POLL: How do you rate Paul McCartney's "Off The Ground" album?

Hope of Deliverance is a great track, and The Lovers That Never Were. The rest of the album? Nope.

For me, McCartney II was the last brilliant album before Macca's 80s/90s dry spell began, as it did for so many artists of his generation. And OTG is just more in the the 80s/90s vein of adult contemporary mush. Paul's work didn't get good again until Flaming Pie.

 

It is essential listening for ME. The fact that it is almost universally derided works just fine for me. What I like most about it (the hippie ethos running through most of the lyrics) seems to be the very thing that detractors mention first.

 

I love "Winedark Open Sea" and consider it one of the most underrated (there's that word again) McCartney tracks. Nothing else on the album is quite that good to me but nothing makes me totally cringe, not even "Biker".

I like it better than "Flowers in the Dirt", even, but I still think that it's more a step in a positive direction than a truly good album on its own terms.

 

At that point, better than anything since Tug Of War.

 

One fo my favorite albums really not one of the best but this song came out my junior year in high school and I fell in love with it day one! I use to listen to it before going out with my girlfriend at the time!

 

A very worthy follow-up to the fantastic comeback Flowers In The Dirt, but a bit more average.

The Off the Ground band was always my favorite McCartney band. Their chemistry is almost as natural and communal as that of Wings '76. Their infectious musical joy was in full bloom on the Unplugged album. Here they get one last chance to shine.
Hamish Stuart was ultimately under-utilized, but his backing vocals and presence gave that material a unique soulful component in the McCartney domain. Alone from this it was clear, he had to go soon.
Besides David Gilmour, Robbie McIntosh was the last really interesting guitarist McCartney worked with. He should have stayed with him.
Wix was definitely a professional but a bit faceless, still the perfect addition for Linda. I always ask myself why it was him who became the only lasting member of McCartney's band?
Lastly Blair Cunningham on drums was probably a bit too slick for McCartney, but he did have the right sunshine personality for that band.

Unfortunately some rather insecure sound production decisions - programmed percussion, bland synths etc. render some of the songs (Off The Ground, Hope Of Deliverance) a bit anonymous.
But there were songs, real McCartney evergreens that shone proudly, effortlessly and confidently like there were with us forever... C'mon People, Hope Of Deliverance, I Owe It All To You, Bike Like An Icon, Golden Earth Girl... In my opinion that was the very last time Paul McCartney attempted - and succeeded - to be commercially and musically relevant.
Ever since then, he was running a nostalgia show more or less.

 

I play it a lot , ok some of the lyrics in some of the songs aren't great but the performance more than make up for them.
"Winedark Open Sea" , " I Owe It All To You" "Mistress And Maid" & "The Lovers That Never Were" are outstanding.

Peace and love✌

 

Bland, bloodless, soporific----maybe more than any of his other albums.
Even his singing lacks the usual passion.
Trying a little too hard----while trying hard not to look like he is trying too hard.
Some of the songs sounded better live.
He's sounded much less inhibited, self-conscious on most of the albums that have followed-----which is good.

 

One of his best. Strong melodies and performances throughout, and some of his most socially conscious lyrics since "Eleanor Rigby." All killer,no filler.

 

The production and lyrics at times, completely suckss That's the biggest problem IMO. Songwriting is fine to great (lyrics, not so much).

But plenty of those songs are fantastic ("Lovers That Never Were", "Off the Ground", "Mistress and Maid") and if "Get Out of My Way" had been produced like a REAL Paul rocker, it would have been a stand-out.

"Get Out of My Way" gets lost IMO because it deserved a "Junior's Farm" treatment - not the cheesy "production" it got.

Jeff

 

I very much agree with your 'Get Out Of My Way' point; it would be so much better if it had been performed and produced in a similar way to Junior's Farm.

 

I agree, I love the B-sides from this release.

 

It's decent - not great. The 2nd disc of the 2CD version is better than the 1st. I think he had some better tracks as b sides than on the proper album.

 

Not bad....but not good either.

 

I love this one. And the B-sides make it a double album. I missed this one and "Flowers" when they were new albums: I was into other stuff at the time and didn't have time for new McCartney. I finally picked this up in the late 90s, on CD, for about $2. I was on the cusp of getting married and starting a family, and this album was the perfect soundtrack for that happy moment in my life. "Peace in the Neighborhood" didn't sound embarrassing to me at all. Still doesn't. Best thing I ever saw was a man who his wife, in a place where things were good: I felt peace in the neighborhood. Works for me, man.

 

Despite feeling that some of the lyrics on the album are just too clumsy, the ones that you quote from Peace In The Neighbourhood are amongst my favourite McCartney lyrics. It was quite brave for a 'rock star' to say something like that, but it shouldn't be.

 

The peaceful, loving 'Hippie ethos' of the album is something that I really enjoy; I just personally wish that in some cases he had spent more time working on the lyrics, because he doesn't have John's talent when it comes to simple political lyrics IMO.

Although Paul had always written the occasional political song, from Give Ireland Back To The Irish to Wild Life and How Many People, there is no other album in his solo catalogue that is as consistently political as OTG, and the other songs from those sessions. It seems that his return to touring, mixed in with the information that he learned from Friends Of The Earth, left him feeling that he should be more political in his songs, and during his concerts. This definitely shows on OTG, and it obviously reminded him of his time in the 60's (thus the inclusion of Cosmically Conscious).

I feel that it is a good thing that he tried to promote love, peace, family and the protection of the Earth, but I think that he fell into a similar trap to the one that John did on Sometime In New York City: some of the songs suffered at the expense of the message.

One of the animal rights songs on the album, 'Golden Earth Girl' is one of my favourites, but it is also frustrating because it shows what he could achieve with political lyrics if he put the effort in. I just wish that he had been as creative with the other political songs on the album, although I do very much enjoy and appreciate the line about 'the man who loves his wife' in Peace In The Neighbourhood, even if the rest of the lyrics are not as strong as those in Golden Earth Girl.

Still, I find it hard to criticise him too much for it; he was obviously very enthusiastic about the political issues that he mentioned in the songs, and that enthusiasm and passion still comes through, even if the lyrics are a bit clunky.

 

Me too. At present I feel it's Macca's most underrated album.

 

I do find it surprising that some McCartney fans dismiss it outright; even though I don't enjoy every song on the album, it does still have songs like The Lovers That Never Were, Hope Of Deliverance, Off The Ground, Mistress and Maid, Winedark Open Sea, etc.

I will never write off any album where I enjoy at least half of the songs, and none of the songs offend me in any way, not even the much maligned Biker Like An Icon.

 

And I also like songs you haven't even named there: "Come On People", "Looking For Changes", "I Owe It All To You"...

As far as I'm concerned, "Biker" may sound silly in its wording, but I love the crescendo Paul works up to as it progresses.

 

Exactly. I especially agree regarding 'C'mon People', which I consider to be one of his most underrated songs. I feel that it has a grand, Beatlesque quality to it, and wish that he continued to play it live.

 

Definitely agree with you about "C'mon People"... just very grand. I think someone in another thread (was it you?) referred to it as a latter day "Hey Jude". I think it has a similar quality.

 

It wasn't me, but I can definitely see what that person meant.

We are not the only fans of the song of course; George Martin listened to it and said something like 'You've done it again'.

 

Hmm...I think this is his worst album ever and am somewhat amazed by the admiration of it from some of the good people on this forum. I like the verses to C'mon people but that's about it. Sounds like he was making a record for the sake of it to me

 

It does seem to be one of his albums that splits his fans the most.

Are there any songs on the album that you like? What do feel about The Lovers That Never Were and Winedark Open Sea?

Could it be the production that is ruining the songs for you? I much prefer the live version of Get Out Of My Way.

By the way, is your avatar photo from that French film with the giant angel?