New McCartney tribute "The Art of McCartney" to feature Dylan, Brian Wilson, Barry Gibb and more

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by abbeyrdsteve, Apr 3, 2014.

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  1. RayS

    RayS A Little Bit Older and a Little Bit Slower

    Location:
    Out of My Element
    Based on the clip with Billy Joel that's on YouTube, they appear to have pre-recorded backing tracks in different keys so he could have his pick. This insinuates, of course, that he had zero input into those recordings. The sound of the vast majority of the album reinforces this idea - it's like Sinatra in the old days, singing over pre-recorded Nelson Riddle backing that he was hearing for the first time the moment he started singing. Dylan's song, at least, sounds like a holistic Bob Dylan performance (similar in sound to "Things Have Changed").
     
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  2. theMess

    theMess Forum Resident

    Location:
    Kent, UK
    I think that the backing tracks are the biggest problem with this album. Dylan's cover, whether you enjoy it or not, adds something to the original, and changes it up a bit, whereas the other versions mainly all sound like Paul's band have continued on without him, instead replacing him with various guests.

    I personally think that it is a bit condescending of the producer to not trust acts like Brian Wilson, Heart, Billy Joel, Smokey Robinson, etc, to come up with their own recordings and versions from scratch. It is not like he was dealing with amateurs.
     
  3. MMM

    MMM Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    Lodi, New Jersey
    Not to derail this much, but that did not happen. Just about everything Frank did with Nelson was recorded with him live including the entire group as the sessions were happening.
     
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  4. RayS

    RayS A Little Bit Older and a Little Bit Slower

    Location:
    Out of My Element
    Point taken. I was thinking specifically of the "Duets" album near the end of the road ... and perhaps a little of Joe Piscopo parodying that process.
     
    DrBeatle likes this.
  5. Bemagnus

    Bemagnus Music is fun

    This album is a major disapointnent for me. S-t-boring karokae in to many cases. A missed oportunity if there ever was one.
     
    sjas1962 likes this.
  6. So the recordings already exist for a "Sing Karaoke with Macca's Band" album!
     
    veloso2 likes this.
  7. maccafan

    maccafan Senior Member

    Wow, you guys are on a roll, the negativity is just flowing!

    I like most of what I hear, Paul Rodgers Let Me Roll It is another highlight for me.

    Rockline isn't the only source I have shared, but I know it doesn't matter, some are going to have a cynical negative view no matter what, it's all good!
     
    Beaneydave and Peter Pyle like this.
  8. Fleet Fox

    Fleet Fox Forum Resident

    Location:
    Waterford, Ireland
    after another few listens to this, my initial enthusiasm has blown out and tend to agree that a lot of it is boring. I feel that the use of McCartneys
    band was a mistake and that each artist should have had the freedom to come use their own players and their own production too.

    B.B Kings cover is the best on the album i think
     
    Imaginary boy likes this.
  9. SirNoseDVoid

    SirNoseDVoid Forum Resident

    I quite like Toots' version of 'Come and Get It', sounds pretty cool in a reggae arrangement. I don't share the enthusiasm for Brian Wilson's version of Wanderlust at all (I thought his voice almost sounds like Ozzy Osbourne on this tune :hide:).
     
    heatherly likes this.
  10. Bemagnus

    Bemagnus Music is fun

    I think there are some good tracks, some OK but most of them are boring imo.
     
  11. bluesbro

    bluesbro Forum Hall of Shame

    Location:
    DC
    Kind of sad that this was available at Target, while no McCartney titles were available, including the recent remasters.
     
  12. maccafan

    maccafan Senior Member

    I don't think any of them are boring, I think a few of them are just bad.

    I still think this is a good tribute though, because as I always do, I look at the good instead of dwelling on the bad, and Daltrey, Hager, Def Leppard, Kiss, Heart, Smokey, Rodgers and several others covering McCartney for me is a treat!

    Now I will say, that I wish these performers had covered these songs with their own bands, that was my initial concern, but I still enjoy these performances for what they are.

    Nelson, Dylan and Joel maybe should of covered different songs.
     
    JimC likes this.
  13. JohnGris

    JohnGris Forum Resident

    Location:
    Birmingham, AL
    Bought this basically because I'm a Dr. John completist; it came as a bonus to me that the line-up is so solid. However, it just comes off as an album that most of the headliners didn't put much work or creativity into, my hero the Dr. included. Not really their fault as what can you do when a band records your backing track ahead of your arrival with potentially little input from you..obviously don't know for sure that the artists couldn't give much input outside of their vocals and the occasional instrument, but it has that feeling to it. That's probably the only way they could get all these big names...I guess it's hard to get artists to devote the time to making one-offs truly their own these days.

    Still, I don't regret buying it as the music is good and the performances are mostly decent enough. And most importantly, it introduced me to several songs I had never heard before, not being a Beatles/McCartney buff. Like them/him ok but never felt the pull to dive into their catalogs. So, you might say I'm the target audience. "Wanderlust" (first time hearing) is brilliant and Brian Wilson, even though his version doesn't waver all that much from the original from what I can tell from Paul's video on YouTube, wins the prize to me. Love Steve Miller's "Junior's Farm," too...again, he didn't really do anything all that unique to the song outside of use what was there from what I can tell, but that one sounds straight out of his personal classic rock playlist. I think the producer pretty much failed on most of this album, but he hit the nail on the head with those pairings.

    Honorable mention goes to Allen Toussiant's "Lady Madonna." Natural choice for him...I'm sure many are familiar with the great Fats Domino cover of the same song. Allen, being so influenced by Fats to the point where he stood in for Fats on some records, probably had Fats in mind when recording the song. Something about the production on his voice didn't sound right to me, but it's a fun performance.

    Would have loved to hear Billy Joel do his 2 songs about 20, 25 years ago. Bet he would have nailed Maybe I'm Amazed, but it's kind of stretch for his current vocal range. His piano also seems more tentative than normal...perhaps another production issue.

    My biggest complaint (being the Dr. John fan that I am): in a song that includes prominent piano and features Dr. John, why on earth do you not have him play that darn thing? The song doesn't really fit him anyway, so perhaps he just couldn't think of a way to make the piano his own and thus just let the band's keyboardist handle it. Just kind of summarizes the canned feeling of this album, though. Artists should be allowed to make the song fit them instead of vice versa.
     
  14. theMess

    theMess Forum Resident

    Location:
    Kent, UK
    In my mind, your comment has made the whole 'Art of McCartney' album/project worth-wile. I have always believed that many of his solo songs would be as popular as his Beatles songs, had they had the Beatles name on them, and it is very pleasing to hear you praise Wanderlust, one of my all time favourite songs, but a song that is not widely known by casual music listeners.

    I agree with all of your critiques of the album and I personally think that Dr. John should have been given Listen To What The Man Said, considering that Paul was aiming for a New Orleans sound on that song, and he seems to do a Dr. John voice impression at the beginning of it.
     
    JDeanB, Imaginary boy and DrBeatle like this.
  15. jeatleboe

    jeatleboe Forum Resident

    Location:
    NY
    And some people are going to feign a positive view, no matter what.
    Why shouldn't people state that they don't like something, if they honestly don't...?
     
  16. DrBeatle

    DrBeatle The Rock and Roll Chemist

    Location:
    Midwest via Boston
    I totally agree. Couldn't find either of the new Wings remasters there which made no sense at all, especially since they heavily advertised and promoted the WOA reissue last year.
     
    JimC likes this.
  17. pablorkcz

    pablorkcz ⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️

    I've always felt like Wanderlust was a bit of an homage to Sloop John B. so it seems really appropriate that Brian Wilson did the cover. I also think he did a lovely job on that one.
     
    Tord, rswitzer and Beaneydave like this.
  18. maccafan

    maccafan Senior Member

    Jeatleboe, I never ever said that anyone shouldn't state that they don't like something!

    I've stated many times that I don't like certain songs or albums by McCartney.

    I just noticed that there was more negativity than usual on this particular thread.

    Dislike whatever you want, one mans trash is another's treasure, and I'm hearing plenty of treasure on the Art Of McCartney!
     
    Driver 8 likes this.
  19. gottafeelin

    gottafeelin Forum Resident

    Location:
    Georgia
    I thought this release would be right up your alley. You've always wanted Paul's band to rock out in the studio. Since they are the primary backing band on nearly all tracks, I think your wish has come true!
     
  20. veloso2

    veloso2 Forum Resident

    poor album! completely useless!
     
  21. RayS

    RayS A Little Bit Older and a Little Bit Slower

    Location:
    Out of My Element
    ^^^^ - Proving once again that SHTV is the Home of Hyperbole.
     
    JDeanB likes this.
  22. rigby2222

    rigby2222 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Syracuse N.Y.
    Does anyone know if the 2 cd 1 dvd sets at Target and best buy have the bonus tracks or is it only the 2 cd versions that carry the bonus tracks. I have the amazon and iTunes bonus tracks. Pm me if you can help me find the others. Thanks in advance.
     
  23. mrjinks

    mrjinks Optimistically Challenged

    Location:
    Boise, ID.
    I'd like to know this, too. It appears that the Best Buy sets w/dvd do NOT include the bonus trax. The Target store I checked did not carry the version w/dvd, so I can't answer that one...
     
    rigby2222 likes this.
  24. bward

    bward Senior Member

    Location:
    Boston, MA USA
    I bought my copy at Best Buy. Only the 2CD set had the bonus track. The DVD version did not.
     
    rigby2222 likes this.
  25. PhoffiFozz

    PhoffiFozz Forum Resident

    This is truly my only "real" complaint. I don't care if a song DOESN'T feature prominent piano, if you have Dr. John, you have him play piano. Otherwise I have to question why you have him there to begin with. (I mean this as compliment to one of the greatest and my favorite piano players).
     
    JDeanB likes this.
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