Ah Maybe Baby - the last recording of the old voice. Something happened between this session and the Driving Rain sessions. Lots of great music and vocal performances followed which I wouldn’t want to have missed, but something with his voice was never quite the same.
Totally agree about "Big Boys Bickering"..just doesn't work at all BUT "Down To The River" is fantastic and "Kicked Around No More" is totally sublime and one of Paul's very best ever compositions IMHO. Here's how I'd probably have my perfect "Off The Ground" album: Hope of Deliverance Off The Ground (Remix) Looking For Changes Golden Earth Girl The Lovers That Never Were C'Mon People Get Out of My Way Sweet Sweet Memories Down To The River Long Leather Coat Cosmically Conscious Winedark Open Sea I Owe It All To You Kicked Around No More
That was around Linda's death, wasn't it? I can imagine that might have taken its toll on Paul physically.
I always heard "in eggshell seas" as a play on words with "in excelsis". Edit: I see that several people beat me to it.
Just ordered, it was “in stock” for a while (maybe was yours?), they said order confirmed when paid but not received any email that confirmed my purchase. I’ll contact them asking...
Potato, Potato. That's what makes these forums so interesting and Paul's music so dynamic, what one adores, the other dismisses. I do agree with you completely that a bit of jiggering with the full complement of studio tracks would have yielded a more powerful album. And, as you point out, we'd all endlessly debate our stance on that too! For what it's worth, here is what I came up with some time ago: http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threa...e-ground-sessions.768969/reply?quote=19296597
Yeah, yeah, I know. I did say I'm the only one in the world who dislikes it. When I first heard it, I totally hated it. The whole thing sounded like a bleak copy of 10CC's "I'm Not in Love" - the melody and lyrics are very different, but the soundscape feels similar to me. Nowadays, I tolerate it better and won't turn off the music player if it comes on. But it's still not a track that I'd include on any album or playlist.
Very curious that the 1971-1973 super box is now sold out in all countries.....what would the second edition be? Not numbered, not as lavish??? Also are we talking maybe 1,000 of the super boxes made?? 2k????
Great finds! Quite tough words from George in the first quote. It is interesting that although Paul has often mentioned John's criticisms of him in the early 70's, he has never mentioned George and Ringo's (at least not that I have ever discovered). Maybe he didn't rate their opinions highly enough to let them affect him when it came to music? As for the Harrison comment about making use of the studio, what does that mean regarding 'Ram'? It is a wonderful produced album, in fact the production and instrumentation lifts quite a few of the songs up to a quality they wouldn't have simply as songs IMO. Would it be possible to post the second quote you mention about 'How Do You Sleep'?
What a fantastic comment and strong defence of the album and why it should be reissued! I have the same emotional attachment about 'Flaming Pie', because it was the first solo album of Paul's that I heard, after discovering the Beatles in 2005 via my Mum and binge listening to them for about 3 months. I still have that same feeling for 'Nobody Told Me', 'My Sweet Lord', 'Jet' and 'It Don't Come Easy', the first solo Beatles songs I remember hearing. Regarding 'OTG', it does offer so much bonus potential, and a remaster could make a big difference too (I love 'Winedark Open Sea' as remastered on 'Pure McCartney). I would love for Paul to go ahead with a large 'OTG' box, including the live performance on MTV, the many B-Sides and remixes, and the outtakes and the demo tape tracks maybe on the deluxe edition. I would also love for the earlier mixes to be included (the title song shines in that form!). Overall, there was a lot of strong material for Paul to choose from; I feel letting the band members vote on the tracks was where he went wrong. A reissue could help change the reputation of the album like you say; even the likes of 'Speed Of Sound' and 'Pipes of Peace' have risen in the estimation of many going from the comments on the threads here when they were reissued and some of the reviews.
Love George but very often he was extremely bitter party of 1 especially early 70's toward Paul...... Basically George saying "as a director of Apple" I am happy Paul's new album is selling and making me money.....but glad I did not play on it.............
I think Arnie would say "Message From Joe" on the Speed of Sound box set definitely helped his enjoyment of the album................
I'm being rude, jumping in without having read the last 10-20 pages yet. It moves so fast, it's only been 2-3 days !.. Anyway, as to the Off The Ground bonus tracks. ( Not necessarily you ) people trumpet & applaud the OTG bonus tracks as "Better than the album" etc etc. You have a more seasoned, objective opinion & really Dig 2 ?. actually you've got 5 on your ultimate OTG tracklist, but single out 2 as being outstanding. It's all fine by me, I'm happy to see people digging deep into his catalogue, digging the music, knowing the catalogue. Everybody differs on the OTG bonus tracks "which ones" are great . After 25 years with the album & probably 15-20 years with all the bonus tracks. I think the full length Cosmically Conscious & Long Leather Coat are the 2 gems. Some of the others are good too, but Cosmic is the great lost Beatley 68 song, & Leather Coat is like a great lost Wings B side from Ram or Hi Hi Hi. I think Off The Ground has 5-6-7 great cuts, strong like the 8-9 great cuts on Flowers in Dirt in 89. Instead of making a huge double album for OTG, I pare my copy down to the great 10-12 songs. This is relevant because Imo Red Rose Speedway & a few other McCartney or Wings albums, suffer from the same issue. Not using the 10-12-14 best songs from those sessions. So much like RRS, I junk my 3-4 least favorite Off The Ground tracks, add in the best 2-3 bonus tracks as replacement, & get a much better album. A - 1-Off The Ground 2-Hope Of Deliverance 3-Mistress & Maid 4-Owe It All To You 5-Golden Earth Girl 6-Lovers That Nevr Were 7-Long Leather Coat 8-Kicked Round No More 9-Cosmically Conscious 10 C'mon People Not perfect but a lot better. Likewise on RRS 1-Live & Let Die 2-Get On Right Thing 3Big Barn Bed 4-Single Pigeon 5-One More Kiss 6-I Lie Around 7-Hi Hi Hi 8-L Lamb Dragonfly 9-Cmoon 10 Country Dreamer 11 My Love Or something along those lines.
I always been a bit cold towards Off the ground However Winedark open sea is a truly great song and a favorite of mine. It s a bit different musically but Han we are used to from Paul-almost dreamy in a Van Morrison sort of way. And a mezmerising vocal delivery
Maybe George is referring to wanting Paul to utilize Apple's own studio (and therefore more $ coming into Apple itself)? Which Paul didn't. But neither did John, so?
Okay. I found it and wrote it all down on a piece of scrap paper. As I type exclusively on my phone, I'll have to do this later. Or...just read it for yourself in RM, Oct 16, p. 3. "In a comeback Paul all is forgiven mood"; after all the new studio is his studio, too; though that track about Paul is a bit hard"; but whatever the possibilities of a Beatles reconciliation (RM writer's words) etc etc
I personally think that your version of 'OTG' is a lot stronger than what was released, and it would have been a more consistent follow up to 'FITD'.
I should clarify on the snippets. the "mood" sentence is RM. the two snippets in the middle are GH quotes. The last comment about reconciliation is RM.
For anyone who hasn't seen it yet, here's a great interview with Mike Myers from the last week or so where he tells a story about a connection he had to George Harrison, and how this links in to George's attitude to Apple board meetings, it's worth a watch! George part starts at 7 minutes.
Here. Page 3 (and now I won't have to type!) https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Record-Mirror/70s/71/Record-Mirror-1971-10-16-S-OCR.pdf
Thanks again. It is fascinating, in light of how George was later on, how pro-Paul and the Beatles he could be in the early 70's. He would never say words like that about Apple now being what they originally wanted in the 80's and 90's. This interview reminds me of the one where he speaks about doing solo and Beatles work, and that it would be selfish not to do so. I wonder why he never did go ahead with more disaster aid concerts like he mentioned? He could have done one a year, in different cities or countries, and they would have done well I am sure, for a few years at least.
In political news, I swore there was a Proposition on the ballot to compel Paul to release deluxe editions of all remaining albums within the next year. But, somehow, when I went to vote, it wasn't there. Odd. Now I'll admit that I had some very strange dreams last night, so I could be remembering this wrong. Either way, I've been listening to the Blood On The Tracks box set this week which is fantastic. Hoping Amazon does release day delivery of the White Album box set this Friday. And, just as soon as I digest all of that, Paul's two box sets will be released. My drive time has improved significantly! Gotta love these deluxe editions.