I heard The Long and Winding Road a lot as a kid; it was one of the few Beatle songs they would play on my parent's favorite radio station.
Though there are exceptions, it's rarely a good idea for an artist to re-record their past work. This remake is particularly disenheartening. Besides the cheesey sax and the horrible, obtrusive 80s drums, the thing that most stands out is how much his voice has deteriorated in the time since the original version. It was hard to be a teenage McCartney fan in the mid-80s.
"The Long and Winding Road" is a bit turgid, in a lyrical sense and musically. I was just listening to a Ray Charles version, that's a bit much too.
"The Long and Winding Road" was voted my class song in high school. In 1991. Which says a lot about the then-current music, I think. (Because it was high school, "Baba O'Reilly" was another nominee, and probably would have gotten a lot of votes if more people had recognized the title!)
Yeah, "Broad Street" was a misfire, though I do like it slightly better than the Spector version. So sad he never did a proper studio recording of the arrangement he played on the Wings Over America tour. I must say, Paul fan that I am, some of his choices just mystify me.
I was never a big fan of "The Long and Winding Road". The song itself is beautiful but the orchestration and choir are a little over the top for me.
I agree. Of course, the choir added by Spector is totally over the top, but hearing the different versions McCartney has made of the song in his solo years -- either live or in the studio, I have come to the conclusion that what he resented most was not the arrangement itself but not being asked to have a say on the matter.
This is actually why I love the song, I love big, dramatic, over the top production. Almost classic Disney style. Bridge, The Long & Winding Road as well as Ain't No Mountain High Enough are 3 of my favorite #1 hits this year. Another favorite from a couple years back, 'Downtown' by Petula Clark, who's instrumental bridge equiped with those dramatic horns takes me to paradise.
FWIW (I know this is an aside for this thread but I'll put a thread-related thought in at the end) - the songs that were nominated for our class song (in 1985) were: Dream On (Aerosmith, 1973 recorded, 1976 hit) Born To Be Wild (Steppenwolf, 1968) I Heard It Through the Grapevine (presumably Marvin Gaye's 1968 version) Let the Good Times Roll (Cars, 1978) ..... with "Dream On" winning. Like your class, all of these songs were rather old even then, but I will say that all do (in one way or another) capture the feeling of nostalgia/looking back and also the feeling of "moving on". I agree that The Long and Winding Road and Baba O'Reilly (in its way) do fit this mold as well, and are good candidates for class songs.
I can't recall the other choices for ours (I think there were five or six in all), but not all of them were oldies. "Bust a Move" was also a nominee, though everyone suspected that was the result of the seventh graders somehow stuffing the nominations box. (It lost badly, thank heavens.) But yes, I thought - then and now - "The Long and Winding Road" was a fine choice. Especially since 1) it was 1991, so most of our parents were just the right age to have been first-generation Beatles fans and so their songs had always been in our lives, and 2) it was a heavily military area where a lot of us had already seen quite a bit of the world at age 18 and were planning to continue our travels (I, for example, went to college about 900 miles away).
Paul was used to having final say in how everything turned out and was more confident in his choices - and in imposing his ideas on the others. I think he had a real fit when it happened to him.
Since I'm so far behind (starting a new job!) I'll just throw in a few comments about some of the songs I missed... ABC is a song I definitely like more than I Want You Back, although they have fairly similar vibes IMO. Like before, I struggle with Michael's high pitched voice and vocal mannerisms, and I have heard this song roughly 50 bazillion times, which doesn't help. Still, it is catchy as all get out, and the silly lyrics somehow work better when kids sing them than the somewhat more mature lyrics on some of their other hits. Some people have opined that 1970 is turning into the best year we've seen yet. I'll sort-of disagree. On the one hand, I do agree that the songs that got to #1 have stood the test of time; there are fewer outright dogs than in 1965 - 68. On the other hand, for me, the best of 1970 can't hold a candle to my favorites from 65, 66 and 67. Just my two cents...
Amen to that! Big bombastic, lush productions are the best thing pop music delivers.... and 1970 was chocked FULL of them!
I think "The Love You Save" is the best of their first 3 hits, mainly because the lead parts sung by Jermaine REALLY cuts down on the shrill factor, it brings much balance to their sound.
I love "The Love You Save" those lyrics are kind of nasty, certainly stinging for a 11, 12 year old. "Those other guys will put you down as soon as they succeed..." Ha, too much.
Still can't stand his squeaky voice, sorry! I know plenty of people found it totally charming, but I'm not one of them...
I'd go one further and call it the best of all their hits. Fun lyrics (if a bit absurd for a 12-year old to be singing), great harmony and interplay. A nice reminder that it really wasn't just Michael and four other guys - at least not at first.
My memory of this one (and their prior #1) was via the A B C album in summer camp. The pressing, and I can recall it as clearly as when I was there, was from Superior Record Pressing Corp. of Somerdale, NJ. The layout was not exactly one that one could write home about:
Of the three J5 #1 hits so far, this one is the best. The Love You Save really grooves, there's even a touch of Sly Stone here and there. It also makes you realize there were four other guys singing besides Michael.
I agree it's the best of the 1st 3 - arguably the best of the J5, period - with "I Want You Back" a close 2nd. Not a big fan of "ABC", though I admit bias due to the annoying behavior of my car stereo. When I plug in my iPhone to the car's USB jack, it immediately defaults to music playback, and it picks the 1st song alphabetically in my library. Which is "ABC". Which means every frickin' time I plug in my iPhone, I have to hear that song!
FWIW, in the 1981 version of "The History of Rock and Roll", the "time sweep" of #1 songs was broken into four smaller parts: Part One: Dean Martin "Memories Are Made of This" (Nov 1955) to Bobby Vinton's "T)here! I've Said It Again" (Jan. 1964) Part Two: Beatles "I Want to Hold Your Hand (Feb 1964) to Beatles "The Long and Winding Road" (June 1970) Part Three: Jackson Five "The Love You Save" (June 1970) to Staple Singers "Let's Do It Again" (Dec 1975) Part Four: Bay City Rollers "Saturday Night" (Jan 1976) to Eddie Rabbitt "I Love A Rainy Night" (March 1981) March 1981 is where they stopped. Note that Part Two covers the entire era of the Beatles #1 hits. Part Three, as mentioned, starts with "The Love You Save". I had never heard "The Love You Save" prior to hearing it as part of this "time sweep". So, this song always reminds me of that.
