McCartney 3?
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B J Conlee wrote:
Kestrel,
To quote from a great Dave Mason song..."We Just Disagree"
And there's nowt wrong with that.
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Egypt Station was Paul's first U.S. no. 1 album since Tug of War. It was acclaimed by critics all over the world. Yeah, that would be a terrible thing to repeat.
FYI, no one's albums sell what they used to because the music market has shifted entirely. Comparing sales stats with years or decades before is pointless.
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I'd be thrilled if a "McCartney 3" came out of this lockdown period like a gorgeous colorful flower from the dirt. From this perilous dangerous time. He probably had his hands full though with an intriguing-sounding score for a "It's a Wonderful Life" theatrical musical and with the new "Let It Be" movie, and other things. He'd be astonishingly prolific and hyper-creative to also suddenly produce out of his hat an all new originals album ~! But bring it on, if so !
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Bruce M. wrote:
Egypt Station was Paul's first U.S. no. 1 album since Tug of War. It was acclaimed by critics all over the world. Yeah, that would be a terrible thing to repeat.
It got hyped to No. 1 in the US charts (which are a joke anyway) and soon fell out of a charts,a sure sign that no one was interested in it other than McCartney fans who bought it before hearing it. Critics aren't fans and are people paid to like or dislike an album so their verdicts are pretty meaningless. The real people to listen to are those who actually paid to hear the album (ie the fans) and their verdict is pretty clear. Its curerently one of the least liked albums of Paul's solo career of the last forty years. I take your point that sales are down pretty much across the board these days but after two years, Egypt Station, has sold about 500,000, which is was down on New for example. It wouldn't be a terrible thing to repeat but it wouldn't be a good thing to repeat either. Paul needs to record a stronger set of songs and he won't do that while working with producers like Greg Kurstin.
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Egypt Station has sold "500,000" units in two years--so it went Gold. That's pretty good, isn't it ? And "New" went gold?
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Kestrel wrote:
Bruce M. wrote:
Egypt Station was Paul's first U.S. no. 1 album since Tug of War. It was acclaimed by critics all over the world. Yeah, that would be a terrible thing to repeat.
It got hyped to No. 1 in the US charts (which are a joke anyway) and soon fell out of a charts,a sure sign that no one was interested in it other than McCartney fans who bought it before hearing it. Critics aren't fans and are people paid to like or dislike an album so their verdicts are pretty meaningless. The real people to listen to are those who actually paid to hear the album (ie the fans) and their verdict is pretty clear. Its curerently one of the least liked albums of Paul's solo career of the last forty years. I take your point that sales are down pretty much across the board these days but after two years, Egypt Station, has sold about 500,000, which is was down on New for example. It wouldn't be a terrible thing to repeat but it wouldn't be a good thing to repeat either. Paul needs to record a stronger set of songs and he won't do that while working with producers like Greg Kurstin.
Kestrel, we get that you don't like Egypt Station. You've said that a number of times before. But then again, there are many people here that feel the opposite. This is music and it is very subjective.
Are far as your "stronger set of songs" comment, again I feel the exact opposite. Melodically and/or Lyrically I don't think songs like...Happy With You, I Don't Know, Confidante, Hand in Hand, People Want Peace, Dominoes, Do It Now, Despite Repeated Warnings, Hunt Me Down/Naked etc. are weak songs by any means. But this is just my opinion and I understand you see it another way.
I'm not an expert on music sales but in this era and for an artist who is 78 years old, Five Hundrred Thousand sold units seems like a very respectable number. Paul shouldn't be embarrassed with Egypt Station in the least. People listening to Paul McCartney songs will grow and grow till eternity and many of the songs I just listed will continue to be heard. That's plenty good enough for me.
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B J Conlee is right--at least several songs he cited from "Egypt Station" are at least minor Macca masterpieces. "Despite Repeated Warnings" and "People Want Peace," for example, sound like they could have been on his classic masterpiece album "Tug of War." And "Happy With You" and "Hand in Hand" and such may come to be regarded as classic McCartney love songs.
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Egypt Station is one of McCartney's least liked? Not sure where Kestrel pulled that 'fact' from, but I have a clue. Rhymes with class. If Paul's next album is half as good as ES I will be a happy camper. Still listening to songs from ES daily.
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SusyLuvsPaul wrote:
B J Conlee is right--at least several songs he cited from "Egypt Station" are at least minor Macca masterpieces. "Despite Repeated Warnings" and "People Want Peace," for example, sound like they could have been on his classic masterpiece album "Tug of War." And "Happy With You" and "Hand in Hand" and such may come to be regarded as classic McCartney love songs.
Thanks Susy. I love all the songs I listed and Rollingstone not only loved the album but cited "Dominoes" specifically as its "masterpiece". Dominoes is one of my personal favorites and one of Paul's all time best Solo songs in my opinion.
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wingsoverkc wrote:
Egypt Station is one of McCartney's least liked? Not sure where Kestrel pulled that 'fact' from, but I have a clue. Rhymes with class. If Paul's next album is half as good as ES I will be a happy camper. Still listening to songs from ES daily.
Wingoverkc
I agree totallly with what you are saying about ES. My most enjoyable Paul McCartney playlist is Spotify's "This is Paul McCartney". 90% of the songs are from Paul's Post Beatles' Career from the 70's till today. They play plenty of Egypt Station but also songs from all of Paul's era's. I have to say that whenever an Egypt Station song is played, I'm a happy camper. They show how totally underrated McCartney's career has been after the Beatles.
I know that Kestrel likes a "Site" mainly designed for consumers to rate albums that they listen to. Apparently ES didn't fare too well compared to other Paul albums. But my questlion... who makes "their results" better than other music sites and does that prove that ES is not as good as other Paul albums. Personally I give much more creedence to "professional" critics who in general are better at rating and comparing popular albums. That's what they do for a living. All I know it that most of the larger music magazines rated Egypt Station very high. Besides listening with my own ears, I trust most of the professional critics (especially if individually they have a reputation for being fair and objective) far more than ordinary consumers who aren't always fair or expert in their opinions. As far as sites that give consumers a chance to rate albums, I would go no further than look at Amazon... one of the biggest. In looking at Amazon's current Consumer Reviews on Egypt Station, 91% either gave ES a 5 Star or 4 Star and 69% of them rated the album 5 Stars. That is plenty good enough for me.
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My ears and my mind are good enough for me...told me I really like Paul's Egypt album music
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Kestrel,
I should have let you speak for yourself on my last post. That was wrong and I do apologize. I'll just go back to the fact that music is very subjective. No one is right and no one is wrong.
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Yes, musical tastes are subjective -- I love Egypt Station and loathe Ram, and I know many disagree -- but certain facts are indeed facts. Album sales have been tanking for years, including during the period between New and Egypt Station. Indeed, they dropped 18.2% just from 2017 to 2018. Most albums do most of their sales the first couple weeks, though some young artists will hang on for a while, but old guys just don't sell in huge volumes. Let's compare Egypt Station to recent albums by some of Paul's contemporaries:
Paul Simon's Stranger to Stranger was widely praised and his best selling album since Graceland. It sold 68,000 copies its first week in the US, less than half of what Egypt Station sold its first week. Brian Wilson's No Pier Pressure only made it to no. 28 on the Billboard 200. Bob Dylan's new one, unusually successful for him, sold a bit over 57,000 copies in its first week.
And Come On to Me was the closest Paul's come to a US radio hit in 20+ years, cracking the top 20 on two separate airplay charts, Adult Contemporary and Adult Alternative.
For an album by a geezer act in this streaming-obsessed, album-disdaining era, Egypt Station did extraordinarily well.
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Bruce M. wrote:
Yes, musical tastes are subjective -- I love Egypt Station and loathe Ram, and I know many disagree -- but certain facts are indeed facts. Album sales have been tanking for years, including during the period between New and Egypt Station. Indeed, they dropped 18.2% just from 2017 to 2018. Most albums do most of their sales the first couple weeks, though some young artists will hang on for a while, but old guys just don't sell in huge volumes. Let's compare Egypt Station to recent albums by some of Paul's contemporaries:
Paul Simon's Stranger to Stranger was widely praised and his best selling album since Graceland. It sold 68,000 copies its first week in the US, less than half of what Egypt Station sold its first week. Brian Wilson's No Pier Pressure only made it to no. 28 on the Billboard 200. Bob Dylan's new one, unusually successful for him, sold a bit over 57,000 copies in its first week.
And Come On to Me was the closest Paul's come to a US radio hit in 20+ years, cracking the top 20 on two separate airplay charts, Adult Contemporary and Adult Alternative.
For an album by a geezer act in this streaming-obsessed, album-disdaining era, Egypt Station did extraordinarily well.
Oops, significant typo there: Come On to Me cracked the top 10 on both the Adult Contemporary and Adult Alternative charts, the first Paul single to crack the top 10 on any airplay chart since The World Tonight 21 years prior.
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alcatrazkidz wrote:
As the whole world has been on pause, I think it's the perfect time for creative people to get creative. I wonder if Paul is in his studio messing about and making music for his own pleasure. It would be amazing if he made a McCartney 3 during this time.
You're about to get your wish!
Hint: if you like to share "best of the year" lists with family over the holidays, I strongly suggest doing that over Christmas instead of Thanksgiving this year!
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Hint: if you like to share "best of the year" lists with family over the holidays, I strongly suggest doing that over Christmas instead of Thanksgiving this year!
I'm not forgetting this E.I.B.
Everything is crossed!
Egypt Station is cracking good, and an important Macca album to me amongst many important Macca albums in my life. I find it as weird (F.Y., B.2.B, She's A Rock) and wonderful (I Don'T Know, H.I.H., D.I.N.) as anything else in his catalogue.
"The charts" are a flippin' joke. Fat Cats pay top dollar to show they "won," and I'm not in anyway talking about our Paul here.
And I am more than bought and sold for "McCartney 3!"Give me full white-haired mad-scientist lab coat Paul banging pans and making voices, PLEASE! This man deserves to reflect as weird as our current times are.
Go Ape Paul! We got Sweet Bananas!
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AlienGirlWorx wrote:
Hint: if you like to share "best of the year" lists with family over the holidays, I strongly suggest doing that over Christmas instead of Thanksgiving this year!
I'm not forgetting this E.I.B.
Everything is crossed!
Egypt Station is cracking good, and an important Macca album to me amongst many important Macca albums in my life. I find it as weird (F.Y., B.2.B, She's A Rock) and wonderful (I Don'T Know, H.I.H., D.I.N.) as anything else in his catalogue.
"The charts" are a flippin' joke. Fat Cats pay top dollar to show they "won," and I'm not in anyway talking about our Paul here.
And I am more than bought and sold for "McCartney 3!"Give me full white-haired mad-scientist lab coat Paul banging pans and making voices, PLEASE! This man deserves to reflect as weird as our current times are.
Go Ape Paul! We got Sweet Bananas!
I came here wanting to share my news, and your initial post in this thread was so on-target, it seemed the best one to respond to.
I'm just as excited as you are! Don't know if we'll get "mad scientist" Paul or Grandpa Paul, strumming his acoustic, but I'm genuinely stunned we'll be getting an album at all (for some crazy reason, I thought Egypt might be his final solo album - I'm thrilled to be WRONG!).
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First rounds on me if you are right E.I.B.
I cheers to you tonite, friendo!
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AlienGirlWorx wrote:
First rounds on me if you are right E.I.B.
I cheers to you tonite, friendo!
Two weeks ago, when I first heard the news - even though the source sounded impeccable - I was still a wee bit skeptical. But when I got two different sources confirming that info within an hour of each other this morning, any doubts vanished.
I think we'll hear official confirmation in a month or so. I don't hang around a lot here (I find the aesthetics of this discussion board obnoxious), but I'm frequently on the Hoffman board, if you know what that is. My avatar is identical there.
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Right on, that new-McCartney-tingle... Let the good times roll