What's the best Paul McCartney album?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by EchoStars24, Jan 1, 2018.

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  1. Terrapin Station

    Terrapin Station Master Guns

    Location:
    NYC Man/Joy-Z City
    I voted for Driving Rain. It's not necessarily my favorite, but it would be in my top five. I knew it wouldn't get many votes, so I voted for it. I never realized that it wasn't well-liked until I started frequenting this board. But I never realized that Paul McCartney as well as Wings were so controversial, with such polarized opinions about them, until I started using this board, either. :shrug:
     
  2. schnitzerphilip

    schnitzerphilip "Modern Dad" Unlocked Award

    Location:
    NJ USA
    So Paul leaves the UK, flies to New York City specifically to record his new Ram album, is in the studio from 12 October to 16 November working on all the Ram tracks, decides that “Another Day” is the best of the Ram offerings, releases it as his only single in advance of this critical album, and it’s not a Ram song?

    Come now, let’s be real here. Or take “Jet” off of Band On The Run as it was the lead single for that LP.
     
  3. swampwader

    swampwader Forum Resident

    Location:
    Reading, Michigan
  4. backseat

    backseat Italian translator - Paul McCartney's 'The Lyrics'

    Location:
    Italy
  5. Maranatha5585

    Maranatha5585 BELLA + RIP In Memoriam

    Location:
    Down South
    "Band On The Run" test pressing
    [​IMG]

    "RAM" acetate
    [​IMG]
     
    Derek Slazenger likes this.
  6. Raoul97202

    Raoul97202 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Portland Oregon

    I agree. I would've liked to have voted for both, but since I can only choose one, I chose Ram. To my ears it's also the most Beatlesque.
     
    schnitzerphilip likes this.
  7. Raoul97202

    Raoul97202 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Portland Oregon
    :):)
    Never heard of that one. :)
     
  8. angelees

    angelees Forum Resident

    Location:
    Usa
    Smile Away isn’t a nonsense rocker. It’s very clearly about smiling anyway even when things and people suck.
     
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  9. Darrin L.

    Darrin L. Forum Resident

    Location:
    Golden, CO
    Your argument's not even logical. You might as well throw "Little Lamb Butterfly", or "Get on the Right Thing" into the mix. "Another Day" was never, ever a part of the album proper. Case closed.
     
    Paul P. and duggan like this.
  10. schnitzerphilip

    schnitzerphilip "Modern Dad" Unlocked Award

    Location:
    NJ USA
    This brings up another question. How exactly do you listen to “Another Day”?

    If you didn’t add it to Ram in your library you listen to it when? When you listen to a Greatest Hits album like All The Best? Should all of Paul’s best songs released to advance their respective albums be confined to a fragmented Greatest Hits type listening experience instead of homogeneously placed on the albums created during the very sessions in which they were recorded?
     
  11. EdogawaRampo

    EdogawaRampo Senior Member

    Boy, the results are sure unambiguous...and I have to concur with the two 'bests' the votes show. In my case, I think I've listened to Ram quite a bit more, but whether or not it's actually better than Band On The Run I couldn't offer an opinion on. I think I've listened to Ram more is simply because I heard Band On The Run far more in the day, in the '70s. I didn't actually warm up to Ram until the last 10 or 15 years or so.
     
  12. Steve G

    Steve G Senior Member

    Location:
    los angeles
    Electric Arguments. What's the logic behind including Venus & Mars and not including Electric Arguments???
     
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  13. Dylancat

    Dylancat Forum Resident

    Location:
    Cincinnati, OH
    Have to go with the first,
    followed by Ram, and then Band on the Run.
     
  14. Lewisboogie

    Lewisboogie “Bob Robert”

    I voted Tug of War but listen to Electric Arguments more than anything besides comps.
     
    linclink likes this.
  15. Champagne Boot

    Champagne Boot Ain't nothin' gonna break my stride

    Location:
    Michigan
    Flaming Pie is his most consistent, IMO. I invariably find Macca records to be a few genuinely wonderful songs with a lot of low-grade filler. But when he's on, he's on.
     
    mrjinks, linclink and Lewisboogie like this.
  16. fmfxray373

    fmfxray373 Capitol LPs in the 70s were pretty good.

    I gave the nod to McCartney, Junk and Maybe I'm Amazed are masterpieces.
    Band On The Run is probably better but McCartney's first album just gets better with time. Tough choice.
     
    Lewisboogie likes this.
  17. schnitzerphilip

    schnitzerphilip "Modern Dad" Unlocked Award

    Location:
    NJ USA
    'Another Day' might not be on the album but it's a Ram track, no different than 'Jet' which was the lead single for the BOTR LP and just so happened to be placed on that disc by the record company, just as well might have been left off if it were released two years earlier when singles were routinely removed from their LP's.

    Ram is Paul's White Album. The uneven and unorganized feeling about the work you sense is exactly what people tend to say they love about the Beatles two-disc masterwork.

    I didn't mention Let Me Roll It or No Words because I called out the must-have, classic songs on both LP's and those two aren't of that caliber.

    BOTR is polished and brilliant but it is short (only 9 tracks to Ram's 12 + 'Another Day') and it is too produced and polished (lacks Ram's warmth and honesty).

    And perhaps above all else, Ram feels and sounds like a Beatles album, the only one such work created by the 4 after they split. Maybe that's why so many of us prefer it, even though only slightly, to BOTR.
     
  18. KevinP

    KevinP Forum introvert

    Location:
    Daejeon
    This has gotten to the point where I'm clicking 'Unwatch Thread.'
     
  19. kaztor

    kaztor Music is the Best

    Flaming Pie for me. Flawless.
     
  20. Price.pittsburgh

    Price.pittsburgh Forum Resident

    Location:
    Florida
    You earlier compared RAM to Abbey and White.
    Paul's unfinished tracks on Abbey are polished and create a great medley.
    His more stripped down material on White are more complete and crafted.
    Mother Nature's Son, I Will, Blackbird, Rocky Raccoon, all complete and organized tracks.
    RAM to me sounds like he was lost and Ringo felt the same way when hearing it and Ringo's favorite Beatles album is The White Album.
     
  21. maywitch

    maywitch Forum Resident

    No I'd say what happened is that finally enough time had passed for people who hadn't been spiteful in the early 70's(or brainwashed by their older siblings/reading too many books saying John Lennon was 80 percent of the Beatles after he died) and RAM was listened with fresh ears and given the credit it ALWAYS deserved. It's an amazing and unique album, IMO. Dear Boy is lovely and I've seen plenty of praise for it, especially the harmonies and melody.
     
  22. Bruce M.

    Bruce M. Forum Resident

    Location:
    Hilo, HI, USA
    "Tug of War." Not even close.
     
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  23. Bruce M.

    Bruce M. Forum Resident

    Location:
    Hilo, HI, USA
    This sums up my feelings about "Ram" better than anything I've read on here. He sounds lost and flailing to me. The album has a manic, almost desperate quality that's really unappealing, despite a few charming moments here and there.
     
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  24. PaulOnTheBeach

    PaulOnTheBeach Active Member

    Location:
    California
    I was listening to Chris Carter’s Breakfast With The Beatles several years ago. Brian Wilson was his guest and Chris played Dear Boy for him. Prodded for a reaction, BW was like, ok, decent song, I don’t see the connection. Pretty funny...
     
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  25. PaulOnTheBeach

    PaulOnTheBeach Active Member

    Location:
    California
    So Rain is now a song from Revolver and Hey Jude is a song from The Beatles?
     
    mrjinks and Price.pittsburgh like this.
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