Paul McCartney Album by Album Thread

I love the McCartney album. I find it interesting and ironic that he recorded it during a time of depression and confusion, because the pervasive vibe of the album is one of domestic bliss. It must have been healing and therapeutic for him, because it's not a depressing album at all. As Paul himself said, "Home, family, love." That's what comes through in all of it. Some of the songs like "Lovely Linda", "Valentine's Day", Oo You", and "Momma Miss America" were reportedly adlibbed on the spot and they sound like it, but that's not a bad thing. The spontaneity of them is part of the laidback homegrown feel of the album. "Junk" is a beautiful song and "Singalong Junk" is not redundant at all. It adds new dimensions to the stripped down folky vocal take. Another of my favorites is "Man, We Was Lonely." With its bucolic country flavor and Linda's warm harmonies, it further enhances the idyllic domesticity of the album, and of course "Every Night" and "Maybe I'm Amazed" are classic. The album is warm, honest, and not overproduced. There's really nothing about it that I don't like.

 

That's how I see it too. I love it but it's definitely not a masterpiece.

I would recommend it to people who love the Beatles but I wouldn't call it a "must hear" for pop music lovers.

 

As this thread goes along I'm gonna rank all the albums and, assuming I don't give up first, rank all of Paul's solo and Wings songs.

 

That's a fine detailed view from a Beatles/Paul's fan perspective, as listening to the same record over and over again makes one find some hidden little gems. But the album was not able to get much attention from other music fans in spite of its supposed historical importance. I guess I'm in the mid-way, since I'm a huge fan of the Beatles but I'm not a big fan of Paul's solo career. Thus, I did listen to McCartney (the album) several times, but I never felt forced to find the hidden beauty of it (which surely exists). Perhaps I did give that opportunity to some John's solo albums I learned to love, such as Mind Games and Rock 'N' Roll, surely because he has always been my favorite Beatle. Funny enough, I don't like Plastic Ono Band, which happens to be his most acclaimed work.

 

"Every Night" is a gem on the album for me. I enjoy the "Maybe I'm Amazed" version from the "Wings Over America" album, much more.

 

We’ll move on to Ram tomorrow.

 

Ram (album)

Side one

1. “Too Many People"
2. "3 Legs"
3. "Ram On"
4. "Dear Boy”
5. "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey"
6. "Smile Away"

Side two

1. "Heart of the Country"
2. "Monkberry Moon Delight"
3. "Eat at Home"
4. "Long Haired Lady“
5. "Ram On (Reprise)"
6. "The Back Seat of My Car"

2012 Remaster Bonus Tracks

1. 
   
   
   • Another Day" (P./L. McCartney)
   • "Oh Woman, Oh Why" (P. McCartney)
   • "Little Woman Love"
   • "A Love for You" (Jon Kelly Mix)
   • "Hey Diddle" (Dixon Van Winkle Mix)
   • "Great Cock and Seagull Race" (Dixon Van Winkle Mix)
   • "Rode All Night"
   • "Sunshine Sometime" (Earliest Mix)

Ram is a studio album by Paul McCartney and Linda McCartney, released in May 1971 on Apple Records. Ram was recorded amid McCartney's legal action in the United Kingdom's High Court to dissolve the Beatles' partnership, following the band's break-up the year before. It was recorded in New York with guitarists David Spinozza and Hugh McCracken, and future Wings drummer Denny Seiwell. Its release coincided with a period of bitter acrimony between McCartney and his former bandmate John Lennon, who perceived verbal slights in the lyrics to songs such as "Too Many People". On release, Ram was unfavourably received by the majority of music critics, although opinion has become more positive in subsequent decades. The album was a commercial success nonetheless, topping the national albums charts in the UK, the Netherlands and Canada. Three singles were issued from Ram: "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey", which was McCartney's first number 1 hit in America as a solo artist, "The Back Seat of My Car" and "Eat at Home". The album was remastered on vinyl and CD and released as a deluxe box set in May 2012.

 

I like Ram, but I don’t love it like I used to. I listened to it recently and realized it’s not my favorite Paul album. I think he’s got a few that are better. Then again, that could just be over familiarity with it. I think I’d take Wild Life, Band On The Run, Venus and Mars, London Town, and Flaming Pie over Ram. I’d put Tug of War, Chaos and Creation in the Backyard, and Egypt Station on the same level. Everything else below it.

Should we have a separate discussion for Thrillington when we get to it in 1977 or just discuss it as part of Ram?

 

I'm not always quite sure what to make of the album as a whole (do I just like it a lot or love it?), but "Uncle Albert," "Monkberry," and "Back Seat" are out-0f-this-world sublime.

 

As far as the bonus material from the 2012 remaster is concerned:

"Another Day" - one of the greatest songs Paul's ever written. Catchy, great baseline, great vocals. I like Paul's experimental side but when he just does straight pop-rock like this no one can touch him

"Oh Woman Oh Why" - This song is alright. Lots of people see this as a hidden gem in Paul's discography, but I disagree.

"Little Woman Love" - eh. It's catchy. I hope the medley with C-Moon that was in some Wings concerts gets an official release some day.

"A Love For You" - blows my mind that Paul had a song this good and didn't release it until the 20th century

"Hey Diddle" - love the song but I prefer the mix from the Venus and Mars bonus disc

"Great Cock and Seagull Race" - not as good as Sunshine Sometime, but still good

"Rode All Night" - drags on a bit, but I like it

"Sunshine Sometime" - one of Paul's best intrumentals. Makes me think of summer.

 

Paul's strength as an arranger is evident on Dear Boy and Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey.

Which leads me to a partially off-topic question, but one which I think could prompt some interesting discussion. Out of songwriting, singing, instrumental ability, and arranging, which do you think is Paul's greatest skill?

I'd say

1. Songwriting
2. Singing
3. Instrumental ability
4. Arranging

 

My fave Paul album and glad it has had such a reappraisal, free flowing, vocals brilliant and top quality tunes Paul never sounded so confident and care free.
Shame he then started to doubt himself here on in....

 

Ram is just magic in an album, one of my all time favorites. Even the bonus tracks from 2012. My favorite or 2nd favorite Paul album. It blows me away at every listen.

Eat At Home, Monkberry, Backseat, Uncle Albert and 3 Legs are my favorites. Well no, Oh Woman Oh Why, Another Day, Dear Boy and Smile Away are. Actually, every song is a favorite. Wonderfully crafted album, one of my favorite album covers as well. What’s not to love? Linda also deserves credit, I love her voice on this one.

Heart of the Country is a great one too, could go on..

 

Ram:

So it's September of 1970 and Paul is obviously planning his next move. After being heckled by the critics for being the antagonist in breaking up the Beatles and also being criticized for releasing a solo album that wasn't like anything he'd recently done with the Beatles, Paul decided that he was going to do give the critics what they want. An Abbey Road part 2 to say the least. A real effort at making a professional studio album that could possibly be a continuation of sorts if Paul were to lead the Beatles through another album similar to what they've done on Abbey Road. Well Paul tried it, and it backfired on him anyway. The critics would receive it poorly and the album was still horribly trashed by them (and even Paul's former bandmates). However, the fans seemed to like the album a lot. Enough to send the album into the Top 3 of most countries it charted in and not to mention sending one of the most bizzare choices for a single, "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" to #1 in the U.S.

I always felt that Ram was unfairly reviewed back in the day. Given the choice between all of the albums Paul released in 1970 and 1971, I'd still choose Ram over McCartney and Wild Life (even Red Rose Speedway too). Even though Ringo said that there's not one good tune on it, I'd like to see what he has to say about the album now. While the album does have its negatives (mainly attacking the other Beatles (particularly, John) through songs like "Too Many People" and "3 Legs", the album catches Paul amid a flurry of creativity. Loads of songs that were being written now by Paul since he'll need to write more songs to sustain himself in a solo album and it's amazing to think that some of these songs were held over for other releases or not even released at all or recorded at all. This was all still going on at a time where music was moving fast. Ram captures Paul McCartney moving at such a fast pace and truly being in a creative scene that what seemed McCartney lacked.

Now, what I don't see is why many fans consider to this album to be Paul's best or 2nd best album. I think it could be with the recent critical reappraisal the album has thankfully received in its recent reissues. I do happen to like other Paul albums way more than Ram, but I still like Ram a lot, but it barely misses my Top 10 and what I find to be some of everyone's favorites from the album to be some of my least favorites on the album.

Now I will go through all of the songs and what I think about them.
Too Many People: This is the track that almost everyone seems to enjoy a lot on the album. However for me, this is one of the tracks that I think is on the lesser side of the album's songs/recordings. I don't exactly know what it is about the song that causes me to like it less than the other songs. It can't be that I just happen to like the other songs more, there's something even I'm missing here. I do have to admit the powerful, but sometimes sloppy guitar solo at the end is wicked and definitely one of the best moments on the song and album. 10th favorite.
3 Legs: Same problem on "Too Many People" with this one, except this song is less popular than the "Too Many People". I don't really dig the melody or arrangement. I do like where this song was placed. I always think it's an attack towards the other Beatles (with Paul being the missing 4th leg). I have to give credit where credit is due. It's a strategically placed song because it follows another attack song and it's the 2nd song on an album. I always think that your 2nd song on an album should be as strong or stronger than your lead-in song to keep the listener interested in listening to the rest of the album, and this is certainly one of those instances of great sequencing. 11th favorite.
Ram On: Love the choice of playing a ukulele on this one. I also love the piano intro and how it merges into an electric keyboard sound with the engineer calling for take 1 and the false start. All very live and uncut and kinda reminiscent of how McCartney was. 8th favorite.
Dear Boy: The album keeps getting better and better for me. This song has some fabulous vocal layering work by Paul and Linda. Must have taken a long time to figure out how to record each part and a couple of days to get every take correct and mixed into the song. I also quite like the way Paul plays the piano. 6th favorite
Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey: The strangest song to pull from the album as a single. If it were up to me, I'd probably have gone with "Too Many People" as a single because there really isn't much from the album that screams "Single" to me, but I am glad Paul or someone at Apple/Capitol chose this song. It captures Paul at a creative peak during the album sessions by combining two songs into one song and making it work extremely well. Something Paul would later to continue to do and perfect with the medley at the end of Red Rose Speedway, "Band On The Run" and even nowadays with "Hunt You Down/Naked/C-Link". I always pictured the song starting off as dark and stormy with the clouds rolling away revealing the sun once we get to the Admiral Halsey section. 5th favorite
Smile Away: The album has gotten consistently better and better as needle moves closer to the center of the record, however "Ram On", "Dear Boy" and especially "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" were very high up to follow and for me, "Smile Away" can't live up to any of these. 9th favorite
Heart Of The Country: Give Paul an acoustic guitar and he can do wonders. Really nice song. You can tell Paul was inspired by country life in Scotland to write this one. Favorite song on the album.
Monkberry Moon Delight: Paul's voice. One of my favorite rockers from this album. Strong vocals and clever, nonsensical lyrics. 3rd favorite.
Eat At Home: For a while, this used to be my favorite song from the album. I really like the 50's rock mixed with 70's rock type of sound this song makes. 4th favorite.
Long Haired Lady: More of Paul mixing different songs together to form one song. I really like to enjoy the "Well, well, well, well, wellll" section, although Linda's voice kinda kills it with her off-key singing (and I hate to bag about the negatives in this couple concerning their singing). I do like it better than the "Love is long" section, so the section that goes "Who's the lady" (I guess you can call it the verse) is my favorite. 7th favorite
Ram On (Reprise): A good way to tie the album together, but I find it to be the lowest point of the album compared to the other songs. Sucks since this song is sandwiched between two of the albums strongest songs. Really nice to hear the opening verse of "Big Barn Bed" here. Goes to show that Paul was flowing with song ideas here that would later appear in other albums relatively soon. Least favorite.
The Back Seat Of My Car: Beautiful song. I would've really liked it as a single in the U.S. to follow up "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey", but alas. Definitely would've been a contender for the next Beatles album and with the lush orchestra, different styles of themes, this is what Paul would've done with the Beatles and I bet it would've been praised by the critics, but because of the breakup and critical bias, the critics couldn't see it. And a perfect ending line with the "we believe that we can't be wrong" lines, this song is like putting the concepts behind John and Yoko's Plastic Ono Band albums into one song. Paul and Linda unitedly together. One of the many perfect closers on a Paul album and that reprise at the end doesn't hurt the song in any way for me, it adds onto it, almost like how a fanfare playing as Paul exits the stage on a live performance of the album as it fades away. 2nd favorite.

Onto Wild Life.

 

I think the music and lyrics of Ram were irrelevant in the context of 1971; no wonder why the album was despised by music critics and colleagues at the time of its release (including the other ex-Beatles). Of course the album has its merits as Paul's talent is still there; it's very tuneful and well performed, with enough saccharine to satisfy any fan. That's why I'm not surprised the album got a better reputation in more recent years, when it was reviewed out of its contemporary context.

I'm not a fan of Ram, it's just not my cup of tea; but then again, I never cared too much about Paul's post-Beatles career. Thus, in the future of this thread I'll just comment the one Paul's album I truly love: Band On The Run.

 

I'm not sure Ram is my favorite McCartney album, but I enjoy every song, consider some to be completely awesome (Uncle Albert, Monkberrry and Back Seat at least), and there isreally nothing about it I can criticize. OK Linda is not a great backing singer, but she adds character and it works here in a studio setting.

 

Both albums discussed so far (not including The Family Way!) feature in my top 5 Paul albums-

 

I wouldn't say that RAM is my favorite album of all time but there is no doubt that it is my most played album of all time. It is the music of my childhood, it is the first music I loved and it is the comfort food for my soul.
When I was a lad living at home my folks didn't listen to music. They had a radio for the news while they had breakfast and before they went to work. As soon as the news was over I was allowed to tune into the local top 40 music station. There was lots of cool music on the radio in those days, no hip hop or boy bands,but one song just hit me hard first time I heard it - Another Day. This was pop music but clearly it was in a different league to everything else I was hearing. Then a bit later Uncle Albert came out. This was so far from the standard verse chorus of everything else I was hearing. It was an incredible musical journey for my developing mind and ever since Paul has been been the Man. Of course it was a few years later before I got to hear the whole album I was bummed that Another Day was missing but really I loved every second of it. Loved it then, been playing it ever since and love it now.
I am pretty hazy about dates so long ago but I just checked Wikipedia - heck I was nine years old when I was listening to these songs on the radio. I am blessed that I have had this music with me for my whole music listening life.

 

Ram is one of the first albums I ever owned...maybe the first. Can't really remember. So, no other album brings me back to the '7os/childhood like this one does. Lots of very warm nostalgic feelings and memories attached to it for me. Can't think of much more to say about it except I have always loved this record. Always will.

 

Ram (1971)
1. Too Many People
2. Another Day
3. Monkberry Moon Delight
4. The Back Seat of My Car
5. Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey
6. Heart of the Country
7. Oh Woman, Oh Why
8. Dear Boy
9. Smile Away
10. Ram On
11. 3 Legs
12. Eat at Home
13. Little Woman Love
14. Long Haired Lady
15. Ram On (Reprise)

Top ten so far:
1. Maybe I'm Amazed
2. Too Many People
3. Another Day
4. Every Night
5. Monkberry Moon Delight
6. The Back Seat of My Car
7. Junk
8. Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey
9. Teddy Boy
10. Heart of the Country

 

"Ram" is a fantastic album and deserving of every bit of praise it gets. Who can forget "Smile Away"?

 

Ram is one of my favorite albums even though individually none of the songs makes my top ten. It's a cohesive album and just so laid back and cool yet polished.


My favorites are Too Many People, Monkberry Moon, Dear Boy, Heart of the Country

 

I'm relistening to Ram right now and it really struck me how much Too Many People must've annoyed John. I already knew that it did, but just the intensity of it struck. Beyond Paul's cheery dilemma there's a biting criticism of what, at the time at least, was John's greatest passion. And then John retaliated by attacking Paul's greatest passion - music and his musical ability.

This album is very similar to Pet Sounds, in the sense that the music conveys a generally happy feeling, whereas the lyrics convey betrayal, sadness, and heartbreak. I don't doubt that the passage of time has softened Paul's feelings, but to get a good understanding of how he felt about Klein, the breakup, and the other three Beatles at the time (beyond "P.R. Paul") look to lyrics like "You took your lucky break and broke it in two," and "When I thought you was my friend...but you let me down."

 

Great points.

 

I am glad that I bought the mono version of Ram on LP. It suits the music.