums.
It felt even better later on when I started listening to the "Take It Away" Podcast on Paul's Post Beatles career and specifically all of his Wings and Solo albums. When it came to the Press to Play episode I was surprised how well Chris and Ryan and their special guest for the episode, Kit O'Toole (a music critic) liked Press to Play and all 3 of them felt Press to Play was a hidden gem in Paul's Discography. The guys were a lot younger than many of the critics that had panned Press to Play originally. Chris and Ryan didn't get into Paul until he was already a solo artist and the 80's Production didn't bother them in general calling it good 80's production.
I can't wait for Paul to do a Remaster/Archive treatment for Press to Play. I've seen on Youtube where there are a bunch of alternative versions on several of the tracks and of course it still didn't include one of my favorite unreleased songs from the sessions called Yvonne. Can't wait for the Archive version of Press to Play is released.
I think half the reason I kind of liked the song "Press" was that I loved the video with McCartney on the "Underground".
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Brilliant article, love that album. First time I went on the tube all I could think of was Press
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Yankeefan2 wrote:
B J Conlee wrote:
Thanks for the article. Press to Play is one of the more interesting albums imho.
Press t Play was what I call my "lost McCartney album". It was a timing thing for me. I was going through some life altering events personally. I had recently got fired from my job, going through a divorce and becoming a single parent all at once. With all of these things, I wasn't keeping up with the latest Paul album.
I never bought the album at the time and the reviews were so bad so I wasn't motivated. I also didn't love the single from the allbum called Press. The other thing is that I was disappointed for the most part with Pipes of Peace (after Tug of War) and the Broad Street album which was primarily a bunch of remakes.
Fast forward to many years later and I had retired, moved to Florida and I had a lot more times on my hand. I had purchased a bunch of Paul's old albums (all CD's) from the Collection Series and I really enjoyed hearing them again and the extra tracks. I think it was around 2015 that I found the Press to Play CD at an independent record store. I still remember hesitating to buy it because of the original lousy reviews but thank God I bought it anyway. It didn't hurt that the CD contained 3 extra tracks from the original album.
Maybe because my expectations weren't' high but as I started to grow into the album, I was pleasantly surprised. Compared to Pipes of Peace and especially Broad Street, Paul seemed very loose on the tracks and he wasn't trying to make Top 40 hits. It had Paul's usual variety that I really liked. Tracks that became favorites were Stranglehold, Good Times Coming/Feel the Sun, Footprints, Only Love Remains, and Move Over Busker. Some of the other cuts were ok to pretty good. Didn't love the closer "However Absurd" but it was ok. Not surprisingly and judging by Paul's past history of leaving off good songs from albums, I really like the extra tracks...Write Away, It's Not True and Tough on a Tightrope. All in all, it became a very enjoyable album for me. I never understood the "hate" for the album except for some of the tracks being a little too 80's from a production point of view. But for me, I didn't mind the production as a whole.
Speaking of players on the album, I liked most of the Paul/Eric Stewart collaborations and I really liked the extra guitar work from Carlos Alomar who was previously on David Bowie albums. I still consider Press to Play one of Paul's most underrated albums.
It felt even better later on when I started listening to the "Take It Away" Podcast on Paul's Post Beatles career and specifically all of his Wings and Solo albums. When it came to the Press to Play episode I was surprised how well Chris and Ryan and their special guest for the episode, Kit O'Toole (a music critic) liked Press to Play and all 3 of them felt Press to Play was a hidden gem in Paul's Discography. The guys were a lot younger than many of the critics that had panned Press to Play originally. Chris and Ryan didn't get into Paul until he was already a solo artist and the 80's Production didn't bother them in general calling it good 80's production.
I can't wait for Paul to do a Remaster/Archive treatment for Press to Play. I've seen on Youtube where there are a bunch of alternative versions on several of the tracks and of course it still didn't include one of my favorite unreleased songs from the sessions called Yvonne. Can't wait for the Archive version of Press to Play is released.
I think half the reason I kind of liked the song "Press" was that I loved the video with McCartney on the "Underground".
Yea Yankeefan...I liked the video also and the song kind of grew with me. Not a bad track at all but not one of the best tracks imho. I love the ones I mentioned especially Footprints.
