POLL: How do you rate Paul McCartney's "Chaos & Creation in the Backyard" album?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by mrjinks, Apr 14, 2015.

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  1. Moonbeam Skies

    Moonbeam Skies Forum Resident

    Location:
    Phoenix, Arizona
    I find it to be torture.
     
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  2. Glenn Christense

    Glenn Christense Foremost Beatles expert... on my block

    I like the album, but it's not number one in my house, or the classic of classics for me like it is for some people here.
    I was surprised when I first got the record that it wasn't more "out there" with Nigel producing. The last two ballads at the end of the disc sounded like standard issue Paul ballads to me.
    Paul sounds pretty depressed throughout here.
     
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  3. Glenn Christense

    Glenn Christense Foremost Beatles expert... on my block

    Care to explain a bit ? It's always interesting to find out why people like, or don't like albums.
     
  4. Arnold Grove

    Arnold Grove Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    And one man's torture is another man's run-of-the-mill S&M session... ;)
     
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  5. mrjinks

    mrjinks Optimistically Challenged Thread Starter

    Location:
    Boise, ID.
    Spoken like the true "voice of experience" on the topic...

    :D
     
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  6. She is anyway

    She is anyway Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Minnesota, USA
    And one man's torture is another man's "Freedom"! :)
     
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  7. Arnold Grove

    Arnold Grove Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    I was going to say "different strokes for different folks"---but the "strokes" was a bit too much in the context. ;)
     
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  8. Arnold Grove

    Arnold Grove Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    And one man's "Freedom" is another man's torture, especially if it is Paul's song "Freedom".... ;)
     
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  9. She is anyway

    She is anyway Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Minnesota, USA
    Now I'm worried…What did you think I meant?
     
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  10. Arnold Grove

    Arnold Grove Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    My mind is a warped machine at times, so don't worry too much what I think. ;)
     
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  11. ampmods

    ampmods Forum Resident

    Location:
    Boston, MA, USA
    Jenny Wren
    At The Mercy
    Friends To Go
    Promise To You Girl

    All some of the very best things he's ever done. High quality Paul throughout.
     
  12. Hokeyboy

    Hokeyboy Nudnik of Dinobots

    I like it. I like it a lot. It gives me needs. Top rating.
     
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  13. Fivebyfive

    Fivebyfive Forum Resident

    Location:
    East coast, US
    I could have written this post -- except the bit about about Chaos being his best album since the Beatles. It's probably his best lyrically. He's more thoughtful, smart, and clear lyrically on Chaos than he was on his 70s albums, and he's less mushy and lazy on Chaos than he was in the 90s. But I don't think Chaos is as brilliant as Ram or as inventive as McCartney II. Chaos is his best late-career album, that's for sure, tho sometimes I prefer listening to Electric Arguments.

    The thing I think Nigel Godrich did well -- besides forcing Paul to try harder all around -- was to make the most of Paul's older voice. I was reading somewhere that Godrich really pushed Paul on his singing and I think it shows -- no odd vocal tics or screechy singing. I really appreciate Chaos more and more as the years go by. It's not as fun, or as musically adventurous and deranged as Ram or McCartney II. The vocals aren't as stunning as those on Ram. But as a statement of an artist late in life, it's wonderful. And it's too bad it doesn't get more love from general music fans (as opposed to from McCartney fans). It'd be nice if -- when the usual kneejerk comments are made about how Paul "hasn't delivered a great album since the Beatles," -- more people said, "Well what about Chaos and Creation. That's a great late-career album." Because it is. And it deserves to better known.
     
  14. She is anyway

    She is anyway Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Minnesota, USA
    Same here! Makes me think of a Gore Vidal line, "Don't worry what others think of you. That's not important. What's important is what you think of them." The important thing, I think, is we know what we think of "Freedom". Or something like that. :)
     
  15. mrjinks

    mrjinks Optimistically Challenged Thread Starter

    Location:
    Boise, ID.
    Someone should Check Your Machine.
     
  16. 905

    905 Senior Member

    Location:
    Midwest USA
    One of Macca's many masterpieces.
    I love it, rainy weather feeling but still nice music.
    Thank you for it, Paul.
     
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  17. Allen Michael

    Allen Michael Fuh you blue

    One of his all time best! So many great songs and great lyrics and melodies to boot! My faves are "How Kind Of You", "Too Much Rain" and "Promise to You Girl"
     
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  18. DK Pete

    DK Pete Forum Resident

    Location:
    Levittown. NY
    While Ram is my all time favorite of McCartney's, I think Chaos was his best and most consistent album since BOTR. I think that both Memory Almost Full and NEW are overrated so that puts Electric Arguments as his best since Chaos. What kept this album solid and consistent start to finish (more or less and in my personal opinion) is that Paul "allowed" himself to work with a young producer who wasn't afraid of tilting Paul off his pedestal just a tiny bit. If he had a bit more of that throughout the seventies, his albums wouldn't have had the inconsistency level which tended to bring them down in terms of song quality.
     
  19. I voted "Clearly one of his best works - essential listening for Paul fan".
    I think it's one of his three best solo efforts, along with "Band On The Run" & "Flaming Pie, a brilliant album!!!
     
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  20. OobuJoobu

    OobuJoobu Forum Resident

    Location:
    Yorkshire, UK
    Aside from the one weak link "Follow Me ", this is a great album that's showing no sign of losing its freshness.
     
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  21. Arnold Grove

    Arnold Grove Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    My local fireman has checked it out. He gives it the thumbs up and says, "It's a clean machine". ;)
     
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  22. Meddle

    Meddle Forum Resident

    Location:
    waxahachie TX USA
    One of his best
     
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  23. maccafan

    maccafan Senior Member

    It's a pretty solid effort that I do think is essential.

    It contains two of the best songs of McCartney's career, Too Much Rain and This Never Happened Before.

    What definitely takes away from the album is the producer!

    His first mistake was ditching McCartney's band.
    Second mistake was directing McCartney into melancholy, wanting him to be some tortured artist or something. I'm not looking for a therapy session from music, and definitely not from McCartney.

    I want McCartney to do what he does best, and to me this young producer didn't get that from McCartney, he only got traces of it.

    Paul McCartney comes from the generation of real rockers, his roots are in rock and roll, this producer didn't understand that, or didn't want to understand it. He's from the school of wanting an artist to make some kind of statement or something, that bare the soul type thinking.

    As a result, we got a much more downplayed piano driven album, it's good, but doesn't feature enough of the fantastic pop and rock songs that only McCartney can do. English Tea is the absolute worst, it sounds like something for children.

    Memory Almost Full and New feature more of that classic McCartney sound and that's why I listen to them way more than Chaos.
     
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  24. paulmccartneyistheman

    paulmccartneyistheman Forum Resident

    One of my favorite albums, but I have to be in the mood for it. It's brilliant, and a little depressing, but I find it very uplifting when down in the dumps.

    Too Much Rain, Friends to Go, At The Mercy are among my favorite Paul McCartney songs. Clearly one of his best works, but I prefer NEW.
     
  25. alamo54us

    alamo54us Forum Resident

    One of his best records. I always thought that "Chaos" sounded like Paul drawing on his Beatles past while "Memory" was drawing more from his Wings era. Just my .02.
     
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