@njr

IMO Denny could not talk to Paul like John did, totally different relationship. Look how Paul reacted to Nigel Godrich during the making of CHAOS when he told Paul something was not very good - lol. The 1979 Wings tour finished their run in the UK and then the Japan bust happened and plans of world tour ended. I believe McCartney then started doing songs for "McCartney II" and had no interest in touring with Wings. The other band members got tired of waiting for him and then left to do other things. Notice when Paul was interested in touring again in the late 80's, he had no interest in recruiting any former members of Wings for his touring band.

@b-j-conlee

Yep. Your idea would have been much better compilation than "Pure McCartney". The difference is you actually took the time and put some thought in your collection and MPL just threw something together really quick to make quick buck. B-sides, demo recordings and live versions are the things fans like me would want to have in a compilation of "deep cuts" and not the songs from "Pure McCartney". The commercial failure of "Pure McCartney" IMO doomed something you proposed for a compilation.

Seeing the artists Andrew Watt has produced for makes me a bit concerned. Why do I have the feeling there might be another song like "Fuh You" (lol) if he produces McCartney. Think McCartney would have learned his lesson when he did this song with Ryan Tedder in attempt to have a hit single.

Paul is not getting younger so concerns about his voice increase every day. Like I said earlier, there is only so much you can cover up in the studio.

One last thing before I go, it still frustrates me there is no news about the musical "It's A Wonderful Life" which McCartney stated he had already written 20 songs. Did they scrap the idea? Is it just delayed and maybe we will hear some news in 2023? I just find it strange that there has been no update in so long.

@b-j-conlee

Sales for CHAOS is not that surprising IMO. While the album was critically acclaimed, it was not a very commercial album. The mood of the album for the most part was pretty somber. "Fine Line" was pretty good single IMO but I don't think it did that well.

RAM sales are surprising to me mainly because "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" was I believe a #1 single.

"Flaming Pie" started the trend of what would happen in the future for most McCartney albums. It hit the charts at #2 and sadly faded quickly. There was no single from the album that was a hit, "The World Tonight" did not even make the top 50 on the charts.

"Pure McCartney" was thrown together with little thought. If there is not one song from FITD on it, you know it was not well done. IMO people who buy music today are really not into "Greatest Hits" type packages anymore.

@b-j-conlee

Personally, I just want any new album to be new music and not unreleased songs he had hiding in the attic -lol. I looked at your list and I like so many of the songs but after thinking about it I wondered if I would buy such a compilation. I have found in the last couple of years that I listened to McCartney less and less and listen to other artists more often. Things I buy now are more likely to be newer artist. For example, recently got CD of Wolfgang Van Halen that I enjoyed. If I want to listen to McCartney music, I tend to want to hear the more conventional solo songs from his CD's.

I have said many times now, I don't see the MPL team doing compilation while Paul is still alive. I also do not see a commercial market for this type of project. Paul has enough trouble trying to sell his new music even with doing promotional appearances/interviews in attempts to sell his CD's. I will say once again, love the idea and your passion for his relatively unknown music but in reality, don't see it happening.

@fast-city-line

I will only go by what I know better and that is TV in the US. Paul doing SNL (Saturday Night Live) back then was a huge thing in the US. SNL is done in NYC and the appearance made all the newspapers in the largest media market in the world. Paul did go on Oprah to promote the Flaming Pie album. Oprah promoted the heck out of the appearance leading up to it being on TV. I don't know the effect of him appearing on TV back then in the UK, not sure how big a deal the shows like "Lulu" were in the UK. Paul did major interview with Rolling Stone magazine (he was on the cover) before his 1989 tour, that is when Rolling Stone magazine was a big deal and sold many copies.

Everybody has different taste in music so once again "to each their own". I am glad my musical taste is not stuck in the past (about 50 years ago) and moved on to appreciate some awesome music by Paul McCartney.

@fast-city-line

Ok. Paul did tons of publicity for FITD album (TV shows, media interviews) and his first tour without Wings in 1989. He also promoted his album OTG and his tour in 1993 which included TV performance on SNL (Saturday Night Live). Linda McCartney was diagnosed with cancer in 1995 if my memory was correct and died in 1998 so it makes sense as to Paul keeping a low profile those years. In 1999, he released RDR which was mostly cover of "Rock And Roll" standards and he played on TV shows in the UK (like Lulu show) to promote the album. He also did high profile shows in places like the Cavern Club show to promote the album.

What can I say if you were not impressed with CHAOS, Flaming Pie and Egypt Station. All three of them were critically acclaimed and got Grammy nominations. In addition, it is hard to find anyone on this board who did not think at least one of those albums were very good. To each their own.

@njr

I just got email from BJ and he said he sent you one also. It seems like he does not check his emails on a regular basis and after seeing you sent him one he did search and found out I sent him several. I am sorry I worried a few people for nothing, BJ had always replied to me fairly promptly. In addition, he told me he would get back to me over the holidays. I guess this is a lesson learned and I will keep in mind if somebody does not reply back for a while they may be ok. The important thing is he and family are well. Once again, my apologies for pushing the "panic" button. His not replying back just seemed out of character.

@njr

I think we have done all you can do (FB, emails etc.) so we will just wait. I thought about checking obits but did not want to be morbid - lol. There are so many things that could cause him not to reply to emails. He could be really sick and not even looking at them. A family member could be having health or personal problems and he does not have time to deal with social media. I don't think we should spend money on trying to find out information or try to contact the police. I believe he lives in Tampa but not 100% positive. Maybe we will hear something soon, if not it was not due to a lack of effort. Thanks again Nancy!!

@njr

Thanks for all you have done Nancy, I appreciate it. I sent him a FB "Friend request" and will not be shocked if there is no reply but thought I would give it a shot. If you have the time, the more people you can send a message asking about him the better chance of finding out something. At this point, there is not much else we can do but hope for the best.

I hate to say this and I hope it is not an overreaction, but I think something may have happened to long time poster BJ Conlee. From time-to-time BJ would not post on this board for a bit and that was not concerning to me because he would mention he was stepping away for a while. In 2022, we exchanged email addresses to "chat" with each other about our upcoming vacations, especially Alaska. We did not want to bore other members about our trips in public posts. BJ requested I update him in October about my California coast trip and to send him some pictures. I did that and he replied back that he loved them and was glad I had great time. He mentioned he might not post on the board for a bit but would catch up with me during the holidays. (Thanksgiving, Christmas)

Once the "new" Maccaboard was up and running, myself and another board member sent him emails on what to do if he had troubles getting to this forum due to the changes. Neither one of us got a reply back from him. I sent him a couple of emails wishing him and his family well over the holidays. The last one was sent on Dec 29th and never received a reply. I never met BJ personally but over the many years on this board he seemed to be very nice guy and not the type of person who would not reply to several emails. I also know there was no technical issue because when there is a problem, you get a message about email not being delivered.

I hope I am wrong, and all is ok, and it will be hard to know for sure unless he contacts us. I don't post daily but usually check the board every few days. If he posts something, I would appreciate somebody sending me a PM. Thanks in advance.