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Post by John S. Damm on Apr 18, 2016 14:13:25 GMT -5
One has to go back to Press To Play or maybe the wrongly maligned Wings Wild Life to find a McCartney album as controversial as 2001's Driving Rain! Speaking for myself, I loved this album from first listen because I needed musical relief and hand-holding by Paul as this album was released November 12, 2001, and the horror and anger of the September 11th terrorists attacks were fresh with the ominous drumbeat of war growing louder. On a Beatles note, November 2001 was close to the end for our beloved George Harrison whose dignified fight against cancer came to an end November 29, 2001 when he traveled into the Light. What a gut-wrenching time for us fans(let alone George's family and friends). We followed Steve Marinucci's original Abbeyrd's Beatles News Briefs daily and the news got sadder every day that November. Steve also started his first Abbeyrd's Beatles Page Message Board that November I believe. It was early or mid- November. It was my first full-time Message Board so it was the first time I could talk Beatles with fellow fans, not my family and friends who thought I was a nut. All of this was the context then of Paul's 12th studio album of original material! My memory was it was not as hated by so many on release. And many folks here liked it! Where have they gone? I had a 100 mile one way roadtrip Saturday and I grabbed Driving Rain and played it on a sun drenched day. It was a fantastic listening experience. I fully enjoyed it and any doubts I had on DR(as expressed here about five years ago) vanished just like the light morning raindrops we had! My thoughts in a nutshell: 1."Lonely Road": great opener with a solo bass riff! Paul is James Dean cool here, a hurt rebel with a cause. 2."From a Lover to a Friend:" Beautiful, exquisite. Never should have been a single but it is a killer deep track 3."She's Given Up Talking:" A weaker song; I never much cared for this one but we all sing-along to the, "not a dickey bird!" 4."Driving Rain:" I don't understand the hatred, this is a great road song and this has a happy ending. The count-ins invite us along for the ride to escape the sadness. 5."I Do:" A forgotten McCartney gem. In another time this may have been a hit single! 6."Tiny Bubble:" Sounds like Hari's "Piggies" but I really enjoyed this one Saturday, I felt like I was floating. 7."Magic:" Had to play this twice, majestic and poignant. Pure McCartney. 8."Your Way:" Postulate Era shit, man! Great tune, better than "Bip Bop!" 9."Spinning on an Axis:" Another lesser song, the lyrics aren't great but it sounded pretty good to me Saturday, maybe has improved with age. 10."About You:" Another Postulate sounding rocker. Great job, Paul! 11."Heather:" Another two-play song! The best song ever written about new love! 12."Back in the Sunshine Again:" Better than I remember, my third least favorite but in the car and in the sun it sounded good Saturday! 13."Your Loving Flame:" Another repeat song, it sounded so good I had to hear it again. I teared-up on this thinking how things went so terribly wrong for Paul and Heather. Classic McCartney, it deserves recued from the scrap-heap imposed on it by Paul himself! 14."Riding into Jaipur:" Very, very mellow, takes us to India! I could see, smell, hear and feel that continent! 15."Rinse the Raindrops:" Kick-ass rocker with poetic lyrics! Paul rarely gets as good as this! 16."Freedom:" It was good to hear this. One just reads about ISIS's goals and one knows Paul was right here. I will fight for my right to live in Freedom! Driving Rain, give it a spin today!
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kc
Beatle Freak
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Post by kc on Apr 18, 2016 18:49:47 GMT -5
I remember that when I bought Driving Rain way back in 2001 I first played it in my car. I drove around and around just so as to hear the album a couple of times over. I liked it then and I still like it now, though I don’t rate it as highly as some of the work that followed, e.g. Chaos And Creation and New.
I can’t help but think that many of the people who so dislike Driving Rain are probably original 1960s fans who wish Paul had released variations of All My Loving for the rest of his career, or 1970s fans who long for repeat My Love's, or whatever.
Maybe Driving Rain deserves the re-assessment that Ram got.
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Post by Joe Karlosi on Apr 18, 2016 19:35:52 GMT -5
I can’t help but think that many of the people who so dislike Driving Rain are probably original 1960s fans who wish Paul had released variations of All My Loving for the rest of his career, or 1970s fans who long for repeat My Love's, or whatever. That's certainly not me. I thought DRIVING RAIN was crap in 2001, and I still think it's Paul's worst LP of all, even after a few more listens since then. I like plenty of "offbeat" Macca stuff, things that are not just another "All My Loving" or "My Love". Maybe some people just think they don't like DR because the songs... stink? Why? Must everything Paul touches be ultimately deemed "great", or at least "good"? Can't something be poor?
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Post by John S. Damm on Apr 18, 2016 21:57:46 GMT -5
I remember that when I bought Driving Rain way back in 2001 I first played it in my car. I drove around and around just so as to hear the album a couple of times over. I liked it then and I still like it now, though I don’t rate it as highly as some of the work that followed, e.g. Chaos And Creation and New. I can’t help but think that many of the people who so dislike Driving Rain are probably original 1960s fans who wish Paul had released variations of All My Loving for the rest of his career, or 1970s fans who long for repeat My Love's, or whatever. Maybe Driving Rain deserves the re-assessment that Ram got. I have decided that Driving Rain is Postulate Worthy! Paul doesn't sound like he wants to be carbon copy "Beatle Paul" on DR but rather wants to be Paul McCartney again! The death of Linda and the emergence of Heather brought out greatness in Paul! What hurt DR was the cover art. The B&W selfies Paul took suck but not as bad as the second cover with Paul leaping into a convertible! A great album cover would have set a great tone.
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kc
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Post by kc on Apr 18, 2016 22:06:50 GMT -5
Why? Must everything Paul touches be ultimately deemed "great", or at least "good"? Can't something be poor? Because it has been incorrectly (IMO) dismissed by many fans as having almost no redeeming features and I think that is wrong. I don't see much difference in my position to when you defend Ringo's Bad Boy and Ringo the 4th (if I have remembered that correctly), or Panther's promotion of Pipes Of Peace and Extra Texture, or vectisfaber's defence of Give My Regards To Broad Street. I think they all stink to varying degrees. Note: I can at least find some good content on them.
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kc
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Post by kc on Apr 18, 2016 22:30:30 GMT -5
What hurt DR was the cover art. The B&W selfies Paul took suck but not as bad as the second cover with Paul leaping into a convertible! A great album cover would have set a great tone. I'd tend to agree. That second cover was woeful. I thought the first one did kind of suit the production of the album in general, but it could have been better nonetheless
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Post by debjorgo on Apr 18, 2016 23:06:19 GMT -5
The cover of Press to Play was god-aweful for such a rock, heavy, trippy kind of album that it was.
My old rule was if you like three songs a whole lot, and you didn't hate anything, you have a good album.
Paul had a few albums that tested that and pretty much erased the board.
With him, if you like three songs a whole lot, four songs are real fun, two or three are pop songs you wouldn't normally need on record but like okay, and only three or four that you have to skip or be damaged, then you have a good album.
Hey, Driving Rain passes that. Come on!
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Post by vectisfabber on Apr 19, 2016 3:58:28 GMT -5
I liked Your Way. Apart from that, I can't remember any of the material, it was so indifferent.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 19, 2016 4:40:44 GMT -5
JSD, as a Legal Eagle you should know driving under the influence is illegal. You must have had a skinful to come up with that review.
And yes, it is a woeful cover, i wonder if it was deliberately grainy to hide a balding looking Paul hairdo ?
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Post by Joe Karlosi on Apr 19, 2016 5:01:02 GMT -5
JSD, as a Legal Eagle you should know driving under the influence is illegal. You must have had a skinful to come up with that review. LOL! Best post ever! Even the FLAMING PIE cover had Paul's features looking sketchy. If we examine Paul's album covers from 1986 onward, there are always avoidances of his image on them somehow. Has anyone else noted that?
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Post by Joe Karlosi on Apr 19, 2016 5:20:18 GMT -5
I have decided that Driving Rain is Postulate Worthy! Paul doesn't sound like he wants to be carbon copy "Beatle Paul" on DR but rather wants to be Paul McCartney again! Oh, some songs like "Your Loving Flame" are attempts to be in the "Beatle Paul" style, yet fail miserably! I'm going to pretend I did not read this. Especially the part about Linda' death. Crap wrapped with a bow is still crap.
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Post by Joe Karlosi on Apr 19, 2016 5:53:57 GMT -5
Because it has been incorrectly (IMO) dismissed by many fans as having almost no redeeming features and I think that is wrong. I don't see much difference in my position to when you defend Ringo's Bad Boy and Ringo the 4th (if I have remembered that correctly), or Panther's promotion of Pipes Of Peace and Extra Texture, or vectisfaber's defence of Give My Regards To Broad Street. I think they all stink to varying degrees. Note: I can at least find some good content on them. The difference (for me) with all these albums you've mentioned is, I at least enjoy a few songs from them. I don't like a single song off DRIVING RAIN, and I believe that is the only studio LP by any of the four ex-Beatles that I can say that about.
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Post by John S. Damm on Apr 19, 2016 7:57:38 GMT -5
I liked Your Way. Apart from that, I can't remember any of the material, it was so indifferent. That's what this Thread is about! It is 15 years later! Whatever hang-ups we had 15 years ago are gone! Spin DR on its axis! That is a great start Vectis! "Your Way" is a wonderful song! I think it is a real Ram outtake but I know it is not.
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Post by John S. Damm on Apr 19, 2016 8:12:07 GMT -5
I have decided that Driving Rain is Postulate Worthy! Paul doesn't sound like he wants to be carbon copy "Beatle Paul" on DR but rather wants to be Paul McCartney again! Oh, some songs like "Your Loving Flame" are attempts to be in the "Beatle Paul" style, yet fail miserably! I'm going to pretend I did not read this. Especially the part about Linda' death. Paul has always responded artistically well to personal tragedy! His mother's death pushed him harder to master the guitar. Linda's death, as devastating as it was, inspired Paul to write some of those amazing songs on DR like "Lonely Road," "From A Lover To A Friend" and "Magic." That was the "sad" inspiration. The "happy" inspiration was the emergence of Heather to pull Paul out of his funk! Sure, they ultimately did not live happily ever after but for a period of time they were very much in love.
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Post by John S. Damm on Apr 19, 2016 8:20:27 GMT -5
JSD, as a Legal Eagle you should know driving under the influence is illegal. You must have had a skinful to come up with that review. And yes, it is a woeful cover, i wonder if it was deliberately grainy to hide a balding looking Paul hairdo ? What we love musically is subjective but I was blown away on a sunny day by DR! And this is critical to my assessment so take note: Driving Rain is the very last album from Paul where he sounds like the Paul we all love! He is in great singing form. I cling to that even though I love subsequent albums from Macca. I think Chaos and EA are even stronger albums but "the change" has started in Paul's voice. Hey, things change and I get that but DR is where Paul still sounds like the old Paul throughout and I cherish that about DR.
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Post by stavros on Apr 19, 2016 16:23:15 GMT -5
I think it's still a decade too early to be re-appraising Driving Rain.
"1,2,3,4,5 let's go for a drive, with a 6, a 7, and an 8.....let John postulate?"
JSD's post should, in my opinion, be considered as a desperate case of "Premature Postulation".
However in the spirit that the thread was intended I shall dust the cobwebs away from the Driving Rain CD. Then I will scrutinize the supposed inadequate cover. Finally I shall remove it from it's casing for the first time in a decade and give it a spin on the car CD player sometime this week.
Who knows maybe "Rinse the Raindrops" will cement it's place on my "Raw McCartney" collection?
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Post by debjorgo on Apr 19, 2016 17:27:39 GMT -5
I think it's still a decade too early to be re-appraising Driving Rain. " 1,2,3,4,5 let's go for a drive, with a 6, a 7, and an 8.....let John postulate?" JSD's post should, in my opinion, be considered as a desperate case of " Premature Postulation". However in the spirit that the thread was intended I shall dust the cobwebs away from the Driving Rain CD. Then I will scrutinize the supposed inadequate cover. Finally I shall remove it from it's casing for the first time in a decade and give it a spin on the car CD player sometime this week. Who knows maybe "Rinse the Raindrops" will cement it's place on my "Raw McCartney" collection? Remember, the cover was a selfie shot with Paul's watch. My spin on this one has always been, if you know you're not enjoying a song, go ahead and skip it. I really enjoy about half of this album. The other half, no so much.
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Post by vectisfabber on Apr 20, 2016 3:41:21 GMT -5
I liked Your Way. Apart from that, I can't remember any of the material, it was so indifferent. That's what this Thread is about! It is 15 years later! Whatever hang-ups we had 15 years ago are gone! Spin DR on its axis! That is a great start Vectis! "Your Way" is a wonderful song! I think it is a real Ram outtake but I know it is not. No hangups. I didn't think Driving Rain was horrible to listen to (viz. McCartney II). I just thought it wasn't worth listening to, as none of the songs apart from Your Way had anything which made me want to listen to them again. It was all so... neutral.
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Post by John S. Damm on Apr 20, 2016 9:20:50 GMT -5
I think it's still a decade too early to be re-appraising Driving Rain. " 1,2,3,4,5 let's go for a drive, with a 6, a 7, and an 8.....let John postulate?" JSD's post should, in my opinion, be considered as a desperate case of " Premature Postulation". However in the spirit that the thread was intended I shall dust the cobwebs away from the Driving Rain CD. Then I will scrutinize the supposed inadequate cover. Finally I shall remove it from it's casing for the first time in a decade and give it a spin on the car CD player sometime this week. Who knows maybe "Rinse the Raindrops" will cement it's place on my "Raw McCartney" collection? 'Atta boy stavros! That's the spirit! Your revised lyric is catchy! You should play DR in the car heading out of the driving rain and into the sun!
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Post by stavros on Apr 20, 2016 17:45:58 GMT -5
Well what do you know?
It may be grim here up North but the sun shone all day here in the North West of England. It even reached 17C. That's almost sweltering for us!!!
Well Driving Rain wasn't as bad as I'd originally thought. Maybe the sunshine had gone to my head. So I'll wait for a grim day of April showers to balance it up.
However I believe I am also one of the very few proud owners of a 'Driving Rain' CD that has actually been played more than once.
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Post by John S. Damm on Apr 21, 2016 10:47:51 GMT -5
I am convinced now that Driving Rain is the missing link between Postulate Era Paul and his late-in-life classics like Chaos and EA!
I love most of Flaming Pie but it is in the Beatles/BOTR category of Paul deliberately being carbon copy "Beatle Paul" and Paul admitted as much in 1997, saying The Beatles Anthology inspired him greatly for FP.
And George Martin and Geoff Emerick were heavily involved on FP.
2001's DR was Paul working fast and furious releasing what would have been a double album in the vinyl record days. That reminds me of WWL and to some extent RRS.
If I want to listen to Paul's music that may reveal his heart and soul I go to the four Postulate Era albums, DR, Chaos and EA.
If I want "plastic soul," walls-built-up, Rock Star Paul, I turn to every other Macca album.
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markc
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Post by markc on Apr 21, 2016 14:36:15 GMT -5
Didn't DR give us Abe, Rusty and Brian?
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Post by John S. Damm on Apr 21, 2016 14:53:51 GMT -5
Didn't DR give us Abe, Rusty and Brian? At least two of them if not all three. I need to check the liner notes when home. I don't know if Brian was on it. But yeah, it was the only time Paul really recorded substantially with a majority at least of his touring band. P.S. I always wondered if DR's lack of commercial success was why Paul did not use those guys more in all subsequent albums!
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Post by debjorgo on Apr 21, 2016 15:16:42 GMT -5
Didn't DR give us Abe, Rusty and Brian? At least two of them if not all three. I need to check the liner notes when home. I don't know if Brian was on it. But yeah, it was the only time Paul really recorded substantially with a majority at least of his touring band. P.S. I always wondered if DR's lack of commercial success was why Paul did not use those guys more in all subsequent albums! I remember, he'd brought them in to record with him on Chaos but Godrich said they didn't need them. He said the fans wanted to hear Paul playing. He convinced Paul to play most of the instruments on the album. I guess he wanted Pure McCartney!
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Post by John S. Damm on Apr 21, 2016 15:45:43 GMT -5
At least two of them if not all three. I need to check the liner notes when home. I don't know if Brian was on it. But yeah, it was the only time Paul really recorded substantially with a majority at least of his touring band. P.S. I always wondered if DR's lack of commercial success was why Paul did not use those guys more in all subsequent albums! I remember, he'd brought them in to record with him on Chaos but Godrich said they didn't need them. He said the fans wanted to hear Paul playing. He convinced Paul to play most of the instruments on the album. I guess he wanted Pure McCartney! That is right! Although I think Godrich wasn't that polite, I think he wasn't impressed with them and in fact they may have started the sessions so he heard them play. Good call on that. That might be in one of the documentaries to the deluxe edition.
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Post by debjorgo on Apr 21, 2016 16:39:16 GMT -5
I remember, he'd brought them in to record with him on Chaos but Godrich said they didn't need them. He said the fans wanted to hear Paul playing. He convinced Paul to play most of the instruments on the album. I guess he wanted Pure McCartney! That is right! Although I think Godrich wasn't that polite, I think he wasn't impressed with them and in fact they may have started the sessions so he heard them play. Good call on that. That might be in one of the documentaries to the deluxe edition. In the deluxe edition, along with the 30+ minute version of Rinse the Raindrops and the remixed rap version of Driving Rain. No kidding, these versions really exist.
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kc
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Post by kc on Apr 22, 2016 19:29:46 GMT -5
I played about half of Driving Rain again yesterday and loved every minute of it. Lonely Road, She's Given Up Talking, Magic, Your Way, About You, Heather and Rinse The Raindrops: All good.
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Post by Steve Marinucci on Apr 23, 2016 13:54:26 GMT -5
Never really cared much for DR. Most of the songs are forgettable, IMO. Plus it has "Freedom."
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Post by debjorgo on Apr 23, 2016 16:14:05 GMT -5
Never really cared much for DR. Most of the songs are forgettable, IMO. Plus it has "Freedom." Freedom's not on my copy of Driving Rain. Does that make it worth more?
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Post by John S. Damm on Apr 23, 2016 17:29:10 GMT -5
Never really cared much for DR. Most of the songs are forgettable, IMO. Plus it has "Freedom." I remember Steve that you were a lone, dissenting voice on DR and you stated so on your pre-Examiner Abbeyrd Beatles site. If memory serves right, you compared it unfavorably to Flaming Pie, Paul's last studio album of all original material before DR. LOL, I remember being bummed because I desperately wanted DR to be universally loved and be that Billboard No. 1 album for Paul. But yeah, it had Freedom.
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