POLL: How do you rate Paul McCartney's "Flowers In The Dirt" album?

It was a change in times in addition to Paul.

This One is a most likely a top 10 hit 5 years earlier. The fact that it barely made the top 100 isn't Paul's issue.

But yes, this album (actually starting with Press) does mark that his time for hits had passed.

As far as the album, it is a very good EP - like many of Paul's albums.

 

I might be one of the very few people (at least willing to admit) that I adore "Motor of Love". One of his greatest solo songs IMHO. So there! I also love "Distractions"!!

 

You and @knarf need to get a room!

 

Heard that tune in McDonalds( of all places) when the album came out. Stood out like a McCartney lost classic.

 

I think that you have made a very good point: these songs were written to take out on tour and they all worked well in a live setting. I especially love the live at Knebworth version of We Got Married, where it rocks harder than the studio version.

 

I had so much expectation for this, with My Brave Face as the lead single.
VERY disappointed. The only other song that masured up was This One, which blew me away.
I can tolerate Rough Ride and How Many People, but they aren't on my 'a' list of solo Paul.
But then again, I love PS Love Me Do on the Japan bonus disc, so I'm a mutant.

 

I voted pretty solid, for two reasons: first, I think the first 8 songs are really great pop songs (maybe the weakest is "You Want Her Too", which seems to me a little bit rhetoric). Secondly, I was 20 when the album came out and I have fond memories of it. The album was heavily publicized at the time, and went to no. 1 also in Italy: Paul was really all over the place.
I got to admit that the last four tracks (except for "That Day Is Done", which is great but badly produced) penalize the album. As the Chicago Tribune said: "Paul Is Back. Well, Almost." That sums up the whole thing, I think.

 

Yes. I live in New York City, but I used to get rebroadcasts of some Italian TV station at the time in the 1980s and 1990s. And one day (probably in 1989, when Flowers In The Dirt came out), I was flipping through the TV channels and I came across a rebroadcast of some Italian TV show where they announced that Paul McCartney would be a special musical guest. I can't remember the exact show, but he performed My Brave Face and This One (if my memory is correct). It was a real unexpected treat. Arnie

 

I think it's a very strong effort. The only song I really dislike is How Many People. Motor of Love isn't actually that bad in terms of melody and music, it just has an awful lyric/metaphor which makes it impossible to enjoy.

My Brave Face *should* now be regarded as a classic, since Macca should have been playing it for the last 20 years. But he hasn't so it's forgotten about and trapped in its eighties skin. I really like the Trevor Horn tracks (Rough Ride, Figure Of Eight... and, yes, Ou Est Le Soleil). I hated the single version of Figure of Eight though which to these ears made the song less poppy and more of a unsubtle plodding rocker. Bonus track, The Loveliest Thing, was ludicrously hidden away on one of the Figure of Eight CD singles. That track blew me away when I first heard it and realised it was a 'new' unheard recording.

There was a great feature in Musician magazine in the early nineties where Elvis Costello went into a lot of detail about how Paul used humour to brush aside other people's suggestions and get his own way. Costello would suggest bouncing stuff down to 'lose quality' and roughen up the production and PM was having none of it. If he'd only put a bit of faith in Costello's ideas the album might sound less dated now than it actually does (although I don't personally have much of an issue with how it sounds).

 

I've heard plenty of excuses to go back on the road, but mostly these have to do with the movements of small green pieces of paper.

Flowers in the Dirt has a better excuse; this is where Paul finally starts taking his career seriously. Working with Elvis Costello pushed him to write stronger material and the result ranks just below Tug of War as his best '80's albums, even if production wise it's starting to date itself and badly.

"My Brave Face", "Rough Ride", "We Got Married", "Put It There", "Figure of Eight" and "This One" are must hears.

 

The songs are very good overall, it's the production that hasn't aged well.

 

Solid effort, I absolutely love Motor Of Love!

 

Lower tier for me

I LOVE put it there. That's a fantastic tune and one of my favorite Paul tunes beatles, wings or solo

My brave face is a solid tune as well

Biker like an icon is stupid catchy as well but it is stupid catchy

We got married is rather eh in some ways but given I first heard it on tripping the live fantastic highlights (maybe the 5th album I ever owned back as a fresh in high school) I like it more for sentimental reasons

But the rest I could live without. Not one of his best though it is much better than many of his late 70s and early 80s albums

I must admit though I really dislike Elvis Costello, and that blend didn't work for me...

 

"This One" may have been a hit in 84, heck somehow "Spies Like Us" became a hit, but by '89 "This One" sounded nothing like the hits of the day. Not a bad song but wholly out of step with the times as far as hits go. Ditto on "My Brave Face", some interesting parts but the title may have turned some people off. Paul's "issue" was that he lost the midas touch, but did have a good 20 year run of hit making.If he was able to write better songs and stay contemporary he still would have had hits.

 

I LOVE this album. What a great change from most of his 80s work. "My Brave Face" is easily a top five McCartney song for me and "This One" "Put it There" and "We Got Married" are great. I wish Rough Ride sounded more like the live version as the studio version has an odd 80s sound, but overall this great album.

 

I strongly maintain that the two songs Macca should of been playing for the last 25 years are My Brave Face and Figure of Eight.

 

Actually, I rather liked it. A couple of weak spots perhaps, but in my view pretty solid and his second strongest 80s album after Tug of War. I think the Elvis Costello collaboration worked really well. I remember Paul saying in an interview at the time that Elvis had been good for him in a similar way to John (Lennon), in that EC hadn't been afraid to have an opinion during the creative process, I.e., to tell Paul if he thought something was **** or not. The other Macca album where collaboration was a pretty big factor was, of course, Flaming Pie - which I think many of us would agree was the last REALLY strong album he's given us. In that particular case he worked with with Jeff Lynne and Steve Miller, two more guys who clearly don't get pushed around, and having that foil is obviously great for the end product...

 

I fully agree. My Brave Face is beautifully Beatlesque and Figure Of Eight has a great groove.

 

It's a good album. Generally thought of as a return to form back then. Like most of McCartney's recordings, it sounds great and is beautifully produced. I bought the album upon its release and then the remastered version with bonus tracks a few years later.

 

I rated it "Clearly one of his best works". It's not a perfect album, but I thought the second option was a little too vague/weak: "A pretty solid effort - worth recommending". It's better than that in my opinion. I love most of the songs on the album, even the "eccentric"/experimental bonus track "Ou Est Le Soleil". Actually, the only song I don't really care for all that much is the first single "My Brave Face".

 

I voted Lower Tier McCartney. I haven't heard it in nearly 20 years, but I remember liking only a couple of songs when I had it on tape in the early 90s. I preferred On The Ground which I also had on tape around that time, I actually remember nearly all of the songs from that one. From Flowers In The Dirt I only remember "My Brave Face" and "Motor Of Love".

 

I don't know how I'd rate this one. When I look at the tracklist , the only song that seems pretty blah to me is "How Many People", and "Motor of Love" is a little too over the top for my taste.

But, considering that I like/can tolerate most of the songs I guess, I never feel the need to play the album.Usually , my feelings about an album are pretty clear cut and stay consistent , but
Flowers In the Dirt falls into Limbo land for me I guess.

 

A pretty solid effort.

 

In order to fix that problem I made a playlist that added Loveliest Thing, Back On My Feet and Flying To My Home at the expense of the two songs that you mentioned. I also replaced You Want Her Too with the much superior (IMO) demo version. This has added some spark to the album, and allows me to enjoy the great songs like Put It There, My Brave Face, This One, That Day Is Done and Distractions and the good songs like Figure Of Eight, We Got Married and Rough Ride (all of which were much better live IMO).

 

Uh-oh, it's time for an intervention by ... THE FACT POLICE!!
Why are you mentioning Biker Like An Icon in your comments about this album? Do you have a rare Uzbekistan pressing with an early version of Biker or something?