I need to listen to it more. Not as keen about it as Egypt Station or NEW, though. I've been sick with Covid (read my account in Covid thread) and tomorrow is my last day of quarantine. Today is my twins' 34th birthday and won't be able to see them, plus my son has come down with cough, cold and got tested yesterday. Results in several days. My rapid test was + on the 5th, but still don't have results of regular test.

You take care! You're on lockdown in U.K. right?

Nancy R

We're are back in Rockdown to quote some unknown artist.

Well, my Dad who's at home dying of three cancers managed to be sent home from the hospital with COVID just before Christmas, luckily for him and my Mother she didn't get it and he didn't pass it on. Fortunately, he had no symptoms and it didn't have an effect on him at all which at 82 I thought would. They're both negative as of this date.

Hopefully, things will get better at your end too.

B J Conlee wrote:

Welcome back Boycie and I agree with you 100% on McCartney 3.  It continues to grow with me.

Thanks, BJ.

McCartney III is a double-edged sword with me as my 15 year old nephew was murdered on June 18th Paul's birthday, oh the irony, and because of the pandemic and being out of school he was killed. McCartney III being recorded because of COVID 19 is a very conflicting listen, to say the least, no pandemic no McCartney III, no pandemic no family tragedy. Obviously in reality I wish it wasn't made as we all across the globe would be leading normal lives and certain horrific events would never have occurred. Stepping away from the gloom and doom, I do think McCartney III is a very good album and Find My Way the obvious single, whatever that is these days for older artists.

Nancy R wrote:

Hey BOYCIE! Welcome back! Long time no see you here!

P.S. Totally agree with you!

Hey Nancy!

When I joined up here in 2007 it was all new and I was loving it, I think I got to the point where there was so much bitchiness over having differing opinions that I got out. I'm by no means a shrinking violet and I can stand my ground but unlike sports. we're supposed to be on the same side and I think it started to get unseemly and childish. Also, now there's so many Macca facebook pages now and podcast fb pages etc I spend any McCartney time there, though of course fans overstepping the mark is still around. The good thing that came from the maccaboard is I have a few friends I made in the early days and 13 years down the line they still are, especially love2travel who's one of my dearest friends now. She was due to see McCartney again with me in Lille in May but of course, COVID buggered that up. All is well, hope all is well with you?

McCartney III is great by the way, though you're not keen?

Yankeefan2 wrote:

Bruce M. wrote:

2.7 million YouTube views is not a lot. Taylor Swift's "Willow," released Dec. 10, is over 47 million, and top-selling artists sometimes get hundreds of millions of views.

As for radio, it can certainly help, though it's no doubt a smaller factor than in pre-internet days. Find My Way has in fact been promoted to radio and has gotten modest pickup on Triple A format stations, but it's not exactly burning up the airplay charts. And it seems like the publicity has mostly stopped, so that's probably it.

I'm actually not surprised. As I'm pretty sure I said before, this is typical for older artists: With decent publicity, the old fanbase turns out to buy it the first week, then things drop off. Such is life. Count all the other artists over age 75 who still have albums chart in the top 5.

Thanks for the input Bruce. I thought 2.7 million views was not bad especially for older artist but in comparsion to Taylor Swift  it is next to nothing. I never expected "McCartney III" to stay in the charts long but  I was hoping it had a little more "legs" than his other recent albums due to the critical acclaim and publicity. The thing that gets me is people will still flock to his concerts but never will give his new music a chance. At this point, I am satisfied with the critical acclaim for the most part by the critics. Finally, I am pleased to say that my brother who is a major Beach Boy fan (Brian Wilson) and never bought a McCartney record ever bought "McCartney III" - yeah !!

Most of the people that go to Paul gigs probably haven't bought anything since the early 80s if you're lucky or are just Beatle/Wings fans. Love2travel who's a friend of mine is always bemoaning the fact Paul sells Rusty and Brian CDS at his gigs but not his latest album, which is a little odd, to say the least. I feel plenty of fans that jumped ship are missing out on plenty of good to great stuff, especially since Flaming Pie in 97.

Kestrel wrote:

BOYCIE wrote:

My latest discovery Joshua Lee Turner a young singer-songwriter from the US. very talented. .

I do think Egypt Station and some other Paul albums had they been trimmed to a 12 track album would be all the better for it. Picking what stays and goes would be tough, look at Off The ground, most of the best stuff was left off.

Joshua sounds very confident in his performance. I like the song and he's obviously talented although I suspect if the whole album is voice & guitar then there wouldn't be enough variation to hold my attention. You'll have to start a new topic in the Band on The Run forum. Meanwhile I discovered LEG last year and saw them in London last autumn. They certainly pander to my 'quirky' taste in music.   

Back to ES or your comment on trimming albums. Personally I think 10 songs / 45 minutes in the optimum playing time for an album. I remain unconvinced that would have rescued ES though.  When I find time I will give ES another listen  but at the moment I have a backlog of other albums to listen to.

I enjoyed Rapunzel, I like eccentricity that's why I'm a big Kate Bush fan from way back. Much to love2travels chagrin, I don't have that many female artists in my vast music collection.  Josh's album does have variety, I couldn't listen to anything that was too samey.

Funny with albums though, Plastic Soul Man, Chris who you met at Abbey Road wasn't keen on Memory Almost Full 12 years down the line he loves it now, go figure (of   Back to ES, at this time I'm still loving it and I'm hopeful I'll still be enjoying it a few years down the line. The one thing I do hate about ES is the multiple editions out there and it's way over the top. Luckily I have friends to send me the bonus tracks so I can stick to my green rubber band edition and not get sucked into buying yet another version of an album I own. It's a pet hate of mine standard and special editions, just put the one fucking album out and leave it at that for God's sake.

I think we just have different tastes in music which only really overlap when it comes to Paul. I couldn't even persuade you to come in and see Jocelyn Pook with me. I'm still shocked.  

My latest discovery Joshua Lee Turner a young singer-songwriter from the US. very talented. .

I do think Egypt Station and some other Paul albums had they been trimmed to a 12 track album would be all the better for it. Picking what stays and goes would be tough, look at Off The ground, most of the best stuff was left off. Josh's album is 10 quality tracks, no clunkers and I can see a great future if a bigger label has the guts to pick him up.

Kestrel wrote:

BOYCIE wrote:

Quite a few fans hold Chaos And Creation In The Backyard as the barometer of what makes a great late career Macca album, but for me apart from a handful of admittedly top-notch songs like At The Mercy, Friends To Go, Too Much Rain, A Certain Softness,  This Never Happened Before and Anyway the rest is a tad pedestrian and dull. The album's production by Nigel Godrich for me is a little lifeless and should I say a little plodding. The two up-tempo songs Fine Line and Promise To You Girl have no zest and life. they are good songs let down by the production.

As I mentioned, its all subjective. You've failed to mention (imho) the two best songs on the album, How Kind Of You & Riding To Vanity Fair. You do seem to place a lot of importance on production where as for myself I much prefer the integrity of the performance and the song. Thats why I consider, for example, Scared (from the New album sessions) as being one of the best song Paul has done in his career. There's nothing on ES that comes anywhere near that song ,..which again is just my personal opinion.

Performance and integrity are part of the production in my eyes. Production is important, the producer's job is to get the best performance out of the artist as well the best arrangements etc. As you say it's all subjective, but How Kind Of You, Riding To Vanity Fair and Scared don't do anything for me at all, though Vanity Fair's lyric is very well written and very unlike Paul in its bitterness which is a welcome diversion,  musically though it doesn't work for me.  As you say Rob, each to his own. 

Kestrel wrote:

I guess if you look at every album Paul has ever released there will be fans who love it, dislike it or are just okay with it. Music is very personal, very subjective and we all respond to what we hear with different reactions...thankfully. I'll have to start listening to ES again but last time I played it I was working at the PC and the album had finished playing without my realising it. And when I tried to remember what the songs sounded like, I couldn't. It just didn't grab or hold my attention at all.  Yes,I noticed about those Abbey Road ticket prices too. What with travelling expenses it does make for a costly day out.

Quite a few fans hold Chaos And Creation In The Backyard as the barometer of what makes a great late career Macca album, but for me apart from a handful of admittedly top-notch songs like At The Mercy, Friends To Go, Too Much Rain, A Certain Softness,  This Never Happened Before and Anyway the rest is a tad pedestrian and dull. The album's production by Nigel Godrich for me is a little lifeless and should I say a little plodding. The two up-tempo songs Fine Line and Promise To You Girl have no zest and life. they are good songs let down by the production.

Egypt Station for me though not flawless is his best-produced album since Tug Of war in 1982, it was one of the first things that struck me, a great drum sound, the right instrumentation for every song and despite a few downbeat songs great zest and vitality. If I had my way Fuh You, Confidante and People Want Peace would've bit the dust and would've been replaced by Get Started, Nothing For Free and Frank Sinatra's Party or Sixty Second Street and then it would be a stunning McCartney album rather than just a great Macca album.  I must admit I didn't think Paul had it in him to come up with an album as strong as this at 76 but luckily he proved me wrong.

James, great to hear from you, I was only thinking about you the other day when I was considering buying a ticket for the 'Abbey Road' event shows and was wondering if you were going?  I'm glad you enjoy listening to ES but for me its still a disappointment on every level. I should add its not a bad album at all, some of it is good to very good, but overall its just uninteresting and lacks any emotional punch. There's not one song that for me comes anywhere near the quality of a song like 'Scared' for example. At least I'm not the only one who wasn't very impressed....,as far as albums go, only 'Pipes Of Peace', 'Press To Play' and 'Kisses on The Bottom' have been more poorly received by fans.

It's funny I think the opposite. I do think overall it's a little overlong but I'm still playing it regularly still so that says something. Fans I know who don't inhabit the Maccaboard really love the album, though on YouTube you'll find a 50 50 split on its merits from fans who overpraise it to those who under appreciate it. Critically it has certainly has had more positivity than the albums you mentioned, though I'd stick Off The Ground in as another lacklustre record. NEW his last studio album had some high points but it just doesn't hang together as well as Egypt Station in my opinion.

As for the Abbey Road lecture not really thought about it, though it's £40.00 quid more than last time we met up there.

Kestrel wrote. I quite like it. It reminds me of the McCartney II album in many ways. As for ES, I just can't get into at all. I haven't played it for several months now and I can't remember a single song from it which neatly sums the album up for me. Hopefully the next album will be a return to form like Chaos... & New were

I had to respond to your comment as I couldn't disagree more dear boy on ES.   Egypt Station has so many memorable songs on it for me, I Don't Know, Happy With You, Hand In Hand, Dominoes, Do It Now, Hunt You Down/ Naked/ C-Link and the masterful Despite Repeated Warnings. The only tracks I'm not keen on but don't hate are Fuh You, Confidante and People Want Peace, replace them with Get Started, Nothing For Free, Frank Sinatra's Party or Sixty Second Street and you have gone from a very good album to a great, great album.  Also, Greg Kurstin's production is my favourite production of a Paul album since GM's work on Tug Of War.