New Paul McCartney album "Egypt Station" coming September 7, 2018*

A salesman at my local Target said "get the new P/M CD while you can"! He added that Target is phasing out music from their stores real soon. Less than a mile away, my AMAZING indie store only has access to the standard 16 track disc. I know business is business but this stinks!

 

Think you're being overly harsh here. I know it must be a bit of a thrill to be the one person going against the crowd though. No way is this a 'very poor album', most responses I've seen so far here place it as average at the very least to excellent. Fair enough if the new direction isn't to your taste, but I don't understand how it can sound mostly forced? It's very polished, and the compositions are carefully crafted, whatever your opinion on the songs themselves.

NEW you described as excellent just last month, now it's only half decent? Why the change?

I would say I agree with you regarding the length - on paper it is overly long but on my first few listens nothing overstayed its welcome. I credit this to the producer - Paul's instincts would have kept a 'big' song like People Want Peace going on for another few minutes at least, but it has been kept short and sweet. Same with Hand in Hand, Do It Now, Confidante, - Paul hasn't gotten overindulgent here. Most songs are between 3/4 minutes which is ideal.

The only thing mind-boggling here is why you seem to expect artists to just give up when they release music that you personally dislike, even if many others are finding joy in it. I'd take half-way decent new music from Paul any day, if the alternative meant no new music at all!

 

I'll be giving it a write up in the other thread when I've given it a listen.

 

I see other people complaining that they cannot watch the new video. Maybe it will work if you use a program that pretends you're in Brazil.

 

At the risk of sounding like a bummer on what is meant to be a celebratory day, I'd advise those who missed Fallon last night to watch these segments and ignore the rest of the show, especially the McCartney interview portions. What a major disappointment. It was way too much Fallon talking (about himself) instead of yielding the floor to McCartney, and way too much fawning over his hero at the expense of meaningful discussion. And there was virtually no real talk about the new album and its creation, ostensibly the point of McCartney's appearance. There are so many good questions that can be asked of Sir Paul, but I've pretty much given up on the idea that anyone will sit down with him and do a serious, probing, insightful, informative interview. It seems like he just keeps getting the "He was a BEATLE!" celebrity treatment at the expense of real opportunities to discuss an extraordinary life and career.

Of course this is not a criticism of McCartney. He can only make the most of what is given to him, and if others are going to act silly around him, there's not much for him to say. If anything I admire him for his ability to put up with all the hero worship and make the best of the situation. Surely it must grate on him, and I don't doubt that he'd like to just be himself and talk more seriously about his work and his life. Please, somebody, give him the chance. Or give us the chance to ask the questions instead.

 

It's not working

 

I Don't Know:

CREDITS

Written and composed by Paul McCartney
Produced by Greg Kurstin
Co-produced by Paul McCartney
Recorded at Henson Studios, LA, with additional sessions recorded at Hog Hill Mill, Sussex, and Abbey Road Studios, London
Engineered by Steve Orchard, Alex Pasco, Billy Bush, Julian Burg and Greg Kurstin, assisted by Matt Tuggle, Collin Kadlec, Brad Giroux, Keith Smith, Jamie Kirkham and Paul Pritchard
Mixed by Mark ‘Spike’ Stent, assisted by Michael Freeman and Derek Stockwell at Henson Studios, LA
Published by MPL Communications Inc
(P) 2018 MPL Communications Inc

Paul McCartney – Vocals, Drums, Percussion, Bass, Acoustic Guitar, Piano
Greg Kurstin – Backing vocal arrangement, Electric Tremolo Guitar, Mellotron-Flute, Clarinet, Cello, Synth-French Horns, Timpani
Rob Millet – Cimbalom

Source: I Don’t Know - Paul McCartney - Egypt Station

 

But there are benefits:

 

Sorry to hear that. I guess you'll have to wait until it's made public to everyone. Meanwhile, I have only been able to download a low resolution (400 x 224) version.

 

Not the first time they met though.

From 2001, Concert For NYC:

 

5 out of 5! http://spillmagazine.com/spill-album-review-paul-mccartney-egypt-station/

 

I walked into Target about 30 minutes after it opened, approached the (very small) CD section, and didn't see a copy.

I scanned the section a second time just in case I missed it, when an employee arrived with at least 20 copies.

As I grabbed one, "Come on to Me" started playing in the store.

 

Fallon's a doofus. I was a little disappointed with the WTF/Marc Maron interview, as he's usually pretty good at getting to things most softball-interviews don't, but maybe by virtue of the fact that it was a public talk, he kept it lighter and heavily Beatles based. It was still a good listen but I was hoping for more.

Haven't had a chance to listen to the Sodajerker podcast yet, but that might be a good one as its focus is songwriting.

 

Thank you...that makes me feel so much better about my situation.

 

The song is still terrible unfortunately

 

Chaos

Apart from the awful Freedom Driving Rain is a solid record, nothing on ES has the emotional depth of Rain in my opinion and I rate Magic, I Do, From A Lover, and Flame as equal to I don't Know and Hand in Hand etc, etc.

 

Did you hear this Frank?

 

Nothing in my Target or Barnes and Noble.

 

That is unbelievably bad.

 

Well that's a first! Someone I wasn't even replying to taking offence! I think I'm quite consistent that all opinions are equal, so I have absolutely no problem with yours. My issue with SteveM's post was merely that I felt he was presenting his opinions as fact. (Note, by the way, that SteveM responded far more positively by liking my comment).

 

Really?

No nuns either I take it?

 

Fact: You can set your store location on the Target website. If they have copies of the album at that location, you can purchase it online to be picked up from the store. If you do it that way, there are employees at each store that fulfill those online orders that are to be picked up at said store. Doing it this way, you're making sure it will be there waiting for you as soon as you get a text message on your phone. I'd rather do it that way instead of talking to a random employee who has no idea about what they have in stock.

 

I was lucky enough to pick a green band copy at my local Target. Like most others have posted, they didn't have any on display, even though the website said that they had them available. After talking to the clerk, he was finally able to locate them inside a drawer at the audio/ video counter.

I'm not sure why, but if you look on their website at all the stores in your area, it will mention that some stores have copies "available for pickup", and other stores will say they have them in stock and give a shelf location. The stores that show "available for pickup" are not going to have them on display. You will either need to ask for assistance, or purchase online and pick it up at the customer service desk. Strange way to sell items. I hope this helps anyone that is having problems finding a copy.

 

The hi-res is a completely different listen IMO.

 

My online order from Target should be Monday. I was surprised nothing in either there or Barnes and Noble. The Target store did have the display, and they did have physical copies of the new Eminem album there. Seems like an online only in my area (Boston suburb, so not as if it’s a small area). If I didn’t already have to run an errand, it would have been a total waste.