Solo Beatles single by single thread

The mid 90's was the real Beatles resurgence - Anthology and of course they were worshipped by the brit pop bands of the time. From that point they have never gone back to where they were (general public) in the early 80's

 

Totally. The Jeff Lynne production opus isn't my favourite way to hear George, but what you say is spot on. It did sound fresh, sitting perfectly between retro and modern, and Lynne had A1 songs to work with as well. As another thread highlights, everyone who was in the 'Wilbury's' orbit benefitted and had their considerable legacies enhanced.

 

Just wondering AFOS whether the tide was turning a few years earlier. The London creative scene might have been bubbling under for a while when those Britpop bands first formed. I think McCartney's music benifitted too, he didn't need to react or try and work within the sound of the moment anymore. He was the sound of the moment again.

 

Yep, I have the "Long Tall Sally"/"I Saw Her Standing There" single too. It came as a bonus 7-inch with the Prince's Trust Anniversary LP. A rare live appearance by McCartney in the 80s and I played it quite a lot.

 

LOVED "Got My Mind Set On You". It was the first time for my daughter being able to hear a new song by an ex-Beatle on the radio and I loved hearing her sing it. We also greatly enjoyed the video where "George" did a back flip!

 

I love Cloud Nine. It's one of my three favorite solo albums by George.
That being said, I dislike "Got My Mind Set On You". The whole thing is too strident to my ears, the drums, (or drum machine ) one of the prime offenders. I prefer the original also.

But God bless George for getting a #1 out of it. I would have never bet in a zillion years that he would have done that well covering an old song. He must have been very pleased .

 

Agree with that - Blur Oasis and whatnot started around the late 80's or early 90's. Also Johnny Marr from The Smiths loved The White Album. So probably mid to late 80's was the genesis. You also had many 80's bands who loved them - XTC are the main one

 

yeh XTC! Maybe even The Jam kept the flag flying as well. UK Sqeeze?

 

Start was Taxman! I think all along the artists and bands always held them in high regard. The general public had a different view of them - many seeing them as some hippie band from the 60's

 

Well in the early 80's there was an appreciation for the band again (at least in the U.S.) I think that it helped that bands like The Church and those bands from the so called Paisley Movement echoed elements of their psychedelic rock period also opened many to them.

 

Especially on Heyday - and they also covered It's All Too Much

Prince kid of went that direction with ATWIAD and Cheap Trick were known fans. If You Want My Love is as Beatleesque as you get

 

Yep. I'll never forget seeing Start on Sounds one Saturday morning and thinking...'This is Taxman' . A small few years before your time young man (or person)

 

"Got My Mind Set on You" was a fantastic single! It was a total breath of fresh air and completely unexpected to me from George. I was a bit of a Beatles obsessive by this time and pretty out of step with most my friends in high school who were into the then current dance pop and rap... so when they were suddenly into a George Harrison song it was kind of mind-blowing!

As it was said the production and sound was really unique and cool at the time. It sounded great on the radio. And to think it was a remake of an obscure oldie! And the best part was that George sounded and looked like he was enjoying himself.

I was lucky enough to speak to George Harrison (and sort of Jeff Lynne) on the radio show Rockline at the time and received a signed copy of Cloud Nine. So it's an especially memorable release for me.

 

Wow. Is that the famous circulated radio show!! I remember one listener gets through and because of nerves probably says 'yeah I like the new album quite a bit' And George tongue in cheek says something like 'well if you only like it 'quite a bit' why did you bother to ring up . If that was you and you're on a Solo Beatle thread all these years later, I reckon George would forgive you and recognises what a true fan you must be

 

Haha... I was nervous as hell that's for sure. I called 3 x and my questions were rejected the first 2 times (it took forever and the ol' redial button to even get through).

If you've heard the show I am "Jim from Miami." I say something stupid like "George Harrison I presume..." to start my call. hahaha.

 

Awesome!!!

 

I bought it, played it once, and it has been in storage ever since.

 

So, all this talk about the repetitive A-side, and not much discussion of the wonderful Lay His Head. Should have been on SIE, would have been one of the best tracks on that album. This is also one of the rare times when George didn't ruin a great track with one of his confounding remixes. Both versions are nice.

 

One more thing about Got My Mind Set On You -- why in the world wasn't the photo series used for the single picture sleeve used for the actual album cover? It would have made a great album have great cover art too instead of such a relatively stupid looking album cover in comparison. This smiling version would have been the perfect Cloud Nine cover art.

 

Great,fun song. The first George song I remember, and it gets regular radio air play where I live

 

I prefer the existing cover for Cloud 9 vs the poster shot above.

I kinda like the groovy shirt George has on!

 

Another explanation of the Oklahoma lyrics, copied from one of the song meaning sites:

Song MeaningHello Everyone:

Please believe what I am going to tell you is the truth about this song--my family can verify every one of these details.

In December 1985 my family & I were in the London Underground at Christmastime, late one evening.

While we were the only small group in the station (I believe Piccadilly Station) there was a man sitting nearby, within earshot, of the Tube map on the wall.

I explained to my Mother, who had never been to London, the way to find her way back to Piccadilly Station should she be lost in our travels on the Tube. She, also, was suffering from a painful ankle which made walking fairly uncomfortable.

In describing ways to navigate both the entire Tube system, and to open the doors to the train, we mentioned to push the "Press" button on the subway train itself, further explaining to not fret, but to remember these directions. She was fairly unsure, even frightened, about the entire process of boarding the trains.

We then decided to board a train to prove our directions for boarding were sufficient for safe travel.

However, after waiting a seemingly long time for a train, not one arrived at the station. In our time of waiting for a train we discussed--out loud--the benefits of train service around a city and within cities. This discussion continued with comments regarding the hopes that one day our family (visiting from Oklahoma) would have train service between our state's (Oklahoma's) main cities.

Still waiting for a train to arrive, we then decided to leave the station.

Upon turning from the Tube map on the wall we walked immediately past a middle-age man dressed in a long grey wool overcoat. His head was turned downward until we passed. As we passed him he lifted his head and we spoke a courteous "hello" to each other.

Upon passing this seated man we all looked to each other and said, "That was Paul McCartney, wasn't it?" We all looked back at him and confirmed with another glance from him.

Not until hearing this track from his "Press to Play" album the following year did we place his text used in the single "Press" with the words and topics we spoke about, standing next to him.

Upon playing the song to our family members each confirmed the exact message about which we spoke is what is used in this song! (...with the exception of the tie-in of the "love" element).

I know, absolutely, if Mr. McCartney were to be asked his inspiration--and remember that inspiration--of this song, he would tell the exact story I relate here.

Barrett Johnson
Sallisaw, Oklahoma

 

Paul McCartney - "Once Upon a Long Ago" (1987)


B-side: Back on My Feet, Midnight Special (12'' v.1) , Don't Get Around Much Anymore (12'' v.1), Lawdy Miss Clawdy (12'' v.2), Kansas City (12'' v.2)
Released: November 16, 1987 (UK only)
Charts: #10 (UK)

It was reported in a 2011 biography[which?] that the origin of this song is with the film The Princess Bride. McCartney was approached by Director Rob Reiner to compose a couple of songs and the incidental music for the film. Reiner rejected as "too sentimental" the two songs Paul submitted: "Once Upon a Long Ago" and "Beautiful Night" and contracted with Mark Knopfler to complete the soundtrack.

Originally it was intended that this song would be a Duet between McCartney and Freddie Mercury. The two had become friends following Live Aid and McCartney wrote the song with Mercury in mind. Mercury however was inundated with work, both Solo and with Queen and was also in the advanced stages of AIDS and McCartney very understandably allowed Mercury to depart from the project .The track was recorded at Hog Hill Studio on March 11 and 12, 1987 with overdubs added in Abbey Road in July. During this session, a full orchestra was overdubbed as well as instrumental contributions by Stan Sulzmann (sax), Nigel Kennedy (violin), and Adrian Brett (flute).[2]

The song was released in four versions. Two different 12" singles feature "long" and "extended" versions (mixed by George Martin and Peter Henderson, respectively); the 7" single and the CD single (McCartney's first) features an edit of the long version and a b-side from each the two 12" singles, as well as "Back on My Feet", a b-side for all four iterations; and the album version featured on All the Best! contains an alternate ending. "Back on My Feet" was also the first released song from the songwriting collaboration between McCartney and Elvis Costello. Both 12" and CD singles also featured songs from yet to be released McCartney's cover album Choba B CCCP.

"Once Upon a Long Ago" reached number ten in the United Kingdom Singles Chart,[3] McCartney's last Top 10 in his homeland until the release of "FourFiveSeconds" in 2015. The single was not released in the United States nor included on the US version of All the Best!, although it did appear on the longer UK/Canada version. The song has remained unavailable on any US released album, although it is a bonus track on the 1993 UK remastered version of Press to Play - the 1993 remastered Paul McCartney Collection has never been released in the US.

 

A very good single, catchy, very well produced, etc. However, I never liked it too much. Not a favourite of mine.

 

Stacked up against George's resurgence at the time,Macca loses a round or two to the "baby of the bunch".