Is Driving Rain a "generation gap"?

For me, it was Back To The Egg

 

Heck, some of them even wear band T-Shirts, without knowing any of their music.... Same with Zeppelin, Beatles, Stones, AC/DC, etc......

Kids! Geez!!

 

Oh for sure yes - there are times when the music doesn't totally agree - people have said Paul sounds worn out on 'Back In The Sunshine Again'. I say 'Rinse The Raindrops' was a love song with optimism - the lyrics give that intention - but Paul sounds like he's been through the wringer. I agree - good points. I think the lyrics are trying to push Paul forward but the music isn't always on the same optimism level - like you say - the music seems to be conflicting at times with the lyric - especially on 'From A Lover To A Friend'.

Here's the 'Rinse the Raindrops' lyric repeated over

Rinse the raindrops from your head
Wipe your eyes, go back to bed
In the morning, skies'll clear
And I'll be here
See the sunlight, break the ice
For the birds of paradise
Listen to the song they sing
Awakening

So he's probably talking to someone in his bed or to himself - but either way he's trying to convince himself to shake off Linda's passing and accept a new love. Yet the music sounds so raw and his voice is howling and it's as if he hasn't totally convinced himself yet.

 

Yes, it was very negative. I bought Ram new when it was released, took it home and played it over and over. I loved it. Played it over and over again for months. I still have that somewhat-worn and highly used copy.

But after Ram's release, the reviews started coming out and they were consistently bad. One problem was that The Beatles had just broken up around a year previously and the reviewers were all looking for Paul to do a more Beatle-y album. I remember reading some of the reviews that complained about Ram for that very reason. I was a teenager and was a bit shocked that the critics disliked an album that I though was really good, but that taught me the lifelong lesson of not listening to the critics.

Then over the years Paul became Rock and Roll Royalty and now many reviewers fall all over themselves to praise anything Paul does. I remember good reviews of Driving Rain and about how brave Paul was to create that music, but I found almost nothing in the album - out of all of the McCartney albums I never listen to that one, and especially that insipid Freedom.

 

I remember buying the "Driving Rain" CD in my early 20s in a music store in the city. It was obvious this was not the cool thing to do from the reaction of the salesperson but, as always, I didn't care. I had been interested in McCartney's music since "My Brave Face" won me over on the radio when I was a kid. Since then, I had gotten every "regular" new album from this artist (so no Unplugged and no Choba B Cccp and no live albums) - with the exception of the previous one, "Run Devil Run" out of which I merely got a single. So it was a longer wait for me since "Flaming Pie" than for almost everybody else, and I thought it's an album with quite a few pretty good songs, and still do. Also apparent is that the artist seems to have been a bit lazy on the lyrics ... 1,2,3,4,5 / ... / 6,7,8,9,10 / ... come on, Paul, you can do better than nursery rhymes.

The reissue craze which cemented the reputation of classic rock music by classic rock artists from the classic rock era which had clearly run its course by the late 80s and most certainly by the early 00s, had not started yet. I dare say that the reputation of "C & C in the Backyard" would not be as good, had the reissue craze not been going at full steam yet when it was released. "Driving Rain" didn't have that luck. Also, it introduces a new backing band with which people were not familiar yet - his 3rd (counting Wings and the band from the 89 and 93 albums). Also, "Memory Almost Full", the sophomore release with that band, doesn't quite live up to it.

I may not play this album often but when I do, I always wonder why I don't.

 

Being my age and talking sis into subscribing to RS earlier, I have the old RS interview calling Ram the....Nader of rock by a major artist...or some such such old hispster kingmaker terminology...

 

Give it time.....with a different set of world events...Freedom, and DR, like Ram will be reassessed and upgraded ...Things and styles always circle in and out...When the Beatles broke up reviewers wanted the solo Beatles to sound as they each did in the late Beatles and Paul unlike the others didn’t, his early solo albums were as a whole trashed. Likewise, Paul was then blamed for the breakup though initially the women were. About the song freedom, down the line as folks perceive the loss their various freedoms , songs like freedom are many times renewed or new sings written it inevitably happens.

 

The only Macca album of original material that I don't play.It has a sound that I find cold and uninvolving-and it is loud and unlike Chaos and Memory,I can't seem to improve it by Audacity fiddling.The songs generally,to me,lack wit,originality and variation.For example,Rinse the Raindrops which repeats an unremarkable riff and is unchanging-a song of equal length is Deep deep Feeling which subtly introduces new tones,sounds and lyrics in a meandering and clever way throughout the journey..Magic and Loving Flame don't have the melodic qualities that one expects of him.When you think of what was to come..the empathy and humanity of Why so Blue or the ear worm imagination of Alligator or the candid strength of I don't know.
I will say that Lover to a friend and Heather are good tracks..
Vocally better was to come and his imagination was firing on the following albums.This album is rather flat and lacks the baroque touches and moments in sound that I love.

 

Very thoughtful post .....though I always saw DR as a representation of all that’s best and worst you could say in contemporary music.

 

Rolling Stone wasn't all that enthusiastic about Lennon 's ' Imagine ' album from the same year but that's a great album.
I can see their point about '_Ram ' being the "nadir" of The Beatles solo work up to that point.

 

Got Venus and Mars the week it came out, like many others never graduated to London Town.

 

LOL....you let no opportunity to ram ram pass, lol. Yes by John’s imagine album, RS editor wenner and Lennon had fallen out over wenner publishing of LR book.....proving further how political RS reviews were overall then. LOL, about seeing RS’s point about ram being the nadir....many younger hipsters beg to differ with youhowever.

 

I have enjoyed Paul music throughout the decades but really liked the very different LT and egg albums though mid seventies was his popularity high point.

 

I don't mind that. They are cool T-shirts!

 

Maybe I'm the only one, but I think McCartney III is Macca's worst album since Driving Rain, and I can't stand Driving Rain. (As Sting says, 'I Was Born In the '50s.')

 

I was in college at the time the album was released and in a relatively good place at the time, 9/11 notwithstanding, which I think we all agree was a traumatizing moment in our lives.

I really enjoyed Flaming Pie and took Run Devil Run for what it was - an oldies album.

The first thing I noticed, even with RDR, the “sound” of McCartney’s albums had begun to change. Gone was the warm and organic feel of Flaming Pie, not things were loud and hard, no warmth.

Second, the songwriting didn’t seem as good as previous efforts, and this time Paul’s attention to detail evaded him. Sometimes weaker efforts can be rescued to a degree by a clever arrangement, hooks, harmonies or a solid vocal. I find many of the vocals on DR amongst the worst in his catalog. Not that he was out of tune, but rather, it seemed like every take was the first time he’d sung the song ever (in some cases I question if he even heard the song to begin with!).

A great example of this is possibly one of the prettiest tunes on the album, From a Lover to a Friend. For me, the vocal kills it and that odd “la la la la la” into that also pops up during the song. The middle section is an embarrassing unfinished mess. The verses deserved better.

Another track, Your Loving Flame was mixed so damn loud it loses any of the subtlety or softness that the song tried to evoke. It’s also clear he didn’t bother to finish it since he sings pretty much the same thing he did on Parkinson’s show...he just repeated it over and over and over.

Many will disagree with me as well, but I’m not a fan of Paul’s drummer. His hi-hat playing especially just has no nuance, no feel almost like it’s a sample of the same hit over and over.

If I were to listen to the album, I could probably give you more examples, but this really is an album where he just wasn’t firing on any cylinders - except his bass playing. His bass on DR is pretty spectacular.

Usually I revisit the album once a year and usually it leaves me empty. I still rank it dead last on the list.

 

As I’m not able to get out and walk through the stores...I wish I had all of those rock band shirts now ...though can get them online. That’s how I got my new reissued back to the egg wings shirt, online. Three different of my doctors office folks noticed my shirt...surprised to see McCartney staring at them on a shirt and I was surprised they recognized him....lol.

 

Well, as I liked DR, I think Macca III is good but it isn’t yet my favorite Macca album. I too was born in the fifties. I just think it usually comes down to personal impressions and tastes about albums. Also, my tastes about albums change along the line.

 

In that case if it’s back to the egg that’s the generational album, then I got hung back there with the younger generation because that and McCartney II are my favorite Macca solo albums. However, I found a bigger generational divide among Paul fans of the seventies and the eighties though I have seen one with DR as well.

 

I love DR but I'm sadly struggling to summon up much enthusiasm for McIII.

 

I COMPLETELY agree, and it's fine to have favorites and those who you don't quite get/care for. IMHO, it should be that way. It's art, after all.

 

Agree totally, loved Paul’s music since I was a kid, play everything from first to last track up to V&M, after that tend to dip ‘in and out’ only playing selected tracks with subsequent releases.

 

Well, It was no "Liverpool Sound Collage"!

 

No, it wasn’t...you personal favorite wacky weird Macca music....though was definitely contemporary...

 

Dude...let me tell ya'....
By 2000-20001 I had totally given up on thinking I would listen to anything new by anyone, other than the small group of artists that I would follow to the gates of hell.............UNTIL....
After seeing the name Super Furry Animals on "Liverpool Sound Collage", and then, reading that Paul would be heard chomping on carrots on their new album, I blindly bought SFA's "Rings Around The World", and MAN!....what a GREAT album!
For years, I was embarrassed to admit I bought such a great record, on the sole fact that Paul was...just EATING on one of the tracks!!
So...there's that!