Paul McCartney/Wings-song by song thread

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Bemagnus, Sep 11, 2019.

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  1. Bemagnus

    Bemagnus Music is fun Thread Starter

    Lot s of love for Junk
    :)
     
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  2. 905

    905 Senior Member

    Location:
    Midwest USA
    Junk 5/5
     
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  3. Snoddywilko

    Snoddywilko Forum Resident

    Location:
    United Kingdom
    I fell in love with Junk when I got home from the record shop back in ‘96 & played side one of Anthology & heard the Esher demo for the first time. Sure, it’s a slightly rough demo recording of an unfinished song, but it’s simply a beautiful melody & performance.

    The version(s) on McCartney are good, but that Esher demo will always be my first love version.

    4.5/5
     
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  4. Bemagnus

    Bemagnus Music is fun Thread Starter

    I really enjoy the Esther demo of Junk. But the version on McCartney is the one I prefer. Maybe because that s the one I heard first but also because it is such a brilliant and inventive recording
    Pure genius
     
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  5. Crimson Witch

    Crimson Witch Roll across the floor thru the hole & out the door

    Location:
    Lower Michigan
    Influences of, perhaps inspired by, some traditional folk melodies from France , I think. * edited * - I found the song I was thinking of, here played on an old six chord Zither ~ quite enchanting, though perhaps the melodic association is less obvious played on this instrument, with its natural sustain. Definitely the Old World magic here though, similar to what Paul so delightfully captures in his masterpiece composition.


    Ma Liberté
     
    Last edited: Sep 15, 2019
  6. BornBeforeTheWind

    BornBeforeTheWind Forum Resident

    Location:
    Boston
    Junk 5/5 a perfect song.
     
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  7. Bemagnus

    Bemagnus Music is fun Thread Starter

    It is
    Absolutely time-less
     
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  8. crossroads69

    crossroads69 Senior Member

    Location:
    London Town
    Played the McCartney album last night and joining this a bit late.

    To me, it’s probably the most charming record in my collection. It’s got that “free spirit music making just for the joy of it” quality that sets it apart from almost anything else at the time. Here was Paul just goofing around with his 4 track while hiding away from Apple!

    As someone else mentioned, the release of Instant Karma seemed to have spurned Paul into taking things up a notch and recording couple of absolute classics. What that does though is make you take this album bit more seriously than perhaps intended. It was always supposed to be a carefree fun album IMO.

    Coming to the tracks and the topic of this thread:

    Lovely Linda - it’s the opposite of Her Majesty, starting his album off with little ditty 3/5
    That Would Be Something - Very White Album-ish indeed but with that home made low-if quality 3.5/5
    Valentine Day - Paul having fun, but bit of a throwaway 2/5
    Every Night - Paul at his best, this could’ve been a Beatles classic 5/5
    Hot As Sun - isn’t this one of his oldest tunes? I still feel he should’ve also completed Suicide during these sessions 2.5/5
    Junk - White Album era treasure, second great song on this album - 4.5/5
     
  9. Harry Hotspur

    Harry Hotspur Forum Resident

    Location:
    London England
    I feel the same way about the Junk demo as I do about Paul and Elvis Costello's So Like Candy demo, an indication of a possibly fantastic track that never truly delivered in the final instance.
     
  10. Piiijiii

    Piiijiii Hundalasiliah

    Location:
    Ruhr Area, Germany
    New to this thread!

    The Lovely Linda 2.5/5 ~ not really a "song" but quite nice.
    That Would Be Something 3.5/5 ~ like this one, too. A bit "bip-bopish" and unfinished. I prefer the MTV Unplugged version.
    Valentine Day 3/5 ~ A groovy instrumental. I love hearing Paul playing the electric guitar!
    Every Night 4/5 ~ One of the best tracks on that album! Again prefering the great MTV Unplugged version.
    Hot as Sun/Glasses 3/5 ~ Yet another very interesting instrumental. But the next Beatles album title track? - Never!
    Junk – 4/5 ~ A great Macca ballad, kind of predating the Wings Sound.
     
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  11. Bemagnus

    Bemagnus Music is fun Thread Starter

    Let s move on
    Man we was lonely
    IMO a very charming song with s happy go lucky chorus while the melody is vintage Macca
    melodicidm. For the first time Linda is there on harmony-vocals. The song has a slightly country-feel-there is even rumoured to exist a duet with Johnny Cash
    A great guitar sound and some weird chord-changes thrown in for good measure
    Lyrically this one obviously deals with the dread during the Beatles final time
    I particularly like these lines.
    I used to ride on my fast city line
    Singing songs that I thought were mine alone, alone
    Now let me lie with my love for the time
    I am home (home), home (home), home

    I loved this fong first time I heard it-still do 49 years after
     
  12. Wildest cat from montana

    Wildest cat from montana Humble Reader

    Location:
    ontario canada
    Didn ' t know about the Johnny Cash thing. That would have been a great sing for him to cover. I wouldn't mind hearing Cash growling out ' That Would Be Something ' either.
    Johnny Cash doing an all- Beatles cover album would have been terrific. I can definitely hear him doing tracks from ' Beatles For Sale ' !
     
  13. Bemagnus

    Bemagnus Music is fun Thread Starter

    I don t know if the duet with Cash actually exist. Just a rumor I read somewhere. Paul once said he imagined him and Linda being Johnny and June while recording Man we was lonely. The Cash influence certanely is there.
     
  14. Yorick

    Yorick Senior Member

    Location:
    the Netherlands
    The Lovely Linda ***1/2
    That Would Be Something ****
    Valentine Day ***
    Every Night *****
    Hot As Sun/Glasses ****
    Junk *****
    Man We Was Lonely ****
    Oo You ****
    Momma Miss America *****
    Teddy Boy *** 1/2
    Singalong Junk *****
    Maybe I'm Amazed *****
    Kreen-Akrore ***

    As some of you might or might not know, I'm working on a reference-book about the stories behind all the albums and songs of Paul's solo career, collecting any quote I can find. I'm trying to digitize any interview that hasn't yet been digitized, interviewing people that were involved and transcribing any radio or television interview I can find containing relevant quotes. Here's a nice little bit Robin Black, who engineered the sessions Paul did at Morgan with a big relevation regarding Glyn Johns:

    “So, I worked with McCartney there (Morgan Studios) when he left The Beatles. That was fantastic. And again, he was supposed to work with Glyn Johns and I was there to show Glyn how the desk worked. Glyn didn’t turn up and so Paul said “Well, can you engineer it?”. So with wobbly knees, I sort of said, “yep”. So again, and they didn’t want an assistent either so it was just me, Paul and Linda. And that was just a magic moment, just watching him do his thing. And he played all the instruments himself. It was great, it was a secretly booked under a secret name. So that, at the time I was sort of going, Wow, i’ve just worked with Paul McCartney and he was my absolute hero songwriter, you know. He’d heard of us and I don’t know why he used Morgan. He just heard there’s some good things that were happening down at the studio and there was some long-haired engineers down there who sort of knew what they were doing and believe it or not, I had long hair in those days. So yeah, it was great. You’d have Paul there, and Rod Stewart might be upstairs. It was just quite amazing looking back. At the time we didn’t think too much about it, because it became the every day norm. We were terribly lucky with all these wonderful people.”
     
    Last edited: Sep 16, 2019
  15. Wildest cat from montana

    Wildest cat from montana Humble Reader

    Location:
    ontario canada
    I did not know about your book. Good luck to you.
     
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  16. Bemagnus

    Bemagnus Music is fun Thread Starter

    Thats some work you have with this book. Wish you the best of luck
    :)
     
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  17. Glass Candy

    Glass Candy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Greensboro
    4/5. Altho I definitely give this album a perfect 5, there are a few tracks that score less for me. Where the first 6 tracks have a perfect collage feel, where songs and fragments fall into and out of each other brilliantly ala the White Album, this track is the first example of a venerable early McCartney tradition: the "We're OK!" breezy throwaway. These songs, except for Ram's excellent Heart Of The Country, invariably have a lyrically defensive edge to them that infuriated the Lennon camp and would prove wearing to even the staunchest McCartney admirer by the time the Wild Life album rolled around.
    Still, this first entry is a fairly likable, somewhat camp country romp that features the debut appearance of the lovely Linda herself on a near vocal duet with Paul. As per usual with Paul, inventive instrumental touches abound, such as the stuttering echo on the intro and outro, and the slide guitar part played with a drum peg.
     
  18. Bemagnus

    Bemagnus Music is fun Thread Starter

    Never heard this cover before
     
  19. beatlesfan9091

    beatlesfan9091 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Seattle
    Junk is the epitome of “less is more.” A great, simple melody with great, simple lyrics.

    Man We Was Lonely is my favorite song on the album and is in my top 10 solo Paul songs ever. This is the first example we have of Paul making Linda’s vocals work.
     
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  20. Harry Hotspur

    Harry Hotspur Forum Resident

    Location:
    London England
    Sounds like Paul harmonising on Davy Jones' version. Whisper it but almost prefer this version, without Linda's vocal stylings. Certainly aim to track it down. Thanks so much for introduction.
     
  21. Harry Hotspur

    Harry Hotspur Forum Resident

    Location:
    London England
    Can anyone let me know where Davy Jones's version appeared and if it's available? It's terrific.
     
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  22. BZync

    BZync Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    I took a long weekend, so I have several pages to catch up on.

    Every Night is a top notch McCartney track. The wordless chorus is super catchy. His vocal is deep and warm. The whole vibe is laidback but slightly edgy. The lyrics, while not exactly Eleanor Rigby, are clever and more revealing than a casual listener might think.

    BeatlesFan is spot on. If this song was on the White Album everyone would consider it a classic. On McCartney it's an overlooked album track.

    Going back to my endless commentary on sequencing - imagine how differently this album would play if this were the second song, right after The Lovely Linda. You'd get a great track right away and then could relax into the rest.
     
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  23. BZync

    BZync Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    Hot As Sun / Glasses

    IMO - it's more difficult to write a catchy instrumental track than a standard song with lyrics. With an instrumental track, either you are hooked by the tune or you are not. It lives or dies by it's melody. With a standard song, an involving lyric can sometimes overcome a substandard melody.

    Hot As Sun is just crazy catchy. It's a lovely little melody. Had lyrics been written to it, I'll bet someone could have had an AM radio hit with it.

    Even though it has two extra bits attached to it, it is a complete and fully structured composition. As it is so short, the extra bits work just fine.

    I feel like McCartney, especially in his early solo years, wasn't very good at editing. Many of his songs (beginning with Wildlife specifically) go on too long. Yet here, he takes the catchiest little bit from Suicide which, in it's Archive release, is a long meandering piece, and makes it something fascinating.

    The McCartney album is a strange bird. Some of it is very focused and concise, some of it is, well, not.
     
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  24. RedRoseSpeedway

    RedRoseSpeedway Music Lover

    Location:
    Michigan
    I love MWWL, especially the “I used to ride on my fast city line” part. Such a catchy and happy song. 5/5!
     
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  25. BZync

    BZync Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    Junk

    IMO - Junk is a contender for the best melody Paul has ever written. I'm always surprised by people who consider this song a trifle. To my ears it is an almost preternatural bit of songcraft. Ninety plus percent of recording artists will never come close to the quality of that melody. And I don't think that is a hyperbolic statement.

    I'm not one to separate lyrics from melody. And I think Paul isn't either. My understanding is that many of his songs have, at least, elements of the dummy lyrics he used to write the melody. I think this is why his words sing so well, as so musical by themselves. And, ultimately, why some of them are so nonsensical. But in this case, one could separate the lyrics from the melody and they can read as poetry. I find these lyrics very elegant.

    Again, if this were on the White Album, I have no doubt it would be held in the same high esteem as I Will.
     
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