Paul McCartney/Wings-song by song thread

Next Up- Pretty Boys

 

Another lovely little tune-very McCarteyesque with some great lyrical images.
Another gem
8,5/10

 

Pretty Boys is kind of a B minus level album track for me. It's pleasant enough but the melody is a little static. It just goes on without any real sense of where its going.

 

I think I might like this version from III Imagined better than the original. It really has a nice groove to it. What about you?

 

Enjoy it a lot
However I enjoy the original even more
A very nice song

 

"Pretty Boys" -- meh.

 

For me, Pretty Boys is the worst song on III. I don't like the tune, or the lyrics, or Paul's singing. Sorry! However, on Imagined, it's my favourite song! lol. I guess this is because it sounds almost nothing like the original. The Imagined version is very Ibiza Chill Out and it does take me back to the early 2000s when that sort of music was popular.

 

Long Tailed Winter Bird: 6/10

Slowly, layers start coming into focus during this protracted guitar strummer. While nothing more than an opening salvo, it packs a punch and can be excused for the sparse squirt of lyrics. We get multi-layered Paul vocals which becomes a sort of hallmark on this album. Also, McCartney III seems to be an opportunity for Paul to revisit some old sounds and it becomes fun for the savvy listener to pick these out. In “Long Tailed Winter Bird” we are treated to a cacophony of flutes periodically presented in the background. It should evoke some “I’ve Only Got To Hands” to the keen ear.

As for the guitars, drums, Paul’s vocal bits and flutes, they all seem to phase in and out of the song in a pleasantly measured way. This is a technique Paul likely practiced and mastered recording things like Rushes. LTWB is a fun opener and interesting but doesn’t exactly bring the house down. It’s almost not fair giving it a score of 6/10 due to its ‘mood-setting album opener’ status.

 

Find My Way: 9/10

Dang it Paul! So "Find My Way" is fast becoming one of my most favorite Paul songs ever. It's just so dang happy. Everything that makes Paul so fun and catchy is wrapped up in a tight little package. This is easily his best pop song since "Ever Present Past". I'd say best song period since "Ever Present Past" but "I Don't Know" holds that distinction. Brilliant but I tend to be a bit saturnine anyway as a default.

Paul comes storming right out of the gate with a harpsichord to glue to track together over a snappy programmed drum beat and some quick guitar riffs.

Paul then takes things a step farther by going all sinister and manic during the chorus. "You never used to be afraid of days like these, but now you're overwhelmed by your anxieties" In the context of the covid pandemic, this line delivered with some intensity and in minor chords. It’s keeps the listener unsettled and doesn’t allow one to fall into a bored groove during this gem of a track. Paul brings it back though, Mr. Silver Lining, by telling us we each have the ability to find our way through this mess of life.

Paul closes with move multi-layered and lush vocals. I deduct 1 point for the second ending/coda piece. I personally feel like this is unnecessary and kind of wipes out the shotgun blast of joy this track represents.

 

Pretty Boys 6/10

We start off with something in a very similar vein to “Happy With You” or “Confidant” off his prior LP Egypt Station. From there, the songs gains its own heart and inherits almost a square dance progression to the guitar work. While it’s a little buried in there, that acoustic guitar sure makes you think of the chord progressions in “Somedays”. Lots flashbacks to prior sounds on this album. And speaking of flashbacks . . .

As a song, it appears to be a series of flashback memories in a way for Paul loosely tied together with a story about some interesting chaps and photography. Much like “Summer of 59” just rolls off a string of consciousness about flashes of memories from the past. “Pretty Boys” is pleasant and inoffensive. It’s good album filler but it isn’t much more.

 

How differently we wiew/hear things.
I can perfectly well understand the opnion that Pretty Boys is a pleasant but very minor track. Personally I have always loved those little seemingly simple , lighthearted songs from Paul. Featuring melodies that s instantley catchy. In fact Pretty Boys might be the most McCartneyesque song on the album-apart from the glorious When Winter Comes of course.

 

Veering somewhat off topic, I viewed all six episodes of Hulu's McCartney 321 last night. Yes, he rehashes some of the well worn stories we all know by heart but, in later episodes in particular, he goes into some detail on specific songs, recordings and even instrumental parts. It is well worth seeing.

He and Rick Rubin revisit some of the multitracks of his and Beatle recordings and there are a few surprises in there. It was a joy to watch Paul hear something like, for example, And Your Bird Can Sing and really dig it, dancing about and singing. You can see the pride in certain sequences, not only of his contributions but those of his bandmates. Well worth seeing.

 

Interesting video just released.

 

I get the feeling I may have arrived in this thread slightly late, although still eight tracks to go so hey! I agree Pretty Boys is a nice classic light melodic bit of fluff from Paul, quite pleasant. The "Imagined" version takes the scissors to it and turns it into something else, quite a funky groove although so divorced from the 'source' track that its more reinvented than reinvented!

 

Long Tailed Winter Bird (5/10)

Paul McCartney in the new decade, his seventh in his marathon career. He may be huffing and puffing a little more in the final stretch, but he looks to cross the finish line with the same passion for music he had in 1962, 60 years ago.

McCartney goes winging to Wales for the opening instrumental of McCartney III. His hypnotic rhythm dances across Europe before landing on a rock and scratching out an electric guitar rhythm. His vocal ad-libs asking his fans if we missed him. Yeah, we missed you, Paul – glad you had a productive year in 2020. Electronic bits surround the catchy Celtic-like rhythm and charged up rock drums.

It's an odd way to open an album, and the majority of sounds we hear wrap up around the 3-minute mark, so its extension to over five may be uncalled for. But this is a self-titled album, and in that tradition, Paul properly kicks off the LP by declaring this will have its odd detours like those albums. Though this track has forward motion and a strong instrumental hook, it lacks those scrumptious Maccasnacks that decorate his best wordless pieces.

Though he attached this to “When Winter Comes” later in the album, try listening to “Don’t Let It Bring You Down” and link “Long Tailed Winter Bird” to its coda and you’ll notice a natural continuation of the London Town folk-pop tune.

 

Find My Way (8.5/10)

McCartney drives home the first traditional track of McCartney III in a multiple-guitar car loaded with an array of hooks and riffs in the trunk. Luckily for us, he didn’t close the trunk, so the hooks and riffs of his guitars, keyboards, and vocals fall out onto the road and form entertaining counter melodies that we can find peace with.

Paul can find his way, whether it be to the left or right, day or night, he’ll help those with anxieties on the side of the road in the driving rain of a pandemic. His falsetto singing is confident, his electric guitar is open round the clock creating riffs, counterriffs and a sweet little peaceful solo. The one weakness within this strong tune is the repetition of lyrics when another verse may have been the better option.

Paul doubles the vocal on the finale perhaps as an indication that the person who needed help is healed enough to join in on the quest through the traumatic experience that was 2020. It also implies that many of us could use friends, family or even therapists to heal our mental conditions after such craziness. It's okay to ask for help.

 

Pretty Boys (7/10)

McCartney walks through New York City, seeing all the bicycles lined up as part of the recently-installed public bike program. They sends him into visions of The Beatles when they rode bicycles during Help! Back then, Paul was part of the ‘pretty boys’ that the photographers were fascinated with. Photographers, six decades later, continue to create their art with the ‘pretty boys’ of today.

A folk-rock song with an acoustic guitar opening reminiscent of “The Song We Were Singing” from Flaming Pie, Paul becomes the photographer that his wife Linda once was. He snaps photos of today's male models. “Hey, the camera loves you, don’t put up a fight,” he exclaims, triggering his ‘objects of desire’ to be confident in their poses. At times, those models are objects like bikes in this mild attack on the fashion industry.

His memories create a somewhat pretty tune that plays straight musically. The odd comparison is a suitable curveball typical of his self-titled albums on this solid album track.

 

So wonderful to see this fab thread still alive and kicking.

 

Just like our two remaining Fabs.

Plus it stands to reason that we will have more new Paul music released in the next 12 months to discuss here.

 

Hope so

 

The great Idris Elbas re-imaginibg of Long Tall Winterbird is a hoot. A totally new songs complete with new lyrics and new McCartney vocals. Infectious summer-pop that deserves to be heard my many
A lovely one
Imo one of the absolutely best from both the album proper and the re-Imagined one

 

That's pretty cool.

 

Up Next - Women and Wives

 

Another brilliant song. Might be one of the albums most realised songs. Great arrangement
The Re-Imagined version might be even better
Great stuff

 

Rating the first four songs from Macca III, I'd go:

Long Tailed Winter Bird - 9/10
Find My Way - 9/10
Pretty Boys - 7/10
Women and Wives - 9/10

And I may even be being slightly harsh. What a fantastic start to the album.