Why Paul McCartneys later work is so brilliant

Pauls post-beatle carreer has been full of great music and of course some not so good as well. He also managed an amazing commercial streak from the early seventies to early eighties. I guess it s the hits from this period most people remember. Good as it is I personally think some of his best stuff comes from his later period starting out with the 1998 wondruous Flaming Pie.

From then Paul has released music in a brethtakingly lot s of musical styles. Among them Jazz, roc n roll, electronica, ballet, ballet, choral music and five more conventional solo-albums. Also a few collaborations with the remaining Nirvana and Kanye West
Paul's later solo-albums are mostly of high-quality and some -imo-among his very best like Flaming Pie, Chaos and New. Within those albums Paul cover all kind of musical styles and continues to explore new musical expressions.
I think one of the reasons for these late-carreer artistic triumphs is Pauls willingness to try new things and don t write beatlesque songs over and over again. Elvis Costello in an interwiew said that Paul delibaretely changed his way of writing just to be able to move on.
Producer of forthcoming album mention Pauls eagerness to try new way of arranging and also says that on a few songs on the album Paul uses chord-progressions producer never heard before.
Admittedely there are fans who dismiss Pauls later work as boring compared to his older stuff. I think that might be explained by the fact that Pauls newer music requires a lot more listening time and more often than not isn t exactley delivered in the way fans of classic rock expect. In a way it s also more mature, complicated and multilayered.

Much have been said about Pauls declining vocal capacity. He and his voice gettin older for sure but fact is that his vocals are good to great on lot s of his newer music. The jazzy cover album Kisses on the bottom for instance showcase some brilliant vocal deliveries besides a classic new original My Valentine

So as predictable Pauls live-shows are -as a recording artists he is absolutely unpredictable. Given all the things he had done during some 55 years it s hard not to admire the willingness to put heart and soul in new projects and not follow the easy path of goin through the motion.

When all is said and done I'm confident that lot s of Paul's newer music will live on just as much as his older. I prefer to enjoy and acknowledge that now when Paul still is alive and out there doin his thing.
Sometimes the world fan-boy is used in an insulting way. When it comes to McCartney and his never-ending delivery of interesting music I were my fan-boy badge with pride. He deserves all respect he can get not only for what he has done in the past but what he is doin right now in real time.

 

Well said!!

 

Bravo!

 

Same reason his early work is so brilliant - his natural gift for coming up with an endless supply of unique and appealing melodies as a writer, singer and player. Really probably without peer in the rock world in this dimension.

John and many others write better words more consistently.

George and many others come up with better chord progressions.

Nobody in rock touches his melodic gift. Sure if you go back to Bach we could talk.

 

Are you employed by MPL Communications by any chance?

 

Some artists, like Paul, do their best work when everything is falling apart around them. Breaking up with Jane Asher gave us some great songs, as did The Beatles' divorce. The Band On the Run recording sessions were not exactly smooth sailing. Wings' breakup and John's death gave us more great songs. Then he was happy and content for a long time, and that's probably the world's least favorite period from him.

But life has a funny way of sneaking up on you when you think everything's ok, and the love of his life died. And he wrote some great songs. Then his second marriage went down the toilet in a spectacular way, and he recorded one of his biggest "comeback" albums.

Now, he's probably considering his own mortality. He's got the world on a string, sitting on a rainbow, but nobody lives forever.

 

No I'm just an ordinary fan-boy

 

Guess you are right -on the other hand he has made some great stuff when everything s been Hunky Dory as well

 

This thread was well needed.......Paul doesn’t get the recognition he deserves on this forum

 

It's absolutely criminal how little he is discussed here

 

Absolutely agree on that thought it was about time for a discussion about this obscure artist.

 

I thought that New was one of his best, most consistent albums ever in his career. I bought all of the others but nothing before New I thought was brilliant since Flaming Pie which is a classic. I loved Run Devil Run. Every Paul album has some good to great material.

 

I'm not convinced his "later work" IS that brilliant. Voice issues aside, I genuinely feel his later work isn't all that great. He can still turn out the occasional gem but for me, a lot of his recent output is devoid of ear-catching hooks and melody.

 

I dont have many of his albums but the ones i have are just brilliant in my view. Currently listening to Flaming Pie as i type this.

 

As I said I realize it s not everyone's cup of tea. Of course that goes down to personal preferences but I also think it has to do with Paul's eclectic.way of makin music . Imo his later music has tons of intriguing melodies, chordchanges and harmonies. But not delivered or constructed the "old Macca" way
I actually think some of Paul's later work is THAT great

 

McCartney's willingness and even desire not to let the grass grow under his feet or be confined to a single musical style is certainly admirable even if it is not always successful. His post Beatles work (and even his later Beatles work) has always been all over the place stylistically. Tom Doyle suggests convincingly in his book Man On The Run that this is part of the reason why critics have been so hard on him over the years but equally that it meant that nobody else was making records that sounded like a McCartney/Wings album.

He has clearly retained that questing spirit but I have to admit, post Flaming Pie, the only records I really like are Run Devil Run, Electric Arguments & New. I have never quite understood the love for Chaos. I find it insubstantial but beloved it certainly seems to be and I can't argue with that.

 

Definitely the shortest shrift.

 

The Old Man Paul trilogy of Chaos, Memory, and NEW

 

Brilliant is a stretch,imo.

 

I have tried several times to get into Chaos but it just isn't for me. The songs just don't do anything for me. I also do not like the dry, no effects on the vocals.

 

Not in mine. Lot a of this stuff is brilliant.

 

How about a Flaming Pie (1997) to present day old-school 14-16 track best of playlist then, Wings Greatest stylee?

 

Chaos is one of the McCartney album I enjoy most. It s a very mature and well-crafted songs. As with everything else it s not to everyone's liking though

 

Here is a suggestion-but I could make aon mire
Little Willow
Beautiful Night
Souvernir
Run Devil Run
To much rain
Riding to Vanity fair
Why so blue
Cut me some slack
Mr Bellamy
Tell me
Nothing to much -just out of sight
Only mama knows
My Valentine
New
Alligator
Appreciate
Early days
Calico skies

 

Can't say I agree OP.

I'm not into just hits and/or his hook-laden melodies. I'm A-OK with experimentation, for example The Fireman or "Appreciate" from his last album. Even FourFive Seconds, to me, was more interesting than something like "Queenie Eye".

Wasn't particularly impressed with the new single either. Hope he's got some interesting deep cuts in the new album but that remains to be seen.