B J Conlee:
JoeySmith:
Squid:
Another could-have-been-great album; this one suffers greatly from the presence of drivel like Really Love You, Used to be Bad and If You Wanna. Pity, because the rest of it is top-notch. Some of his best solo material.
Agree 100%. Sometimes less is more, and Paul really hasn't learned that lesson. Sure, he had "throwaways" as far back as the White Album & throughout Wings, but those throwaways were at least short, charming & interesting! Those 3 horrible (i.e., boring, tedious) songs take up about 15 minutes of Flaming Pie and slowed any momentum the album had! Take those 3 songs away and you have a nice, tight 35-40 minute album. Even Steve Miller said at the time in an interview (Rolling Stone magazine?) that he was surprised Paul put those songs on his album because they were basically jams and nothing more. That's a worrisome sign!! On the positive, Flaming Pie obviously has a Beatlesque feel to it as it was recorded right after Anthology. It might be his best set of ballads on an album since his Beatles days.
_______________________________________________________ If anyone can find Steve Miller's exact quote, I would love to see it. I know I've never seen it. Joey, maybe Steve Miller said something that you've taken or read that was out of context. I also doubt that Steve would say anything about "Really Love You" since he didn't have anything to do with that track. Also, Steve was, in all likelihood, the primary writer for Used to be Bad so I wouldn't think that he would be criticizing his own song. I do respect your opinion on the 3 tracks but I just don't share it. Yes while most fans will probably agree (and I do too) that they are weak tracks compared to the others, I'm not sure most fans would call them horrible, garbage, rubbish and the like. Lackluster could be appropriate but horrible is a little harsh in my opinion. I would agree that "Really Love you" is strictly a jam and probably shouldn't have been included on the album, but the other two in my opinion aren't that bad especially "If You Wanna". They're not great for sure but they are decent album tracks. As I mentioned in another post, even John, George and Paul had occasional lackluster songs even on their great Beatle albums. Anyway, appreciate your opinion.
Sorry, the Steve Miller reference were only to the songs he collaborated with Paul, not 'Really Love You'. Dont remember where I read it but it was an interview with Steve Miller & the topic of working with Paul came up. I'm pretty sure it was close after the album release.