Is Driving Rain a "generation gap"?

Didn't realize there was so much love for the dreary ' Driving Rain '.

I had gone off McCartney for a few years before this album but when I saw it in the store I was taken with the cover and thought it was different for him and looked like it could be interesting and maybe rockier and wilder than his last few releases.
Wrong as wrong can be.
This is a dull album lacking in great songs with only a small handful of them even being passable.

'Driving Rain ' seems to be undergoing a misguided reappreciation much like ' Ram' did years ago. Maybe someday it will be considered his masterpiece.

 

Well, many critics were complimentary of DR though many fans didn’t like it. Wildlife is indeed a great album and a was sleeper in my collection for years. Those two albums just prove to me how varied and adaptable to different eras Macca music is.

 

Love you and the wit you bring to the forum, dude, as you’re one of my favorite SHF commenters....but you say DR seems to be like ram undergoing a re appreciation phase? ...I say great, bring it on, lol. I enjoy both albums...IMO its chaos that is indeed dreary though the songs on it are beautiful if sad and depressing.

 

Well....everybody cringes now I notice, personally cannot stand the term and will be glad when it goes out, over one thing or another, constant cringefests snowflaking and such, but I myself personally enjoyed the album and think it worked overall, had a contemporary style and sound but each to his own. It could be argued that all the songs from his latest albums were poorly received by concert goers who wanted Beatles, wings and a few earlier popular solo songs. Of course it couldn’t compete with Beatles 1, that was a huge chart success, with older and younger fans, a few years after anthology.

Nevertheless, the core die hard fan base bought DR, some liked it, others didn’t. It was a sharp turn from his traditional style songs found on flaming pie. Macca’s fans never seem to like his more adventurous albums unless years later they become a fad upon being upgraded by critics and fan perceptions...albums like Ram. Also, Macca has been renown for his odd lyrics and is the worst entertainer to like for those sensitive to such things. His lyrics have never bothered me, as they suit the song and I’ve really enjoyed his zany songs and lyrics throughout the decades. For lyrics go to singers known for that, with Macca though he can and has quite often written good lyrics, I go for his music.

 

I’m 63 now about to turn 64, as you mentioned your age,....didn’t hear it then as so busy didn’t get it or any album then...and I like DR, much better than some in the SHF led me to believe. Nevertheless, I agree with you that New, an album you like, is a great album and, of course, it’s much stronger than DR, with a more powerful sound and overall better songs.

 

I'm 54 and it's one of my very favorite Macca albums. Heck, one of my very favorite albums period.

 

LOL at you very correct comment..the sad fate of all of Paul’s albums not to be his best....the best....has changed over the decades and those not the best is as always fan individual opinions.

 

LOL...I’m almost 64 and it’s one of my favorite Paul albums, definitely is in my top ten. You rock making it one of your favorite albums period...some folks here dissing it..imagine what you’d have lost if never was recorded.

 

I'm 56 (57 in April) & "Driving Rain" is one of the underrated Macca albums I always champion- Alongside "Electric Arguments", "Off The Ground" & "Back To The Egg".

I just played a bunch of it making a playlist of best 20th Century best Macca- inspired by a thread here requesting submissions of folks top tens (I got a top 14 & had to do a second longer Honorable Mention playlist for myself).
I was not surprised to see how strong "Driving Rain" finished on my lists.

It's long, sprawling & an awkward & clunky listen with so much & such diversity there's something for everyone to complain about & want to edit out- half-joking here, but...
... for me the cup is half-full. There's a few I'd outright cut, but most I'm glad to have heard. When I make my custom edit playlist/CD-R I front load my most faves first & can get a squeeze a full length album out of what's there- there are 8 tracks (half the album) that I really totally dig & a couple I like enough to toss on too, but I'd usually stop at the 8th anymore.

What was tough for this album was-
lousy album cover art... two well known tracks are the weakest two on the album- "Driving Rain" & "Freedom"... it had to follow the amazing "Flaming Pie"- which is top 3 for me by him (with "Band On The Run" & "Ram")

 

You wrote a thoughtful post. I don’t understand contemporary recording techniques except what I read on the forum and I’ve learned a lot. I like DR but can hear what you speak of...I don’t know if around 2000 s when computer technology was used more in music or if it was earlier.

 

IMO it’s definitely underrated and one of the five underdog Paul albums I like..others are , egg, wildlife, rrsw, though folks do like the deluxe boxset double album now, PTP and DR...are my underdog albums that I like. I tend to like somewhat less several albums others like.

 

I am sorry, and didn’t mean to upset anyone by using the word “cringe”. I am probably as big a fan of McCartney as anyone on this Forum. However, it’s clear that Driving Rain was less appealing to fans than most of his other releases, and I was just saying I disagree with the OP that it is a “generation gap” issue because young people didn’t buy it either.

Of the 23 studio Solo or Wings albums released by McCartney (not including live albums, and electronic/classical/oldies albums), eight went to No. 1 in the UK, 19 peaked in the top 5 and only TWO did not even make the Top 10 in the UK - Wings Wild Life, which peaked at no. 11, and Driving Rain, which peaked at no. 46. In the US, it peaked at no. 26, which is second only to Press to Play (which peaked at no. 30) for worst showing by a proper Paul studio release.

So for some reason, Driving Rain was not well-received, compared to all the albums that came before and after.

 

You are absolutely right about DR not being well received, though I have likewise observed that younger folks like it better, but ur wasn’t well received especially compared to FP. Of course my belatedly beloved wildlife album has been a McCartney dog album for decades, lol. I have no problem with your valid points as by DR, the Macca fan base wanted and expected more traditional albums like FP and unlike his earlier albums and hailed FP as a return to Macca similar to TOW and he was absolutely an older artist by then reliant in his core fan base for album sales by then. I may be wrong but think the good evening NYC as old well.

However, the over used word cringe, especially on this forum does make me..cringe, lol. I always think of wilting folks hiding behind chairs or fleeing out the door lest they be perceived as...uncool upon hearing or seeing something. That’s a pet peeve of mine and to use another contemporary term...triggers me. Macca is the worst artist to like for the cringe crowd as he’s done his wacky esoteric stuff from the beginning and IMO is a very eccentric fellow. I’ve read your extraordinary posts all over this forum and you are very knowledge. Of course, all Macca albums were not well received and didn’t chart well, some worse than others.

Upon retirement, I’ve re listened to all his released and unreleased music and found that I’ve upgraded some albums from my earlier assessments and always liked some albums not liked by others, I read, according to SHF posters. It’s always a matter of opinion. I find however that I tend to like his more adventurous albums, making them many times underdog albums, and am glad he went outside the box on those occasions and varied his style which makes his catalogue far more interesting and varied IMO.

 

I don't remember much about how the songs from the new album were received, but he was amazing on that tour. Two of the best concerts I've ever seen.

 

I didn’t see it but saw him in 02..don’t think it was the same tour. Was it? I do know his voice was amazing then...and I wish he could sing like that today, but the during the NYC concert folks think his performance was weak..compared to the Who who did a great performance IMO. I tried to make the general point that because they are unfamiliar to most of the concert goers, his new songs aren’t usually well received..he even joked about the cell phones. However, the last Paul concert I saw in 14, the new songs were from New album and I really especially enjoyed them and the show I saw his vocals were very good. You sound like me shilling for my two best Paul concerts ever saw...WOA concert, of course him in his prime and I state was best concert ever saw in fifty years of concerts and many acts seen, and 02 was second best Paul concert, though I really liked the off the ground concert as well.

 

Yeah, '02 was the Driving Rain tour. Caught the show here in Northern NJ, then one at the Garden ten days later. Fantastic, and even if the DR songs were non-events, they didn't take up too much space in the set.

He and band were nearly as good in 2005, still great, with a better set list. Saw him for the last time in 2014, in Pittsburgh. still very good, but his voice was starting to fray. At 72 years old, what the hell. Nobody can go on singing 2 and a half hour shows forever.

Paul didn't play Pittsburgh when I was a kid/teenager, and I didn't really like The Beatles 'til I was out of high school.

 

Thanks..I thought it had to be. Folks are nuts dissing the DR songs on that tour cuz many in the crowd who missed his 20th century tours, were very happy to be able to see him and his voice was fantastic. I saw the tour in Atlanta, where I saw the WOA concert but in a newer arena, the Georgia Dome. Beatles played Atlanta when I was 8 but no way could I have gone though remember them going to Atlanta in and neighboring state, last time I saw him was in 14 as well but don’t remember any vocal issues then and saw as I said WOA tour, flowers tour and off the ground tour.

 

Yes good comments and "posturing" is the wrong word here. I think the image of him singing "Freedom" just overshadowed much of the launch of the album itself.

 

Nah ... it's excellent.

I haven't noticed any reappreciation - I just think that most who like it now liked it back then too. Maybe that'll come if and when there's a archive collection reissue?

Lots of love for all of those five from me - DR and RRSW are in my Paul Top 5 and BTTE in my Top 10. The PTP archive reissue should be most enjoyable if it ever happens.

FWIW, DR has a rating of 3.31 on Rate Your Music, which at least reflects a wider audience than this forum. The following 14 studio albums all have lower scores:

WL, RRSW, WATSOS, BTTE, McII, POP, GMRTBS, PTP, Choba, OTG, RDR, KOTB, ES, McIII

which maybe suggests that the general public view DR as a mid-tier Paul album.

 

An apt point about McCartney fans indeed. Paul has always been very keen and that is an admirable trait in any endeavor.

The used bins aren't what they used to be, of course. I go way back, but for many years, you could always find his recent releases used immediately afterwards. Even as recently as 2019 or so, my local mall F.Y.E. store had at least 4 used copies of Egypt Station (the annoying one with the red elastic band holding it together) in the bin. I had already bought it new. I've also found Run Devil Run and Driving Rain used in the past decade just by luck, not really looking at all. I used to buy all his albums automatically but then I stopped that after Flaming Pie approx. So those Y2K era albums I missed when they first came out and then it was interesting to go back and listen through them years later.

 

Arguably (not by me) the weakest track on the album. Even the title sounds completely generic---Sub-Brian Wilson bland.

 

Im 59. I dont think its a generational thing at all. Its def my least favorite Paul M album of all time. Hated on first listen. Still cant get into it all these years later. The album just goes on for too long and some of the most meandering songs he ever wrote. And then they tagged Freedom at the end. EGAD

 

Save for 2 or 3 songs, I quite like the album.

 

Driving Rain doesn’t even deserve to smell the poop of RAM. After delivering a near masterpiece in form of Flaming Pie, to come up with this drivel four years later, was a huge letdown. 4-5 okay songs, but in the style we had heard dozens of time before, the rest of it was under-developed and with zero feel.

 

Wish there was a love button for this comment.