A summary of the "How do you rate Paul McCartney's Albums?" polls...

I can't understand why Kisses ranked so low, it's a great album. Conversely, I wouldn't rank Venus that high, since it contains so many filler songs.

 

Ok, a little bit of chatter (and a rolled ankle on the tennis court last night) gave me the impetus (and spare time) to update the numbers here for the first time in about 15 months. Read on, for those of you with nothing better to do!

Anyway, after a combined 7768 votes [originally! Up to 8548 in Feb 16 and now 9765 in May 17] on those albums, I thought it might be interesting to post a "where are they now" update for the set of polls. Unlike previous posts, this time I'll rank them in their order of preference here at SHF. These numbers will change as folks rediscover the polls over time (I intentionally did not put "closing" dates on the individual polls), but they're unlikely to change much. The two position "flips" I reported on earlier have remained; this time we get two more, with Broad Street sinking to the bottom and Back to the Egg passing New (but only when I calculate out 4 decimal points!).

So here's how they came out from favorite to ... not-so-favorite. [note May 2017 updated figures]

#1: "Band on the Run". 436 572 votes, with the highest average rating of 4.65 4.63 (out of 5.00).
#2: "Ram". 603 647 votes, average rating: 4.58 4.59.

#3: "Venus & Mars". 278 333 votes, average rating: 4.26 4.25.
#4: "Chaos & Creation". 225 337 votes, average rating: 4.16 4.17.
#5: "Tug of War". 248 332 votes, average rating: 4.09 4.10.
#6: "Flaming Pie". 400 465 votes, average rating: 4.08 4.07.
#7: "McCartney". 358 484 votes, average rating: 4.04 4.02.

#8: "Flowers in the Dirt". 388 546 votes, average rating: 3.76 3.76.
#9: "Electric Arguments". 215 279 votes, average rating: 3.70 3.66.
#10: "Run Devil Run". 156 229 votes, average rating: 3.71 3.64.
#11: "Back To The Egg". 371 478 votes, average rating: 3.60 3.6004.
#12: "New". 404 484 votes, average rating: 3.64 3.5992.

#13: "Memory Almost Full". 245 296 votes, average rating: 3.38 3.43.
#14: "Red Rose Speedway". 317 333 votes, average rating: 3.33 3.37.
#15: "London Town". 242 298 votes, average rating: 3.24 3.29.
#16: "McCartney II". 299 356 votes, average rating: 3.140 3.20.
#17: "At The Speed Of Sound". 350 424 votes, average rating: 3.142 3.14.
#18: "CHOBA B CCCP". 190 288 votes, with an average rating of 3.05 3.03.

#19: "Wild Life". 408 518 votes, average rating: 2.89 2.90.
#20: "Off The Ground". 297 393 votes, average rating: 2.86 2.89.
#21: "Driving Rain". 326 383 votes, average rating: 2.75 2.74.
#22: "Press to Play". 296 440 votes, average rating: 2.64 2.60.
#23: "Kisses on the Bottom". 234 275 votes, average rating: 2.55 2.53.
#24: "Pipes of Peace". 249 329 votes, with the lowest average rating of 2.47 2.51.

#25: "Give My Regards to Broad Street". 233 246 votes, average rating: 2.51. 2.48.

And a few other [updated] random facts and figures, for your amusement/boredom.

"Total Votes". Ram remains the big winner, with 647 votes, far more than last-placed Run Devil Run (229 votes)! Albums now average nearly 400 votes each. Note: perhaps the strangest stat of all to me is that the lowly Wild Life ranked fourth in votes cast, trailing only Ram, BOTR and the just-reissued Flowers.

"Top Ratings". Only 3 [no change!] of you gave "Broad Street" the top rating, while next-lowest "Pipes of Peace" doubled tripled that figure. Ram put up about 150x that amount to easily win the most "first-place" votes. If you're new to post-Beatle McCartney, look no further than the nine ten albums which amassed 100+ top rankings:

• Ram (463) 499
• Band On The Run (347) 453
• McCartney (160) 209
• Flaming Pie (175) 204
• Chaos & Creation (122) 181
• Venus & Mars (138) 169
• Tug of War (114) 158
• Flowers in the Dirt 136
• New (115) 133
• Back To The Egg (105) 126

"Lowest Ratings". Mirroring the previous category, only 3 4 of you felt "Venus & Mars" deserved the worst rating, but many multiples of that bestowed Spankings instead of Kisses on that album's bottom, letting it bring up the rear in that category, so to speak [Press to Play has now surpassed Kisses with the most unfavorable ratings]. Newbies to solo Paul should likely be wary of albums earning 50+ votes in the worst category:

• Press to Play (68) 104
• Kisses on the Bottom (69) 79
• Wild Life (54) 67
• Pipes of Peace (53) 64
• Driving Rain 61

Thanks once again to all for those of you who continue to keep playing.

NOTE: When I last updated these figures, I could swear I had 3-4 locked threads, due to the inactivity explained a couple posts upthread. Now I appear to only have two locked:
Broad Street: How do you rate Paul McCartney's "Give My Regards To Broad Street" album?
Red Rose Speedway: POLL: How do you rate Paul McCartney & Wings "Red Rose Speedway" album?

If it's not inappropriate to ask, perhaps someone could "report" this post and ask a gort to re-open those two. I'm reluctant to do it myself, since I started this whole crazy project. However, I'm hopeful that, seeing the work that's gone into this, they might consider it [updating the data and posting this message took over 90 minutes!]

 

What a fantastic and much appreciated effort! I am pleased to see 'Pipes' climb off the bottom of the list; let the fight back begin!

Overall, I am very pleased with this list and it is a great starting point for new McCartney fans.

I have reported your post for you, so hopefully a Gort can open those two closed threads. Thanks again for doing this; it was great to contribute to and read through these threads, and together they did make me appreciate Paul's solo work more than ever before, whilst re-evaluating much of it.

 

Thanks Ben!

We'll pop the cork when all 25 are up and running again.

 

I've "reported" your posts over and over again, but the Gorts are still letting you remain as a member here. What else can I do? ...

 

Seriously, thanks for the latest summary. It's interesting to see how the tastes of the Macca scholars vary on the Forum.

 

Red Rose Speedway is up and running!

 

@mrjinks this thread is legendary, thanks for all the work

 

That's an impressive achievement and I can't argue too much with the opinion of the people here. The bottom 6 seem right, though I might quibble with the order. There are three Wings albums that I would certainly place above Memory Almost Full or New (& I like New a great deal).

The one I can never fathom is the love for Chaos & Creation which I have always found to be dreary in the extreme and a case of trying too hard to be cutting edge. But this thread is the very definition of being all about opinions and mine is clearly out of step with everyone else.

 

I've been steering clear of Broad Street due to general consensus...but I guess I have to shoulder my share of the voting burden, and will try to listen to it today.

Maybe I will end up joining the three who rank it at the top! (Though, so far, I am pretty normal in my top choices).

 

And for my part, I can't fathom how any McCartney fan DOESN'T love Chaos & Creation. For a guy generally derided as "Sir Thumbs Aloft," Paul lets down his guard and writes a mature, moody, deeply thoughtful record. The streaks of regret and unhappiness that run through C&C show an honesty in Paul's writing that I previously had only associated with the turbulent Jane Asher years of 1965-1966 ("You Won't See Me," "I'm Looking Through You," "For No One," etc.). I agree that as a whole the album might be a little TOO downbeat and mid-tempo -- but after years of feeling that Paul wasn't putting enough effort into his lyrics or sincerity into his vocals, I could hardly complain that he went too far in the other direction for one album. I also don't see how C&C is trying to be "cutting edge" -- just because he worked with Nigel Godrich doesn't mean he tried to make a Radiohead or Beck album. Quite the opposite, to me -- other than maybe "Vanity Fair" and "How Kind Of You," most of C&C harkens back to the music he was writing in 1965-68. I hear echoes of "For No One" in "At The Mercy," the chamber pop of "Martha My Dear" in "English Tea," the woodsy acoustic angst of Rubber Soul in "Friends To Go," and the pure romantic balladry of "And I Love Her" in "A Certain Softness."

Anyway, it just goes to show you how differently fans can hear the same albums, or songs. A lot of folks love C&C -- as reflected in the poll results -- but boy, those who don't like it REALLY don't like it. That's fine -- I don't understand how anyone can say that Wild Life is one of his best; the raw analog sound and peak voice are great and all, but they can't overcome the poor songs, terrible lyrics (mostly), and sloppy production. But that's just me. We all like what we like -- and as long as we debate it cordially, it's better that way!

Thanks to mrjinks for all the hard work on this project -- it really has been illuminating!

 

Now that it's open, make sure to post a comment in it to give it another year's worth of life!
These things obviously won't stay open forever, but it'd be cool if they last a couple years longer...

 

Oh yes, I entirely accept that I am out of step with most people on this one. I do hear a certain vogueishness in the production though. I'd actually rather it sounded more like Radiohead, who are a band whose sound I have a lot of respect for up to a certain point. Chaos & Creation lacks their energy to my ears.

Unfortunately there is a genre of song that Paul likes to indulge in occasionally that I suspect makes his British fans cringe with embarrassment. It certainly does me. English Tea is a prime example. They represent a stereotype of Englishness that probably travels well elsewhere but makes our skin crawl.

 

Ah! I forgot that simply voting doesn't show thread "life". Yes, I'll go back and comment (after I complete today's homework of Broad Street listening).

 

I was the last person to post in the Red Rose Speedway poll thread (back in 2014) before it was closed. I guess no one could top my comment, so that was it for the thread...

 

We figured it was over when you dropped the mike.

 

sorry Venus is many stars better than Kisses

 

Long after his peak as a solo artist and with that other group ,Its a good lp ,but hardly a classic I prefer Flaming Pie

 

Interesting point about "English Tea" -- does that feeling extend to all his "dance hall" songs, like "Honey Pie" or "You Gave Me The Answer"?

I don't think its entirely fair to compare a one-man-band solo album by a 63 year old (at the time) with the "energy" of a much younger band -- I think it would have been much more embarrassing if Paul HAD tried to make a "Radiohead-like" album. C&C doesn't sound "in vogue" with anything happening in 2005, to me -- it was deliberately designed to be a quasi-McCartney III, and Godrich said that his personal inspiration for the songs he wanted was the bridge of "Tug Of War." Hardly sounds like they were trying to be hip and happening in 2005...

 

To some extent. It depends on the lyrical content. Honey Pie gets away with it. You Gave Me The Answer less so. It isn't necessarily the musical setting that is the problem but the lyrical invocation of an England/Britain that doesn't exist and singing in that affected voice.

 

Oh, I see now. So something like "Martha My Dear," which has a somewhat vaudeville / chamber pop sound but is lyrically a straight love song, would be OK?

 

Yeah. I actually really like that song. He sings it pretty straight. Plus it is about his dog so that's cool.

 

The most remarkable thing about this to me was how little the averages actually moved. The biggest change since the original summary was Run Devil Run. How much did it drop? A point? Nope. How about .07 of a point. A couple others were >.05, but the vast majority moved .01 or .02 up/down...

 

At this point, you'd need a massive influx of new voters in order to generate any major shifts.

Where can we find these potential new voters?

 

Yet Run Devil Run still managed to get into the Top 10. More bang per vote?!

(I read "last-placed" and looked to the bottom of the rankings...couldn't find it. Thought maybe you had forgotten to include it on the list. Moved up the list and was quite surprised to find it lodged between Electric Arguments and Back to the Egg.)