Why Paul McCartneys later work is so brilliant

Here is one example of late career McCartney brilliance. As melodic strong and musically adventurous as anything from Paul's long career

 

I think,as a lyricist,his latter day work is impressive.There are many great and personal lyrics these days.He is no longer afraid to hide his vulnerabilities and feelings.Alligator,Somedays,The end of the end,Why so blue, Early days,Callico skies and Vanity fair are just some of the songs that come to mind.He was always considered a decent wordsmith but it's time he was given credit for clearly crafting some great lyrics in the Autumn of his career.

 

Sixteen songs, 52 minutes total (2 minutes less than Wings Greatest), and arranged to have a nice flow. I tried to include tracks from all of his pop/rock albums, and I even had 'Always' (from Kisses On The Bottom), but it was the last song cut as it just didn't fit with the rest of the songs:

1. Fine Line (Chaos And Creation In The Backyard, 2005)
2. The World Tonight (Flaming Pie, 1997)
3. Dance Tonight (Memory Almost Full, 1997)
4. On My Way To Work (New, 2013)
5. Only Mama Knows (Memory Almost Full, 1997)
6. No Other Baby (Run Devil Run, 1999)
7. Young Boy (Flaming Pie, 1997)
8. Your Way (Driving Rain, 2001)
9. New (New, 2013)
10. Heather (Driving Rain, 2001)
11. Calico Skies (Flaming Pie, 1997)
12. Vintage Clothes (Memory Almost Full, 1997)
13. That Was Me (Memory Almost Full, 1997)
14. This Never Happened Before (Chaos And Creation In The Backyard, 2005)
15. Scared (New, 2013)
16. Party (Run Devil Run, 1999)

 

The World Tonight
Little Willow
Try Not To Cry
About You
Fine Line
Too Much Rain
Riding To Vanity Fair
Anyway
Summer of '59
Only Mama Knows
House Of Wax
Sing The Changes
Save Us
On My Way To Work
Appreciate
Hope For The Future
Beautiful Night

I cheated. That is 17 songs. If I had to cut one I guess it would be Too Much Rain. The starting point feels slightly wrong to me. Flaming Pie seems like part of the earlier era. "Late" McCartney begins after he lost Linda because the focus of those albums feels different to the ones that preceded them.

 

I'll see your Electric Arguments and raise you a Rushes, which to me is even better, as it's devoid of those "sing the first thing that comes into my head" lyrics which mars some of EA (though I love Two Magpies, Dance Till We're High and Light From Your Lighthouse, though he obviously didn't write that last one). The music on Rushes is just hypnotic.

 

I agree it is hypnotic. But, I didn’t mention it because I am not sure (because I don’t have enough knowledge of the genre) whether it is successful as techno-ambient music.

 

I don't care how it stacks up against other examples of the genre. I just know how it affects me!

 

Good way to look at things.

 

I don't need to give the guy a break! Look at the thread title and look at my post. My point is purely on his later work and what I feel about it. You may have a contrary opinion about his later work and that's fine. But don't lump my thoughts into your rhetoric about him.

 

I’m guessing contrary views are not welcome in this thread.

 

Of course every opinions matters
All of this who feel the need here to post just to say thwy doesn t agree with my OP are welcome.

 

I took a while to be bothered doing a playlist- my conclusion is that I need to own more latter day Macca!

Fine Line

FourFiveSeconds

Sing The Changes

The World Tonight

Little Willow

Ever Present Past

Follow Me

Calico Skies

Mr Bellamy

Nothing Too Much Just Out Of Sight

Too Much Rain

Heather

English Tea

Beautiful Night

 

I hear hooks on every single McCartney album except the first two Fireman albums, I don't know what that noise is?
Just my opinion.

 

Sing The Changes, man! It’s only got hook!

 

Uh-oh. I see what I did there

 

Post-Beatle music maybe, but I think that most people, other than die hard fans, would be hard pressed to hum anything he's released for years.

I am not trying to agitate, and I say that as a huge Beatles fan and a fan of much of his music through the post-Beatle years. I'm not speaking to the quality of the music, I speaking to the awareness of the music by the general public.

 

This.

I listened to Chaos. Thought it was well done, but didn't really add anything to his legacy. I go with the charts on McCartney, he was relevant through the mid 1980s and less so thereafter.

 

I think the general public is quite aware of McCartney's recent music, have you seen all the covers on Youtube by the old and young. McCartney's recent music has been featured in movies etc. Plenty of the general public have heard and are aware. I think some continue to sell McCartney short.

McCartney's album chart positions since the 80's say something totally different. Chaos is considered by many as one of McCartney's absolute best, I think it added plenty to his legacy. Again have you seen Youtube?

 

not a fan of his solo stuff, but heard that new single and thought, maybe i'm missing something, because this is a flat out hit.

 

From the average set lists I've seen through the years, he leans pretty heavily on Beatles and Wings/solo hits from the 70's and 80's. Not exclusively, but certainly those are the songs that the audience seemingly wants to hear, or at least he thinks so.

Speaking of YouTube, just listen to a concert and hear the audience go nuts when he starts any song from the "classic years".

And a concert audience isn't necessarily the general public either, there would likely be a fair number of big fans.

Again, I don't mean to insult the music, I am saying there is far less general awareness of his music from the 90's and beyond... he doesn't have huge hits, so it's no surprise...

 

you have to ignore what I pointed out about Youtube to come to that conclusion though!

Click on many of McCartney's recent songs and just look at the comments from people all over the world, the vast majority of them are very positive. The Youtube audience is far larger than a concert audience. People all over the world are checking these songs out, how many people just on Youtube do you think have listened to his new songs? I'm not even talking about other music sites, or just different sites in general.

More people are listening and know than you think!

 

Obviously I'm not explaining myself very well here. I completely understand that he's an incredibly well-known musician... I mean, c'mon he was in the bloody Beatles!...

And I'm sure that lots of people know and love his newer stuff, but, it is not nearly as widely known as his Beatles, Wings and 70s/80s solo material.

My original comment was in response to the OP's post that said his newer music would remembered as much as the old music or words to that effect. I simply don't believe it's true.

But hey, I've been wrong before and it's certainly within the realm of possibility that I'm wrong about that too...

 

Calico Skies is one of the most beautiful songs Paul has ever wrote.

 

That’s absolutely true, by any measure. But, no one can predict what music will endure and what won’t. Think of an act like Abba in the US - a handful of chart hits, but overall very little public awareness. They are now bigger with younger generations in the US than they were in their heyday - and they have a crappy musical and movie to thank. Who could have predicted that a minor track like “Wild Horses” would end up as one of the Stones most coveted songs, or that “Make You Feel My Love”, a track buried at the end of a late 90’s Dylan LP would end up being his most coveted song.

You never know. I don’t think Paul’s recent work will be widely remembered, but I do think that in time, his later work will be recognized widely as representing a true creative return to form. Right now, I feel that it is essentially disregarded by critics and the general public.