Paul McCartney FLAMING PIE 20 years later

Well it's been 20-21 years since McCartney in his mid 50's at the time, released Flaming Pie to critical acclaim & strong sales. Coming fresh on the heels of the only Beatles reunion, it was certainly in the spotlight.

How does it fare now, with 20 years of hindsight ? Of The 14 songs I love or like 12. I respect the 2 that aren't my cuppa tea. I did then I still do rank it in his top 5 mainstream studio albums ( pop/rock). Possibly even top 3.

The tracks work well together, much of the album embraces writing styles, sounds & textures that embrace his Beatles work. Both George Martin & Ringo Starr feature prominently on the album. As does Jeff Lynne & Geoff Emerick.

If I had to sum up my positive feelings in a few words. I love 12 of the 14 tracks, it's Beatley & poigniant being done while wife Linda was succumbing to cancer, & the Beatles reunion still fresh in our minds.

I don't have one standard, flag bearing song as a highlight. In the way that Maybe I'm Amazed highlights McCartney 1970 or Uncle Albert highlights Tam imo.

I love World Tonight, Song We We're singing, Beautiful Night, Young Boy, Flaming Pie, Little Willow, Souvenir, Calico Skies equally.

I find his singing ability had declined a little bit by 97, but the songwriting & arrangements are just superb, & the singing is still really good, if not quite the same as 10-20 years earlier.

How do you view Flaming Pie & where do you rank it among McCartneys work during & after The Beatles & Wings.

 

It’s a great later McCartney album. One I liked from the word go, too. The 2 ‘jam’ like songs let the side down a bit, but the other 12 are all winners. I’d say it was certainly in the top 5 of his solo efforts.

I remember a documentary about the making of the album. The South Bank Show? Linda featured briefly. It was the last time I saw her alive.

 

Love it. I got it shortly after its release and it's always been a favourite of mine. One of the three McCartney post-Wings masterpieces for me (the other two being Flowers in the Dirt & Chaos and Creation.)

 

I found this album only recently and was pleasantly surprised.It was nostalgic yet lacking the cloyingly cute McCartneyisms that mar much of his work.
I have actually gone back and listened to it more than once, a rarity when dealing with later day McCartney. I agree with your assessment.johnny moondog 909

 

Great LP but I always skip the first track, "The Song We Were Singing."

It's the weakest song and a poor choice to open the album.

 

If you were going to completely change around the tracks on this album and get a new producer to make it better,
which songs would you delete, which songs would you add and who would the new producer or producers be?
The available songs to add to the album can be any Paul McCartney song written in between the years 1957 and 2038.

As far as producers, you can pick anybody from Shadow Morton to Davey Bruckner.
FWIW, Davey is only 4 years old at the moment, but his first production will be 2032,
and it will be mind blowing. So he still fits within the span of dates.

 

Definitely top shelf McCartney.

 

20 years ago....damn I'm old

 

One of his best.

 

Love this album. It deserves to get an Archive deluxe edition.

 

One of his best. I probably hadn't bought a McCartney album since London Town. A friend told me that Flaming Pie was good and I laughed at him. A couple years later I bought Driving Rain on cassette ( because I had a car cassette player and options were limited) and liked it so I worked my way back. I put it right up there with Band On the Run and Ram (which I happen to be listening to right now). I like every track.

 

I really liked about half of it, haven't played it in years.

 

Yeah it’s not great, especially in the beginning and especially because it’s about 2min too long.

I like this album, at the time I was actually disappointed. Maybe because it seemed like a step backwards sonically and production wise. Jeff Lynne’s sound seemed dated to me then. Some great songs though but I personally wouldn’t rate it top 3 of his albums since 1997.

 

Hands-down one of McCartney's better latter-day offerings. For me, I rank them:

1. Flaming Pie
2. Chaos & Creation In The Backyard
3. Memory Almost Full
4. Run Devil Run
5. Electric Arguments
6. New
7. Driving Rain
8. Kisses On The Bottom

 

I'm one of those early-thirties Beatle fans that came of age precisely as the Beatles Anthology came out, and I was right on Flaming Pie on release day. Remains one of my favorite records, not just for the fact that it hit me at a formative moment, but also because it's legitimately a great record. It's never left my rotation. Would love some kind of deluxe edition, though not sure what else would be included given the tracks released with the CD singles. I'll echo the folks who say this is top-shelf Macca.

 

It certainly was helped by the goodwill generated by the Anthology project, but I really think if you cut the two mindless blues jams and got it to a (pre-90's) normal 45-minute length, it's the most consistently tuneful and listenable McCartney record since BOTR. I wish it had a couple of rock tunes to balance out the record's acoustic feel (I guess that's why he included those jams?), but the rest of the songs are consistently great, which isn't a thing you can say about most of Macca's records.

I also think Jeff Lynne reached a perfect balance between a polished, confident sound and the sort of homemade charm of Macca's true solo LP's.

 

I consider it a good album that would have been great if someone other than Paul would have handled the drumming on the tracks Ringo wasn't on. Paul is a servicable drummer, but a pro on the kit really elevates his songs.

 

Did Linda do any work on this album, such as backing vocals? This should definitely be released in remembrance of 20 years since her passing.

 

New is that low?

 

Linda is on the album. You can hear her most notably on 'Great Day'.

 

This came out the final week of my senior year of high school, and I purchased it at Best Buy that Friday (with the bonus Oobu Joobu CD) on the way to see Ringo Starr that Friday at Pine Knob.

 

A great. mature album. I remember when I was a teenager I couldn't relate to it much, but now that I'm a bit older songs like "The World Tonight", "Somedays" and "The Song We Were Singing" just have a certain wisdom to them. Top shelf McCartney for sure.

 

1. Memory Almost Full
2. Chaos & Creation
3. New
4. Driving Rain
5. Flaming Pie

He sounds old, to me, on Flaming Pie. He's much more creative on the others, even if his voice was starting to give.

 

We all agree that he should have gotten Ginger Baker to play drums on this and ‘Band On The Run’!
Please refer to the ‘Paul Ruined Band On The Run By Playing The Druns’ thread.

 

A very good LP recorded when his wife Linda was fighting cancer. Must have been an incredibly difficult time.