POLL: How do you rate Paul McCartney & Wings "Red Rose Speedway" album?

Agreed, I always liked the first 5 albums from Paul, they are definitely essential listening records. Can't wait too hear Red Rose & Wildlife remastered.

 

Solid effort.

 

And it would be DEAD LAST on my list!

Of the regular studio albums, anyway...

 

Pretty solid effort. Mostly good, a couple turds, but a quite pleasant listen.

 

I voted for Clearly One Of His Best Works. I feel that the album suffers because it is not rocking enough for some, and because it was the album before BOTR, but neither of those issues bother me.

I love the warm and lush production, which really highlights how beautiful the ballads on the album are. With the exception of the harmless, but fairly forgettable experiment that was Loup (1st Indian On The Moon), I enjoy every song on the album. Paul really was at his melodic best on this album and you can certainly tell that some of these songs were written at the same time as the Ram songs.

Big Barn Bed is one of my favourite opening songs on a McCartney album, it is a great, melodic, stomping opener that I always love listening to. I really hope that he plays it live at some point, I know that he has been sound-checking it occasionally recently.

My Love is a classic McCartney ballad and deserved hit, although I can see that it would be too 'sappy' for some, but I personally think that it is a wonderful song.

Both Get On The Right Thing and One More Kiss are underrated melodic album tracks IMO, Right Thing has a great Paul vocal and good groove, and One More Kiss is a fantastic White Album style country ballad.

Little Lamb Dragonfly is the masterpiece of the album as far as I am concerned, one of Paul's most incredible songs, with or without the Beatles. It is a tour-de-force of a composition, beautifully merging the different parts of the song together. Paul's vocal is again wonderful, and I am extremely thankful to Denny for suggesting that it be recorded for the album. Paul has a unique style of songwriting that no-one else really has, where he can string many different parts into one song, as seen on BOTR, Live and Let Die, Uncle Albert, The Pound Is Sinking, etc. Dragonfly is arguably my favourite of all of these, it is that good, and no-one else could have written it.

Single Pigeon is another wonderful song, my second favourite on the album, with a beautiful melody and interesting lyrics. I only wish that it was longer.

When The Night is a lovely excursion into R&B/Soul, and I especially like the dinky guitar solo. I have always wished that someone would cover this, I can imagine a female soul singer doing a great job with the song.

Now comes the medley, which I personally am a fan of, although I don't think that Power Cut is as good as the other songs, which might be why some see the medley as anti-climatic. It is simply three nice and catchy song snippets joined together, like Paul does so often, ending in the not quite as good Power Cut.

I personally wish that the album had been a double album; Paul has never released one, and I think that it might have gained more fans had he added some rockers like The Mess, Soily, Best Friend, Night Out, and maybe even Rode All Night, all of which were considered and/or available to go on the album. I also think that I Lie Around has the same lush 'RRS Sound' and would have gone perfectly on the album, and the brilliant Country Dreamer would also have added even more substance and quality. Mama's Little Girl and his wonderful cover of Tragedy would also have gone nicely.
Had he included all of these songs, whilst leaving off Loup, the album would be an absolute classic IMO.

Hopefully the reissue will include all of the songs that were considered for the double album.

 

Great analysis!! I agree with everything except your feelings on Loup. That song took me years to like, but this forum made me think of it differently. I focus on the drums in the song, because this is a great Denny S. showcase. Also, Paul's bass grooves a lot, especially in the second half of the song. That's when Denny's drums are at their best, too.

I have recently realized that I listen to RRS more than any McCartney album. Does that mean it's my favorite? Not necessarily, but it just doesn't get worn out for me.

 

I like it a lot more than it probably deserves. This is largely down to it being released when I was 8 years old. It is a record I grew up with so it has that nostalgic glow to me. Little Lamb Dragonfly is one of McCartney's finest songs and I always liked the cover and the packaging of the LP.

Actual quality is therefore distorted by sentimental value to me and I voted it a pretty solid effort.

 

Lower tier. I only really enjoy "Big Barn Bed" and "My Love". I may be the only McCartney fan who doesn't get what's so great about "Little Lamb Dragonfly".

 

The only thing good about this album wasn't even on the original LP - it came years later, when they tacked on the hit single "Hi Hi Hi" as a bonus track. (And also when the studio outtake "The Mess" was leaked on a bootleg.)

 

I like it more now than I did when it was released. I lived and died waiting for records by (the then) ex Beatles to be released. As I've mentioned about a couple other releases, this was released only three years or so after the Beatles were history, and I hadn't adjusted to the fact that most of the ex Fabs releases weren't going to be Beatles worthy. There, I've said it.

At the time, many of the songs on RRS seemed like half realized ideas to my ears, potentially good but they somehow never had that final oompf to kick them over the edge to make me think yes..that's very satisfying.
At the time, "Big Barn Bed", "My Love" and "Little Lamb Dragonfly" were my clear favorites but things like "Single Pigeon," "One More Kiss" and "When the Night" seemed kind of listless and slight to my ears and..yes, Linda's harmonizing annoyed me in places on the album also. I can accept the songs as little interesting vingnette's now, but when I first bought the album I expected more.


Something like "Loup" was really disappointing to me. This little triffle is on an album by PAUL McCARTNEY, EX BEATLE? Say it ain't so. The entire medley struck me as too cutesy and "Power Cut" was a pretty lame drift off to end the album. Ram had "Backseat of My Car" with the great ending/false ending and return thing and Wildlife had "Dear Friend," a track that had some weight and sincerity to it. "Power Cut"? On first listening I had hoped it would kick up a notch by the end of the song, but the title was correct. A total cutting of power..and interest.

Most of the album sounded like sort of cutesty unsatisfying pap to me when it was released and it killed me to think that at the time. I hung on the glory of the three songs I've mentioned. They gave me faith that Paul was still capable of a killer track, in spite of most of the evidence here.

 

I've always liked it a lot. I wish it was next in line for the Archive re-issues..

 

Red Rose & Wild Life are Paul's most interesting records, I wish they would release them.

 

I voted "lower tier." This is the album that started my teenage self to thinking that maybe Paul really was dead and some imposter had taken his place. "Single Pigeon" is poignant and lovely, but it's really the only first-rate song on the album. "Get on the Right Thing" is catchy. Most of the rest is forgettable, including "My Love," which is Paul on autopilot. Seriously, this is the guy who wrote "Here, There and Everywhere" and "Maybe I'm Amazed"??? But the section that really kills it for me is the ending medley, which struck me then and now as Paul channeling Bobby Sherman with disturbing accuracy. Absolute, utter drivel. After this album I seriously started dreading new Paul releases until he came back to life with Band on the Run -- and not a moment too soon.

 

I think "My Love" fits right in that family.

 

It really wasn't a long wait at all as Band On The Run came out about 6 months after Red Rose Speedway.

Arnie

 

This is another album I didn't buy until 30 years later. Famously, the album before BOTR. You can hear him getting into his stride too, though it's not one of his strongest albums overall. As someone said in an earlier post, I like it more than I probably should. It's a pleasant listen and the start of his real 70's hit streak. Always liked the gatefold sleeve with the lyric book attached in the middle.

 

Everything comes to he who waits. He said hopefully!

 

Along with 'mccatneyII' it is one of my least favourite mccartney albums..the single 'my love' is epic and wonderful..the album in general was very poor although the melody suite of songs are good.

 

I find it interesting how diverse the opinions are for this album. Some people rate "My Love" up there with "Hey Jude" and "Maybe I'm Amazed"; others detest it. Some think the medley is as bad as Bobby Sherman; others think it is brilliant. Some people's favorite tune is "Little Lamb Dragonfly"; others do not think it is anything special. There are even some people who praise "Loup", even though they know they shouldn't.

It will definitely be a perfect choice for a future Archive release because it is due for a complete re-evaluation, especially with the inclusion of the potentially numerous bonus tracks from that period.

Arnie

 

Love this strange and patchy album. A solid effort with some true favourites. Get on the right thing and Little lamb dragonfly-Beatles quality from the Ram sessions. My love-a true classic ballad. Only one more kiss -lovely. The meddle- actually much better than given credit for. Loop-maybe not great but some kick a-as bass. Great album

 

Never heard DRIVING RAIN?

 

I've chosen the middle option.

I know I should make more of an effort with it as I've had two LP copies of it and played them probably only twice each... definitely no more than that. There are good songs on there but it feels like a bit of a hard one to get into because it simply doesn't have that many memorable songs IMO. And in truth, it only really got a second play from me because of My Love. But then, it took me a time to get into Ram and it's a favourite now.

I've decided (looking at the other McCartney/Wings threads floating around today) to put some of their/his albums to one side for listening over the weekend, as I've been re-listening to some of his most recent albums this week and this would be a very logical one.

 

Sometimes I can get to appreciate a Macca album after I play it many times. In truth, just about all Paul's releases took me several listens before they really sunk in and I grew to "know" them. But even so, sometimes when an album strikes you as a dog, it stays a dog no matter how many times you re-listen. For me, RED ROSE SPEEDWAY, PRESS TO PLAY, PIPES OF PEACE, and DRIVING RAIN just never improved. I wound up really liking McCARTNEY II, TUG OF WAR, FLAMING PIE, and NEW (for examples) even though I distinctly recall scratching my head the first one or two times I listened! And I place FLAMING PIE and NEW in my Top 5 today.

 

Please: One pile of trash at a time. No need to overdue it in one day...

(Seriously I vastly prefer Red Rose Speedway over Driving Rain, although I often joke about how "great" Driving Rain is.)

Arnie