POLL: How do you rate Paul McCartney & Wings "Back To The Egg" album?

Given the lively debate in the BTTE thread, thought it might be fun to use the same rating scale as in the recent poll on McCartney's "New" album and see where they land, comparison-wise.

As with that poll, please only vote if you've heard the entire album, and please vote based on YOUR frame of reference as to what a good McCartney album is, not in terms of critical reception or perceived popularity.

And if you hate McCartney, please quietly move on to another thread - thanks!

 

I voted Lower Tier. I do feel it is clearly one of his worst within the rock genre, but my estimation of his quality over all is such that even with it being clearly one of his worst, I would not reccomend it be avoided at all cost. He hasn't done anything in the rock genre I would say yhat about, though I would give that distinction to Liverpool Oratorio and the soundtrack to The Family Way.

 

I'm always amazed by how so many either dismiss or backhand compliment this record. After Band On The Run it's the most rocking, toughest LP he's ever made. His last "rock" gasp before falling into almost total MOR medicority. Like a lot of other artists, I think he saw what was happening with the punk scene and upped his game because of it. It's a shame this iteriation of Wings only lasted for this one full LP. Laurence Juber and Steve Holly really gave Paul's music a much needed kick in the pants.

 

As posted in the other thread, I see no connection at all between how rocking or tough a record is and how much I enjoy it, and I don't equate ballads with mediocrity.
I like Little Lamb Dragonfly more than any rocker he's written in his solo/Wings career, and my favorite song by anyone is For No One.

 

It's one of his best. However, it is a group album by Wings (not a solo work).

 

Good point!! I wanted to use the exact same wording as the "New" poll, but clearly I could've dropped one word. I'll know for the future - thanks!

 

One of his very best

 

I said Solid Effort - Worth Recommending.

 

Solid effort. Great side one, so-so side 2. But more good than bad. A decent record.

Why we keep being asked to analyze our feelings regarding this particular record I don't know! Pretty soon I'm going to change my opinion of it just out of spite.

 

I voted "Clearly one of his best" because that's the way I feel about it...but it's not an album I would recommend to a McCartney novice. I feel like you have to dig in to his catalog a little bit more before you can give BTTE a fair listen.

I think you can really boil it down to a listen to "Getting Closer." That song hit me immediately and to this day I've never gotten tired of it, and actively make an effort to hear it frequently. But I've played it for people who can't get past the lyrics and just enjoy the song. If you don't immediately cringe when you hear "Say you don't love him, my salamander," then you'll probably dig BTTE. If that line gives you reservations, maybe it's not for you.

 

It's average....like the majority of McCartney's releases.

 

For me it's between the top two voting choices. I think its a terrific album but here's the problem--as a long time McCartney fan I'm not being objective. Subjectively, I think it's a terrific album but not necessarily his best album. That doesn't mean I don't enjoy it though.

 

Lower tier. Few good songs. If I had never heard any of it no great loss. Pedestrian at best...and boring.

 

I held off voting 'til I heard the album again; having done that, here are my thoughts.

Back to the Egg is a base hit rather than a home run. The sequence from "To You" to "The Broadcast" is possibly the worst stretch on any of Macca's albums (he says knowing full well he's listened to "Eleanor's Dream" at least twice) and the late-night cocktail jazz of "Baby's Request" is an odd way to end the album, but it does have some Macca's strongest rockers, "Getting Closer", "Spin It On", "Old Siam Sir" and even "Rockestra Theme".

That being said, even the best tracks here aren't as good as "Daytime Nighttime Suffering", the B-side to "Goodnight Tonight".

 

Where's the "I don't care for Wings/solo McCartney" option?

 

I voted "not bad". I really like some of it and I really dislike some of it too. It is the album where, more than any other he fails to get away with the strategy of writing lyrics for sound rather than meaning. He has always done that right back to the Beatles. Sometimes it is genius (Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey). Sometimes it is drivel (Bip Bop). Here it steers close to the latter in a lot of cases. Incidentally, I don't hate the"my salamander" lyric. I think that is a perfectly legitimate image/metaphor. What I hate is rhyming it with "don't answer" which just sounds clumsy, lazy and wrong which really is a shame because musically and vocally Getting Closer is one of his most powerful rockers.

 

Get the EMI Electrola vinyl - it sounds phenomenal, the SQ will make you happy to be alive and appreciate the album more

 

I voted solid effort. I feel it is better then the lukewarm reception it received when it was first released. Many of the early McCartney solo albums were mostly panned by the critics looking for Beatlesque results. Cherries cover, Ram, Wildlife, Red Rose on down the line were ripped as poor efforts at the time of their release. In hindsight I think most would say that they all have much more merit then they were given credit for at the time. Back to the Egg was typical McCartney for me. Very tuneful with a lot going on musically but lacking a little lyrically.

 

Touche' My feelings exactly.

 

It may have been London Town that first got me interested in McCartney's post-Beatles career, but Back to the Egg was the album that really made me pay serious attention to his solo works. Now, about 35 years later it's still my favourite McCartney album - and most likely it will remain so.

 

A great sounding and enjoyable album IMO, though not my favourite Wings release (SOS, LT, BOTR, V&M then BTTE.)

I'm not as familiar with it as the ones I prefer.. I've heard it about half a dozen times, whereas I've heard the others maybe 100x a piece or some considerably more! I first heard them when they were recent releases (or soon-ish after) but BBTE only properly last year, when I got the LP. I had it on cassette once, but it was some sort of weird 80s European pirate thing that I was given around 2005 and the sound on those tapes was terrible- so that didn't help me get into it and I don't think it got a second play! Oddly, it's one of the very few Wings albums I rarely see used copies of in the places I look for a lot of secondhand music - charity shops and the like, otherwise I would have been certain to grab a copy ages ago!

But I think it's a very good - it would be excellent if they put Goodnight Tonight/Daytime Nighttime Suffering on it though and I might have had a copy of it at the time, it that were the case... It keeps growing on me, each time I play it now and so I selected the second option above.

 

My vote: A pretty solid effort - worth recommending. I love it, but I wouldn't rate it as one of his best.

 

Clearly one of his best solo works - essential listening for Paul fans

Taking every song for what it is and not for what it's not, I enjoy BTTE immensely every time I listen to it and I have since the moment I "discovered" it in 1990.

 

*
A pretty solid effort - worth recommending

 

For me Arrow Thru Me is worth the price all by itself.

Getting Closer is one of those songs I still to this day don't understand why he doesn't perform it? The Salamander line doesn't bother me at all, to me that is a very trivial element of the song, this is rock and roll so why does some word even matter?

I could understand if it was something vulgar or offensive, but a harmless word like Salamander, I just don't see the big deal? The song is a very good rocking performance.

I'm a big fan of McCartney's singing, so I love Million Miles and Love Awake, his singing is so soulful on those two songs.

To me it's essential!