Paul McCartney FLAMING PIE 20 years later

Three of my favorites - Dylan, Van Morrison, and McCartney released great albums in '97.
Anyway, I remember being in the car with KSHE 95 (St. Louis) on, and they played The World Tonight. That was unexpected, and it reminded me of eight years earlier when they played Figure of Eight.
Happy to hear a new song that was good and that would get air time.

 

I remember that it took me AGES to warm to this album. I played it numerous times and just nothing clicked with me. So I put it back on the shelf and forgot about it. Then about six months later I was scanning my CD shelves for something to listen to and it just seemed to jump out at me. I put in on and, lo and behold, there it was: an album full of great songs. That said, I can take or leave The World Tonight, and I think that the two jams in the second half are out of place. Macca would have been better served using Broomstick and Looking For You in their place.

Overall though, Flaming Pie is a cracking album and one of his very best. And yes, I agree that Somedays and Little Willow would have been stone cold classics had he written them back in the sixties.

 

I haven't listened to this in ages. Will have to revisit. But it's got 5 songs that I think are brilliant and are among my favorite McCartney solo songs ever:

Calico Skies
Little Willow
Great Day
Flaming Pie
Souvenir

 

I agree with your rankings 100% and your comments!

 

A great album I loved from the moment it was released. I still rank "The World Tonight" as one of his best songs and "Calico Skies" is just beautiful. Great album and it kicked off the run of late-career greatness he's been on.

 

Seems like I love all the songs you folks hate on it.

 

The best McCartney album hands down! It's utterly perfect!

 

I love Flaming Pie. It's in my top ten of McCartney albums. Young Boy is my favorite song on the album and is in my McCartney top 20 songs list.It was the first song I heard from the album and I bought the 7" single almost immediately after. Very Beatle-esque indeed. The whole album is very Beatle-esque too.

 

This was Paul's 90s "Tug of War". Loved them both when released-find them both to be a bit dated now. "Really Love You" is such a disappointment. Could have been a cool rocker if Paul didn't just throw words out as he went along. What a waste of the Beatles' rhythm section.

I also remember Steve Miller on the special describing that Paul pretty much had his parts written out. You get Steve Miller for sessions and you tell him what to play? Ouch!

 

One of my all time favorite McCartney songs:

 

It’s still one of his best, as far as I’m concerned. It has held up very well. Any album with “Beautiful Night “ is a winner.

 

My favourite McCartney solo album. I bought it on release (which I don't do usually) and it was in heavy rotation at the time.
Not a "classic" anywhere on it but really strong songs throughout and as an album it has a good feel. Great to do domestic jobs to!

 

Not coincidentally written a decade earlier; before "the change." Great Day was more than 25 years prior. Like that one, too.

 

Just listened to this today, and it's a great McCartney record (IMO) For me in the top 5 of all his releases.

 

I was blasting out Flaming Pie a couple of years back, and my loving and tolerant wife shouted out from the next room, "Hey! Who is that?" I told her and she said, "Wow! That's pretty good". For her that was, to quote the immortal Peter Pilbeam...high praise indeed.

 

Flaming Pie is the start of the current "Elder Stateman of Rock" phase of his career and it's probably the best of the lot.

I like only about half of the songs in the album but the good ones are really good and the filler is OK.

 

Totally don't agree!

I think The Song We Were Singing is one of McCartney's absolute best acoustic type songs!
I love it and think it's perfect to open an album with! I remember thinking if the rest is as good as this, I know this is going to be one of my very fave albums, and it is!
Very strong lyrically!

 

Flaming Pie is top shelf. A superb record.

 

Flaming Pie is great apart from those two crappy jam songs.

 

I know Really Love You is a jam, what's the other one?

 

"Used To Be Bad"

Very skippable.

 

Great Day is my fave. Not sure if it’s a concurrent recording with the rest of the material, or an outtake from early 70s. It’s musical, meaningful and performed in that tossed off way that only Paul can do so well. And I love Linda’s harmony.

I like the rest of the record. Just feels a bit forced at times...

 

Absolutely no way!
Used To Be Bad is one of the highlights on the album for me! I love McCartney doing some rockin Texas blues! I'm so glad Miller suggested it, and McCartney's drumming just drives that song, Miller's guitar solo is great as well! I've always wished that McCartney would perform this one live! Just can't agree, love that song!

 

A great album and one of my favorites of his.

 

I loved it then, I still love it now, although I haven’t played it in years. It was like, hot on the heels of the Anthology project, McCartney was hip again. I don’t like the ‘I used to be a Beatle’ pseudo-phylosophical lyrics of The Songs We Were Singing but that’s just me. Beautiful Night and Great Day are the standout tracks to me.