There's a bootleg of that. And relevant to this thread, they actually do a little bit of Love Is Strange, along with Tequila and Fortune Teller, before going into a proper jam.
"Off the Ground" is the first 'new' album by a Beatle that came out after my father showed me the Beatles and I became way more obsessive than he ever had been at any point in his life. One of my parents' first dates was to see Wings in Chicago in 1976, so I was raised in a house where Wings got equal airtime and appreciation as the Beatles. Dad took me to my first concert in 1993, which was McCartney at Milwaukee County Stadium on the Off the Ground—sorry, the New World Tour. All this to say, I have a VERY sentimental attachment to "Off the Ground" and while I understand the criticisms that come up against it time and again about early 90s production and McCartney maybe trying too hard and making some lyrical miscalculations on political, environmental and animal-rights fronts (and, despite all of that, my wife will always tease me with the "Off the ground, lalalalalalalala" bit), I still argue it was an incredibly fertile period for him as a songwriter and if the "Wild Life" and "Red Rose Speedway" reissues achieve some revisionist "Wow, this is actually pretty great stuff" verdict as most of the other archive sets have to date (I still don't know that "Pipes of Peace" came out looking or sounding all that much better, but as someone who remembers how albums like 'Ram' and 'McCartney II' were still being slated and written off in the 90s and are now considered to be basically the signposts of entire subpop genres that followed), I think the B-sides disc alone of the "Off the Ground" stuff would invite some warmer revision. Nevermind the potential content we haven't really heard. (I mean I'm sure it's been said on other threads many times, but we know 'Is it Raining in London' got to the point of orchestration overdubs at Abbey f*cking Road. You can't say that about Women Kind or Indeed I Do). I remember finding the 'Hope of Deliverance' single and my father running into my room when I was playing 'Kicked Around No More' and going, "What is THIS?!" like I'd found some fantastic treasure, I remember talking to Robbie McIntosh at a Beatlefest umpteen years ago and how giddy he was about "Style Style" – which I loved, cos I'm very partial to that song too. Even "Long Leather Coat," despite the fact that I groan EVERY TIME at the "really red paint" line, it does have a really addictive drive to it. Even the album itself - there's a lot of little things I love in there, the bass on "Mistress and Maid," the bombast of "C'mon People," "eggshell seas" – yeah, makes you roll your eyes, but that's a total McCartneyism – I'm in the pro "Get Out of My Way" camp, I dig "Cosmically Conscious" (and am still furious that the B-side on that white vinyl "Off the Ground" 7" only plays the truncated version despite the label saying "full version"), "Hope of Deliverance" is a fine track. I suppose you could argue that maybe the songwriting was a little better on "Flowers in the Dirt" in that, aside from "How Many People" it was more traditional McCartney, going after nice love songs (and having Elvis Costello there to keep him sharp for half the album), but I always felt that "Flowers" suffered from the cavalcade of producers and the sound change literally from the first track to the second. You can complain all you want about the "dated" production on "Off the Ground," but at least it's one producer and it's a band working through a whole set of songs, which gives it a more cohesive feel. Also the B-sides question on "Flowers" ... I still find the "Oh we should've had the downloads on disc" argument funny because who the hell needs physical copies of multiple Ou Est Le Soleil and Party Party mixes (yeah, OK, completists—I get it), but hell, give me "Keep Coming Back To Love" (a B-side I don't even rate that highly) over any alternate mix of Ou Est Le Soleil any day. I understand the whole backlash to the "Best thing since the White Album" hyperbole, but I look at the tracklist for the complete "Wild Life" box set and I think, "If this changes people's minds, then I really hope 'Off the Ground' gets reassessed because it's unnecessarily lonely on this hill."
While I'm at it ... if the Archive Collection ever does get around to "Tripping the Live Fantastic" or "Paul is Live" ... reprints of those tour programs on higher-quality paper would be phenomenal. Those were very cool, content-heavy programs (and what a treat that they were free – I remember thinking '**** THAT' when I saw the T-shirt prices for his shows at Wrigley a few years ago), and deserve salvaging. I unearthed my New World Tour program in my last move, but the 1993 Milwaukee show was nearly cancelled because of rain, and that program got fairly waterlogged, which hasn't really recovered in the last 25 years. Maybe at least a good inclusion for the Off the Ground box if "Paul is Live" doesn't get the archive treatment.
Bravo! I stand fully with you on this post. Off The Ground was my first real initiation album into Paul's solo work as well. And TO THIS DAY I still listen to it regularly and hold it in high regard.
I'm still trying to find the issue that has the piece that compliments McCartney's first three albums. There's a lot of Record Mirror issues that are missing....and whatever that was from might have been a different publication. I found this re: Ram. Record Mirror Oct. 9, 1971; from the "Keeping Up With Jones" column. Interview with George Harrison. "Asked about Paul's new album, George said: 'Speaking as a director of Apple I think it's magnificent because it's so commercial. But just as a listener, I'm glad I didn't have to play on it! Of course Paul is capable of writing great material which is both commercial and meaningful, artistically."
Count me amongst the disappointed when OTG was released, but I have to say I quite enjoyed your post/defense of it. Also, you may not have heard, but the "in eggshell seas" has been thought by some to be "in excelsis" spelled out phonetically. I'm not sure I buy that argument myself, but for someone who's an OTG defender, you should add that one to your bag of tricks.
I always found it interesting that even though John slagged off George's late Beatles work a lot more than Paul that George was beyond bitter at Paul...talk about a backhanded compliment..."I am glad I did not have to play on it".....ouch!!!!
Yep. I found another interview a few months later in which Harrison says he wishes McCartney would make use of the studio. And downplays How Do You Sleep. So, in that instance, sounded friendly enough.
At the very least the UK CD booklet has "in eggshell seas" but I also seem to recall seeing what you are referring to somewhere else. I'll dig around. Off The Ground - album 1993
I don't think there's any question that "in eggshell seas" is the official lyric. The "in excelsis" argument is that it's a deliberate play on words. A big part of why I do buy that argument is McCartney liked the phrase "in excelsis" enough to use it (along with a New song title!) in Liverpool Oratorio (disc 2, track 3). [CHORUS] Hosanna, Hosanna. Gloria in excelsis Deo. [MARY DEE and SHANTY] God in heaven, save Thy thunder For the enemies of love. Bathe us in Thy holy light. We will live together. [CHORUS] Amen.
I hope you'll be able to purchase the boxed set that I no longer want. The German uDiscovermusic webstore told me that they block the amount but do not actually charge the credit card until the order is ready to be shipped. That's why I was able to ask for it to be cancelled free of charge. I received their confirmation email today, so I'm assuming the boxed set will become available again. On the other hand, the UK webstore charged my credit card immediately, so I'm sticking with that order.
I was disappointed in it, but not of the songs themselves: the goal was to keep the same band, but somehow the energy of the live performance never seemed to continue into the album itself — it's tight, but not as exciting in the production to really grab you, because it allows Paul to stay melodic throughout and not push himself to rock or get intimate the way Flowers In The Dirt did and the next band's material would mostly do. For me, though, that could easily have been fixed with a change in the album's song selections based on what was on b-sides as well, for a bit more variety. One example might be: Soggy Noodle (intro) Off The Ground Looking For Changes Hope Of Deliverance Mistress And Maid Kicked Around No More Peace In The Neighbourhood Biker Like An Icon I Owe It All To You Lovers That Never Were Big Boys Bickering Get Out Of My Way C'mon People Cosmically Conscious (abbreviated outro)
Ah, I bet George was really cheesed off about business stuff with Paul so he didn't want to give a glowing review of RAM. I have to think he'd have found enjoyment in playing guitar on "Too Many People," "3 Legs" or "Eat at Home"...
Sorry for the delay. MusicVaultz, as it turns out, is simply what 'Universal Music Direct' calls its online store (in Canada I believe.)
+1,000,000 Off The Ground is one of my favorite Paul albums too. I first heard it at a transitional period of my life where high school was winding down and I was turning 18. The album holds some of the favorite McCartney songs (I Owe It All To You, Golden Earth Girl, Winedark Open Sea) and the B-sides are even better than some of the album (Style Style, Sweet Sweet Memories, Kicked Around No More, I Can't Imagine, etc.) I'll stand by with you in defense of this album. This would be one sweet Archive release (I especially do want to hear Is It Raining In London. We'll just have to listen to Hamish Stuart's rendition of it for now).
Partially because Venus & Mars isn’t a box set, it’s just a hardback book. Whereas these reissues include a great deal more.
Well written with a few important observations. Personally I’m not a big fan of Of the ground-good stuff mixed with very ordinary. Loads of good b-sided and stuff though But your point in which circumstances one first encounter an album is very valid. It s through that we connect with albums and form some kind of emotionally binding with it Guess that’s why I still has so much fondness for McCartney, Ram and Wings first efforts. I was connected with it at a certain point of my life and they been my companions ever since. By the time of albums like Off the ground I was not so intensely into music and did not connect with it that way. That s why discussions of albums being good or bad never can be arguments were we can win or lose. Alll kind of things makes us connect with certain music at certain times that s all
Interestingly, Off the Ground was also my first "new" McCartney album, having discovered his stuff (and the Beatles') in the summer of 1990. But even then, I found it a bit spotty. There were some tracks I immediately liked ("Hope of Deliverance", title track, "The Lovers That Never Were", "Golden Earth Girl", the "Cosmically Conscious" snippet), some that grew on me quite quickly ("Looking for Changes", "Mistress and Maid", "I Owe It All to You"), some that were merely okay and felt like Paul was trying too hard ("Biker Like an Icon", "Get Out of My Way", "C'Mon People"), and two absolute bombs ("Peace in the Neighbourhood" and "Winedark Open Sea"). By this time, having heard all McCartney/Wings albums several times over, I've come to the opinion that OTG is the worst or second worst of his records (with McCartney II competing for that coveted spot), just below Press to Play. I don't mind the slick production particularly, but what I do think is that many of the songs are much too long. That's an argument that's often raised with Wild Life, but I don't see it often with Off the Ground, for some reason. The lyrics also sound forced in several places - sometimes because of the environmental message, sometimes because of the attempts at poetic lyrics, and so on. The B-sides do elevate the album somewhat, but to some extent they do suffer from the same problems as the album tracks. Substituting some of them for a couple of the album tracks would have improved OTG, though I think that - as always - no one would really be able to agree on which tracks should be included and which should have to go... Also, I think that the B-sides get a reputation that is just a tad too high, simply because the main album is a disappointment and the B-sides are a bit more elusive to find. Nothing strange about that - it's something I too am guilty of: enjoying a B-side or an outtake just because it is harder to find. In this case, I personally would have liked to add "I Can't Imagine", "Long Leather Coat" and "Keep Coming Back to Love" to the album. "Sweet Sweet Memories" is also okay, but I'm not sure that it's better than any track that's left after putting those first three tracks on the album. "Style Style" is another fine track, but again, much too long. And then there's the embarrassments "Big Boys Bickering" and "Down to the River". (Oh, and I'm the only one in the world who dislikes "Kicked Around No More".)
