Paul McCartney/Wings-song by song thread

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

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  1. Paul Gase

    Paul Gase Everything is cheaper than it looks.

    Location:
    California
    Some People Never Know: very pleasant song that simply goes on for 3 minutes too long!
    There’s an instrumental section in the middle that’s obviously a repeat of the bridge with the lead vocal pulled down (you can hear the bleed). At least put a guitar solo in there or something. Or better, fade out.
     
  2. WilliamWes

    WilliamWes Likes to sing along but he knows not what it means

    Location:
    New York
    Some People Never Know (9/10)

    The most McCartneyesque song along with “Tomorrow”, the melody feels effortless even if he’s not trying as hard on this album. The excellent bridge that is repeated 3 times; the third time instrumentally, is the best melody on the album. The little guitar solo breaks up things nicely and the relaxed atmosphere is very inviting. It’s just that as good as the song is, I’m not sure why it needs to be over 6 minutes. And though it sounds nice and loving, the lyric is ambiguous enough to make me wonder how much is sweet and how much is sour. The title is sour, the music sweet, and the message – humble but not so humble. More good harmonizing in a bit of a rough way as Linda almost sounds better than Denny L. on this one. The hose trick to get that thin synth sheen is also a winner -even the faded lead vocals, not mixed all the way down for the final go around of the bridge is enjoyable.

    Like every song on here, with the recent Wild Life box, I either like the live version or rough mix version better - the one with Denny Seiwell's trumpet on the coda seems to better warrant the 6-minute length.

    Like most songs here, it could be cut by a minute without that solo. I think 'Mumbo' and 'Bip Bop' could have been 2 minutes each, forget their link counterparts, get "Love Is Strange" down to 3 minutes, "Wild Life" should be 4 minutes, "Some People Never Know" - 5 minutes. But things get stretched but not in a great way like so many other rock bands were stretching. Paul isn't the type of artist to have a Sabbath or Zeppelin or Floyd style of 8 songs averaging 5 minutes so the instrumental moments sound alright because of his talent but maybe unnecessary.
     
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  3. Bruce M.

    Bruce M. Forum Resident

    Location:
    Hilo, HI, USA
    Wild Life is an honorable near miss. There's the kernel of good song there, but like most of Paul's longer tracks from this era, it kind of loses focus and rambles. It's not hard to envision it as a really solid three and a half minute tune.
     
  4. Bruce M.

    Bruce M. Forum Resident

    Location:
    Hilo, HI, USA
    Some People Never Know -- which got quite a lot of radio play in L.A., where I grew up -- is another honorable near miss that just goes on a little too long. I have no objection to long songs in general (I like Despite Repeated Warnings just fine), but they need to be long for a reason. The longer tracks on Wild Life just call out for an editor.

    There's one line from Some People Never Know that never seems to get mentioned in discussions of the John/Paul feud but that always struck me as an obvious response to How Do You Sleep: Some people can sleep at nighttime believing that love is a lie.
     
  5. Vinylfindco

    Vinylfindco The Pressing Matters

    Location:
    Miami
    Oh my that was beautiful thank you!
     
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  6. Dr. Pepper

    Dr. Pepper What, me worry?

    My understanding is that Paul was going with spontaneity and speed. He wanted to record the birth of a band, sort of an extended jam session. If he wanted a more refined product, he had plenty of songs written and ready to go from the Ram sessions. Some that he would use on Red Rose Speedway.
     
  7. Bemagnus

    Bemagnus Music is fun Thread Starter

    I agree that some of the songs on Wild Life would have benefited with some more editing. In the case of Some people never know I think the lenght is somehow justified though. It happens things along the way. Noone has yet mentioned the ending of the songs were it shifts into some weird bongo jam, Some would call it undiciplined I think it s fun and showcases the ragged benefits if this album.
    However -long songs were very much part of the era so Paul was not alone in this.
     
  8. Bemagnus

    Bemagnus Music is fun Thread Starter

    Ram sessions were extremely fruitful. Just like the sessions for Egypt Station. One early and one late career peak
     
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  9. Dr. Pepper

    Dr. Pepper What, me worry?

    In this vein I'm always a little surprised Paul has never tried to record an album in a day like The Beatles Please Please Me album was. As Paul often mentions being proud of how quickly they pounded out the Please Please Me album. Of course, I guess he could have tried it at some point and just didn't think it was up to snuff for release.
     
  10. Bemagnus

    Bemagnus Music is fun Thread Starter

    Next one
    I am your singer
    I have understood some people really diskike this little song-partly because Linda’s lead-vocals. When I saw Wings live 1972 some of the audience treated Linda cruel during this one.
    I die not like this song much from the start. Now I like it a lot. A fine oldfashioned pop-song with a nice arrangement. Linda’s vocals are actually nice and innocent
    Nice catchy melody
    By no means a masterpiece but a charming piece of pop-music
     
    Last edited: Oct 11, 2019
  11. Lance LaSalle

    Lance LaSalle Prince of Swollen Sinus

    "Some people never know:" 5/5. Gorgeous song, makes me weep.

    Actually kind of reminds me of Chris Bell's Big Star work. A little too long, though.
     
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  12. Lance LaSalle

    Lance LaSalle Prince of Swollen Sinus

    "I Am You Singer" is a nice little pop song. 4/5. I think Linda sounds fine on this, and I don't really get why someone wouldn't like it. It stands out on this album.
     
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  13. Wildest cat from montana

    Wildest cat from montana Humble Reader

    Location:
    ontario canada
    Thrre's one track I truly do not like on ' Wild Life ' and it is ' I Am Your Singer '. Very meh...
    They should have tackled another cover song and left this one on the cutting room floor. Or assigned it to a b-side where it possibly could have gone on to achieve legendary status as a ' lost classic'.
    In any event, it brings side 2 down.
     
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  14. omikron

    omikron Avid contributor to Paul McCartney's bank account

    Location:
    Lexington, KY
    I agree. There's no dismissing that they extended the length of some of these songs simply because they didn't have enough to really fill up an album. At least none Paul was willing to put on the album.

    For me though on the length issue, I don't mind it at all. In fact I like it quite a bit. Certain songs like Love Is Strange and Some People Never Know are just so beautifully done that you end up getting into the mood and just enjoying the music. Like you're at a picnic on a spring day (Tomorrow) or lying in a hammock whiling away a lazy Sunday.

    These longer songs are almost like jam or groove tracks which were fairly popular at that time in the music scene. They create a mood and keep you there.

    I find it very relaxing to just veg out to the extended intro on Love Is Strange. It puts me at peace. And honestly can get enough of the lovely harmonizing and chord progressions on Some People Never Know? Not me.







    Some People Never Know: 5/5 There’s some melancholy in Paul and Linda’s voices as they beautifully duet on this song. It’s really a lovely song and one of my favorites for sure on the album. I like the bit towards the end where they are just doing the backing vocal harmonizing.

    I Am Your Singer: 4/5 More Paul and Linda work. Nice but you can tell that Linda was a bit nervous perhaps on essentially her first proper solo outing. The crass bit in Long Haired Lady was more of a gimmick and not so serious. Still it's another lovely song.
     
  15. Lance LaSalle

    Lance LaSalle Prince of Swollen Sinus

    I can understand that extending the song with a little jam at the end was in style at the time; and I quite like the idea at any time, in any era. I think the problem with the "jam"sessions on Wild Life, though is that they kind of don't sound all that great...which just makes the songs sound too long. Because, yes, I think that so far there have been three maybe four songs on this album I think dragged on so long.
     
  16. WilliamWes

    WilliamWes Likes to sing along but he knows not what it means

    Location:
    New York
    That's a shame they treated her like that and what really would booing her accomplish or yelling at her? Maybe they didn't know she's not the type to obnoxiously force her way onto the stage for the spotlight. Little did they know much of the alt rock scene years later was created with different style singers in mind. I've heard so many voices worse than hers but I guess back then, you had to write as well as Dylan to not be a technically great singer. Well glad you got to see them on stage at this early stage.
     
  17. Piiijiii

    Piiijiii Hundalasiliah

    Location:
    Ruhr Area, Germany
    I made a mistake in my last post :crazy:

    I meant " I Am Your Singer" not SPNK which I rated earlier!

    So:
    I Am Your Singer 3.5/5 ~ A bit underdeveloped IMO
     
  18. WilliamWes

    WilliamWes Likes to sing along but he knows not what it means

    Location:
    New York
    I don't think the instrumental sections are as effective as many of the others from bands that really knew how to lengthen material - all of prog rock, some of hard rock, the jam bands, but I do agree both "Some People Never Know" and "Love Is Strange" work as grooves where there's no solos needed. They're relaxing and match the vibe we see on the album cover. I would have liked solos on the others though - "Wild Life" desperately needs a solo and Paul played fine lead guitar - he should have snuck one in- Linda could keep up playing the same rhythm.
     
  19. WilliamWes

    WilliamWes Likes to sing along but he knows not what it means

    Location:
    New York
    I Am Your Singer (4/10)
    Too sappy even for me – I don’t mind a little sap but these treehuggers sucked a maple tree dry on this ode to singing and songs in general. Again, the intimate rough harmonizing between the two must have felt a bit romantic and I never mind Linda's vocals but it’s another song that hurt the rep of Wings early on and gave Paul a 'cuddly' reputation at a time when rock was getting really heavy musically and lyrically. Better to compare this to the singer/songwriter movement maybe. I actually now prefer the live version from 'Wings Over Europe' cause even though Paul faked the additional applause as she starts to sing kind of changing history, I like her so much, it's nice to hear the applause at that moment anyway.
     
  20. Bemagnus

    Bemagnus Music is fun Thread Starter

    It s funny with a thread like this that it sometimes makes me revaluate opnions I had about certain songs. I an your singer as an example-while listening to -and discussing the song now I suddenly start to really like it. Actually much more than before. It s such a catchy, melodious little thing
    I guess it sometimes goes the other way to but it s a bit of fun to rediscover songs

    :)
     
  21. Dr. Pepper

    Dr. Pepper What, me worry?

    Again, really enjoy the live version.

     
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  22. Dr. Pepper

    Dr. Pepper What, me worry?

    I've noticed I'm always about .5 less than all your scores, but we are really consistent from song to song with the general ups and downs.
     
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  23. Paul Gase

    Paul Gase Everything is cheaper than it looks.

    Location:
    California
    I would have loved to hear a Chris Bell treatment of this tune. I bet his production and guitar arrangements would’ve made for a more interesting 6 minutes. (Or, really, he’d have cut this down to four!)
     
    Last edited: Oct 11, 2019
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  24. Paul Gase

    Paul Gase Everything is cheaper than it looks.

    Location:
    California
    Well, The Beatles were pretty well rehearsed to record that LP in one day (and really, four of the songs on that album were previously recorded).

    I think Paul and Wings could’ve benefited from 1000-2000 hours of playing time before trying something like that!:)
     
  25. Paul Gase

    Paul Gase Everything is cheaper than it looks.

    Location:
    California
    I really enjoy I Am Your Singer. Nice guitar. Could’ve been on Ram or McCartney. As a Linda feature I way prefer this to Loooooooooooong Haired Lady.

    I like acoustic-y Wings a lot.
     
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