Paul McCartney/Wings-song by song thread

Hold Me Tight/Lazy Dynamite/Hands of Love/Power Cut: Although these are four standalone fragments with little in common, I tend to view them as part of a whole and will not attempt to review them separately. To me, that would be like reviewing just the "Be a gypsy" part of Admiral Halsey. It's not about the merits of any individual part but, rather, my response to the whole.

Now, it would be a different story if I felt that any one segment were terrible. I do not. All of the individual pieces are good as they are written but better together. Having said that, there are moments that have a real impact on me, as there might be on any song. As someone had mentioned earlier, the opening line (I've waited all my life for you) strikes me as dripping with longing and emotion. It really raises the stakes for the entire medley. I also love Paul's voice on the Power Cut section. And the "baby I love you so" to me is pure ear candy. But, of course, the most thrilling moment is when the various melodies come together during the fade.

I don't believe I am one for hyperbole. But my feeling about the climax of this track may betray that. This medley blows my mind for it's amazing songwriting craft. I am, myself an amateur songwriter, so I cannot help but view the work of other songwriters through that lens. I may not ever have the talent that other songwriters have but I feel that I do have an insight into the songwriting process and how challenging it can be. And I feel that it gives me a particular appreciation for something that I perceive to be exceptionally well done. It's difficult enough to write a good catchy melody. That some people can do that with such apparent ease is amazing to me. And, in my opinion, McCartney is the best of them. But to have a second catchy melody acting as a counterpoint is a tricky exercise. I'm always impressed when I hear that. Now on the track Silly Love Songs Paul pushes it to the limit and has three melodies playing off each other simultaneously. And it is brilliant! And super challenging to achieve. I have tried to do that myself with varying degrees of success - it's difficult! And then we have this medley. I'm not sure I have ever heard four melodies playing together simultaneously in popular music aside from this instance. Has anyone else ever done this? And it's not just bits that sing well together, each melody is taken from what amounts to a completely different song. Mind blown.

I have always wondered how Paul approached this. Did he start with the four overlapping melody lines and wrote separate songs around each of them? If he did, I just cannot get over how completely different each song is from the other three. Having overlapping melody lines within a single song (like Silly Love Songs) is one thing, but to craft four individual songs from that overlapping is surely an example of musical genius. I cannot believe that two or more of these songs just magically fell together. It had to be a conscious undertaking.

Yes, there is a difference between inspiration and craft. An example of what I see as songwriting based upon inspiration is Little Lamb Dragonfly. It strikes me as so full of real emotion that Paul must have been compelled to write it. Then there is craft. A song like Silly Love Songs strikes me as an example of exceptional songwriting craft. I don't give more value to one over the other. They are both difficult to get right but in very different ways. I think some people might consider craft the lesser of the two approaches but I do not. If Silly Love Songs is "just craft" then go ahead and "craft" something half as good. I'll wait.

Craft is always part of the songwriting process, no matter how strong the inspiration. It's like any skill, once you do it often enough you begin to digest the elements that you believe to be needed for a successful result and you will use the tools in your arsenal. You use "craft" to further "inspiration". One makes the other stronger. But sometimes, there is almost a mathematical brilliance to a composition that really displays a mastery of the "craft" of songwriting. And this one does that in spades. And it still thrills.

When we first started reviewing Red Rose Speedway, I mentioned that it is one of my favorite McCartney albums, even though I recognize that many of the songs are nothing brilliant.

Press To Play and Egypt Station are both albums that are very consistent. To my ears, neither of them have any great highs nor any deep lows. They are just good straight through. One could argue that, in their consistency, that each are "better" than RRS. And on a strictly song by song basis they probably are. But with exceptional emotional moments like Little Lamb Dragonfly and the climax to the Medley, Speedway just soars! And those moments elevate the entire listening experience to me. That is why I view RRS as a great McCartney album.

 

I'm indifferent to Loup, but it definitely contributes to the album's general feeling of incoherence.

 

Great post
I have always been in awe how Paul managed to combine these 4 melodies. How did Paul ever come up with such an idea. Imo one of the more clever musical moments Paul ever created.

 

Mumbo (Link)

A heavy instrumental song. Too short...

Credits:

Produced by Paul McCartney
Written by Paul McCartney and Linda McCartney
Bass (?) by Paul McCartney
Electric guitar (?) by Denny Laine
Drums (?) by Denny Seiwell
Label: Apple Records
Release Date: December 7, 1971
Recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London, UK
Length: 0:53 minutes

 

Spoiler

Did we skip "The Mess (Live at the Hague)"? It came out a month before Red Rose Speedway.

 

We will get to that one. I actually believed the album was released before the My Love single.
My fault

 

Medley: Amazing. I think others have said enough about this track that I won’t be able to add anything new, so I’ll just add myself to the list of people who are amazed by Paul’s ability to combine multiple melodies and make it work.

 

I don't like the RRS medley very much. When I first heard the record many years ago, I expected to find something in the vein of the Abbey Road medley, I guess.

I like the piano solo start of "Hold Me Tight" a lot but most of what comes after is underwhelming.

It's still entertaining because the snippets are short and there is no time to get bored but I like the other songs in Side 2 of RRS better.

 

‘McCartney’ isn’t about fully written songs.
That should already be obvious listening to Lovely Linda. Why should that be a problem?

Speed Of Sound is an expertly polished album (almost) full with fully realized songs, but to me it’s Dullsville compared to an album like this.

 

Regarding your comment related to a quote of mine: I made my case for why this was a problem for me back when we discussed the McCartney album. Today we are discussing the Red Rose Speedway album.

 

He’s still doing it.

Despite Repeated Warnings from last year’s Egypt Station is practically a medley in the guise of one song!

It’s my favourite track on the album.

 

@Bemagnus This may have been asked already but will we be covering McGear?

 

I like the medley on RRS. It’s catchy and fun. Pretty much like the whole album. He wasn’t trying to change the world at this point, but he was trying to make concise, commercial LPs.

He’d do an even better job with his next album.

 

Loop 4..5/10


Loop is loopy and not my thing.

 

For future reference here are all of Paul's single and album releases by date, nice list.

Paul McCartney Discography (by Date)

 

Joe English: “I remember the halcyon McCartney days when there was no budget. We would go into the studio, live there, drink tea, get bored and have a boring album.”

 

Pink Floyd instrumentals at the time, like Any Colour You Like, or Great Gig, worked as links between some pretty powerful songs (Time/Home; Us & Them; Brain Damage). Loup is bookended by frivolous silliness. Sorry. It doesn’t work, but it could have in maybe a different context.

The medley: imagine the Abbey Road medley consisting of Maxwell’s Silver Hammer; Ob La Di; Martha My Dear and When I’m 64. Tuneful, melodic, but lacking in any bite or drama. No meat. No drama. No angst. To me, the medley feels like an exercise in clever mindlessness.

I can’t wait to move on as I feel that the next batch of recordings makes good on the promise many of these recordings hinted at!

I still give RRS regular spins, but in the double LP configuration. Most times I will simply skip side three. It becomes a stronger effort and lays out a different vibe for sure.

 

Not really disagreeing with your point but what then do you think the McCartney album IS about? Because I'm not sure it's an obvious answer.

 

McCartney is an album containing many homespun demos that then was augmented by three professional studio solo songs (Maybe I’m Amazed, Every Night, Man We Was Lonely) late in the game once it became apparent that Instant Karma’s immediate commercial ascent upped the ante. Those recordings on McCartney are inspired (by various degrees of brilliance) by John’s sudden commercial success in the first four months of 1970.

 

I feel that way about a number of his other albums compared to ' McCartney'. They may be more thought out or better produced or have a more cohesive sound but his first solo is my fave.

 

Ok but those songs you mention recorded at Abbey Road were done months prior to John ever entering the studio to start recording Plastic Ono Band. The whole album was done.

Don't tell me you think Unfinished Music 1 + 2 and The Wedding Album were commercial successes or anything Paul should aspire to.

Even in the studio, Paul was still using the 4 track Studer. He was just using the studio to create 8 tracks for the few more elaborate tracks andģor to mix the other tracks.

 

Nope, not suggesting any of that. I’m suggesting that John’s release of a highly successful commercial single while Paul was in the middle of his sessions inspired Paul to rethink his methods and he moved over to Abbey Road with some powerful new tunes and a design to add further sonic commercial goodness to earlier recordings. If you look up the timelines it totally fits.

 

That makes sense. Would explain the mix of solid tracks and homebrew.

 

Okay, time for another dissent. If Single Pigeon was my lifeline, the Hold Me Tight, etc., medley was (and remains) the part of Red Rose Speedway that makes me want to gouge out my eyeballs, jump off the roof and forget I ever knew who Paul McCartney was. In the early '70s, pop music -- especially in the U.S. -- was plagued by a phenomenon known as bubblegum, in which singers with okay voices but otherwise minimal talent were packaged with songs carefully geared toward the sensibilities of 12-year-old girls: cliched lyrics, obvious arrangements, piles of cheap sentiment and nothing remotely interesting going on either musically or lyrically. And this medley channels those qualities perfectly. Seriously, you could drop a Bobby Sherman vocal into Hold Me Tight or Lazy Dynamite and no one would ever suspect it wasn't a Bobby Sherman record all along. And they'd be right.

This is Paul as his absolute, emptiest, scraping-the-bottom-of-the-barrel worst.

 

Catch up cat here:

One More Kiss (5/10)
Kind of a humdrum country-rock tinged song that’s short and simple, it’s alright but nothing to write home about. The lyric tells of an argument the night before and a kiss will reassure the singer in the relationship. It doesn’t have any typical production detail some of the other songs here and nothing really stands out about the performance.

Little Lamb Dragonfly (9/10)
Maybe only the 3rd or 4th song everyone here praised and liked one way or another through McCartney's catalog, add me as a big fan. This is what happens when Paul’s magical music is touched by good lyrics - we get a beautiful work of art that only the best can accomplish. One of his best deep cuts, this sprawling luxurious ballad has a great string arrangement that plays excellently alongside the acoustic guitar bed it rides over. Both the ‘little lamb’ and ‘dragonfly’ segments have the best melodies on the album along with “My Love”. Paul sounds sincere when he’s dipping deeper in the inkwell for a better lyric. There’s a bit of vagueness to the words to emphasis the message more than these 2 characters. “The years ahead will show how little we really know” is not only the best line on the album but Paul knows it and has it sit on a beautiful flute flourish. Perhaps there’s a la-la or two too many but it’s the centerpiece and strongest track of the album.

Single Pigeon (7/10)
Again I’m going with the majority - a good but not great song that has a fine melody and surprise horn arrangement emphasis the terrific cloudy night mood. That piano is so lonely on the first 2 verses. I’ve always thought this should have been lengthened with an additional part because I can see it being way better - still good as is. Like “One More Kiss” the theme is a fight the night before and dealing with it the next day.

When The Night (4/10)
I’m going to be the dissenter here and admit I have some trouble with this one. It’s plodding, repetitive, goes for a 60’s girl group backing vocal unsuccessfully, and it just constantly breaks up the song cutting off any flow or groove. The piano rolls like it lives in the 1950’s but it adds to the repetition. The lyric is poor especially because now the night is ‘yellow’ but in “Get On The Right Thing”, the sun was ‘yellow’. Not that it matters much anyway- just a trivial thing. Really though, I don’t mind 'the light of the night fell on me’ though it sounds off, it’s that he and they say it a zillion times, the song feels twice as long. Not much of a fan of the melody either.

Loup (1st Indian On The Moon) (7/10)
A pleasure to hear Paul go experimental with a psych instrumental that doesn’t fit with the rest of the songs but is a dark diversion that can be a real head trip. It’s split into an ambient opening before a rhythmic section follows before concluding with a funky ending. They're joined by some great instrumental buildups that link the segments. I didn’t like this at first but gradually, it showed enough to me once I realized it had 3 rhythms, the intense buildups and the unique texture.