Let's talk Paul McCartney's new album, McCartney III - The previous two self titled albums were released at times when the artist found himself at crossroads in his career - McCartney came in 1970 just as the Beatles were falling apart, and McCartney II arrived ten years later just as Wings were about to be grounded.
'Well I can find my way, I know my left from right.'
This time out circumstances are somewhat different, though like the previous two McCartney albums this was recorded during a time of great upheaval. Macca had planned on spending 2020 touring the globe but the pandemic found him confined to barracks and so given his workaholic condition and the fact that he has a state of the art recording studio at his Sussex home he wrote a bunch of new songs, completed some old ones and here we have it, McCartney III. For Macca lockdown became rockdown.
'Chasing the morrow, getting ready to run'
It's a damn fine album too, that mostly sticks to the concept of the previous two McCartney albums with the artists doing almost everything himself - playing all the instruments, supplying the vocals, both lead and harmony and producing, mixing and even making the coffee. The album also follows the same pattern as the other McCartney albums with several instrumental pieces, a smattering of strange little ditties and the odd masterpiece thrown in.
Beatle fandom is a strange thing and there are some people who will knock this album - they tend to criticize McCartney because his voice is not as powerful as it once was, but that's bullshit and if you follow that lead them you may as well knock Macca for having more wrinkles than Beatle Paul or for having greyer hair than the Wings frontman.
I'm comfortable with senior Macca and no matter what his detractors say he has remained consistent since those early days on Merseyside. He's still capable of turning out the most saccharine of tunes as well as pulling off something so left-field that he leaves the young turks standing. He's also not averse to singing about fixing fences to protect the chickens. Years ago he was fixing a hole to stop his mind from wandering and now he's ruminating about fixing the fence by the acre patch. All he wants, you know, is a home in the heart of the country.
'Dinosuars and Santa Claus will stay in tonight.'
McCartney seems to be chasing the strangest ideas throughout the album and coming up with some incredibly original tunes which contains that melodic gold that he's known for. Perhaps the strongest track is , Deep Deep Feeling which is astounding in the way vocal layers are built over a minimalist beat. I love that one
Track listing:
Long Tailed Winter Bird
Find my Way
Pretty Boys
Women and Wives
Lavatory Lil
Deep Deep Feeling
Slidin
The Kiss of Venus
Seize the Day
Deep Down
Winter Bird/When Winter Comes
And so McCartney's late career golden patch continues to shine bright and McCartney III continues a run of great albums that truly reward the listener with repeat spins. For now, I'm off to find the sun when winter comes.
Pual McCartney's 1971 album, Ram which was critically slammed on initial release but as since gained higher regard and is now rightly placed among the best of the Fabs solo albums. The earth, down home, rocker of a record gets a remastered release this May - and I can't wait for this one as the other remastered reissues have been excellent and Ram is, on times, my favorite of all Macca's non Beatle albums. It's definitely in my top five in any case.
Ram is a almost folksy rocker of an album with songs about sheep, cows and long haired ladies. It also started a war of word between McCartney and Lennon, when John spotted little jibes in tracks Too Many People and Dear Boy - 'too many people preaching practices' - George Harrison and Ringo Star were also annoyed by Three Legs which was McCartney's nickname for his ex - bandmates.
The great thing about the new issue is that we'll also get the rare mono version of the album which was originally recorded for playback on AM radio stations - I've only ever heard the mono tracks in bootleg and several songs differ to those on the standard release.
The album was originally released in the days when albums were described as funky and groovy, and critics were still waiting for something Beatle from McCartney and Ram was slated, but it's an excellent album and it's certainly groovy - these days most people seem to think so. Though why the critics felt this was so far removed from McCartney's usual style is beyond me - this collection of rustic rockers seems perfectly in standing with Mother Nature's Son. You know when you read the critical response to McCartney through the years and then hear the albums, you begin to wonder if the bad press was not a response to the Beatles break - for many years following the split of the band it was generally considered that McCartney was the instigator of the band falling apart. And even although McCartney has made a few weak albums, Ram is not one of them.
Expect some great packaging and a track listing that runs:
CD1: Ram (remastered)
1. Too Many People
2. 3 Legs
3. Ram On
4. Dear Boy
5. Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey
6. Smile Away
7. Heart of the Country
8. Monkberry Moon Delight
9. Eat at Home
10. Long Haired Lady
11. Ram On
12. The Back Seat of My Car
CD2: Bonus tracks (remastered):
1. Another Day
2. Oh Woman, Oh Why
3. Little Woman Love
4. A Love For You (Jon Kelly remix)
5. Hey Diddle (Dixon Van Winkle mix)
6. Great Cock And Seagull Race (Dixon Van Winkle mix)
7. Rode All Night
8. Sunshine Sometime (earliest mix)
CD3: Ram mono (remastered)
1. Too Many People
2. 3 Legs
3. Ram On
4. Dear Boy
5. Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey
6. Smile Away
7. Heart of the Country
8. Monkberry Moon Delight
9. Eat at Home
10. Long Haired Lady
11. Ram On
12. The Back Seat of My Car
There will also be a deluxe version which will include the barking album, Thrillington which is a lounge music instrumental version of the Ram album Arranger Richard Hewson was asked to arrange the
orchestration before Ram had yet been released and it was recorded in
June 1971—with McCartney as producer—and with an intended release
shortly thereafter. It wouldn't be released until 1977
CD4: Thrillington (remastered)
1. Too Many People
2. 3 Legs
3. Ram On
4. Dear Boy
5. Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey
6. Smile Away
7. Heart Of The Country
8. Monkberry Moon Delight
9. Eat At Home
10. Long Haired Lady
11. Back Seat Of My Car
The Beatle was almost squished according to Demi Lovoto in her Tweets - So…. today I was pulling into a parking space that
some guys were standing in the middle of, and almost hit them….. When
one of the guys turned around…. it was a BEATLE…….. Yes, YOU HEARD ME….
SIR PAUL McCARTNEY!!! He was so sweet!! Can't believe I met him today..
WOW! And…. I can't believe I almost ran over a Beatle……. :
A minor incident but as there's a Beatle involved this news has spread like wildfire around the Internet and has also been picked up by the national TV news in several countries. Thankfully the Macca is still with us and Demi Lovotois now a million times more famous than she was Yesterday - Hey, I'd never heard of her until now.
What we want to know is was Demi fiddling with her make up in the rear view mirror? Or did she have her One Direction MP3 on so loud that she failed to hear the faint cries of a Beatle who had almost done one in his pants? Baby, you can drive my car, indeed!
"This will sound like 1920-1940, the time when my father was 20. These
are songs I heard, my family, my uncles, everybody sang. And there will
be pieces that I've written, but in this style,"
So said Paul McCartney and he's talking about his new album, Valentine and Beatle nut that I am, I'm excited by this. Macca may have gone through a stale patch some time ago but his last few albums have all been uniformly good and his Fireman album, Electrical Arguments is a masterpiece.
"I worked with Diana Krall, and great jazz musicians like John Clayton.
This is an album very tender, very intimate. It's an album on the way we
listen work with a glass of wine or a cup of tea. From the background
music."
It sounds like an album with tracks along the line of Honey Pie, When I'm 64, You're Mother should Know and others of that ilk - sounds like er - gear, groovy, fab to me but what is realy exciting is that McCartney mentioned another album next year and the rumors are that it'll be a follow up to electric arguments. Now that would be fab.
A toilet that once belonged to John Lennon was sold for £9,500 (about $14,700) at an auction in Liverpool on Saturday, Reuters reported. Lennon had the blue-and-white porcelain commode removed from his home in Tittenhurst Park in Berkshire, in southern England, where he lived from 1969 to 1971; he gave it to a builder, John Hancock, telling him to “put flowers in it or something,” according to the auction catalogue. Mr. Hancock stored the toilet in his shed for 40 years, and on Saturday it was sold to an unidentified buyer as part of a sale of memorabilia
Ga Ga has once again been accused of blasphemy - but this time it's not for sporting a latex nun outfit.
John Lennon's son recently posted a photo on Twitter of the "Paparazzi" singer playing his late father's white piano -- and Beatles fans are not willing to let it be.
The image showed a leotard- and fishnet-clad Gaga tapping the late Beatles' ivories with the caption: "With gaga at mom’s house, she’s belting on the white piano…"
Lennon fans accused Gaga of not being worthy to play such an esteemed instrument; their anger caused Sean Lennon to eventually remove the Twitpic, but not before defending his friend.
"Pianos meant are to be played," he tweeted in response. "What should we do, lock it away in a dusty room? So judgmental...Come on, lighten up... life's too short, there're enough real problems in the world.
The novel that imagines the Beatles as zombies - it's a way out premise for a novel, one no doubt which the Beatles would have approved of back in the day. It would have certainly tickled both Lennon and Harrison's zany sense of humour.
The book has done remarkable well - check out the Facebook page and hear the author read from the novel.
Paul McCartney Cardiff's Millennium Stadium 26 June 2010.
You've got to hand it to Macca - on stage for over three hours, two encores, a set list of over thirty songs and he looked as if he could have still kept going. At one point Macca ran on stage, carrying a Welsh flag and claimed that Liverpool was the capital of Wales. He even did that little ditty Ram On after a request from the audience -now that couldn't have been rehearsed. There were seventy odd thousand of us there in that massive stadium and yet once the show was under way, it all seemed really intimate, the sign of a great performer.
When we first got into the stadium it seemed as if we were seated some miles from the stage but the time, show openers, Manic Street Preachers had done their first song, we were rocking. And the Manics did a great set, setting the place alight when they did Rock and Roll Music as a tribute to the late Stuart Cable.
Then the roof was closed, it was lights down and McCartney opened with the track Venus and Mars/Rock Show and the place erupted. The audience were made up of all ages - from babies to teenagers, to adults of all ages. And yet those songs, were known by everyone there - even those who had not been born when Wings split, let alone the Beatles.
Macca was on top form, coming onto stage for the first of his encores carrying a Welsh flag and yelling out a splattering of Welsh phrase. When he went off stage again people started to leave but rushed back in when Macca came back out and did Yesterday before once again being joined by his band for Sgt.Peppers/The End.
An excellent show with the set list not being dominated by Beatles numbers but containing a fair few Wings and even later solo stuff. The Fireman tracks went down well but, as always, the highlight of the night was the spirited version of Hey Judge with the entire audience joining in for the well known chorus - "na, na , naa na na na."
Of course Macca will always have to perform those timeless Beatles numbers but for long time fans such as myself, it was great to see him perform lesser known classics like - 1985 and Venus and Mars.
The last time I saw him was in 2002/2003 at Earl's Court and I must admit I found that show a little dissapointing after seeing him previously in Wembley back in 1989. The Earl's Court gig was okay but it didn't seem to have the fire he had in 89 but tonight that fire was back, hotter than ever.
He may have been going through the motions at Earl's Court but tonight the Beatle was on top form.
For the first time in 35 years, this evening will see Paul McCartney perform in Wales when he brings his concert tour to Cardiff's Millenium Stadium.
I'm psyched up for the show and didn't know I was going until this Thursday when a surprise ticket came my way. I've seen Macca twice - in 1989 at Wembley and I think in 2002 at Earl's Court, or was it 2003 - I can't remember. When it was announced he's be appearing at the Millenium Stadium I was all geared up for the show until I found how much the tickets were costing.
Anyway Thursday evening I get a phone call and my Dad informs me that there is a ticket going spare and do I want it? Do I - hell, yeah!
Expect a report on the gig tonight after I've seen a sixty eight year old man turn back the years - it'll be quite thrillington, no doubt.
Ringo Star, of Thomas the Tank Engine fame, has admitted in an interview with the Telegraph that he has found God - The reformed rock legend, who turns 70 in July, admitted he had lost his way when he was younger, first as a Beatle then later after the group broke up when he became the voice of Thomas the Tank Engine.
He experimented with LSD and marijuana when he was a Beatle in the 1960s, then later in the 1970s suffered alcohol and cocaine problems. And in the 80' he got heavily into steam as a result of voicing Thomas the Tank Engine.
"For me, God is in my life. I don't hide from that ... I think the search has been on since the '60s. And now I have found God."
Apple have filed suit against a website that has been brazenly offering Beatles songs on it's web site for 25 cents per song. The company BlueBeat recently tried to take a copyright out on their Beatle songs,claiming that has been they had digitally remastered them themselves they owned the copyright. Apple didn't agree-
The label is suing the Web site for copyright infringement and unfair competition. Though BlueBeat claims on its site that it has secured the proper licenses and pays royalties, EMI contends that this is a lie.
EMI has "never authorized defendants to use their recordings in any manner, either orally or in writing, expressly or by implication," according to the suit, which was filed earlier this week in California district court.
EMI said that BlueBeat "recently sought to register their infringing sound recordings with the Copyright Office, apparently claiming that because they copied the sound recordings using their own computer system, they now own these digital copies and have the right to distribute them to the public."
EMI controls the rights to the Beatles recordings in conjunction with Apple Corp., which must sign off on any deal regarding digital sales of the band's music.
However EMI/Apple have now announced that the Beatles will now be available digitally from 8th December when every album will be available on an apple shaped USB key.
More than forty years after John Lennon invoked the ire of Christians by claiming his band were bigger than Jesus, he has been proved right by an analysis of search terms on the Google search engine. In the last four weeks more computer users have typed in the search word "Beatles" on the Google website than "Jesus". The popularity of The Beatles has increased substantially during September thanks to the re-release of all of their albums digitally-remastered. Though it must be remembered Jesus had no album out this month.
It's incredible to think but the Beatles split up in 1970 and yet industry insiders are saying that given the massive worldwide sales of the new remastered CD's the band are on target to become the biggest selling bank of THIS DECADE.
Call it Beatlemania 2.0.
Based on strong first-day sales of their newly-remastered catalog, the Fab Four appear set to dominate sales charts on a worldwide basis. As reported by Billboard.biz, projections in Britain indicate the band will occupy five of the Top 20 slots when sales charts appear on Sunday. Additionally, as many as 15 of the remastered CDs will place among the Top 75.
“"This massive project has come together so well through a great partnership between Apple Corps and EMI, and several years of hard work by both," said Elio Leoni-Sceti, CEO of EMI Music, in a statement. "The response from consumers from all around the world has been fantastic and simply underlines the pure quality and timelessness of the Beatles' music and a very well thought out global marketing campaign. But this is only the beginning. We're looking forward to building on what has been a really great start."
Thus far the biggest-selling titles in the U.K. have been Abbey Road and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. In Germany, the band’s 14-CD stereo box set has been the big seller, with many German retailers reporting stock outages on the first day of sales. The stereo box set is also currently Number One on the Amazon France sales chart, with Abbey Road placing at Number Six and the mono box set at Number Seven.
The remastered discs have also ignited a Beatles frenzy in Japan, with entertainment retailer HMV Japan reporting pre-orders topping 10,000 for both the stereo version and the mono version of the box set.
Indeed, speculation has begun that the Beatles might become the biggest-selling act of the decade.
09 Sept 09 - A cynical excuse to squeeze yet more money out of a back catalogue that has become legendary, a chance to raise more funds to allow Paul McCartney to keep his hair nice and brown, an attempt by EMI to prop up their troubled finances - hardly...the Beatle Remasters are a long overdue clean up and crystal clear representation of this, the most important song catalogue of the twentieth century.
Everyone is entitled to an opinion but anyone who says, as some do, that the band are overrated...well, that's not an opinion, that's just plain wrong. They may not be too everyone's tastes and their omniscience may annoy some people but there is no doubting their importance in the field of popular music.
I'm one of those Beatle nuts and I had to rush out this morning and buy all of the remasters - which maybe makes this the fourth or fifth time I've bought the albums - first I had a few on vinyl back in the Eighties, then I got them all on CD and have replaced those CD's several times and now the Remasters.
The original (British) versions of the twelve albums were first released on CD in 1987; they sounded thin and bright, without a hint of the LPs' analog warmth. It was hardly an auspicious beginning for the digital Beatles music.
Are they worth it? Are they significantly better quality than the original CD issues?
Yep - Take Long Long Long on the White Album - the previous CD's have mangled this song and hidden George's wistful vocal away in the music. I never liked this song - merely because I'd only ever heard it on the cassette and original CD, but at the same time I've always had the suspicion that there was a beautiful song hidden away waiting to get out. The remastered version now brings the vocals out of the mix and no longer do they have to compete with the backing track. Now the voice intertwines with the instruments and the song sounds significantly better. And the guitar intro on Day Tripper (Past Masters) positively pulses. Rubber Soul's acoustics really ring out on the new CD's and the bass line in Michelle has never sounded better.
Each CD also contains a mini documentary though these are only playable through a computer and the packaging of each album is welcome. Inlay booklets contain the original cover notes as well as newly written essays about the original recording process. Sgt. Peppers contains an introduction from Paul McCartney in which he claims the name came from him mishearing the words, "salt and pepper" as Sgt. Peppers. As I write Past Masters is playing in the background and I've just heard the echo on Thank you girl - I must have heard this song zillions of times but this is the first time I've actually heard this echoing behind the main vocal. Mind you as good as the new White Album is Revolution No 9 is still a ridiculous indulgence by a zonked out John...though it is crystal clear this time.
Fans have been waiting 22 years for these remasters - ever since the inferior CD transfers were released back in 1987, a whole generation has been listening to The Beatles without experiencing the true sound. Though it's not all positive - I do think the mono cuts should have been available on each CD as well as the stereo, and it does seem to be a cynical moneymaking plan to release two versions of each album - stereo and mono. Still, Beatle nut I may be but I'm not buying each album twice.
Uncut Magazine, probably the UK's most respected music magazine, said of the remasters: "It’s a weird thing to say, but Apple’s frustrating procrastination has turned out to be a lifesaver for these albums. Remastered by a small team of Abbey Road engineers over a four-year period, the CDs have not been brickwalled or over-compressed (unlike the 2000 compilation 1, which sounds unpleasantly ‘glassy’ in comparison), and nor do they even sound particularly loud (unless you turn them up). The two that have been restored to the point of miraculousness and beyond, The White Album and Abbey Road, are the ones I’d recommend first to people on limited budgets. Abbey Road’s Long Medley is simply a breathtaking musical tapestry. When it has to rock, it rocks. When it needs to be subtle (there is much more to the transition between “You Never Give Your Money” and “Sun King” than we previously thought), it has a warm, heavenly glow. History rewritten? No – history written honestly, truthfully, transparently, exhilaratingly, with no omissions or obfuscations. The Beatles up-close and personal. With blisters on their fingers."
If Uncut says so you know it must be so - but I'm pleased with the new remasters and apart from the omission of both mono and stereo on each one I don't think they could be better. Now please let's leave it at this - I can't afford to keep buying the same stuff over and over
With many of these songs now gaining much radio airplay , and the kids getting into the Beatles Rock Star game (also out today), it will be amusing to see kids, scratching their heads and thinking - these guys sound so much like Oasis! But then the warring Mancs are not the only one's who built their entire oeuvre on the Beatles Sound - The Bee Gees took the This Boy harmonies and ran with them, ELO built every song on the foundations of I am the Walrus, heavy metal bands from Metallica to ACDC owe much to songs like Helter Skelter, Revolution 1 and Yer Blues. Kula Shaka are George Harrison x 4 and the Stone Roses guitar style is the Beatles filtered through acid house influences.
I'll shut up now and take my Beatle obsession with me...I think I'll go and listen to a REMASTERED album.