McCartney III Single
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Yankeefan2 wrote:
My guess is that there might not be a single. You would think with less than a month before release there would have been one by now if they were going to have one.
Yeah, I would have thought so too. But even if there wasn't a single I would have also thought that there would have been a 'radio promo' single released by now.? In a way though, if there isn't a single it comes as a refreshing change as so many artists these days tend to release half their new album as singles before the actual album is even out.
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Yankeefan2 wrote:
Kestrel wrote:
Yankeefan2 wrote:I checked my ITUNES collection and I have two songs from "Au Revoir Simone" which are called "Lark" and "Stay Golden". I will admit I need to go back and listen to them again and thanks for sparking my interest in them.
Mustn't go off topic really but I must quickly say that Stay Golden is a beautiful song and that Still Night,Still Light is my favourite album. Its chockful of great tunes and performances.
Now back on topic...............where is that single?
My guess is that there might not be a single. You would think with less than a month before release there would have been one by now if they were going to have one.
Hey Yankeefan...maybe the thought is that the numbers for McCartney 3 will be a lot higher without a single based on the early reviews.
To be honest, I still have a lot of skepticism over these early reviews. I'm not an expert on Marketing Music but MPL and Capitol seem to be doiing a lot of exagerated false type of promotion. As a novice, I would think it is pretty easy for both companies to just send out "advanced copies" of McCartney 3 to "only very Macca friendly critics". Kenneth Womack being a Beatle freak would certainly qualify. My biggest problem is that all 4 of these early reviews don't answer the biggest question that fans like Yankeefan and I have:
*How does Paul's vocals sound on McCartney 3?
None of these reviews (especially Ken Womack's) doesn't address this basic question? Can someone talk me out of being so cynical. You would think that none of these critics would put their repuations on the line by overrating Paul's album. I am really hoping that McCartney 3 is a great album and that his vocals sound good but I guess I won't believe it until I hear the album myself. I wanna believe but whenever I've heard Paul's vocals in fairly recent "live" situations he doesn't sound good. I'm thinking of the "Abbey Road Live performance" that Spotfy did to help Paul promote Egypt Station. With his band Paul did a few old Beatle numbers like Love Me Do and Drive My Car where his vocals sounded so rough or when he did Lady Madonna live last Spring in the middle of the pandemic.
I guess I'm still a skeptic. I'm still hoping that this is a great album. I'm so tired of defending Paul's great music talents over the years and a great album now would convince most Beatle maniacs like me of how great Paul is.
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B J Conlee wrote:
*How does Paul's vocals sound on McCartney 3?
None of these reviews (especially Ken Womack's) doesn't address this basic question?
Personally I have no concern about Paul's vocal on the album, as I think its pretty obvious how they are going to sound. If he's writing new material,singing new material and performing live new material, all with his vocals as they are today, then that's okay with me. They might be deeper, more husky, more frail but I think all that can add a desired emotional weight to the music. I won't be comparing Paul's singing on 'lavatory Lil' to that of 'The Long And Winding Road' that's for sure. Its when Paul sings older material in concerts that I have an issue with, because its difficult not to make a comparison with the original recording / earlier performances. That is why I wish in a way he'd packed up live concerts twenty years ago and protected his voice for studio work. But he didn't and his singing / spoken voice is what it is, that's the reality I'm afraid.
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Kestrel wrote:
B J Conlee wrote:
*How does Paul's vocals sound on McCartney 3?
None of these reviews (especially Ken Womack's) doesn't address this basic question?
Personally I have no concern about Paul's vocal on the album, as I think its pretty obvious how they are going to sound. If he's writing new material,singing new material and performing live new material, all with his vocals as they are today, then that's okay with me. They might be deeper, more husky, more frail but I think all that can add a desired emotional weight to the music. I won't be comparing Paul's singing on 'lavatory Lil' to that of 'The Long And Winding Road' that's for sure. Its when Paul sings older material in concerts that I have an issue with, because its difficult not to make a comparison with the original recording / earlier performances. That is why I wish in a way he'd packed up live concerts twenty years ago and protected his voice for studio work. But he didn't and his singing / spoken voice is what it is, that's the reality I'm afraid.
Good points Kestrel. You've made me feel a little better.
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B J Conlee wrote:
Good points Kestrel. You've made me feel a little better.
Thank you, that's good. At least we can still look forward to finding fault with his crummy guitar playing !!
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Kestrel wrote:
B J Conlee wrote:
*How does Paul's vocals sound on McCartney 3?
None of these reviews (especially Ken Womack's) doesn't address this basic question?
Personally I have no concern about Paul's vocal on the album, as I think its pretty obvious how they are going to sound. If he's writing new material,singing new material and performing live new material, all with his vocals as they are today, then that's okay with me. They might be deeper, more husky, more frail but I think all that can add a desired emotional weight to the music. I won't be comparing Paul's singing on 'lavatory Lil' to that of 'The Long And Winding Road' that's for sure. Its when Paul sings older material in concerts that I have an issue with, because its difficult not to make a comparison with the original recording / earlier performances. That is why I wish in a way he'd packed up live concerts twenty years ago and protected his voice for studio work. But he didn't and his singing / spoken voice is what it is, that's the reality I'm afraid.
I agree with BJ also, this is a vey good point. For example, his "frail" vocal on "Early Days" really fit the song. Hearing him trying to do "Maybe I'm Amazed" now in comparison to years ago is pretty sad. I am guessing that anybody reviewing this album is quite aware McCartney's voice is not what it once was and is 78 years old so they are not going to make a big deal out of it.
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Here is 16 seconds of "Find Your Way" at
Some flourishes of McCartney II --for those of us who love that album!
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Yankeefan...I guess we're just going to have to wait for the album. After the Thanksgiving weekend, it's only about 12 days away.
Kestrel's optimism made me feel better but the more I think about it, Paul probably wouldn't be releasing McCartney 3 unless he was pleased with the result. If his vocals were poor, he wouldn't be putting it out. It might be as simple as that.
Can't wait for this release.
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B J Conlee wrote:
Yankeefan2 wrote:
Kestrel wrote:
Yankeefan2 wrote:I checked my ITUNES collection and I have two songs from "Au Revoir Simone" which are called "Lark" and "Stay Golden". I will admit I need to go back and listen to them again and thanks for sparking my interest in them.
Mustn't go off topic really but I must quickly say that Stay Golden is a beautiful song and that Still Night,Still Light is my favourite album. Its chockful of great tunes and performances.
Now back on topic...............where is that single?
My guess is that there might not be a single. You would think with less than a month before release there would have been one by now if they were going to have one.
Hey Yankeefan...maybe the thought is that the numbers for McCartney 3 will be a lot higher without a single based on the early reviews.
To be honest, I still have a lot of skepticism over these early reviews. I'm not an expert on Marketing Music but MPL and Capitol seem to be doiing a lot of exagerated false type of promotion. As a novice, I would think it is pretty easy for both companies to just send out "advanced copies" of McCartney 3 to "only very Macca friendly critics". Kenneth Womack being a Beatle freak would certainly qualify. My biggest problem is that all 4 of these early reviews don't answer the biggest question that fans like Yankeefan and I have:
*How does Paul's vocals sound on McCartney 3?
None of these reviews (especially Ken Womack's) doesn't address this basic question? Can someone talk me out of being so cynical. You would think that none of these critics would put their repuations on the line by overrating Paul's album. I am really hoping that McCartney 3 is a great album and that his vocals sound good but I guess I won't believe it until I hear the album myself. I wanna believe but whenever I've heard Paul's vocals in fairly recent "live" situations he doesn't sound good. I'm thinking of the "Abbey Road Live performance" that Spotfy did to help Paul promote Egypt Station. With his band Paul did a few old Beatle numbers like Love Me Do and Drive My Car where his vocals sounded so rough or when he did Lady Madonna live last Spring in the middle of the pandemic.
I guess I'm still a skeptic. I'm still hoping that this is a great album. I'm so tired of defending Paul's great music talents over the years and a great album now would convince most Beatle maniacs like me of how great Paul is.
Couldn't have stated it any better....my thoughts exactly. The most I've heard is that the vocals are "raw." To me, that would indicate "rough," which would be distressing. I could not listen to him sounding like that (Confidante) for an entire album, no matter the lyrics. As for the term, "returns to form," as has been used, how many times have those words been said over the years in reference to Paul? They seem pointless.
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Not a great sign that there will be no single. Means there isn't one track strong enough / commercial enough (i.e. solid enough vocally perhaps) to merit putting out. Imagine McCartney II with no Coming Up. Kiss of Venus sounds like a good melody but vocal preview on that one sounds shaky. Hope it turns out to be a great record for Paul - the no single thing though is rather concerning.
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Unfortunately I haven’t been able to hear all of the songs, seems they’ve been removed before I’ve found them
From what I’ve heard so far, my two favs are Long Tailed Winter Bird really enjoy the guitar work and Kiss of Venus. I did like the harpsichord or clavichord in that one. Interesting story of the LOTUS as well.
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After just reading Bill King's review of the album...he being the editor of Beatlefan magazine, It's the absolute worst assessment of the album that I have read. He tends to be hyper critical, but this one is beyond the realm. I regret reading it. There's nothing much good about any of it as far as he is concerned. Some bits here and there grow on you...per his impression, but he ranks it pretty much last of the three solo albums.
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Beatles4Ever wrote:
After just reading Bill King's review of the album...he being the editor of Beatlefan magazine, It's the absolute worst assessment of the album that I have read. He tends to be hyper critical, but this one is beyond the realm. I regret reading it. There's nothing much good about any of it as far as he is concerned. Some bits here and there grow on you...per hims assessment..but he ranks it pretty much last of the three solo albums.
Everyone has opinions so I just generally take the overall opinion collected by the different reviews I have read. The Rolling Stone magazine review was pretty good and did mention a flaw or two. While they have given him some very good reviews on albums the last 25 years, they are not McCartney fanboys/fangirls. As somebody who really disliked "McCartney II", I find it tough for anything to be much worse to me. I will say it again, from the reviews I have read this album will have about six or seven really good tunes and probably a couple of misses. I think at this point, we all just have to wait another 18 days and judge ourselves.
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Everything Aflutter wrote:
Not a great sign that there will be no single. Means there isn't one track strong enough / commercial enough (i.e. solid enough vocally perhaps) to merit putting out. Imagine McCartney II with no Coming Up. Kiss of Venus sounds like a good melody but vocal preview on that one sounds shaky. Hope it turns out to be a great record for Paul - the no single thing though is rather concerning.
Would I have liked a single, the answer is yes. Does it concern me, the answer is no. An album can be very good but just not have a commercial/radio friendly type song. His vocals good or bad will be exposed on the album so I don't see why that would prevent them from releasing a single. The decision to not releasing a single could be simply economics. McCartney is not the artist that is going to have a top 10 single so why bother. People who will buy "McCartney III" are going to be the ones who bought his other solo albums and not because they heard some single on the radio,.
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Yankeefan2 wrote:
Everything Aflutter wrote:
Not a great sign that there will be no single. Means there isn't one track strong enough / commercial enough (i.e. solid enough vocally perhaps) to merit putting out. Imagine McCartney II with no Coming Up. Kiss of Venus sounds like a good melody but vocal preview on that one sounds shaky. Hope it turns out to be a great record for Paul - the no single thing though is rather concerning.
Would I have liked a single, the answer is yes. Does it concern me, the answer is no. An album can be very good but just not have a commercial/radio friendly type song. His vocals good or bad will be exposed on the album so I don't see why that would prevent them from releasing a single. The decision to not releasing a single could be simply economics. McCartney is not the artist that is going to have a top 10 single so why bother. People who will buy "McCartney III" are going to be the ones who bought his other solo albums and not because they heard some single on the radio,.
Pretty much the way I feel. It seems to me that Paul is getting a tremendous amount of buzz anyway so by not putting out a single will eliminate any type of negative buzz a new single would produce. Like you said and from the reviews I read, it seemed like "Seize the Day" might have been a good choice for a "single" but again this album is getting so much press anyway that Paul's people and record company probably think a "single" might produce more negatives than positives.
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The Rolling Stone review of "McCartney lll" calls his vocals on it "superbly weathered." Someone said none of the reviews so far address this issue; but Rolling Stone did.
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SusyLuvsPaul wrote:
The Rolling Stone review of "McCartney lll" calls his vocals on it "superbly weathered." Someone said none of the reviews so far address this issue; but Rolling Stone did.
Oh, Bill King, editor and publisher of Beatlefan magazine does. I regret reading his review......quite negative up and down the line. He concedes that some things grow on you, but to say he lacked enthusiasm for the album would be a vast understatement.
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thrillington wrote:
Here is 16 seconds of "Find Your Way" at
Some flourishes of McCartney II --for those of us who love that album!
A bit too much like McCartney II for my taste. It's one of just a couple Paul albums I never listen to. Going to the dentist is more fun.
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I heard the entire song "Find My Way" albeit in bad bootleg quality form...and was digging on it even on first listening ! Also the song after it "Winter"--enjoyed it a lot too even right at first. I don't go by what Beatlefan mag editor Bill King says, I saw his vid about McCartney 3 on YouTube where he was griping he heard the whole thing (the bootleg rough version) and couldn't get into it. I thought of all those glowing reviews from other viable sources and also of my trust in my own ears and sensibilities above anyone else's. How I react, how it sounds to me. It's subjective.
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Just heard a Youtube review on McCartney 3 from a guy name Matthew Sweet. You should be able to find it for yourself on Youtube if you so desire. He had 2 reviews of McCartney 3 on Youtube, but this was his 2nd and longer one after he received a higher "quality" leak of the album from one of his listeners. This is just one person's opinion and if you're one of those fans that only wants to hear the album" first" with your own ears rather than hearing someone else's opinion than I would refrain from reading any further. I just can't wait another 20 days so I am reading/hearing as many reviews as I can.
First of all, seeing this guy talking about the album on Youtube, he doesn't seem like the "fanboy" type at all. He seems fair and is not afraid to make sincere criticisms. At the same time, he is not a McCartney hater and says that he appreciates his entire career from the Beatles all the way till today. He also considers Paul's current vocals as part of his Album Grades.
Overall he gives McCartney 3 at final verdict of B. Unlike Kenneth Womack he doesn't believe that McCartney 3 is one of Paul's best Post Beatles' albums period. He's kept his individaul "track" Grades simple. He didn't feel any of the songs deserved a "F" and he only gives 1 or 2 songs an "A or A minus Grade. On the majority of songs, he gave a "B". As I said, overall he felt McCartney 3 deserved a B.
Here was the track by track rundown:
Long Tailed Winter Bird - "B" Mainly an instrumental song he liked this opening track and felt that Paul was mainly going back to his roots. He likened this track as he said from some strange reason to the "Sun Sessions" from some of the early rock pioneers in the 50's.
Find My Way - "B" He called this one a modern sounding tracks...upbeat, quirky and he liked it
Pretty Boys - "C" or "C" minus - Basically an acoustical piece but he didn't like this one vocally and thought it's one of his weakest vocals on the album
Women's and Wives "C" - Piano based song that Matthew compared to "I Don't Know" from Egypt Station but not as good. He called the lyrics pretty boring in general.
Lavatory Lil "B" - He liked this one better and described it as a good, raw and upbeat rocker. He loved Paul's Guitar playing here.
Slidin "A minus" - he called this one a "kick ass" rock and roll song with good bass and guitar work.
Deep Deep Feeling "B minus" - Despite its length, he liked Paul's guitar fills and the overall vibe.
Kiss of Venus "B" - He liked this one but said you have to get used to Paul's vocals. He loves the melody and it sticks with you.
Seize the Day "C plus" - he felt this track was the most Beatleque on the album and that the message is nice.
Deep Down "D plus" - this was his least favorite track and he particularly didn't like the drums/percussion part of it. While it was more in the "soul pop" category, he didnt feel it was particularly smoothe in the execution.
Winter Bird/When Winter Comes "B" - While he liked the track he didn't like the transition part between the 2 songs, He felt the transition was too abrupt. He did like the 2nd part of the song quite a lot and liked the way Paul helped the album lyrically go full circle.
Not that I'm going to base my final opinion of McCartny 3 on this man's opinion (I'll leave that to my own ears) I have to say that Mr. Sweet's review was more realistic than some of the other early reviews I have read. He's not calling McCartney 3 one of his best Post Beatles' albums and he ended up giving it a "B"grade. I think it did help me to be more realistic from an "expectations" point of view. In reality, this is probably what I should expect from an album by Sir Paul at this late stage of his long and illustrious career. Also, like the other albums of this ilk (McCartney and McCartney 2) this album is rather "homemade" in its development with just Paul and a couple of engineers in the studio. I don't think it should necessarily be compared to Band on the Run, Tug of War or Chaos and Creation in the Backyard just to name a few. And it is pretty diifficult to compare McCartney 3 vocally to those earlier albums either.
Like most of us, I can't wait to hear McCartney 3 but at this point I'm not waiting for the greatest Paul album of all time. I'm just hoping for a "good" album considering all of these circumstances especially given his age and how many years he has been touring.