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Post by coachbk on Mar 23, 2012 23:13:17 GMT -5
In response to a question on the thread on MEMORY ALMOST FULL, here's my personal top 10 McCartney albums: 1. Band On The Run 2. Ram 3. Tug Of War 4. Flaming Pie 5. Memory Almost Full 6. Flowers In The Dirt 7. Venus And Mars 8. London Town 9. McCartney 10. Chaos And Creation In The Back Yard
If live releases are included Wings Over America goes in spot #4 and Unplugged will go at #8!
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 23, 2012 23:49:43 GMT -5
My Top 10 Macca albums,including Live albums are as follows..
1/ Band On The Run 2/ Venus and Mars 3/ Trip The Live Fantastic 4/ Flowers In The Dirt 5/ Wings Over America 6/ Run Devil Run 7/ Give My Regards To Broad Street 8/ Tug Of War 9/ Memory Almost Full 10/ Pipes Of Peace
It was harder than i thought to pick 10 albums.....
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kc
Beatle Freak
Posts: 1,085
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Post by kc on Mar 24, 2012 0:31:43 GMT -5
I'm not including live, or compilation albums. To complicate things, I'm also going to group albums I think are about as good as one another.
1) Band On The Run 2) Flaming Pie 3) Chaos And Creation All 5 stars out of 5
4) Tug Of War 5) Flowers In The Dirt 6) Electric Arguments All 4.5 stars out of 5
7) Venus And Mars 8) Ram 9) Kisses On The Bottom 10) Run Devil Run All 4 stars out of 5
Number 11 would be Memory Almost Full (4 stars)
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Post by John S. Damm on Mar 24, 2012 1:17:47 GMT -5
I will say that BOTR and Venus and Mars are definitely not in my Top 10, not even close. BOTR and V & M
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Post by ursamajor on Mar 24, 2012 5:38:26 GMT -5
My Top 10 Paul studio albums :
1. Band On the Run 2. Press To Play 3. Electric Arguments 4. Venus and Mars 5. At the Speed of Sound 6. London Town 7. Tug of War 8. RAM 9. Pipes of Peace 10. Memory Almost Full
If I had to include Live Albums , WOA goes to #2 and everything will shift down by 1 so MAF would drop out of the Top 10.
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Post by pbirdchat on Mar 24, 2012 7:43:44 GMT -5
1. Ram 2. Band On The Run 3. Chaos And Creation 4. Memory Almost Full 5. Venus And Mars 6. Wings Over America 7. Red Rose Speed Way 8. Tug Of War 9. Flaming Pie 10. Back To The Egg
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Post by coachbk on Mar 24, 2012 11:27:38 GMT -5
I will say that BOTR and Venus and Mars are definitely not in my Top 10, not even close. BOTR and V & M I can understand VENUS AND MARS, but when you say you wouldn't have BAND ON THE RUN in there, you lose a lot of credibility with your postulate. You are going way overboard in putting down a great album. Besides there are several songs that fit the "theme" of your postulate as there is an overall theme of freedom, flight and being free spirited. You can raise the profile of the earlier albums without lowering this great album. Frankly, other than RAM I don't see any way that you can come up with any type of argument that MCCARTNEY, WILD LIFE and RED ROSE SPEEDWAY are even close to BAND ON THE RUN. The first two are incomplete albums while RRS is a competent album, but the songs are, with a couple exceptions just not that strong. (BTW-since you didn't post a top 10 list I'm assuming, based on past posts that these 4 early albums would be in your top 10)
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Post by John S. Damm on Mar 24, 2012 11:51:32 GMT -5
1. Chaos And Creation In The Backyard 2. Ram 3. Wings Wild Life 4. Electric Arguments 5. McCartney 6. Flaming Pie 7. Red Rose Speedway 8. Flowers In The Dirt 9. Memory Almost Full 10.Wings Over America
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Post by John S. Damm on Mar 24, 2012 11:56:52 GMT -5
I will say that BOTR and Venus and Mars are definitely not in my Top 10, not even close. BOTR and V & M I can understand VENUS AND MARS, but when you say you wouldn't have BAND ON THE RUN in there, you lose a lot of credibility with your postulate. You are going way overboard in putting down a great album. Besides there are several songs that fit the "theme" of your postulate as there is an overall theme of freedom, flight and being free spirited. You can raise the profile of the earlier albums without lowering this great album. Frankly, other than RAM I don't see any way that you can come up with any type of argument that MCCARTNEY, WILD LIFE and RED ROSE SPEEDWAY are even close to BAND ON THE RUN. The first two are incomplete albums while RRS is a competent album, but the songs are, with a couple exceptions just not that strong. (BTW-since you didn't post a top 10 list I'm assuming, based on past posts that these 4 early albums would be in your top 10) What drags BOTR down is it is the most dated sounding album in Paul's canon. The synths, the whole "dead" Beatles style of studio recording is all over this album. I play BOTR and it screams 1973. I play any album in the Postulate Era and it screams timeless.
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Post by debjorgo on Mar 24, 2012 12:45:16 GMT -5
1 Band On the Run - I loved it when it came out. I've played it to death and I still listen to some of the tracks now and again. 2 McCartney - Again, loved it then, love it now. Paul was still a Beatle when this came out. 3 Ram - Gets a little weak with Long Haired Lady, but it's still a good listen. 4 Venus and Mars - It's not as good as Band, but Paul was still rocking. 5 Wild Life - The weak spots to me are what a lot of people seem to like, Dear Friend and the title track. 6 Tug of War - Kind of like Lennon's POB, in that it his most artistic, yet doesn't bear repeated listens as much as others. 7 London Town - There's a few skippers, but highlights, I've Had Enough, Name and Address, and Morse Moose and the Grey Goose make this a solid album. The song London Town reminds me of the Penny Lane era Paul. 8 Flaming Pie - This one brings Paul back with an album that is good all the way through. The pop songs stay clear of his sappy tendencies. 9 Back To The Egg - Like the picture of Paul on the back, with his 5 o'clock shadow, this is reminescent of his Let it Be/McCartney era. A few week spots. Just skip them. 10 Press To Play - I would have thought this would have been higher. A different cover and a better marketing strategy would have put this on Paul's best seller list. 11 At the Speed of Sound 12 Driving Rain 13 Chaos And Creation In The Back Yard
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kc
Beatle Freak
Posts: 1,085
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Post by kc on Mar 24, 2012 18:05:05 GMT -5
Interesting to note that with responses from only seven people the number of personal top ten albums is already at 24. We obviously appreciate different things.
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kc
Beatle Freak
Posts: 1,085
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Post by kc on Mar 24, 2012 18:32:41 GMT -5
"What drags BOTR down is it is the most dated sounding album in Paul's canon. The synths, the whole "dead" Beatles style of studio recording is all over this album. I play BOTR and it screams 1973."
A lot of art sounds/looks/reads of its day. That isn't to say that it's no good. Sgt.Pepper screams 1967. Rembrant's paintings look as though they came from the 17th century. Wuthering Heights evokes the 19th century it was written in.
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Post by Steve Marinucci on Mar 24, 2012 19:03:25 GMT -5
My top 10:
1. Tug of War 2. Run Devil Run 3. Снова в СССР 4. Unplugged 5. McCartney 6. Electric Arguments 7. Band on the Run 8. London Town 9. Wings Over America 10. Tripping the Live Fantastic
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Post by John S. Damm on Mar 24, 2012 20:47:52 GMT -5
"What drags BOTR down is it is the most dated sounding album in Paul's canon. The synths, the whole "dead" Beatles style of studio recording is all over this album. I play BOTR and it screams 1973."A lot of art sounds/looks/reads of its day. That isn't to say that it's no good. Sgt.Pepper screams 1967. Rembrant's paintings look as though they came from the 17th century. Wuthering Heights evokes the 19th century it was written in. The weird thing is I love the 1967 or dated feel of SPLHCB and I wrote about that in detail somewhere else. 1967 was a magical year or at least a more optimistic year than 1973 so I don't want to be constantly reminded of that latter year. BOTR does that in a large unending dose. I am hearing a Wings Wild Life vibe in most of the new music I am hearing on Sirius Satellite Radio's The Spectrum which specializes in newer singer/songwriter type music. More of a single take feel with funky singing and ofter male/female vocal interplay. Wings Wild Life is on the cusp of a popular explosion where people discover it really for the first time. The re-issue will do that! Kids will be amazed it is 1972 and not 2012.
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Post by ursamajor on Mar 24, 2012 21:27:31 GMT -5
The only thing that lets down Band on The Run is the drumming, Paul is a good drummer but he's not a great drummer. Also the recording of the drums on some songs like Jet is way too tinny, none of the remasters has ever been able to fix that but aside from that it's still a masterpiece and Paul's best album, IMO.
It will be the moment in his solo career looked at as his peak period. Paul acknowledged that by releasing it first in the Archive series and it does scream JSD Postulate as well and should be included in that Postulate. Paul was never more daring, more open to changes, more freer than he ever was when he did BOTR.
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Post by Panther on Mar 24, 2012 21:31:08 GMT -5
Interesting to note that with responses from only seven people the number of personal top ten albums is already at 24. We obviously appreciate different things. Well, I think this reflects how Paul's solo stuff has never enjoyed any clear "purple-patch" period. If we were talking about Stevie Wonder or Joni Mitchell, there's a fairly clear 5-to-8-year window when the artist was at his/her peak. But with Paul, there is no such thing. What we're left with is a large body of inconsistent work by a supremely talented tunesmith, singer, and arranger who has some consistent lapses of good taste and a tendency to go with whatever is popular currency at the time.
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Post by nicole21290 on Mar 24, 2012 21:55:03 GMT -5
Hmm.
1. RAM 2. Electric Arguments 3. Band on the Run 4. Chaos & Creation in the Backyard 5. Flaming Pie 6. McCartney 7. Venus & Mars 8. Memory Almost Full 9. Run Devil Run 10. Flowers in the Dirt
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Post by debjorgo on Mar 24, 2012 21:59:35 GMT -5
Interesting to note that with responses from only seven people the number of personal top ten albums is already at 24. We obviously appreciate different things. Well, I think this reflects how Paul's solo stuff has never enjoyed any clear "purple-patch" period. If we were talking about Stevie Wonder or Joni Mitchell, there's a fairly clear 5-to-8-year window when the artist was at his/her peak. But with Paul, there is no such thing. What we're left with is a large body of inconsistent work by a supremely talented tunesmith, singer, and arranger who has some consistent lapses of good taste and a tendency to go with whatever is popular currency at the time. I disagree. Everyone here is listing their top-ten albums that they really like, not albums they think are inconsistent. I like the ten I listed a whole lot and I had to list three more just out of principal. Paul never did repeat himself. If he had to find inspiration from the current pop chart, great. Do it. The Beatles did that. That got folkier from Dylan, psychedelia from the San Francisco bands, louder from the Who.... They were able to do that so well, it looks like the Beatles were the trend setters. Yes, there were and are songs I have to skip on Paul's albums, some I find down right embarassing, but look up Warm and Beautiful on YouTube. People love that song. I use it as an example of how bad a song can be. It's almost like it's a parady. But some people love it.
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Post by coachbk on Mar 24, 2012 23:14:55 GMT -5
[quote
Yes, there were and are songs I have to skip on Paul's albums, some I find down right embarassing, but look up Warm and Beautiful on YouTube. People love that song. I use it as an example of how bad a song can be. It's almost like it's a parady. But some people love it.
[/quote]
Count me as one of them. I think '"Warm And Beautiful" is the undiscovered gem of the SPEED OF SOUND album. I think it is a beautiful song.
Other songs I feel the same about include "I'm Carrying" from LONDON TOWN, "One Of These Days" from MCCARTNEY II, "The Man" from PIPES OF PEACE and "Baby's Request" from BACK TO THE EGG.
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Post by debjorgo on Mar 24, 2012 23:49:31 GMT -5
Count me as one of them. I think '"Warm And Beautiful" is the undiscovered gem of the SPEED OF SOUND album. I think it is a beautiful song. Other songs I feel the same about include "I'm Carrying" from LONDON TOWN, "One Of These Days" from MCCARTNEY II, "The Man" from PIPES OF PEACE and "Baby's Request" from BACK TO THE EGG. Thanks coachbk, perfect examples of songs I have to skip, except for Baby's Request. I view that as a masterpiece.
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Post by mikev on Mar 25, 2012 13:03:01 GMT -5
[quote Yes, there were and are songs I have to skip on Paul's albums, some I find down right embarassing, but look up Warm and Beautiful on YouTube. People love that song. I use it as an example of how bad a song can be. It's almost like it's a parady. But some people love it. Count me as one of them. I think '"Warm And Beautiful" is the undiscovered gem of the SPEED OF SOUND album. I think it is a beautiful song. Other songs I feel the same about include "I'm Carrying" from LONDON TOWN, "One Of These Days" from MCCARTNEY II, "The Man" from PIPES OF PEACE and "Baby's Request" from BACK TO THE EGG.[/quote] Warm and Beautiful to me is also a gem- simple not trite lyrics. And I still swear that is George Harrison's trademark lead slide guitar, perhaps a quick session after George attended Paul's Venus and Mars record release party. but probably not.
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Post by coachbk on Mar 25, 2012 13:28:42 GMT -5
Count me as one of them. I think '"Warm And Beautiful" is the undiscovered gem of the SPEED OF SOUND album. I think it is a beautiful song. Other songs I feel the same about include "I'm Carrying" from LONDON TOWN, "One Of These Days" from MCCARTNEY II, "The Man" from PIPES OF PEACE and "Baby's Request" from BACK TO THE EGG. Thanks coachbk, perfect examples of songs I have to skip, except for Baby's Request. I view that as a masterpiece. I think you misunderstood my post. I love all those songs and never skip them!!! The ones I listed are all the songs I like in a similar way that I like "Warm And Beautiful"!!!
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Post by debjorgo on Mar 25, 2012 16:25:02 GMT -5
Thanks coachbk, perfect examples of songs I have to skip, except for Baby's Request. I view that as a masterpiece. I think you misunderstood my post. I love all those songs and never skip them!!! The ones I listed are all the songs I like in a similar way that I like "Warm And Beautiful"!!! I understood that. But they still fit my point.
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Post by anyoneanyhow on Mar 25, 2012 19:22:21 GMT -5
Here we go:
1. Band On The Run 2. Back To The Egg 3. Press To Play 4. Venus and Mars 5. Flowers In The Dirt 6. Electric Arguments 7. Tug Of War 8. London Town 9. Ram 10. Memory Almost Full
I generally like the albums that have low clunker quotients.
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Post by vectisfabber on Mar 26, 2012 6:26:25 GMT -5
I went through everything except live and compilations:
1. Band OnThe Run 2. Venus And Mars 3. Flaming Pie 4. Back To The Egg 5. Tug Of War 6. Flowers In The Dirt 7. Press To Play 8. Ram 9. London Town 10. Pipes Of Peace 11. Give My Regards To Broad Street 12. Unplugged 13. Choba B CCCP 14. Speed Of Sound 15. Chaos And Creation In The Backyard 16. Red Rose Speedway 17. Memory Almost Full 18. Off The Ground 19. McCartney 20. Run Devil Run 21. Wild Life 22. Electric Arguments 23. Driving Rain 24. McCartney II
Ram is the only JSDP in my top 10.
I don't have, and have no plans to get:
Strawberry Oceans Ships Forest Rushes Kisses On The Bottom
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kc
Beatle Freak
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Post by kc on Mar 26, 2012 16:31:47 GMT -5
Have you made an effort to seriously listen to Kisses On The Bottom yet?
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Post by John S. Damm on Mar 26, 2012 16:50:25 GMT -5
This is not "pick on vectis" time but vectis I always thought that you would love Chaos, view it as Paul making that classic album, song for song, we all knew he could.
But variety is the spice of life and it would be boring if we agreed on everything! Still, I also wish you could hear what I do on Electric Arguments, another brilliant album IMO.
Then again, you wonder why I can't get pleasure from BOTR and V&M! ;D
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Post by ReturnToPepperland on Mar 26, 2012 17:51:34 GMT -5
1. McCartney - maybe not an album's worth of complete songs but it has an albums worth of worthwhile songs.
2. Ram - Brilliant from beginning to finish and the bonus tracks only make it better.
3. Band On the Run - Synthesizers don't necessarily date the recording. Even Queen came around to using them by the end of the decade. The songs are so solid and the performances perfect you can't help but enjoy it.
4. Tug of War - Brilliant album except for Dress Me Up and Get It. Two b-sides if I ever heard one. The rest is outstanding and still very listenable to this day. Wanderlust is one of his best solo songs.
5. Chaos and Creation - An amazing album for an man of 63 at the time. Vocals are impeccible and he wrote some of his best songs in a while--Too Much Rain for example.
6. Back To The Egg - This is an exceptinal recording because of the way Paul can master so many genres and do them so well--from power rock to ballads to dance to Rockestra to acoustic to light jazz. This album was and remains very underrated. I like the extras which should have included Goodnight Tonight. Paul thought it didn't fit the album but it would have been great following Arrow Through Me.
7. Flaming Pie - A sort of comeback after Off the Ground which did not include the best tracks available at the time. Flaming Pie brings back Paul's strength with an acoustic guitar and melody driven songs. It is sung and arranged very well. Jeff Lynn did a good job and didn't turn it into sounding like ELO who I like. I remember Paul saying he kept Jeff in check when he was going too much in that direction. Beautiful Night and Calico Skies and Little Willow are stunning.
8. Electric Arguments - If he would have dropped off about 3 of the 14 tracks here he would have had an even more impressive album. As it was it seemed like a breath of fresh air even from a 66 year old.
9. London Town - Kind of underrated only Saturday Night Fervor kept it out of the No. 1 slot. It is a very consistent album except for Morse Moose. Don't Let It Bring You Down, I'm Carrying and With A Little Luck are brilliant standouts. Most of the rest is good and the addition of Mull of Kintyre and Girls' School was a plus.
9. Venus and Mars - Several really great tracks on this including Listen to What the Man Said and Love In Song. No reason for Spirits of Ancient Egypt to exist.
10. Wild Life - I love the whole vibe of this record. It is best listened to from beginning to end with a cold beer or two.
11. Red Rose Speedway - This gets a bum rap and unfairly. I really like at least part of the medley (Hands of Love / Power Cut) and the rest is quite consistent except the Indian on the Moon song.
12. Memory Almost Full - This album is full of great tracks and few real misses. Only Mama Knows and At the End of the End are standouts.
13. Flowers In the Dirt - Another come back marred only by Rough Ride which was a dead end. Paul never rocked harder on Figure of Eight. And I like Motor of Love.
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Post by acebackwords on Mar 26, 2012 19:23:58 GMT -5
1. Red Rose Speedway 2. McCartney 3. Tug of War 4. Ram 5. Venus & Mars 6. Off the Ground
The rest of his albums I haven't listened to enough to rate, or if I did listen to them I don't rate them highly.
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Post by John S. Damm on Mar 26, 2012 20:19:35 GMT -5
1. McCartney - maybe not an album's worth of complete songs but it has an albums worth of worthwhile songs. 2. Ram - Brilliant from beginning to finish and the bonus tracks only make it better. 3. Band On the Run - Synthesizers don't necessarily date the recording. Even Queen came around to using them by the end of the decade. The songs are so solid and the performances perfect you can't help but enjoy it. 4. Tug of War - Brilliant album except for Dress Me Up and Get It. Two b-sides if I ever heard one. The rest is outstanding and still very listenable to this day. Wanderlust is one of his best solo songs. 5. Chaos and Creation - An amazing album for an man of 63 at the time. Vocals are impeccible and he wrote some of his best songs in a while--Too Much Rain for example. 6. Back To The Egg - This is an exceptinal recording because of the way Paul can master so many genres and do them so well--from power rock to ballads to dance to Rockestra to acoustic to light jazz. This album was and remains very underrated. I like the extras which should have included Goodnight Tonight. Paul thought it didn't fit the album but it would have been great following Arrow Through Me. 7. Flaming Pie - A sort of comeback after Off the Ground which did not include the best tracks available at the time. Flaming Pie brings back Paul's strength with an acoustic guitar and melody driven songs. It is sung and arranged very well. Jeff Lynn did a good job and didn't turn it into sounding like ELO who I like. I remember Paul saying he kept Jeff in check when he was going too much in that direction. Beautiful Night and Calico Skies and Little Willow are stunning. 8. Electric Arguments - If he would have dropped off about 3 of the 14 tracks here he would have had an even more impressive album. As it was it seemed like a breath of fresh air even from a 66 year old. 9. London Town - Kind of underrated only Saturday Night Fervor kept it out of the No. 1 slot. It is a very consistent album except for Morse Moose. Don't Let It Bring You Down, I'm Carrying and With A Little Luck are brilliant standouts. Most of the rest is good and the addition of Mull of Kintyre and Girls' School was a plus. 9. Venus and Mars - Several really great tracks on this including Listen to What the Man Said and Love In Song. No reason for Spirits of Ancient Egypt to exist. 10. Wild Life - I love the whole vibe of this record. It is best listened to from beginning to end with a cold beer or two. 11. Red Rose Speedway - This gets a bum rap and unfairly. I really like at least part of the medley (Hands of Love / Power Cut) and the rest is quite consistent except the Indian on the Moon song. 12. Memory Almost Full - This album is full of great tracks and few real misses. Only Mama Knows and At the End of the End are standouts. 13. Flowers In the Dirt - Another come back marred only by Rough Ride which was a dead end. Paul never rocked harder on Figure of Eight. And I like Motor of Love. Great post RTP as it gives lots of food for thought. "Too Much Rain" is simply amazing, the listener almost feels the wetness of Paul's own tears as I think this song, like "Hey Jude," is really Paul giving himself a pep talk. I've always loved "Motor Of Love," a very overlooked song from FITD. It has for me at least startling revelations of a spiritual side to Paul in the more conventional Western sense, what with the "Heavenly Father" references. Wings Wild Life fits better with today's genre of eclectic, funky singer/songwriters than any other Macca album. If only I could get to Paul to convince him of that. He might actually put more effort into the re-issue of it. It is good with beer.
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