Spotify's "This is: Paul McCartney" Channel
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I've been referencing this great Paul Channel/Playlist from Spotify several times recently. I thought I would highlight some of my favorite (and mostly unknown) songs on this Playlist in case some haven't heard it. If you have a Spotify account, it is easy to pull up.
I think "This is:Paul McCartney"was put out by Spotify right around the time Egypt Station was being released in 2018. Almost all the ES songs are on this channel along with a small dose of Beatle songs done "live" by Paul and Band at Abbey Road Studios and for Spotify. To me, it wasn't the "live Beatle tracks" that make this Playlist special. We've heard them countless times before with a far better Paul vocals. It is the wide variety of Solo Songs that Spotify added to the channel that I find so delightful and great to hear. They are almost all original album studio versions so they sound great. They do have many of Paul's big Solo and Wings hits on this playlist but it was the more "deep cuts" that I love to hear.
Here's a list of some of my favorite "deeper cuts" on this channel:
Only Love Remains - I love this ballad from Press to Play. Because this album sold so poorly, even many of Paul fans don't know it. Lyrically, I think it is better than both My Love and No More Lonely Nights (both of those are on this playlist).
This Never Happened Before - One of my favorites from Chaos and Creation
Friends to Go - Another favorite from Chaos and Creation
Only Our Hearts - This great Paul song gets lost as the "other" Paul penned song on his "Kisses" album. Yes, "My Valentine" is a great song but I think this one is just as good. Paul's singing is terrific on it and Stevie Wonder's harmonica solo is out of this world
Arrow Through Me - Probably my favorite track on Back to the Egg. Love Paul's "soul" styled vocal and the great horns.
Magic - Again, probably my favorite track on "Driving Rain". Love Paul's lyrics about the day he me Linda and should be much better known.
Hope for the Future - This fairly recent "single"is great in my opinion
The Girl is Mine (Paul and Michael Jackson) When this song was playing on Top 40 radio back in the day i thought it was "cheesy" but hearing it now on Spotify with much better sound reproduction has me appreciating the song much more. I remember way back on the radio thinking that during the talking part of the song how cheesy Paul and Michael sounded but I do like the song many years later. Their singing is top notch! I love the way Paul sings at the end...I Don't Believe It!
Put It There - Always one of my favorites on Flowers in the Dirt
No Other Baby - Always one of my favorites on Run Devil Run
Too Many People - One of the best "Ram" songs
Save Us - One of my favorites on the "New" Album
The Other Me - One of my favorites on Pipes of Peace. Like Paul's "soulful" singing
You Tell Me - One of my favorites on Memory Almost Full
Too Much Rain - One of Paul's greatest Solo song period imho
Junk - a highly underrated song on Paul's first album
Jenny Wren - Great Solo song from Chaos and Creation
My Brave Face - Another one of Paul's great Solo songs written with Elvis Costello
Sing the Changes - Another great Solo song from Paul's work with the Fireman
Every Night - Great, great song right below Maybe I'm Amazed imo from the same album
This One - One of my favorites on Flowers in the Dirt
Heart of the Country - Another great one from Ram
The End of the End - Love this track with great lyrics on Memory Almost Full
New - Terrific "beatlesque" title track from the "New" Album
One of these Days - Great song on McCartney 2
Pipes of Peace - I am appreciating this great song much more after years have gone by. Great production by George Martin
I have not added a lot of Paul's big hits to the above list, but they of course sound great as part of this playlist. I think many of you can see why I'm enjoying listening to all these songs any time I want while I'm riding on my bike or walking.
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Very cool that McCartney has a channel on "Spotify" and glad it only has small dose of Beatle songs. We could all pick our list as to what we would like on it (lol) but let's leave that for another day. I will leave you with a few comments from songs you mentioned. Nice to see song like "This Never Happened Before " from CHAOS included, wonderful song and definitely a "deep cut". I love "Too Much Rain" and if McCartney had written this song as a Beatle it would have been a legendary song IMO. Even though the collabaration with Michael Jackson was commercially successful (Say Say Say #1), I never liked any of their songs together. I don't know if better production could change my mind on "The Girl Is MIne". I disagree with you about "Hope For The Future", the song and production of it did nothing for me. I have to admit I was surprised that "My Brave Face" did not do better commercially. I thought it was catchy upbeat song and sounded very Beatlesque and loved it live.
Just a few more songs to mention and then I will end this post. I really liked "Magic" from DR, one of my favorites from that album. Pretty cool that is was about him meeting Linda. "The End Of The End" is great song, sad but also about celebrating your life. Song was bit of a surprise due to most of MAF is upbeat and cheery -lol. One more disagreement with you, I never liked "Heart Of The Country". I found it very bland and kind of corny song especially in comparison to songs like "Dear Boy" and "Two Many People" for example. Finally, I am glad song from Fireman album EA was included (Sing The Changes). I really liked the song and it was good live but I would have enjoyed having song like "Dance Til We're High" a little better.
Thanks for creating this thread, enjoyed it.
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Yankeefan2 wrote:
Very cool that McCartney has a channel on "Spotify" and glad it only has small dose of Beatle songs. We could all pick our list as to what we would like on it (lol) but let's leave that for another day. I will leave you with a few comments from songs you mentioned. Nice to see song like "This Never Happened Before " from CHAOS included, wonderful song and definitely a "deep cut". I love "Too Much Rain" and if McCartney had written this song as a Beatle it would have been a legendary song IMO. Even though the collabaration with Michael Jackson was commercially successful (Say Say Say #1), I never liked any of their songs together. I don't know if better production could change my mind on "The Girl Is MIne". I disagree with you about "Hope For The Future", the song and production of it did nothing for me. I have to admit I was surprised that "My Brave Face" did not do better commercially. I thought it was catchy upbeat song and sounded very Beatlesque and loved it live.
Just a few more songs to mention and then I will end this post. I really liked "Magic" from DR, one of my favorites from that album. Pretty cool that is was about him meeting Linda. "The End Of The End" is great song, sad but also about celebrating your life. Song was bit of a surprise due to most of MAF is upbeat and cheery -lol. One more disagreement with you, I never liked "Heart Of The Country". I found it very bland and kind of corny song especially in comparison to songs like "Dear Boy" and "Two Many People" for example. Finally, I am glad song from Fireman album EA was included (Sing The Changes). I really liked the song and it was good live but I would have enjoyed having song like "Dance Til We're High" a little better.
Thanks for creating this thread, enjoyed it.
As always, thanks for your imput Yankeefan. Great to have someone who likes Paul's Post Beatles' Discography as much as I do. Yes I am loving to have this Spotify channel as a go to while I am biking. And yes, you are correct that there are also many other songs they could have added but at least I have a great channel that is almost all Post Beatles' Paul. Couldn't agree with you more about a song like "Dance Till We're High" being on Spotify's Volume 2 (hopefully soon) of "This Is Paul McCartney". You and I could easily give them a great list...how about "About You".
Music is so subjective so there is no surprise that I'll like certain songs that you don't care for and vice versa. I like "Heart of the Country" because of the melody and it has that typical Paul bounce to it. I agree that it's not a classic like Dear Boy or Too Many People but when I'm bike riding it sounds good. I can't explain it but I like "Hope to the Future". Because it is on the Spotify playlist, I've been hearing it on a consistent basis and it grew with me. I like the lyrics a lot. You and I would have never picked "The Girl is Mine" for a Paul McCartney channel but Spotify while concentrating on Solo Paul included most of his big hits. They have Ebony and Ivory, Say Say Say etc. Again, after hearing "The Girl is Mine" consistently I actually liked their singing together and the song's production. Have to admit, their parts in the song that are cheesy but when you are on the bike, who's analyzing. Jackson had so much talent not just as a dancer but as a singer in my opinion.
You are so right and that is what is missing on this site. Not too many people/fans even talk about his Solo songs and career. As you have said, even Paul seems to totally concentrate on his Beatle's career. Finally, I couldn't agree with you more about the great songs you mention like Too Much Rain, This Never Happened Before, Magic, Sing the Changes, and My Brave Face. Put almost all those songs on a Beatle album, and they would be considered classics and universally known. Those Beatle albums especially from Rubber Soul to Let It Be got so much radio airplay (almost all the individual tracks) that everyone knew them. Unfortunately, this was not the case on any of the Solo Beatle songs and albums. .
Thanks again for responding.
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I just wanted to add one more "Hidden Gem' to my previous list of great Paul McCartney Deep cuts on Spotify's "This is: Paul McCartney" Channel. I just forgot to include it and it was one of the first songs I heard when I did my bike ride this morning. One reason it is relatively unknown to Beatle fans as well as Paul McCartney fans is because it was on Paul's 1st Wings' album (Wildlife) and only his 3rd album after the breakup of the Beatles. At the time of its release (1971) it was considered a bust and many critics trashed the album.
Now like 50 years later, I appreciate "Dear Friend" far more. Maybe part of the reason is the fact that I'm hearing all the songs on this Spotify Channel using my IPhone earphones while riding my bike. The track is the studio verson of the 2017 Wildlife Remastered/Archive Cd so the "sound quality" on Spotify compared to hearing Dear Friend fom a New York City FM radio station back in 1971 or 1972 is like day and night in comparison. Here is what I like about "Dear Friend" today:
Dear Friend - While I'm a big Paul McCartney fan, I was never a fan of his album Wildlife. I always considered "Wildlife" to be easily in the bottom third of his Post Beatles' albums and quite possibly his worst. The only Wildlife song I liked around the time of its release was "Tomorrow" It had that McCartney bounce I always liked and I loved his vocal. The other song I liked was "Some People Never Know" but I thought it ran way too long (6:35). In truth, I never liked the rest of the songs. Again, this was strictly hearing many Wildlife tracks on FM Radio as I had never bought the album.
Hearing it now with great sound quality, I find "Dear Friend" to be a pretty awesome song although it is a tad too long (5:53). Hearing it on Spotify's channel, I find Paul's vocals to be pretty amazing and one of his best vocals period. In retrospect, this was during his "Ram" era so I shouldn't be too surprised since he was singing at a very hight level at that time. The other thing I like on "Dear Friend" is his piano playing. Again, one of his best "piano playing" songs in my opinion. Finally, I love it when the orchestra comes into the song over the last 2 minutes. Because of these reasons, I find the 5 plus minutes very tolerable. At this point, I can see why some critics called "Dear Friend" the best song on Wildlife and now I agree.
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B J Conlee wrote:
I just wanted to add one more "Hidden Gem' to my previous list of great Paul McCartney Deep cuts on Spotify's "This is: Paul McCartney" Channel. I just forgot to include it and it was one of the first songs I heard when I did my bike ride this morning. One reason it is relatively unknown to Beatle fans as well as Paul McCartney fans is because it was on Paul's 1st Wings' album (Wildlife) and only his 3rd album after the breakup of the Beatles. At the time of its release (1971) it was considered a bust and many critics trashed the album.
Now like 50 years later, I appreciate "Dear Friend" far more. Maybe part of the reason is the fact that I'm hearing all the songs on this Spotify Channel using my IPhone earphones while riding my bike. The track is the studio verson of the 2017 Wildlife Remastered/Archive Cd so the "sound quality" on Spotify compared to hearing Dear Friend fom a New York City FM radio station back in 1971 or 1972 is like day and night in comparison. Here is what I like about "Dear Friend" today:
Dear Friend - While I'm a big Paul McCartney fan, I was never a fan of his album Wildlife. I always considered "Wildlife" to be easily in the bottom third of his Post Beatles' albums and quite possibly his worst. The only Wildlife song I liked around the time of its release was "Tomorrow" It had that McCartney bounce I always liked and I loved his vocal. The other song I liked was "Some People Never Know" but I thought it ran way too long (6:35). In truth, I never liked the rest of the songs. Again, this was strictly hearing many Wildlife tracks on FM Radio as I had never bought the album.
Hearing it now with great sound quality, I find "Dear Friend" to be a pretty awesome song although it is a tad too long (5:53). Hearing it on Spotify's channel, I find Paul's vocals to be pretty amazing and one of his best vocals period. In retrospect, this was during his "Ram" era so I shouldn't be too surprised since he was singing at a very hight level at that time. The other thing I like on "Dear Friend" is his piano playing. Again, one of his best "piano playing" songs in my opinion. Finally, I love it when the orchestra comes into the song over the last 2 minutes. Because of these reasons, I find the 5 plus minutes very tolerable. At this point, I can see why some critics called "Dear Friend" the best song on Wildlife and now I agree.
Like some other people, I think the only good songs on "Wild Life" were "Tomorrow" and "Dear Friend". I think "Dear Friend" is the better of these two songs even with some flaws. Like you, I think the song is too long and in addition I wish he had expanded on the lyrics of a song that was intended to be very moving. This is an excellent piano song and agree the orchestra at the end is wonderful. This was a good period for McCartney vocally and this song is just another example. On a personal note, this is not the type of song I want to hear while exercising. I rather listen to it sitting on my lounge chair and drinking some wine -lol.
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I really like the really wild sounding songs on "Wings Wild Life," the Wild Life song, Mumbo, even to a lesser degree Bip Bop and Love Is Strange. "Tomorrow" and "Dear Friend" are other personal favorites from it. I don't care much for "I Am Your Singer." But that's the only one I dislike. I used to dislike "Bip Bop."
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Yankeefan2 wrote:
B J Conlee wrote:
I just wanted to add one more "Hidden Gem' to my previous list of great Paul McCartney Deep cuts on Spotify's "This is: Paul McCartney" Channel. I just forgot to include it and it was one of the first songs I heard when I did my bike ride this morning. One reason it is relatively unknown to Beatle fans as well as Paul McCartney fans is because it was on Paul's 1st Wings' album (Wildlife) and only his 3rd album after the breakup of the Beatles. At the time of its release (1971) it was considered a bust and many critics trashed the album.
Now like 50 years later, I appreciate "Dear Friend" far more. Maybe part of the reason is the fact that I'm hearing all the songs on this Spotify Channel using my IPhone earphones while riding my bike. The track is the studio verson of the 2017 Wildlife Remastered/Archive Cd so the "sound quality" on Spotify compared to hearing Dear Friend fom a New York City FM radio station back in 1971 or 1972 is like day and night in comparison. Here is what I like about "Dear Friend" today:
Dear Friend - While I'm a big Paul McCartney fan, I was never a fan of his album Wildlife. I always considered "Wildlife" to be easily in the bottom third of his Post Beatles' albums and quite possibly his worst. The only Wildlife song I liked around the time of its release was "Tomorrow" It had that McCartney bounce I always liked and I loved his vocal. The other song I liked was "Some People Never Know" but I thought it ran way too long (6:35). In truth, I never liked the rest of the songs. Again, this was strictly hearing many Wildlife tracks on FM Radio as I had never bought the album.
Hearing it now with great sound quality, I find "Dear Friend" to be a pretty awesome song although it is a tad too long (5:53). Hearing it on Spotify's channel, I find Paul's vocals to be pretty amazing and one of his best vocals period. In retrospect, this was during his "Ram" era so I shouldn't be too surprised since he was singing at a very hight level at that time. The other thing I like on "Dear Friend" is his piano playing. Again, one of his best "piano playing" songs in my opinion. Finally, I love it when the orchestra comes into the song over the last 2 minutes. Because of these reasons, I find the 5 plus minutes very tolerable. At this point, I can see why some critics called "Dear Friend" the best song on Wildlife and now I agree.
Like some other people, I think the only good songs on "Wild Life" were "Tomorrow" and "Dear Friend". I think "Dear Friend" is the better of these two songs even with some flaws. Like you, I think the song is too long and in addition I wish he had expanded on the lyrics of a song that was intended to be very moving. This is an excellent piano song and agree the orchestra at the end is wonderful. This was a good period for McCartney vocally and this song is just another example. On a personal note, this is not the type of song I want to hear while exercising. I rather listen to it sitting on my lounge chair and drinking some wine -lol.
Yankeefan...Thanks as usual. I notice that only you and Susy seem interested in talking about Paul's hidden Solo gems.
I agree with you about Dear Friend. As I said, it does run a little long and I also wish Paul had added some more lyrics. But as you said and I agree totally, Dear Friend has great piano playing from Paul and I love Paul's vocals. Glad you brought up the orchestra part of the song which is so nice. Maybe I'm so enamored with the better sound I'm hearing from the earphones but I don't mind when one of his "hidden gem" ballads comes on while doing my bike riding. And of course I never mind when Spotify breaks in with an uptemp song like Band on the Run or Jet. As we were saying, Spotify needs a volume 2 of their "This is: Paul McCartney" channel. They need to add songs like 1985, Getting Closer, Only Mama Knows and That Was Me to their Paul McCartney songs to this channel.
The only thing I would add to the Wildlife album in general is that I also did like "Some People Never Know". Liked Paul and Linda's harmonizing and the melody. Just needed to be cut down in length. These are among many Solo songs that I wished Paul would have added to his various Setlists in 2002, 2005 or 2011 when he could still sing at a high level. He did add 1985 and Only Mama Knows thank God but never any of the others. We could go on and on about that subject.
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McCartney has 40 years of solo music that Spotify could use to create volume 2 of their "This Is Paul McCartney" channel - lol. The great thing about this channel is that it gives exposure to McCartney music that the casual fan has never heard before in their life. I truly doubt that most people ever head of more than 4-5 songs from the ones you listed on your first post. Even with IMO a subpar album like "Wildlife", McCartney usually has a couple of songs you really enjoy. A few weeks ago I listened to "Electric Arguements" for the first time in quite awhile and I forgot about how much I enjoyed little aoustic song like "Two Magpies".
I really enjoy your threads/posts BJ about McCartney's solo music, one of the main reasons I check this site anymore. I wish you did have more people participating besides somebody like me adding their two cents - ha ha. Anyway, let me get going for now. Will check back in a few weeks unless something new happens -lol
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I read that much later on, "Oh Woman Oh Why" and "Little Woman Love" and one more were added to the Wings Wild Life album. Those are good songs. Apparently he wrote those around that time so I think he should have added them then, to flesh out or round out the album, make it a lot better. As BJ and others have indicated before, he's got some real good ones he left off other albums and it makes one wonder why. Then sometimes he'll put a couple clunkers or just fillers in, instead. I've always pondered that, wondered why-- It isn't just Paul as he had excellent producers and sound people on his team who also could have noticed it. Were they smoking too much wacky weed, LOL or partying, drinking too much during some sessions-- being high on pot though does make music sound much better, even better, as I recall and you hear things in it, notice things you wouldn't otherwise...yet professional musicians of a high quality ought to be able to parse it without certain drugs, you'd think. Being kind of drunk on alcohol could have made them screw up... And Paul's been called an "obvious keenie" when it comes to perfectionism in music as during that glorious run late Beatles period when he was steamrolling over the other Fabs, came out with his many classic huge hits, LOL. Oh don't mind me, I'm just rambling I suppose...I don't have t.v. (laughs)...
He wasn't stone cold sober when he made "Ram," for example. Can you imagine being sober as a judge and singing "Monkberry Moon Delight"
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I very much agree about Paul's "Hidden Gems" and people who I've turned on to some of my favorite solo works are always pleasantly surprised.
Wild Life is one of my favorite albums. Just looking at the cover. The band out in nature, and the 4 white doves... symbolicly represent angel messengers of the Peace and Love from this band.
There is something that I love about each song in this album, from Bip Bop with little Mary and Heather dancing around outside, it has the pureness of children at it's heart, to Mumbo and Paul's early experimental foray into the equivalent of a modern art painting.
My favorite hidden gem is Tommorrow...an beautifully upbeat and positive song of Hope and better days ahead.
Another hidden gem for me is I Am Your Singer. Paul & Linda singing a love song to each other, in beautiful harmonies.
Some People Never Know is another very pleasing love song between Paul & Linda, the melody and harmony very nicely balanced and blended and be sure to put your headphones on at the end to hear the drums go full circle stereo inside your head. Love it, wonder how they recorded that?
In Wild Life we hear Pauls voice going rough and wild on a song whose lyrics are the subject that is most dear to the McCartney family, their deep love of animals and also the title song.
Dear Friend rounds out the album, a deep and bittersweet song reaching out to John. A fork in the road of life, with both recently married to their life partners. They are now taking different paths and the uncertainty of the future. Really enjoyed the moodiness of the cymbal work and the different instruments coming through on the organ.
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I like reading about Paul's solo songs. There are many treasures there. There are difterent opinions of course, but I still have a gut reaction of What?! You don't like that! (* somewhat kidding).
I do like Heart Of The Country. I used to pretty much like everything he did, even if he mumbled or grumbled. I not only like the solo, but there are many times the deeper cut is better in my opinion than the single or heavy radio played song. As a side note I liked an early version of Dear Friend that is Paul and piano. On Wildlife- I like Dear Friend a lot. He really had his voice sounding great back then. I play accoustic guitar and like doing songs like Some People Never Know, Bip-Bop, Love Is Strange, Dear Friend, etc... I would have jumped up and down inside of course had Paul done a few solol songs and rotated his list - but I was glad for anything that he wanted to do. I used to buy the 45's because at that time they were not on albums and the B- sides were always a surprise. I will add to this at another time- Another Day ... I really like that one ...
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I'll wager they teach Paul's best solo songs at LIPA, his music school in Liddypool, duckie, do you reckon --?
Or it's part his school, anyways, inn'nt it, aye wot ? is it then
I'm gonna listen to "Wings Wildlife" again very soon and re-visit and renew my familiarity and appreciation. Music appreciation, of those underrated ditties.
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The_Fool wrote:
I like reading about Paul's solo songs. There are many treasures there. There are difterent opinions of course, but I still have a gut reaction of What?! You don't like that! (* somewhat kidding).
I do like Heart Of The Country. I used to pretty much like everything he did, even if he mumbled or grumbled. I not only like the solo, but there are many times the deeper cut is better in my opinion than the single or heavy radio played song. As a side note I liked an early version of Dear Friend that is Paul and piano. On Wildlife- I like Dear Friend a lot. He really had his voice sounding great back then. I play accoustic guitar and like doing songs like Some People Never Know, Bip-Bop, Love Is Strange, Dear Friend, etc... I would have jumped up and down inside of course had Paul done a few solol songs and rotated his list - but I was glad for anything that he wanted to do. I used to buy the 45's because at that time they were not on albums and the B- sides were always a surprise. I will add to this at another time- Another Day ... I really like that one ...
Thanks for your imput "Fool". I really liked what you said. Music is subjective so there are some songs on Paul's albums I haven't liked but in general I like the bulk of his discography. Like you, I tend to like a lot of the "deeper cut" type songs than the "single" or heavy radio song that the Company is trying to promote. Egypt Station is a good example...I love Confidante, Hand in Hand, People Want Peace, Dominoes, Do It Now etc. far better than a song like Fuh You that the company tries to ram down our throats. And I was disappointed when Paul just played Fuh You, Come On to Me and Who Cares on his tour. But like you, if I was in attendance, I wouldn't care what he played. Love talking about Paul's Solo stuff so thanks for your imput.
PS I also like Another Day and I love the B-Sides too.
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"Mary Had a Little Lamb" was the third song later added to Wings Wild Life and was Paul's "screw you" to music critics for something they'd said, can't recall what it was just now...
Luvs2Travel for one in her post here makes me want to hear it again. Oh goodie, I see BJ has just now written something else new on this thread
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SusyLuvsPaul wrote:
"Mary Had a Little Lamb" was the third song later added to Wings Wild Life and was Paul's "screw you" to music critics for something they'd said, can't recall what it was just now...
Luvs2Travel for one in her post here makes me want to hear it again. Oh goodie, I see BJ has just now written something else new on this thread
Here's a rundown of the 4 added songs in 1993 on The Paul McCartney Remaster:
Give Ireland Back To The Irish, Mary Had A Little Lamb, Little Woman Love and Mama's Little Girl. Was that the disc you were referring to?
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SusyLuvsPaul wrote:
"Mary Had a Little Lamb" was the third song later added to Wings Wild Life and was Paul's "screw you" to music critics for something they'd said, can't recall what it was just now...
'Mary had A Little Lamb' followed the BBC banned 'Give Ireland Back To The Irish' single but Paul later admitted that it wasn't planned as a kind of screw you gesture at having the Wing's debut single banned. 'Mary....' just happened to be the next single but Paul did realise, even at the time, that it did tend to make him look good.
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Since headphones are mentioned...
Paul solo albums sound great with headphones * all types ear buds etc...*
I listened a lot through headphones in his early solo albums: McCartney, Ram, Wildlife, Red Rose Speedway and Venus And Mars...
** I like the heavily promoted songs as a casual fan spends all their listening there ... I would listen to "Junk" The Backseat Of My Car. Monkberry Moon Delight (cool sounding on headphones)... No Words ...
I don't know why I didn't listen to as many albums after Speed Of Sound with headphones ... either my headphones crudded out or I got better music equipment...
To this day I still discover a bell or distant voice or added guitar that all of a sudden is more noticeable.
Even when I know these deeper songs, i like hearing them out of the blue because they are not as expected.
There are a lot of hidden gems - enough to keep it fresh if anybody so chooses.
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love2travel wrote:
I very much agree about Paul's "Hidden Gems" and people who I've turned on to some of my favorite solo works are always pleasantly surprised.
Wild Life is one of my favorite albums. Just looking at the cover. The band out in nature, and the 4 white doves... symbolicly represent angel messengers of the Peace and Love from this band.
There is something that I love about each song in this album, from Bip Bop with little Mary and Heather dancing around outside, it has the pureness of children at it's heart, to Mumbo and Paul's early experimental foray into the equivalent of a modern art painting.
My favorite hidden gem is Tommorrow...an beautifully upbeat and positive song of Hope and better days ahead.
Another hidden gem for me is I Am Your Singer. Paul & Linda singing a love song to each other, in beautiful harmonies.
Some People Never Know is another very pleasing love song between Paul & Linda, the melody and harmony very nicely balanced and blended and be sure to put your headphones on at the end to hear the drums go full circle stereo inside your head. Love it, wonder how they recorded that?
In Wild Life we hear Pauls voice going rough and wild on a song whose lyrics are the subject that is most dear to the McCartney family, their deep love of animals and also the title song.
Dear Friend rounds out the album, a deep and bittersweet song reaching out to John. A fork in the road of life, with both recently married to their life partners. They are now taking different paths and the uncertainty of the future. Really enjoyed the moodiness of the cymbal work and the different instruments coming through on the organ.
Thanks so much for your wonderful review of Wildlife "love2travel". I think you should have been a "Rock critiic" in your second career...very well done and you've convinced me that I should get the 2018 Wildlife Remaster. Unfortunately at that time I was strictly a CD buyer and Target was "only" selling the 2018 Red Rose Speedway Remaster/Archive Set. I loved this set (I loved the 2nd Disc with all the songs left off the original album even more) so I'll have to listen to Wildlife again. After hearing Dear Friend on Spotify's Channel "This is: Paul McCartney" I'm hungry for more.
I'm old enough to remember clearly when the Beatles' broke up. Many of the rock critics at the time blamed Paul for the breakup. John was their darling and Paul was the one suing the other 3. Paul was easily the least popular Beatle at the time. That is why so many of these critics slammed Paul's 1st album "McCartney" and even further slammed Ram. I still remember Rolling Stone's hatred review of Ram. It wasn't until years later when so many fans and younger critics started praising Ram that the album had such a spectacular rebirth.
I think Wildlife was doomed from the start as Paul's 3rd album after the breakup. In retrospect, Paul was just breaking in his new band (Wings) but people couldn't get it at the time. Fans and critics were looking for the Paul that wrote so many Beatle classics in the 2nd half of the 60's like Eleanor Rigby, Here There and Everywhere, Hello Goodbye, Let It Be ete etc. Paul was arguably even dominating the Beatles during the late 60's.
Personally I never gave Wildlife a fair chance back in 1971. I remember just seeing the reviews where the critics emphasized that Paul started Wildlife with basically 2 instrumentals (Mumbo and Bip Bop) and then followed those 2 songs with an old "cover" of "Love Is Strange". No wonder the album was doomed from the start. People were expecting more Beatle Paul and not those 3 songs. It was all about expectations and Paul had set the bar so high for himself. Unlike George Harrison having a super group (Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton etc.) in launching his Solo career with All things Must Pass, Paul is starting his new career with a group of unknowns including his Wife Linda. No wonder it took even a great musician and songwriter like Paul McCartney to get started. It wasn't until Band on the Run that people started to see the real Paul McCartney.
Thanks again for your great Wildlife review.
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love2travel wrote:
I very much agree about Paul's "Hidden Gems" and people who I've turned on to some of my favorite solo works are always pleasantly surprised.
Wild Life is one of my favorite albums. Just looking at the cover. The band out in nature, and the 4 white doves... symbolicly represent angel messengers of the Peace and Love from this band.
There is something that I love about each song in this album, from Bip Bop with little Mary and Heather dancing around outside, it has the pureness of children at it's heart, to Mumbo and Paul's early experimental foray into the equivalent of a modern art painting.
My favorite hidden gem is Tommorrow...an beautifully upbeat and positive song of Hope and better days ahead.
Another hidden gem for me is I Am Your Singer. Paul & Linda singing a love song to each other, in beautiful harmonies.
Some People Never Know is another very pleasing love song between Paul & Linda, the melody and harmony very nicely balanced and blended and be sure to put your headphones on at the end to hear the drums go full circle stereo inside your head. Love it, wonder how they recorded that?
In Wild Life we hear Pauls voice going rough and wild on a song whose lyrics are the subject that is most dear to the McCartney family, their deep love of animals and also the title song.
Dear Friend rounds out the album, a deep and bittersweet song reaching out to John. A fork in the road of life, with both recently married to their life partners. They are now taking different paths and the uncertainty of the future. Really enjoyed the moodiness of the cymbal work and the different instruments coming through on the organ.
Thanks again for this great review. I did buy the remastered "Wildlife" Collection Series back in 1993 with the 4 additional tracks. I was buying all the Paul Solo Cd's (most wth extra tracks) I could find from a local record store that carried them back in the mid 90's. I was listening to them in my car during those years since my car had a CD player.
Your "Wildlife" review is bringing back my many memories of those years. I have no idea where my 1993 Wildlife CD is as I moved into different houses several times and I bought new cars.
As I said, "Tommorrow" was always my favorite Wildlife track. But I do remember really liking "Some People Never Know". Although it ran way too long, I do remember liking the drumming in the last minute or two of the song. Denny Seiwell was an excellent drummer. Denny Seiwell also did great work on the cover "Love Is Strange". It was another song on Wildlife I liked almost like a "guilty pleasure" type song. I remember the original but I liked the raggae flavor that Paul gave it and Mr. Seiwell's drumming was key. I also liked Paul's singing on "Love Is Strange".
I have been on Paul's website for many years. I remember that "Wildlife" almost had a "cult" like following similar to Ram but much smaller. Like you, the Wildlife fans liked the relaxing, laid back feel of the album. In my opinion, it can't be compared to albums like BOTR, V&M, Tug of War etc because at that point Paul was writing much more complex songs with meaningful lyrics. It is an album on its own as far as I'm concern and like all of Paul's albums (even the lesser ones like Wildlife) there are some real "hidden gems" on it. Dear Friend is a perfect example and you gave a great description of the song.
Thanks again.
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Kestrel wrote:
SusyLuvsPaul wrote:
"Mary Had a Little Lamb" was the third song later added to Wings Wild Life and was Paul's "screw you" to music critics for something they'd said, can't recall what it was just now...
'Mary had A Little Lamb' followed the BBC banned 'Give Ireland Back To The Irish' single but Paul later admitted that it wasn't planned as a kind of screw you gesture at having the Wing's debut single banned. 'Mary....' just happened to be the next single but Paul did realise, even at the time, that it did tend to make him look good.
*confused* Did you mean to say it "didn't" tend to make him look good?
The thing I recall is Paul saying he did the song for his daughter Mary.
