Paul McCartney Album by Album Thread

Good point, and it isn't like people can't discuss earlier albums after we've moved on.

 

With that in mind...


Back to the Egg
Back to the Egg is the seventh and final studio album by the British-American band Wings, released in 1979 on Columbia Records in America, and on Parlophone in the UK. Co-produced by Chris Thomas, the album reflects band leader Paul McCartney's embracing of contemporary musical trends such as new wave and punk, and marked the arrival of new Wings members Laurence Juber and Steve Holley. Back to the Egg adopts a loose conceptual theme around the idea of a working band, and its creation coincided with a period of considerable activity for the group, which included making a return to touring and work on several television and film projects.
Recording for the album began in June 1978 and lasted for almost a year. The sessions took place at Spirit of Ranachan Studios in Scotland, Lympne Castle in Kent, London's Abbey Road Studios, and Replica Studio – the last of which McCartney built as an exact replica of Abbey Road's Studio Two when the latter became unavailable. Wings returned to Abbey Road in March 1979 to complete the album, before filming a series of promotional videos in Lympne and elsewhere, for what became the Back to the Egg TV special.

Back to the Egg received unfavourable reviews from the majority of critics, with Rolling Stone magazine deriding it as "the sorriest grab bag of dreck in recent memory".[1]Although the album charted in the top ten around the world and was certified platinum in the United States, it was viewed as a commercial failure relative to previous Wings releases, particularly in light of the generous financial terms under which McCartney had signed with CBS-owned Columbia Records. Of its singles – "Old Siam, Sir", "Getting Closer" and "Arrow Through Me" – only "Getting Closer" made the top 20 in Britain or America. The song "Rockestra Theme", recorded with a cast of guest musicians from bands such as the Who, Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd, won a Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance in 1980.

Wings toured the UK in support of the album, but the planned world tour ended in January 1980, when McCartney was arrested in Japan for possession of marijuana. The group disbanded early the following year. Back to the Egg was reissued in 1993, with bonus tracks, and in 2007 for iTunes, with the addition of Wings' 1979 non-album single "Goodnight Tonight", in its extended form.
For the new album, Back to the Egg, McCartney decided to collaborate in the studio with producer Chris Thomas,[17]with whom he had begun working on the audio for two films documenting Wings' last world tour: Wings Over the World, a television documentary,[18]and the cinema release Rockshow (1980).[19]Thomas's involvement would mark the first time that Wings had recorded with an outside producer since their 1973 single "Live and Let Die", which George Martin had produced.[20]Due to his recent work with the Pretenders and the Sex Pistols, Thomas brought a punk rock and new wave influence to Wings' sound,[21][22]matching McCartney's desire to reflect contemporary musical trends.[23][24]

All songs written by Paul McCartney, except where noted.

Original release
Side one ("Sunny Side Up")

1. "Reception" – 1:08
2. "Getting Closer" – 3:22
3. "We're Open Tonight" – 1:28
4. "Spin It On" – 2:12
5. "Again and Again and Again" (Denny Laine) – 3:34
6. "Old Siam, Sir" – 4:11
7. "Arrow Through Me" – 3:37

Side two ("Over Easy")

1. "Rockestra Theme" (instrumental) – 2:35
2. "To You" – 3:12
3. "After the Ball / Million Miles" – 4:00
4. "Winter Rose / Love Awake" – 4:58
5. "The Broadcast" – 1:30
6. "So Glad to See You Here" – 3:20
7. "Baby's Request" – 2:49

 

Goodnight Tonight/Daytime Nighttime Suffering

Goodnight Tonight" is a single by the band Wings notable for its disco-inflected sound and spirited flamenco guitar break. It peaked at number five in both the United Kingdom and United States during 1979. "Goodnight Tonight" began as an instrumental backing track McCartney had recorded in 1978. Needing a single for Wings to accompany the Back to the Eggalbum, McCartney took out the track and brought it into the studio, where the full Wings line-up completed it.[1]Laine and Juber added electric guitars, mirroring Paul's parts and Holley added percussion, while the whole band sang in the chorus.[2]Since the track was over seven minutes long, an edited version was used as the single, with the full version available as a 12-inch single. A music video was made for the song, showing Wings performing in 1930s costumes; stills from the video were used on the single's sleeve. In the US, the single was the first released under McCartney's new deal with Columbia Records.
"Daytime Nighttime Suffering" is a song written by Paul McCartney and recorded by Wings. It was the B-side to the 1979 single "Goodnight Tonight," which was a top-five hit in both the UK and USA. It was released on CD in 1993 as part of the release of The Paul McCartney Collection, and can be found as a bonus track on the album Back to the Egg. It is also included on the CD collection Wingspan: Hits and History.

 

I love Back To The Egg despite its lacklustre mixing and compressed mastering.
The sound isn't great in my book but the songs certainly are.
Wings' best album for me, tied with Red Rose.

 

Back to the Egg is one of those oddball releases that I enjoy from time to time, but would have trouble ranking highly among Paul's post-Beatle works. It's best viewed as a lark, and some of the tracks are a hoot if you embrace their outrageous goofiness -- e.g. Getting Closer ("my salamander"? Really???) and Old Siam Sir. And it was nice to hear Wings rocking again after 2 pretty laid-back albums. But the criticism that it felt slapdash and rather thrown-together has some merit. And the 2-song pairings on Side 2 -- After the Ball/Million Miles and Winter Rose/Love Awake -- feel suspiciously like it just seemed easier to graft two songlets together rather than finishing the damn things. It's an album that can simultaneously put a grin on your face and leave you thinking, "This is the guy that wrote Let It Be???" But because it's a fair amount of fun, I give it a B.

 

Some of the reviews for Back to the Egg seem like absurd hyperbole. Is it the next Abbey Road or Sgt. Pepper? No. But it's also not "the sorriest grab bag of dreck in recent memory".

 

For some reason I get this completely. Matter of fact it is a great album to throw on and watch the rain thru the window while listening. Especially the first side.

 

IMO a great example of Paul's skill as an arranger, a vocalist, and a melody writer, is that he can craft a song so good that I'm willing to overlook a line like "Say you don't love him, my salamander." He's already, in my opinion, in a league of his own, but if he were a better lyricist, he'd be even better compared to his contemporaries.

 

I love Back to the Egg. I would easily rank it above Speed of Sound and London Town.
Arrow Right Through Me, Old Siam, Sir, Getting Closer? Amazing. I mean, Baby's Request. What a gem. Most people would build their careers on a song like that, but for Paul it was just another one of those gorgeous little melodic morsels that would effortlessly fall out of his head.

 

First he sings "silver rain is falling down", all cute melody and arrangement, next we're in a café where people are watching De Gaulle make a speech on tv.
And that sound...I can't really explain it but I'm glad you got it.

 

Back to the egg is an amazing LP. I'd place it at 3rd or 4th best Wings album. Goodnight tonight is also one of my favorite singles, especially the 12" long version. Matter of fact this is the last Paul album I label as top tier McCartney for ten years until Flowers in the dirt. Starting with McCartney 2 Paul seemed to string together all my least favorite of his work. It's like one last classic album before he took a ten year vacation.

 

So, Back To The Egg is the McCartney album I still play (parts of) most often. It has five tracks though that get skipped -- Arrow Through Me, I like the horns in it but nothing else; To You, maybe if it was an instrumental it would be okay but those vocals are incredibly annoying; Again and Again and Again, you can already tell by the title this one will be monotonous and it is; Rockestra Theme, monotonous on a grand scale; and After the Ball/Million Miles, boring.

Spin It On -- some days my favorite track McCartney ever recorded, never get tired of hearing this
Getting Closer -- love it
Winter Rose -- beautiful in every way, wish it would have gone on longer and not had the vastly inferior second song tacked onto it.

the rest of the album not specifically mentioned is good stuff that I don't switch off.

Goodnight/Daytime -- glad they weren't part of the album, it didn't need even more tracks to skip. I don't like either side, though Goodnight as an instrumental would be okay.

 

Off The Ground is where he loses me. I even like Press To Play.

 

Daytime Nighttime Suffering is simply one of the best songs Paul has ever written, musically and lyrically. Goodnight Tonight has his best solo bass line, maybe his best bass line ever. The mid-section with the weird vocal effects seem to almost prefigure McCartney II.

Wings' strongest single.

 

Would Wings have a better or worse reputation if Paul was not following up The Beatles? Does he get unfairly criticized for things simply because not everything he does is Eleanor Rigby, or do people give him a pass for stuff that other artists would get raked over the coals for because he was once a Beatle?

 

I agree: I enjoy Back to the Egg more than London Town and Wings at the Speed of Sound.

Besides the songs you mention, I really enjoy the entire After the Ball/Million Miles, Winter Rose/Love Awake, The Broadcast sequence .

The only song I don’t think much of is “Rockestra Theme”. Because of the massive talents involved I expected more I guess.

I’m pretty sure The Broadcast won’t get much love here, but the music under the narration is very beautiful to my ears .

It’s pretty amazing that Paul could channel Stevie Wonder’s style so effortlessly in Arrow Through Me and it’s not an easy song to sing.

I was disappointed at the time that Paul had to follow the trend and release a disco track, Goodnight Tonight but darn him, I had to admit it was pretty catchy .

And of course, Paul apparently followed his solo career pattern of leaving a great song off any album and burying it as a “B” side.. Daytime Nighttime Suffering.

I have the original vinyl album but never bought any Eggs on CD so I’m looking forward to the archive edition .

 

If I'm not mistaken, David Bowie advised Paul to release The Broadcast as a single.

 

If that is actually the case, David had a serious lapse of commercial judgment .

 

I like Back To the Egg a lot with its heavy rock with even some punk touches, along with more mellow and melodic moments like "Winter Rose/Love Awake". I love the hard rocking "Rockestra Theme" and "Baby's Request" is one of Paul's best Vaudevillian style songs in the vein of "When I'm 64" (and I refuse to call these songs by the stupid label of "Granny music"). IMO, it's a bit of a letdown after the brilliant (IMO) London Town but it's still a very good album.

 

I absolutely love Back to the Egg. Not a bad song (or interlude) on it. Nothing I would replace or change. Not a line that I would scratch out or amend. It's not a perfect album. The highest moments are, perhaps, not as high as highs on previous albums. But the lows are non-existent. Solid, chugging entertainment, right from beginning to end. Top tier McCartney. I wish he'd continued in this vein rather than going on to beep-boop rudimentary toilet room computer music and then broad Martin MOR pablum for the next half-decade.

I had Getting Closer in the back of my mind for years, probably since its release when I was 11, without fully making the conscious connection that it was Wings. It was always this kind of cool song snippet ("Closer...to your hearrrrrrrrrt") that I vaguely remembered and thought of fondly, but never ever heard. Then, in the summer of 1990, I heard it, and realized who and what it was. Once that happened, and I remember the exact moment in a rental beach-house's kitchen when it happened, I found the first possible moment to go and get CD. I remember sitting in my room at my parents' house listening to it and feeling it connect with different parts and pieces of me with each succeeding track. Some parts push you, some parts pull you in, but it all compels you onto itself. I put it on both sides of a "car cassette," and it didn't leave the player for months.

It's so unlike him that it's exactly him.

Some lazy commentators will criticize that line or phrase or passage, but it completely misses the point of the thing. If you've got to get past a salamander here or there to feel the scope of what he's laying down, so be it. This is maximum McCartney. The "I'm going to show EMI a thing or two after all these years" something to prove McCartney. Stretching his legs and letting the rock out after the horrible yacht rock faux-folk London Town toot toot toot debacle. If the public didn't get it and the fans didn't get it, that's fine. I got it. For me, that's enough. Send me your copies if you've got a problem with it.

Jet>Live and Let Die>Getting Closer. But it's close.

 

I mean, in 1979 Bowie released Lodger, arguably his least commercial album up to that point, so I don't think getting a hit was his concern at that time

 

“So Glad To See You Here” rocks along nicely also .

 

I think I've told the story here about how hard I lobbied to have "Rockestra Theme" as our "entry" music at our wedding reception. Would have been perfect (We still had not had any dinner, after all). I managed to get cool music approved anyway, but it still burns that this was not it.

 

Man, my memory is getting fuzzy.

Please remind me when we got married ?

 

This would be the best moment of any wedding reception I was ever at.