Poll: How do you rate Paul McCartney's "New" album?

Some debate in other threads made me curious what the general opinion was here of McCartney's 2013 studio album, "New". I was under the impression it was relatively well-received, but a number of forum members seemed to be of the opinion that it was pretty dire...

So, what say the SHForumites as a whole?

This poll is designed to find out whether people here think it's a good album for Paul. If you don't like his solo work at all, please refrain from voting. I've intentionally not named "comparison albums" on the best-to-worst scale, as some may think a particular album of his is awesome, while others have a completely different take on the same album. Just consider how YOU would rate it in comparison with his other work. Also, please only vote if you've heard the entire album.

Thank you!

EDIT: for those of you that despise Beatle-related threads - yes, I know there are some 30+ threads on "New". Sorry! But this is the first to ask an overall opinion via a poll.

 

I said "A Pretty Solid Effort." I think overall it's great and in the top half of his solo output, lots of strong songs and the production, even with 4 people manning the helm, is remarkably cohesive.

 

I voted for not bad. 'Looking at Her' is a classic McCartney tune imo.

 

"A pretty solid effort - worth recommending"

 

Got it for Xmas. Will open it one day.

 

I think it’s quite good. I picked “one of his best”. I played it last week and was like, “my God! I’m on track 8 and there hasn’t been a clunker yet!” And then comes track 9 and I’m like, “oh, there it is!” But the ratio of awesome to meh is pretty incredible.

 

I place the album outside of my Top 5 McCartney titles, but still in my Top 10. Neither his voice nor the production bother me at all. The lyrics are solid and the melodies are catchy -- that's all I want from Paul, and that's what he gave me.

 

I started to vote for "A Pretty Solid Effort", but after going thru the song listing in my head, went with "Clearly one of his best". I'm guessing I've played it 40-50 times since it was released and it still holds up quite well. I'm sure others have listened even more but I don't want to burn out on something I like.

If I compare it to his latest releases, like Driving Rain (which is obviously one of the best albums ever ), Chaos (which I'm just lukewarm to), and Memory Almost Full (which I really like), I feel that New is better on most levels. Musically and lyrically, New has substance and depth along with some very good melodies.

I suppose I could nitpick some of the production choices of New... but they are minor I'd rather just listen to it.

 

This is a continuation of a very solid period of his solo career that started with Flaming Pie and peaked with Chaos & Creation but it continues to be interesting and rewarding, not bad at all.

I've really enjoyed New - a pretty solid effort, worth recommending.

 

A pretty solid effort - worth recommending

I never - NEVER - just put it in and play it through. It doesn't hang as an album for me. But when the songs come up on shuffle, I find that I enjoy them (as I've written before, I stacked the deck on this by not including the album's real dogs like Hosanna and the croaky The Songs We Were Singing remake in my playlist)

I made this list a while back, and I've since arranged New where I think it belongs. I guess this puts it outside my top 10 and a bit above middling for a McCartney album.

When I posted this list originally, I said "Levels I-III are my bread and butter. Levels I and II I'd probably listen to over popping in a Beatles CD (OK - maybe not Red Rose)." Still stands.

Level I:
Ram

Level II:
Venus and Mars
Band on the Run
Flowers in the Dirt
Back To the Egg
Press To Play
At the Speed of Sound
Red Rose Speedway
Off the Ground
Wild Life

Level III:
New
McCartney
Flaming Pie
Choba b CCCP
Run Devil Run
Memory Almost Full

Level IV:
Tug of War
Driving Rain
Chaos and Creation

Level V:
London Town
McCartney II
Pipes of Peace
Broad Street

 

Finally, the forum turns its attention to this album! What took you people?

But really, I think it's a very solid record. The only song that I think kinda stinks is "Everybody Out There", which was obviously written to be a live favorite but it just doesn't make it for me.

 

It's like a second tier Flaming Pie to me. 4 brilliant tracks, 4 good tracks and 4 turds. "Turned out" should've made the record. Voted "solid effort".

 

So, Knarf, does your level I-V roughly correspond to my five "level" descriptions above? Just curious...

 

I like how Ram is the only level 1 on your list!

 

I'd say my Levels I-III are the first two of your options, and there's nothing I'd really tell people to avoid at all costs.

 

One of his best - but I'm not surprised that "pretty solid effort" is getting the nod thus far - definitely an argument to made for that. But I see it differently than Knarf in that I think one New's strengths is that it does hang together as an album - more so than Flaming Pie or Chaos for me - as an album, that is. One could easily argue that Flaming Pie and Chaos has higher peaks but each have material that don't fit quite right for me - as an album. New, to me, feels very cohesive and of a piece, multiple producers notwithstanding.

 

I initially was going to do a 1-star to 5-star rating system, but that didn't seem right. Very few albums are 5-star albums in my view, so I tried to write five descriptions which would run the gamut of opinions. Seeing those comments about New in the V&M speculation thread made me think that the album was suddenly about as popular as The Girl Is Mine amongst Paul fans...

However the results here are more what I would've expected.

Interestingly, the entries in your Levels I-V are almost completely opposite of what my ratings for the same albums would be!

Btw, you didn't rate Kisses on the Ass in any of your levels...

 

I listened to Kisses about 1.25 times. It's not my cup, but I didn't feel right flat out saying it sucks. It's obviously not made to be enjoyed by the likes of me.

BTW if our levels are opposite wouldn't that mean we 100% agree on Level III? Harmony!

 

You didnt like Hosanna? I love it! My favorite on the album

 

Not great but better than the last few.

 

I voted lower tier. I know most on this forum love NEW but after listening to it a bunch if times I have no desire to play it again.

 

Even though I was a huge Beatles and McCartney's fan all my life, this is a one of two his albums, that I really dislike, the other one would be "Driving Rain". IMO it's overproduced, any nice melody (providing it was one in the beginning) buried deep underneath the production. To me it sounds just boring, it's not a typical, right away recognizable McCartney's music .
I wouldn't go that far, saying it should be avoided, I guess a lot of people, especially people in their 20's like this kind of music and this kind of production. World changes, life goes on - whatever, I get it. Probably this album was aimed at this kind of market, still doesn't work for me.

 

Solid.

It's at least in the top 33% of his work.

 

It's in my top five, so it's essential!

It has about four songs that drag it down but the good is really really good!

I still say that I Can Bet should of been the very first single. Everyone that I play that song for absolutely love it, they say it's the kind of song that should be on the radio, and they are exactly right, and why on Earth isn't he performing it?

See those are the kind of things that I criticize McCartney for, he should be performing that song as well as some others?

 

I think it's boring, didn't 'love' any of its songs. I don't think it's bad, it just didn't do it for me. I found it to be quite generic and not interesting at all.

I feel that I need to say that I love McCartney, I saw his show here in Montevideo last week and he was amazing!

But we are discussing his new record here, so... That's my opinion.