Paul McCartney FLAMING PIE 20 years later

It has a vibrancy he hadn't shown since 1989.
The World Tonight was a taut single.
The opening track, splendid.
Calico Skies.....a beauty.....in the vein of Yesterday or Here Today----but all three are unique from one another.
Flaming Pie.....the sort of off-the-cuff, compelling brilliance he demonstrated on The White Album and his early solo stuff.
Souvenir......just a well-crafted track with a refreshingly off-kilter guitar part.
I think those five tunes equal just about any of his solo stuff.

If You Wanna is the only real dud-----barely worthy of a b-side-----cringe-worthy.

(edit: I forgot about Used to Be Bad----nearly as bad)

Really Love You often singled-out for scorn but I think it works on its own tossed-off terms------Ringo and Paul playing around, unadorned is pretty much the whole point------14 tracks would have been beyond tedious but it's enjoyable in the context of the album.

The most frustrating track is Beautiful Night........the opening sounds very much like 80s cheese (where it came from) and it's a bit forced......but the coda at the end is breathtaking.....like Abbey Road part II.

The other tracks are solid.

It's top-drawer McCartney overall.

 

Flowers in the Dirt?

 

Wasn't a good chunk of it already in the can when Linda was diagnosed?

 

Terrific. One of his better solo albums - probably in my top 5 of his solo works.
I did a homemade CD comp several years ago of his solo works: Maybe I'm Amazed: Essential McCartney (1970-2001). Flaming Pie was represented by four tracks.

 

In my estimation, the last great McCartney LP, and one of his three or four best.

 

Great album!
I consider "Calico Skies" to be one of the 10 best songs Paul McCartney ever wrote (including his Beatles stuff)
Some Days and Little Willow are also top flight material.
Young Boy is a catchy melodic single (why the heck didn't the US release this?)
I love Beautiful Night. The part where Ringo joins in singing is a highlight of the solo Beatles recorded output!
Plenty of quality among the rest of these songs too.
I place this 3rd among Paul's solo albums, behind only BAND ON THE RUN and RAM.

 

I agree. The live 'Band On The Run' tracks from the 1976 live album are vastly superior. Same with "Maybe I'm Amazed". No comparison.

 

I recall that some of the non-lp songs on the cd singles and the oobu joobu releases, and there were quite a few of them, were really good!

 

My favorite McCartney album of all time. I knew something was special about it when the title was announced in ICE, a nod to John's early 60s column in Mersey Beat about how the Beatles were named. The fact that the love of his life was succumbing to cancer during the album's creation gave it a gravitas missing from much of his beautifully crafted but, IMO, soulless solo work. The appearance of Steve Miller was an added treat. Paul sang, played bass and drummed with him on My Dark Hour, recorded and released in 1969 as an album track, uncredited, when the Beatles were still active, in Paul's first step outside the group. Nice reunion. When they reissue it, do yourself a favor and go for the vinyl. An added treat.

 

'flaming pie' is mccartney's second best overall album, and quite possibly the most overlooked.

he really needs to re-release it with all the b-sides and extras in one place.

 

Dumb.....
Beave

 

A Ram outtake and sounds like it too

 

For me, Flaming Pie was the first album returning his solo albums to greatness after the nadir years of his solo career.

I know some people will squawk , but my opinion is that Paul hasn't released a mediocre album of original material from Flaming Pie through the present day. ( Don't show this post to Mazzy)

I think Flaming Pie has aged really well and it contains two of my favorite mid to late era melodic songs of his : "Little Willow" and "Somedays"
If they were on a Beatles album they would be considered classics but the general public probably hasn't heard them.

 

i agree, 'driving rain' is worse than mediocre, and 'kisses on the bottom' is an all embarrassment to the greatness of mccartney himself.

 

We disagree about Driving Rain then and that doesn't bother me at all.
It's all subjective.

If you had read my post carefully though I mentioned Paul's albums of original material . Kisses is mainly a covers album, with only two McCartney originals.

 

The first in the continuing line of Paul McCartney albums that take themselves too seriously. Anthology reminded him how important he is, and he's not going to let you forget it. "I go on last or I don't go on. Don't you know who I am?" in sound and verse.

I like it fine, some songs more than others. I don't love it. Doesn't speak to me lyrically or musically. It's an unfun wall of deafening acoustic guitars.

 

I don't understand how Paul somehow sounds musically or lyrically any more or less self important or taking himself seriously than any of his other albums. Please provide some examples of this.

Have you never heard "C'Mon People" ?


Congratulations though. I'm not sure I've ever seen "deafening " and "acoustic guitars " in the same sentence here on the forum before !
What's next on your musical hit list Frank ? An "over the top" triangle part?

 

His best since Tug of War and i.m.o. he hasn't surpassed it in the 20 years after it. A great collection of songs, his singing is fantastic (Really Love You!) and also his playing is inspired (the drumming on Heaven a Sunday!). Something about talking about and working with his old colleagues in the Anthology-series must have had an effect.....

 

Put in the CD and hit play.
==
For a while, we could sit, smoke a pipe
And discuss all the vast intricacies of life
We could jaw through the night
Talk about a range of subjects, anything you like
==
Somehow the circle j's and kicking dudes' heads in and pee pee on German nuns get lost in this telling. Just a bunch of worldly dudes sitting around in velour jackets listening to jazz and engaging in philosophical discussions

At least he asks in that one for the fun to begin. In this one you get the impression he wouldn't allow it if it did.

You know what forum you're posting to, right? There's nothing that hadn't been called deafening here at least once.

Have you been skipping Young Boy? It'd be understandable.

 

Really ? Interesting.
I think in "The Song We Are Singing"Paul sounds like a laid back slacker , drinking and smoking and kicking back and talkin' about "stuff "but it always comes back around to music.
How does that make him sound important or full of himself ?

Geez , in "C'Mon People" he sounds so deadly earnest and preachy it looks like he's demanding people take his advice to have fun . George must have given Paul some advise on how to talk down to people for this song.
You'll have fun... and right now ! I demand it!

Yeah, the acoustic guitars are a little overbearing in "Young Boy", but maybe you have a defective disc. You described the entire album as an "unfun wall of deafening acoustic guitars."
It's probably too late to exchange your disc , but on my disc of Flaming Pie "Young Boy" only appears once .
Maybe your copy keeps skipping back to that one song.

 

Yeah, that must be it. Good talk.

 

By way, I just edited out the slack tongue emoji thing from my post . I must have clicked on it accidentally at some point.

I know you'll sleep better now.

 

Boring bland crap.

 

This ranks as my all-time favorite Paul album. Outstanding from start to finish. I wish we'd get a proper Deluxe Edition with demos, B-Sides, etc.

 

You mean that in the good way though, right?