I received my copy of the RRS box from Amazon. It was a great deal at $83 plus $18 shipping, but the Amazon packaging was extremely flimsy - just an outer box and some bubble wrap on one side only. Fortunately, no damage. I got lucky, but the lesson is you take your chances when ordering from Amazon.
I don t really mind Biker like an icon. It s perhaps a somewhat failed experiment but nothing offensively bad Get enough I personally find to be a very good and moody song wrapped in a Bon Iveresque arrangement that I don t mind at all Spies like us ain t great However-imo-those mentioned above are nowhere near the true mediocrisity of Freedom or some of the Press to play stuff. Did I mention Motor of Love
Biker Like An Icon and Get Enough are not necessarily bad songs (the first one is great imo) but odd choices for singles, that's the thing
Exactly, context is everything. If Biker had been a fourth track on a CD single people would happy shine a torch on it as a fun curio. Freedom is the worst tho’. I like to reimagine it as a song about Sweden.
Still loving these new Archive collections though, I have a appreciation for Red Rose that I didn’t have before(I used to be indifferent but now I can say I really like it). I do prefer the style of Wild Life. Wings Over Europe is amazing, but I prefer Wings Over America, it’s a tough pick though.
Regarding "Biker Like An Icon," Paul said it was a play on words from a phrase about Linda's cameras ("She had a Leica, now a Nikon"). It's not the first time or the last that he's taken a phrase, changed a word or two, and come up with something different. "Helen Wheels" stands out to me ("Hell on wheels") for example. As for it being a single, note that the single also include the live version — because it was part of the New World Tour set list, and the band really enjoyed playing it. Worst single of Paul's? That's a personal choice. The instrumental version of "Uncle Albert," the riff-based "Old Siam Sir," the annoying voiced "Temporary Secretary," the unfinished-but-lead single "Press," the multiple remixes of "Ou Est Le Soleil" and more are all equal qualifiers. Does this relate to Wild Life and Red Rose Speedway though? Of course it does. "Big Barn Bed" is lyrical nonsense, while "Night Out" and "Mumbo" both had vocals thrown on top of them without little attention to what was being said lyrically. Other cuts, like "Thank You Darling," are also based on simple ideas. It's the McCartney charm. Sometimes he has a great hook that elevates the piece beyond what it should have on paper. Red Rose Speedway is chock full of them, which may explain why EMI thought that album worked better as a single LP. Alternatively, EMI could have just been prats like demonstrated in Bohemian Rhapsody.
Well. I got my RRS delivered from Amazon UK. Package was pretty much destroyed. The LP was just thrown in the box with .02 worth of brown paper. The album cover had slight corner bends. The LPs however were filthy and had scratches in several places on the vinyl. Scratches deep enough to hear. None of the sides were off center though. It's going back. This makes 4 returns. What ever happened to quality control?
I saw him on that tour and was struck by how much 'Biker' was being pushed on merchandise, in interviews, etc. It's not a bad song but like @Saul Pimon and @Clem865 noted it suffers because someone (Paul!) thought it was a lot better than it was and featured it so heavily.
This makes a lot of sense in that it has a visual element in the song that easily lends itself to marketing.
Motor Of Love is absolutely fantastic, one of my very favorites, I love that song, and the bridge is one of McCartney's best! Freedom isn't as bad as many say, I can think of others that are far worse, like Temporary Secretary, From A Lover To A Friend, Hosanna, English Tea, You Gave Me The Answer, I'll take Freedom and Biker over any of those!
The one with the religious biblical style print on the front? I've got that too and still wear it! (Bought from the Beatles shop on Mathew Street in Liverpool just down the road from The Cavern )
I cancelled based on your comment. But I bought the super deluxe at Bull Moose for only $61. The Moose also had the Flowers in the Dirt SD for $119
I like "Freedom." It releases the tension of the epic that precedes, and ends an understated (but rather excellent) album on an upbeat. McCartney trait that--not to end an album on downbeat.
