Paul McCartney - Egypt Station (#1 album in US) Appreciation Thread 2.0 - New and Improved

Idk what you guys think, but I think The Lovely Linda is secretly about John.

 

"With the lovely flowers in her hair"

 

Twenty bucks to whoever can explain "Heather" into a song about John.

 

Twenty-Five bucks to whoever can explain „My Valentine“ into a song about George. Don‘t forget that there is an unreleased Harrison song „Valentine“ from the „ Brainwashed“ era...

 

Paul originally wrote a song called Valentine, but George recorded it and when Jeff Lynne and Dhani made the tracklist for Brainwashed, Paul persuaded them not to add it on the album, and 10 years later, Paul would write a song about his song, HIS Valentine.
Gimme the money (that's what I want)

 

Still waiting the hear Valentine and Mama, You’ve Been on My Mind replete with all the 80’s-era instrumentation.

 

Did you buy a Ram for RAM?

 

Dear old Thread,
Long time no see ! I Hope you're ok, you seem to be alive and well, which makes me very happy.

I have a question for you : in your opinion, is "Egypt Station" a single album (as on CD) or a double album (as on vinyl) ? I think Paul referred to it as a single record, but it bugs me, because I like to see it as a beautifully sequenced double. What do you think ?

 

Well...it's apparently now a triple album!!!

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Egypt-Stat...y&sprefix=paul+McCartney+egyp&sr=8-1-fkmrnull

 

I have that question about a lot of longer albums released in (and since) the CD era, McCartney and otherwise. Driving Rain is a double LP, but most people didn't experience it as such. With Egypt Station, I became familiar with the CD (in the car) and the double LP (at home) at the same time. I think of it as a double album.

 

I wish Paul had the stones to do a one-off show with the following set list:

Kreen-Akrore
Monkberry Moon Delight
Mumbo
Bip-Bop
Loup
Backwards Traveler (extended version)
Cuff Link (extended version with long, spacey guitar solo)
Morse Moose and the Grey Goose (with extended bass solo near the end)
Boil Crisis
Coming Up (album version in original key)
Front Parlour
Darkroom (extended trance version)
Be What You See (extended into an actual song)
Rinse The Raindrops (extended into a 25-minute Grateful Dead-like jam)

This would also be marketed as an epic DVD. Bonus interview with Denny Laine giving a day by day account of how he passed the time in Japan while Paul was in jail.

 

I guess the short answer is: both depending on what edition one buys. For myself I always go by vinyl. So it's a double, as is driving rain. I also go by vinyl over cassette so Revolver opens with Taxman and not, which one was it, good day sunshine? And off the ground side one ends with six tracks rather than eight.
But sometimes it's fun to have those alternate oddities.

 

It's too bad the hi-res versions have the same DR as the CDs. New had better DR on its hi-res counterpart.

 

Man, I bet you sure hated “Get Enough”.

 

Oh my
I was extremely positive to ES when it arrived
and
think it s even better now
Great, great songs
Great production
Great vocals -imo
I have also warmed to the moody Get enough-definively a keeper
Look forward to hear the unreleased songs on the new edition
and boy
Nothing for free is one catchy track
I still don t find a weak song on this album that
I certanely rank as Vintage McCartney and one of his best albums ever

 

I think a lot of people got ear-blinded by the autotune and never gave it a second listen. I think it's a very good song, and after a few listens I didn't even notice the autotune. It's just an effect, like ADT or phasing.

 

Agree
I never minded the autoA-tune- it was just that after first listenings the song was merelybOK for me
Now it has become a track I find myself go back to often. It s a real mood oiece with many interesting movements, Hood lyrics and s great understated melody

 

The last few weeks I have revisited and once again spent lots of time with Egypt Station. The amazing thing is that this album has become even more dear to me as time goes by. I find it difficult to rank albums but this one belongs among Pauls very best in my book. I don t find one weak track on the album-of course I like some more than others but to s one of the very few Paul albums I don t find some weak or filler stuff. Amazingly I also find the three songs not on the proper albums just as good
Some of the songs I sort of dismissed at first have become true favorites. Confidante and Back in Brazil are examples of that. Confidante with it s spare arrangement have some very good lyrics and a really heartbrokenly good melody. Back in Brazil is good storytelling with a multilayered arrangement that fills me with awe every time I hear it.
I don t know, Happy with you , Hand in hand and Do it now all belongs to the real top of Macca post -beatle-ballads. I don t now is one of the rare moments when Paul lays his feelings bare in an unusual dark way, the melody, chord-changes and vocals make this song a timeless classic in my book. Happy with you is another surprisingly honest song with the acoustic arrangements not only reminding but the equal of some past glories. Hand in hand simple put is breathtaking with the spare arrangement, stunning melody and vocal delivery. Do it now is an epic with harmonies not heard this side of Beach Boys.

The more uptempo Dominoes in another gem that hold up quality wise to anything in Pauls back-catalogue even the Beatles. Again a lovely melody, great chorus and the ebbs and flows of the arrangement is genius. Fuh You is pure pop-many people missed out the catchiness of it because the semi-modern arrangements and not so subtle world-play, What they certainly missed is the gorgeous middle-eight that contain some of the most beatlesque moment in the whole of Pauls solo-catalogue. Check out the strings. Don t care is one of Pauls better rockers, the same goes for Hunt you down that s part of the eccentric finishing meddle. Despite repeated warnings is-imo-one of the greatest things Paul ever did. The vocals, shifting melodies, horn-orchestral arrangements -everything about it is pure genius . Yes I think it s just as good as Band on the Run and Live and Let die.Caesar rock might not be much of a song but the arrangements is highly enjoyable and Pauls dead-pan delivery priceless

Egypt Station is real gem and keeper-at least for me.
I can understand it s not everyones cup of tea but for me it s a glorious late-career masterpiece

 

I wonder which of Memory Almost Full or Egypt Station is the most compressed, really
There's so much saturation on Egypt Station it's such a shame
And Get Started is even more compressed and satured than the rest of the album that I have so slow down the volume everytime it's going to play

 

Memory is absolutely unlistenable, ES isn’t to my ears

 

Ohhh that explains it all

 

I hadn't noticed "Get Started" being any more compressed than the rest of Egypt Station. To me, ES is mastered just on the listenable side of "loud." I do NOT have audiophile ears, but even to me MAF is a sonic horror show. Such a shame. A good needledrop of a quiet MAF LP (not as common as they should be) helps somewhat. But I have no problem listening to Egypt Station. Again, I'm not in a climate-controlled listening chamber with a $50,000 setup, so take it for what its worth...

 

Listen to Memory Almost Full in a vacuum. That should dampen the sound enough for ya'.

 

The middle eight in Fuh You is really awesome. Only Paul could write that!