Yankeefan2 wrote:

" I loved Earth Wind and Fire's cover of "Got to Get You Into My Life" because it was different and done in their vocal and music style.  But to me, they're cover was still the complete Paul song.  As I said, I could be wrong about Dominic Fike's talent but I'm already looking forward to the next artist on tap. "

BJ, the major differences are the "Earth Wind And Fire" cover was not done three months after "Revolver" came out and they are in the "Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame" and not an artist with 2 albums to their name.

Paul has often recounted that he was thrilled when Jimi Hendrix covered Sgt Pepper's the same weekend it was released.  Hmmm, not sure if Jimi even had his first album out by this time.

Brilliant! I love the concept of the new McCartney III Imagined album.  I had been wanting to post my own thoughts for a while about the first release, but just haven't had the time to get to it yet (busy busy!).  But I had wanted to touch on the delicate issue of Paul's voice (sometimes it works for me, sometimes it doesn't), and I wanted to suggest that Paul might share vocals with some newer artists to give the songs some proper treatment.  Now we have this album, and I think that's great, on a number of levels.  I'm also excited to see how other artists give their own interpretations of the songs.  I'm familiar with some of the artists (Beck, St Vincent, Josh Homme), and others  I don't know, but I'm looking forward to their takes.  Some of the match-ups are pretty obvious, but I'm still excited about them.  Beck on Find My Way is exactly the co-singer I would have suggested for this song, as the song itself has touches of that Beck vibe to begin with (and I hear bits of Buddy Holly, too, strange as it is).  Or course Josh Homme would have to do Slidin', haha.  One of my big faves of the album, a solid song by any standard.  Paul sounded like he was trying to do a Queens of the Stone age song, and that's just cool by me!  It's come full circle. I thought St Vincent would be more appropriate for Seize The Day, but I very much look forward to what she's got coming.  I've heard the Dominic Fike version of Kiss of Venus (an artist I hadn't heard of til Paul mentioned him recently).  I admit I have huge expectations for anyone covering this song, because I consider this a MAJOR Paul composition, and I think it holds up to anything he's done in his prime (the lost cut from the white album?). I was a bit shocked at first when I heard Dominic's version, but I'm patiently listening to it more, and it's growing on me.  I love how interesting and challenging the arrangement is.  I admire how Paul has brought on someone like Dominic to sing his song. (The video is very cool, too, but....oh, do we really need that cheezy moment at the end?  Ah, well.). I'm looking forward to hearing the rest of the album!  Thanks, Paul!

Yeah, I agree, too. I much prefer the Thrash mix. I think the edgier, Euro-pop anthemic setting suits it a lot better. I think it's a bit too polished and manufactured sounding, but in the right direction for my tastes. More cool, more modern and commercial, and it's edge gives a good context to balance the hippy-dippy lyrics. I think Paul's voice sounds good and strong, but I feel like it needed some sort of filtering or something to give the sonics of his voice a feel more in sync with the musical backing. I'm a big fan of what Youth did for The Fireman, and I would've been very curious if he had worked on this song with this type of a musical approach. Also, I think it was a smart move to edit out the "chorus" of the song, which I felt was one of the weaker parts melodically. Otherwise a strong composition in my books!

DavidP:

Ebony And Ivory is an extremely well-crafted song with a positive and uplifting message and features great vocals from two pop masters. I still remember the day it was released. I was vacationing in Hawaii and have loved it ever since. It is a song that has touched many, many people the world over. The tune ranks right up there as one of the most memorable melodies of Paul's post-Beatle career. You couldn't escape hearing that song in 1982. It was everywhere. "....and what's wrong with that?" And to me it is laughable that some in the UK point to the three songs (We All Stand Together, Mull Of Kintyre and Ebony And Ivory) as having ruined Paul's reputation. Yup, those darn #1 singles will kill you every time! Get real......... Paul's reputation was not ruined on this side of the Atlantic, I can tell you that.

From my own view on this side of the Atlantic, I wouldn't say Paul's reputation has been ruined either, but it's certainly gone through some rough patches. In the big picture, I don't think there's ever any doubt as to Paul's stature as the songwriting legend he is. To the other songs in question, yeah, it's kind of pointless trying to niggle about We All Stand Together for it's cheeziness. It's a kid's song! For my money Mull of Kintyre is a bloody fantastic song. Classic. So grand and sublime. And to have bagpipes so up front and centre is pretty darn brave, lol. It works for me, but I never would have imagined that I'd love a song with an army of bagpipes, lol. There are other songs by Paul that bug me for it's cheese factor, but I won't get into that here. Mull of Kintyre is one of my faves of Paul's.

Oh man, I didn't know there was a video to this song. Just checked it out, very cool. Agreed! I totally love this version, great cover! One of my faves from this period.

Hendrix Ibsen:

I think I have to say "No Other Baby". Maybe it includes the song along with the experience of the video. He sits in a boat and rowing... So simple yet song + video at its best.

For me "Ebony and Ivory" encapsulates everything I frequently love and hate about Paul's solo career. I have such mixed feelings about this song. On the positive side, I think Ebony and Ivory is a fantastically written song. A monster composition. I remember back in the day visiting my cousin, and she had the sheet music for this song. I play piano and guitar, and I remember sitting down playing and discovering the notes and chords. Very powerful. Some people have commented that it has a "nice" and decent melody, but I'd go much further and say this composition stands shoulder to shoulder with Paul's best work with the Beatles. Lyrically, the metaphor of the piano keys is a wonderful thing, too. Perhaps a touch glib in the lyrics, but still fine in my books. Ok, on to the negative side. Here my comments echo much of what I said in another post regarding the song "Press". Unfortunately, for my own tastes, I find that the *sound* of Ebony and Ivory is far too swamped with shmaltz. From the sound of the horns (or are those synths?) that blast the opening riff, my toes begin to curl. The aesthetic of the production and arrangement is far too drenched in cheese for my tastes, from the overly sweet high harmonies to the slickly polished rhythm tracks. Too much Vegas, and not enough Motown. I emphasize these are my own tastes, and there's no scientific way to argue this, it's much like walking into someone's house and commenting on the wallpaper. What might be tasteful and cool to someone, might be totally tacky to someone else. What bugs me about Ebony and Ivory is that I know Paul CAN do amazing r & b tinged tracks. As an example, I think of The Long and Winding Road as a close cousin to Ebony; they almost seem to share the same sonic landscape. I'm much more pleased with Long and Winding Road as far as aesthetics go, it seems to have some more darker shades and grittier touches. (The irony for me is that Paul has singled out this song as being poorly produced with syrupy overdubs. Each to their own, of course!) But if I'm sitting in a room with friends who all dig music like old blues records, alt rock, classic rock and whatnot, I'd feel much safer playing The Long and Winding Road. I'd get beat up if I put on Ebony and Ivory, lol. Someone posted the video of the stripped down early rehearsals of Ebony and Ivory back in the Wings days, and there's something about that that I found more enjoyable/tolerable. Even having the opening riff played on a simple organ was nicer, but maybe not the ultimate solution. The song was a massive commercial success at the time, and I think it was fully deserved. But it's awkward spot in history makes sense to me, too.

flamingsachertorte:

I really hope this is all just a phase that is over and done with that song. It's not a bad song, BUT he's working with those kind of ... I don't even want to say musicians, let's say entertainers, I always try to avoid. And I don't like that at all.

No doubt! That's what my grandmother said about Elvis.

MACCATTACK:

Love is Paul:

The song enters the Billboard Hot 100 at #54: http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/6451195/rihanna-kanye-west-paul-mccartney-fourfiveseconds-hot-100

Only #54!! Thats a flop!

Incorrect. It's a strong debut and has yet to peak.

I want to chime in again with some thoughts, but mostly echoing what others have already expressed so well. Firstly, I think Only One is a lovely song. Fantastic. But I find it sad that a lot of the attention is not on the song, but on what I might call, the peripheral issues. As to the question of collaboration, I think it's a completely inane non-issue. Paul co-wrote the song, he plays the ONLY instrument heard on the track(although someone else is co-credited with helping out on keyboards, too). I find it very narrow-minded to suggest that you have to hear Paul's voice front and centre to qualify as a collaboration. In fact, I'm relieved that it's not the typical A-list type of musical collaboration that's become so cliched over the years: huge, over-the-top productions with the singers belting out alternating lyrics, stroking their superstar egos. I think it's wonderful that Kanye and Paul put the song first, ahead of their egos. It's a gentle ballad, and it doesn't call for big superstar posturing. I also greatly admire the audacity of the arrangement. The minimalist approach isn't exactly "hit song" commercialism. People who are baffled that the song sounds unfinished or like a demo are missing the brilliance of it. The "meandering" outro gives it an intimacy and warmth.....like we are privy to a personal moment. Great stuff. I'll add that I'm a Paul fan first and a casual Kanye fan second. I greatly admire his work, but I admit that it's not easy separating the guy from the music. His d-bag antics make me roll my eyes (but I cheered him on for his Katrina stand). But as someone else wisely pointed out with examples of bad boy actors, talented people are not always the most well behaved people. I'm glad that Paul is working with someone who is at the top of their talents. Others have suggested other collaborators, but most of them I find are artists way beyond their peak talents. I don't want Paul to mix it up with artists who are not "on". Sure, I would love for Paul to have worked with Prince, for example......but only if it was Prince in 1984 at his creative peak. That said, I'm still nervous for what's coming next from this latest collaboration. The rumoured track with Rihanna and Kanye sounds like it's up next. The potential for something cringe-worthy still remains for me, but I hope whatever it is next builds on the success of Only One. I hope Paul fans are celebrating these special days! This is the dawn of his first top 10 hit (maybe #1?) in a million years

Damn, that's fine. Beautiful, well done! Love the melody and sentiment. What a nice surprise, and I agree with others -this exceeded my expectations. I agree with the Stevie Wonder comparison, too. Love the oh-so-gentle and funky piano noodling by Paul. I'm not a fan of the autotuning shtick in general, but I can buy into it in this song. I totally admire the ballsy-ness of this song - a completely stripped-down song of just Kanye singing over Paul's keyboards. Wow. So minimalist, and so cool. I've been hearing the comparisons to Let It Be, but it also has me thinking of Waterfalls, too. In a way, I'm glad to hear the sad skepticism of others to this collaboration -it shows Paul still enjoys rocking the boat and challenging himself and others. Why does Paul work with others like Elvis Costello, Carl Davis, Michael Jackson, Diana Krall, Stevie Wonder to name a few? People with freaking loads of talent enjoy working with like-minded people. It doesn't always work, but I respect that he puts himself out there.