POLL: How do you rate Paul McCartney & Wings "Red Rose Speedway" album?

Time to evaluate another McCartney album! Round 8 in an ongoing series, spread out a couple weeks between albums (to show a modicum of mercy to those sick of Beatle-related threads)...

The ground rules: this poll, like the others, is designed for people familiar with the album in question and with at least some familiarity with some of his other post-Beatle catalog (for comparison purposes). If the poll doesn't interest you, please kindly move on to a thread that does. I intentionally don't name "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 post-Beatles work.

If you've missed a previous poll, feel free to vote below. Here's a current recap of how the others have rated so far:
The "New" album poll 280 votes, with a weighted average of 3.60 (edging slightly towards "solid effort").
The "Back To The Egg" album poll. 225 votes, also with a nearly identical (!) weighted average of 3.61.
The "Wild Life" album poll. 271 votes, with a weighted average of 2.86 (just below "not bad").
The "Driving Rain" album poll. 231 votes, with a weighted average of 2.79.
The "Flowers in the Dirt" album poll. 219 votes, with a weighted average of 3.67.
The "Flaming Pie" album poll. 258 votes, with a remarkably favorable weighted average of 4.16 (!).
The "McCartney II" album poll. 169 votes, with a weighted average of 3.18.

Suggestions are always welcome for the next entry in the series. I'd like to save BOTR & Ram for later on, as they may be the biggest challenge to Flaming Pie's current throne. Thanks to all those who have voted so far!

 

"Lower-tier McCartney - only a couple songs worth revisiting"

 

Oy here we go. A notch under Wild Life.

 

Not Bad...if that.

 

I wanted to like it more...but couldn't.

First two songs are the best part.

 

Solid effort. Loup robbed it of the top rating.

This and BOTR and Live and Let Die in the same year...

 

I love it, top tier. Side One is just about perfect. Little Lamb Dragonfly is beautiful and extremely underrated.

 

Love it. One of his best. Agree with Vamborules that Little Lamb Dragonfly is a great song. I play it often.

 

This fits easily into that "underrated" or "hidden gem" classification in his catalog. I think it's one of his best, and really don't have a problem mentioning it in the same breath as Ram, Band on the Run, or Venus and Mars. It's a top-tier album to me. Certainly essential listening for fans of Paul. No real heavy hitters (I'm actually not a huge fan of "My Love"), but with the probably exception of Loup, everything is strong. Top-to-bottom, it's hard to find many McCartney albums with as few holes as this one.

 

Bought it when it came out, played it once.

 

I love Henry McCullough's guitar playing on this album

 

Worth recommending, but not essential.

 

After the great, raw abandon of Wild Life, RRS was a major comedown, There's a good EP in there, but this was easily Paul's weakest effort yet. Half finished songs, and dreadful lyrics abound. Mercifully it wasn't a double album.

 

After the relatively spunky opener, it drives straight into the ditch and never makes it back out.

 

I was torn on this one--I went with the middle option ("not bad"), though I was tempted to rate it a pretty solid effort. Though the songwriting is a little patchy at times, this album has a laid back charm about it that I quite enjoy. I downloaded a pseudo-deluxe fan mix of RRS that someone made, including outtakes from the era like "The Mess" and "1882" which makes for an interesting listen.

 

Agreed!

 

Love it! It's right outside of my Top 10 Macca albums!

 

Side one isn't so bad, although it is bubblegummy enough to cause cavities.

Side two is the same, minus the hooks and plus possibly the most anti-climactic medley ever waxed.

I actually think "My Love" is one of his better romantic singles. It clearly comes from the heart, anyway. "Big Barn Bed" is an absurd goof as tossed-off as "Mumbo", and works fine as long as you are willing to tolerate Macca's absurd goofs, which for me grows less with each passing year. "Get On the Right Thing" is bubblegum funk, and very white. "Little Lamb Dragonfly" is a touching song, but if you wanna talk about overproduced... "One More Kiss" is one of those retro-sounding diversions that work okay among a strong set of songs, like The White Album maybe, but gets no help here. I still couldn't hum any part of the medley for you, although I recall deliberately playing it repeatedly one day, was back when I was a devoted and faithful fan, and being utterly flummuxed at how there could be so little there.

I'd peg it a notch above Wild Life, although I think "Wild Life" and "Dear Friend" are better than anything on it. Both are albums that I've decided I don't have enough years left alive to bother playing again in full.

Sorry. I'm still willing to stick up for Wings once in a while, depending on what's being said about them. But I choose my battles carefully, and Red Rose Speedway isn't one I'd fight.

 

I like Big Barn Bed (except the shrill fade out vocals go on way too long), and I like Get On The Right Thing and most of the medley.

 

I'm not a fan of My Love (except for the guitar solo) but I'd rank this as one of his better albums. Better than everything that came after it (including BotR) until either Flaming Pie or Chaos and Creation.

 

It's my favourite after BOTR. It's so laid back and revives happy memories from a great time in my life. Love it.

 

I rated it "a solid effort" but it's one of my personal favorites.

I cannot wait for the Deluxe Edition and hopefully, the entire original double-album version as originally intended.

 

My Favorite Songs, 1.Big Barn Red 2.Get On The Right Thing. 3. Single Pigeon. 4. When The Night. 5. Loup, First Indian On The Moon, ( strange song but I always liked it. 6.Medley-Hold Me Tight - (It goes on for to long and goes no where. Kind of a filler track.
My Love is one of the worst songs, hated when I heard it on the radio back in the early 70's and still hate it..

 

This is the first album since these polls have started that I have rated as "essential listening," because really, this is essential listening for any Paul fan. I really like most/all the previous albums that have been made into these polls, but this is the first one I felt the need to really give credit to. If I were approaching a new Paul fan, I would definitely give him/her this album right away.

 

Solid effort.

Better than 'Wild Life', which I do rate much higher that the majority, but not quite in the classic territory yet. I wish he'd played more than just 'My Love' off this on WOA. And I would have preferred RRS to be in the next pair of remasters rather than WATSOS.