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

Reaction in the UK has been curious. Stellar reviews of the album and an aggressive promotion campaign failed to secure the number 1 spot. It entered the chart at 3 and looks likely to drop out of the top 20 completely this week with a very brief chart run.

It is a sad fact that McCartney is (ridiculously) actively disliked here by many people and seen as a bit of a joke and an embarassment. We Brits are not good at celebrating our icons. Elton is tarred with a very similar brush.

I find this baffling. I like the album but think it is good rather than great. It would not matter however if he had made an album to rival Sgt Pepper, it would still have been largely ignored here.

 

I consider this, the charts thread, the original appreciation thread and the ... (sniff sniff...) original... thread.... to be all part of one, glorious thread with a troubled history. That puts at a minimum of about 1400 pages in total. Right?

 

I place the album in the "very good" category but not great. I have to say that much as I do like it, I think the reviews are surprisingly just a bit overly positive. Song per song I like Chaos much more..to the point where I think it's his best and most consistent album since Tug Of War. The one thing Egypt does have over Chaos however, is "album-flow". While the latter comes off as sort of sterile, individual song followed by another, Egypt is very cohesive..while most of the songs are quite good, some work best within the context of the overall album.

One more thing...going strictly by memory...many are saying that this is his first number one album since TOW...didn't Flaming Pie go to number one...?

 

Flaming Pie peaked at #2 in the USA and the UK.

 

Oh, okay...I stand correctomunded.

 

Is it just me or does the 57 minute Egypt Station fly by? It flows so well, and before you know it the dang gum album is already over.

Joke’s on them, Paul is an international treasure, and the rest of the world will take him if the U.K. can’t handle him.

 

Unless you have the Target version in which case you have a few more minutes comprised of two tracks I personally wish were on the actual album in place of one or two others.

 

I feel like Get Started and Nothing For Free are apart of the album, even tacked on to the end of the Target CD it flows right through IMO. And I didn't really care for those songs initially.

I think Turned Out is far superior to those 2 tracks, the NEW bonus tracks felt like bonus tracks added to a complete album.

Egypt Station has left me wanting more, after Nothing For Free I just wanted the experience to keep going and going. AMAZING album.

 

I am not great at assessing and analyzing each individual song in detail like some of you.....but I will say, the CD hasn’t left my car. And the few times I have taken it out to play something different I end up going right back to it after one listen to whatever other album (McCartney or Beatles at this point). Every day I have a different favorite (right now it’s either Dominoes or Distant Early Warning)

That’s enough for me to say this is a tremendous album!!

And I don’t know much of his non Beatles catalog so looking forward to the rabbit hole I just jumped in

 

This is not thread crap by any means, but the two Station songs should have been "attached" to the songs that follow. To list them as separate tracks is somewhat of a waste if anyone accidentally bought them. Not unprecedented per the last medley. No clunkers for starters-still doing "repeated listenings".

 

Got the Target version with bonus tracks and liked it from the first listen - every song. "I Don't Know" sounds like a dark song that could have been included in "Chaos and Creation", which i really liked. "Happy with you" is very well done and I even like the "Come on to me" and "Fuh you". Album has variety, but no skipping tracks for me. Pleasantly surprised.

 

Oh..I thought it was "...FUH me...fuh me.. haha (that's what I heard).

 

Well I have this one a pretty damn positive (though balanced) review:
Paul McCartney, Egypt Station

And really, just the fact that Paul, a 76-year old man who’s ridiculously rich and has accomplished so much more than any of us will, still wants to make music is worth commending.

 

I’d agree with that. Honestly I’d cut the second one altogether.

 

I think the dislike might be overstated a bit, but I do think some people in the UK (e.g. my parents!) actively resent the fact that he plays the US constantly and hardly ever tours in the UK. This wasn’t helped by the near impossibility of getting reasonably priced tickets for the handful of gigs he is playing later this year.

I genuinely think if he toured more in the UK, he’d sell more records (but basically streaming has ended the posssibikity for him and others of his generation to have a prolonged chart hit).

 

Paul McCartney Reacts to 'Egypt Station' Topping Billboard 200: 'You Can't Get Much Higher Than No. 1'

 

He says in this interview that they've got a 4th song from the ES album that they're almost ready to play live. Slowly but surely they're learning the new songs: "We're doing three at the moment, 'cause you know why? 'Cause we didn't have that long to rehearse, and we're putting other things in the show. So it's a question of learning 'em. ... So we've learned three. We've got another one that we've nearly got. So they're gradually coming onboard. And then we may be able to change them up in that case."

 

Oh my GOODness this album has been on repeat since Day One, I cannot get enough of it.

But making it to #1 is just the ICING on the cake and well deserved Paul!!! I hope it stays there for as long as possible and, dare I say it, a possible Grammy next year? That would make my year for sure!

 

Insightful interview! Would love to hear even more behind the scenes marketing strategies.

 

Very smart From Paul to get back to basics. His album album strategy gave us things like Sargent Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Beatles, Abbey Road, RAM, McCartney, Band On The Run, Tug Of War, etc., and now we have Egypt Station!

 

One of my favorite tracks from Rush, but that's not important right now.

 

Very cool article. I’m enjoying the album, and hope to get to my delayed review here. Still a B+ (which was the initial grade).

 

I would include Chaos and Electric Arguments.

 

Eek! There's so much to catch up with! I've got thread schizophrenia!

 

Had to LOL Saturday, in a restaurant in SF the men’s room was filled with Bridget Bardot and Sophia Loren glamour pics. No, Arnie, no Winston Churchill ones.