Paul McCartney - Egypt Station appreciation thread

Ok, so I listened to the album as uninterrupted as I could get. There were some instances with songs that I already had in my computer were being played instead of the album version of the songs. So when I heard the early preview of "Happy With You", I knew something was wrong and I went back and fixed everything. Then there was a weird instance when "Hand In Hand" and "Dominoes" were at a higher volume than the rest, fixed those and I fought with my Spotify client to get "Dominoes" to play because it didn't recognize it, but said I can add the song if I have it on my computer...

So after I got everything working on my end, I proceeded with the album and I have to say I really liked it. I'm writing all of my thoughts down after just one listen, so these are my absolute initial thoughts of how everything flows together. I plan on taking a second listen after I get my CD from Target tomorrow morning, but I might go back and listen to some of the songs that I would like an immediate relisten.

Opening Station: Nothing much to say about it. A nice interlude, though inferior to its brother. I quite liked the sound of people making noise.

I Don't Know: My favorite from the first two songs. Interesting opening choice, although I can't really see this going anywhere else on the album.

Come On To Me: The first rocker on the album. Can't really add onto much of what's already been said, although I forgot the song has a coda at the end and maybe I was too anxious to get to the newer songs.

Happy With You: Finally being able to hear this in clear quality was nice. I quite liked it a lot at first, but now I like it a little less than I did last week. Still a pretty high point on the album.

Who Cares: This one didn't jump out at me like it did for many others. I did like the Wings kinda sound to it with the lead guitar being placed closer to the left channel like it was on Wings Over America and many other Wings records with Jimmy McCulloch playing. The line at the end of the chorus of Paul caring reminded me of the final verse of "Don't Be Careless Love" how everything in the song was a dream. I think there was something in the book Elvis wrote about Paul wanting to wrap the song up in a happy ending, and it sort of felt that way with "Who Cares" too. Will have to check this one out again.

Fuh You: The forum's least favorite Paul McCartney song. I quite liked it upon release. Maybe because it's Paul working with a contemporary musician, and even though I dislike most of contemporary music, this song isn't that bad. It could also probably be because I grew up around so much of the contemporary music either with it being played at high school pep rallies, going to work and listening to some songs from the 2000's-now or because that's what I hear on the radio whenever my mom drives or when my friends take me in their car, I can get past the sound and be glad it's now got a more familiarity to it (that being Paul McCartney). I heard the song a few days ago on shuffle and it was a nice listen. And in the context of the album, it's quite good. Doesn't sound too out of place. It's just Paul going through another genre of music.

Confidate: While "Who Cares" seemed to grab everyone first listen, this one grabbed me on the first listen. It's probably the only one of the new songs I refrained from listening until today that is stuck in my head right now. I don't know why more people didn't like it at first listen. It could be a grower of a song, but I really liked this one. I wonder if Paul played his Martin on the record.

People Want Peace: Ehhh, this one was okay. I think the song element in his preview video hyped me up more for the song, but I do have to listen to this one more than once to get a full opinion of it. So far, it's a let down for me. I'd rather take other songs Paul wrote with "peace" in the title like "Pipes of Peace" and "Peace in the Neighbourhood". But "People Want Peace" is better than "Give Peace A Chance" IMO.

Hand In Hand: The nice piano love ballad. It didn't grab me at first when I heard it last week, but I can get an appreciation for the song in the middle of the pipe solo. It's quite lovely of a song and I love the preface Paul gave to the song about the story of the cellist.

Dominoes: If there was such thing of a great song buried deep within an album, it's this one. This song is the perfect length for it since it feels like it was ended at the right time. I really liked the melody of this one and the guitar work on the album (both acoustic and electric). The backwards guitar solo was a nice harkening back to the experimentation with it demonstrated on Revolver, although I do wish it sounded less muddy in the song. Props to having it switch between the left and right channels. Very reminiscent of quad mixes.

Back In Brazil: Another one that splits the fanbase, but one I happen to like a lot. A very danceable number and another one of those Paul stories about two people crafted into a song. "Back in Brazil, she makes a date, but he has to cancel cuz they got him working late" may be one of the funniest lines in a song I ever heard. Love the bossa nova sound and just like how I defended "Fuh You", it's Paul going through another genre of music.

Do It Now: This song was probably the one I was most excited to hear after hearing everyone's opinions of it after I heard "Happy With You", "Dominoes" and "Back In Brazil" a few days ago. This song however let me down a little bit. I did really like how the first couple lines of the song sounded like was being played muffled before kicking into high quality sound. I did kinda wish the drums began kicking in earlier in the song because it felt like the song was missing something until the end when they finally did kick in. Great sentiment though. I really wish this song was around a year ago because it did hit home for me some in regards to some experience I had last year that carried over into this year which the lines of "If you leave it too late, then it could all disappear" really describe it perfectly. This one I'd need to take a second listen to to really get used to it, but I know this one is one I'm gonna like a lot in the future.

Caesar Rock: "She's a rock" and "She's got matching teeth". It's Paul rocking out and sometimes having a hint of nonsensical lyrics in the song. That doesn't knock the song down though I feel this one will definitely be a grower.

Despite Repeated Warnings: Too long for me and I feel it's one of those songs I have to listen more than once in full clarity to develop the appreciation for. Looking at the lyrics, I feel this is Paul's Trump song he hinted at and along with "Laughable" by Ringo Starr, it talks about him without calling him out by name (Trump in this case being the captain of the ship (USA) and not listening at all to the repeated warnings of all of the harm he's doing.) This song could be interpreted this way by a filthy American like myself, but I also read somewhere that it's about BREXIT which is something those in the UK and EU are more familiar with than I am.

Station II: Similar to "Opening Station", but this one is better because I really enjoyed hearing the guitar being plugged into the amp and the small jam at the end that segues into our final song.

Hunt You Down/Naked/C-Link: I know I mentioned this not even five seconds ago, but I love how the guitar riff is heard in "Station II" faintly and comes in at full volume at the beginning. Now, this is the song suite we should've been told of at the press release of this album because this did not disappoint. A great closer to the album. I love how Paul's vocals sound during "Hunt You Down" although it sounded very weird at first, I liked it better the more I listened to the song. The "Naked" portion was my favorite part of the song. It was very reminiscent of some of the early 60's girl group sound and I love the time change to 12/8. "C-Link" was alright. A little bit long though. I did like the "Whooo" at the end as it was a nice close to the album.

Where does Egypt Station rank for me? Definitely higher than NEW and Kisses and MAF, not too sure about EA, Chaos, Driving Rain and Flaming Pie. See, I take every Paul song, rank them and then add all of the positionings for a certain album and divide by how many songs there are in the album and I rank the albums from lowest score to highest score. Since I forgot to include the live version of "Coming Up" on my last list, I have to make one quite soon. Last one I did was in February-March, so I'll have to work one up in the upcoming months. But I really had a great time taking this new album in and I can't believe the 10 week or so wait is finally over.

Stand by for my thoughts on "Get Started" and "Nothing For Free" tomorrow after I get my Target CD. I had the opportunity to hear them earlier today, but I declined since I want to hear songs for the first time off of a CD for the first time in a while.

 

My guess is they may have thought it was too on the nose of Sgt. Pepper. This album truly is Paul's Sgt. Pepper!

 

Only heard it once ( so far ). I agree with everything cept Warnings. Can't compare with yee olde McCartney albums from 40 years ago. So with that understanding ( on my part) it is what it is. The songs I like I would maybe sandwich( club) with Chaos some empathy there. Don't think he's bothered with writing catchy songs anymore, he has his Beatles repertoire for that.

 

This made me curious, so I just listened to the song. If it's really the best on the album, it seriously makes me wonder about the rest ...

 

Some overall thoughts
Right now Egypt Station defitively for me is one of Pauls absolutely top-of the cream albums. Up there with his very best

The coceptual ambition really works. This really is a journey through lifes ups and downs. Also a rollercoaster ride between different musical styles.Can t inagine anyone but Paul gettin away with a projekt like this

Pauls vocals for the most part works wonders. He really SINGS on this one with the voice he has now. On some occasions he even finds his Monkberry Moon delight growl

Pauls songwriting and sense of melody,harmony and structure are second to none. Even on lesser ventures he is a great craftman in that area On Egypt Station he also seems truly inspired. Like he has challenged his inner self and got in touch with his volcanic musical genius

The lyrics are at best vintage McCartney-the one who with few words and very direct can communicate real empaty more than most others. With age he does it with real stamina. Since it s a McCartney album there s also a few both silly and provocative ones. He certanely don t always plays the game of an elderly statesman -on occasion he goes another route. One of the really great things about Egypt Station. It s playful without playing by the rules

The production is overall one of the most symphatetic towards Pauls vision I ever heard. McCartney and Kurstin was a marriage in heaven.

There isnot one track on this album that hasn t got something special goin for me. Don t really want to pick favorites

Right now I regard Egypt Station as a remarkable piece of art

Great stuff

 

Unreal, this was Abbey Road Paul, and RAM Paul and Pepper Paul. It's a beautiful and at times melancholic album. It's weird like the white album, inconsistent in a jarring and entertaining way. This is Paul that makes you think about the music and listen again and again, not go "Oh that was nice" and put it back on the shelf. This isn't just a great Paul album, this is a relevant album.

 

Ha!

 

The lyric sheet looks good.

 

Also like to add-this album is an embarrasment
of Riches when it comes to creative details. Just
one example-lettin cellos have a go at the moster-riff on Hunt you down.
Wow

 

What time is the live gig on YouTube in the U.K. anyone? And what did Paul play on Fallon ?



peace and love✌Dave

 

Also, did anyone else catch Pink Floyd's guest appearance on the track "C-Link" ?

Edit: Happy With You is getting extra listens, it's unreal how touching this is. Who knew whimsical late 60's early 70's folk music could be brought back so well.

 

Q. Does anyone have knowledge if HMV will have stock of the ltd ed CD when they open or was it online pre-order exclusive?

 

Wow - great new music and you guys criticize like the Gods of music.

Enjoy! Or not. Opinions are fine but positivity is cool even when you don’t like something. You can choose to Not listen don’t poste or start a ES disappointment thread.

 

1am in the UK - I'm sure Fallon will be shared on youtube, they're probably just editing and making sure the audio mix is good. I have mates that do all Macca's live sound and they're in NYC now running everything. Damn them!

 

DRW is a fantastic conjure of music

 

They will have copies but not many.



peace and love✌Dave

 

Variety (very sharp, IMO):

“It’s a grab bag, if not a travelogue (placing “station” references in the title and cover art being the clever cheater’s way of making a concept album out of having no concept). If it doesn’t make for McCartney’s most coherent collection, it’s endearing how enthusiastically he strives, at 76, to avoid doing just one thing when he can do a dozen. Bitch, he’s Macca.”​

Album Review: Paul McCartney’s ‘Egypt Station’

 

Off i trot to HMV Liverpool then. Anybody there save me a copy and i'll buy you a Starbucks xx

 

Finished the first listen! Too early for a track by track, but my initial reaction is a bit in between the poles. NEW didn't particularly grab me as a whole album from the start or ever. But over time a lot of songs have ended up as favorites and some have ended up in the "oh yeah, that's a song that exists" category.

So that said, I'm already more in sync with this album than NEW. It's more cohesive and purposed imo (but it's not at MAF or Chaos levels for me upon immediate inspection). ES's arrangements are mostly either very good or plain fascinating. The energy is just right for this stage of McCartney's career and it's great to see him continue to defy expectations.

A few vague specifics from one listen:

• Count me among those skeptical about DRW. It was ok, but not nearly as epic as sold.
• Confidante could have used an arrangement switch up from the plodding acoustics, but the bones are good.
• Hand In Hand is quite good, especially the flute solo
• I can see why Frank and others don't like People Want Peace, but I think it captures the right mood for the right moment on the album and flows very well as a lower key album track.
• Speaking of flow, Fuh You shockingly doesn't sound out of place on the album at all
• Back to Brazil I'm undecided on
• The closing medley is FANTASTIC. Like so good that it got me excited to listen to the whole album all over again, even though my first reaction to the album wasn't super gushing positive. C-Link faded and I just had to spend more time at Egypt Station.

One overall critique upon first listen is that, while this was billed as a headphone album, I gotta say that hearing it on headphones made a lot of the processing on Macca's voice SUPER obvious. Some of it sounded like cool artistic choices yes, but a lot of times I just felt like a computerized veil of support was there. Not a critique really of Paul or the music, but its a bit like when you notice really obvious CGI in an otherwise well put together movie scene.


Already on listen number 2, skipping the singles this times around(...that took me a while to type, I'm already on Track 12 again!)

 

In order to digest this a bit better, I've created an "Egypt Station Express" playlist on Spotify.

1. Opening Station
2. I Don't Know
3. Happy With You
4. Who Cares
5. Caesar Rock
6. Hand in Hand
7. Dominoes
8. Confidante
9. Do It Now
10. Despite Repeated Warnings
11. Station II

 

Having just listened to this, I have to join in the chorus of approval. It joins a very small list of McCartney albums that I wouldn’t change at all - it’s great as it is.

Also nice to see a major artist actually construct an ‘album’ - hopefully it will remind a few listeners how fantastic the medium can be.

 

After one spin i would say Not A Second Time. But this is the appreciation thread so i appreciate he puts much energy in this record.

 

On reflection, I guess the album it most puts me in mind of is a quirky mad version of Chaos And Creation, which is perhaps not a surprise as the producer has said what a huge fan he is of that album. So many little nods to the past throughout and experimentation equal to 10cc's heyday. Love it to bits.

 

It's a Macca record for good or bad,
More flaws then recent albums....Lyrically it's not his best but it's great to see him sound so fresh, the production is great. Rank it so far in the middle behind Chaos, Electric Arguments and Memory Almost Full, but beats Rain and New as recent Macca records

Dominoes
Despite Repeated Warnings
I Don't Know
Caesar Rock
Do it Again

 

Thank s for a well-written piece. Some thought. Perhaps some peoples disapoitment of DRW more has to with what it ain t(Band in the run or Live and Let Die). Most peoplevseemsvtoblike it though. In the orchestral parts I can see similarities with Live and Let die but overall nothing similar to Band on the run. Exept maybe it s different pieces linked together. For what it is though I find the track one amazing piece of work. Some vocal parts actually made me think of me Bellamey and overall I also get a 10cc vibe.
Also interesting to see that you are not the only one who -without liking it-can see tha Fuh You sort of fits in the -everything goes-versalitu of this album.