POLL: How do you rate Paul McCartney's "Memory Almost Full" album?

Just another thought about Nod Your Head. Having done a strong medley of songs that close an album, perhaps Paul was reminded of Abbey Road & having an inconsequential ditty (Hey Majesty) deflate what might have been an overblown ending with The End. Maybe it was the fact that Abbey Road's medley concludes with The End & Memory's concludes with End Of The End. Either way, for Abbey Road it works to deflate - for Memory it does not.

I think, with Abbey Road, the fact that it ended so joyously allowed the listener to welcome a little surprise. But Memory's End Of The End leaves the listener sad & thoughtful and that mood is shattered by Nod Your Head.

"The love you take is equal to the love you make" is beautiful but, let's face it, it means nothing & is kind of 1960's nonsense (which gives me goosebumps anyway - such is the magic of McCartney at his best). End Of The End is a contemplation of death, so unusual for thumbs up Paul. Very powerful, especially after other tunes that were clearly Paul taking stock of his life. The Memory medley is some of the most blatantly personal stuff Paul has ever written. And then.......Nod Your Head. Grrrr.

 

There is a shady group of online subversives called "the unmasters" who tweak the squashed CD versions of popular albums to be less fatiguing and put out 24bit FLAC versions of their work. It's illegal to distribute, of course, but I think they tackled this album with surprisingly good results.

 

Have just never been able to connect to this album despite trying to numerous times over the years!

Voted "not bad" as it continued on from Chaos with its strong lyric writing but I have always felt that many of the arrangements just come across as Macca trying to be *too* clever when a more stripped-down approach might have served the songs better. Obviously that's my personal taste but I can't shake it and as such, next to Pipes of Peace and Driving Rain (sorry!), it's the McCartney album I listen to the least.

 

Not bad. Some tracks I love, others I don't care. I would give it a C. Unlike many here, I rank Driving Rain higher.

 

In his bonus disc commentary, Paul mentions deliberately placing "Nod Your Head" after "End Of The End" as an effort to make the album more re-playable. I think the money quote he gives regarding having "End" as a final track: "I'm not playing that again, too depressing."

I definitely see his point, but "Only Mama Knows" would have been the better kick-out-the-jams closer. "Nod" is a bit too noddy.

 

I absolutely consider it one of his best post-Beatles offerings, without question.

 

I love Paul...but too many of his releases are hodgepodge's of true moments of glory, along with boring middle-of-the-road tunes....unfortunately MAF is one of these. There are songs I could listen to all day...and those that I have to skip every time I listen. This is a common problem with his albums, with the exception of McCartney, Ram, Band on The Run, Back To The Egg, Tug Of War, Flaming Pie.....and New is growing on me.

 

I'm not a big fan of his solo work, but I think MAF is easily one his best albums, possibly even better than Band on the Run, which feels more inconsistent. Not that MAF is perfect, it's got some duff tracks of its own, but it's possibly my favorite of his all-original albums.

 

Solve two problems at once. Start the album stronger with Ever Present Past or something; zap "nod" and move "dance tonight" to the very end as a sort of "upbeat wake number" following Paul's departure.

 

I would support that because I don't like "Dance Tonight" and would find it easier to skip that way!

 

I agree with this. Also, MAF has some rocking songs (Only Mama Knows, That Was Me) that Chaos lacks. Having said that, I think Chaos is a much better album than MAF. My vote for MAF is 'Not bad' - there are some good songs, but also a few dull ones.

 

It's not that you're not supposed to comment on the sound - that's certainly fair game - I just would hope folks can evaluate the songs/music aside from the horribly loud mastering. The situation below is illustrative...

Very curious where you rated this album.

I would ask that folks envision their own "holy grail" album, whatever that may be - Abbey Rd, Dark Side, Who's Next, Sticky Fingers, whatever. If that album were mastered terribly, would you lower your rating for it?

That's what I meant by "evaluate the album for it's artistry (or lack thereof)" - hope that makes sense!

 

I'd like the album much more if Ever Present Past and End of the End were zapped. It might have been enough for me to up my vote from 'not bad' to 'solid.'

 

Self-indulgent self-satisfied and deliberately inaccessible. An enjoyable track or two and that's it. I was surprised to enjoy NEW so thoroughly because I'd thought he'd lost the gift on this one.

String bit before Only Mama Knows is a perfect example. Get over yourself. Too thought out by half.

 

Because I really like the whole album I'd be interested in other examples you think illustrate your points ?

 

Dance Tonight - Enjoyable
Ever Present Past - Enjoyable
See Your Sunshine - Self-Indulgent
Only Mama Knows - Self-Indulgent and overproduced
You Tell Me - Meh
Mr. Bellamy - Self-Indulgent, deliberately inaccessible
Gratitude - Self-Indulgent
Vintage Clothes Medley - Take your pick
House of Wax - overproduced in a failed attempt to be grandiose but might like it if stripped down
The End of The End - Enjoyable
Nod Your Head - self-indulgent

The best songs on MAF aren't as good as the worst songs on Flaming Pie, which I'm not even that in love with.

 

Ah, damn. Editability expired before I could say:
Vintage Clothes Medley - Take your pick, it's not very very very very very very hard (considering one of the songs is literally an expression of self-satisfaction).

Oh, well. Stuff occurs to me in the shower.

 

I pretty much agree with your song by song opinions.

 

Substantially hyped as a triumph, but no there there, IMO.

 

It is bad. His voice is weak and most of the songs have no hooks.

 

A pretty solid effort

 

Option #2. Just the song "Ever Present Past" was a better tune than I ever expected to hear from Paul at this stage of his career - it was like he had gotten excited about coming up with a great & catchy song again and succeeded in a big way. Ditto for both "Mr. Bellamy" and "Only Mama Knows".

 

It's a good album. Some really strong tracks there. But overall, I don't take it as seriously as he previous album, Chaos & Creation, or his following one, Electric Arguments. I think MAF is the epitome of latter-day fluff in his catalog. It can be plenty of fun, but it's all light weight. It was the first time I bought one of his albums on the release date, at a Starbucks to boot!! I think he tried to be ambitious, with the medley, but it's a bit contrived. Dance Tonight was a catchy single, but it's really not that special. Ever Present Past is a classic. See Your Sunshine has the great bass. Mr. Bellamy is fun and different. Why So Blue is a great song, bonus track or not. Vintage Clothes is a very fun track too, by far my favorite part of the medley. The album's production isn't too good, especially the mastering, another big negative in comparison to his other albums.

I don't think he took it as seriously as C&C, or NEW, and I don't either, but I enjoy it for what it is, and its best moments rank with the best of his work.

 

I scored this album in the middle but would have placed it much higher if not for the slam-and-buzz saw sound quality. Someone needs to remix this thing.

 

Solid Effort --- good album, with a lot of good stuff on it. "Only Mama Knows" is one of his best rockers, in a Junior's Farm style. "Ever Present Past" is catchy..
I like "House of Wax", and the medley at the end, with the "Nod Your Head" closing track. "Dance Tonight" is fun. "See Your Sunshine" is nice. I think "The End Of The End" is one of the bravest and most sincere and introspective songs Paul has ever written -- facing his immortality.

I can leave "Gratitude", not wild about "Mr. Bellamy".... and I really hate that lazy "very very very very very hard" bit on "Feet In The Clouds"...