In the liner notes of Paul McCartney’s latest pop album
\nFlaming Pie<\/i>, he speaks of how working on the Beatles
\nAnthology made him want to create a new album up to the standards
\nof those great Beatles albums. I was relieved to hear this because
\nwhen Paul actually puts some effort to his music, good things
\nhappen and this album is no exception.<\/p>\n
While he was not quite successful in making a great album, he
\nsure came pretty darn close. There is nothing in this collection
\nthat is going to hit anyone as hard as “Hey Jude”, “Yesterday” or
\n“Eleanor Rigby” but most of the songs are well written, melodically
\nand lyrically, and well played by Paul on a multitude of
\ninstruments, with able support by Jeff Lynne, Steve Miller, Ringo
\nStarr, and on one cut, his son James on electric guitar.<\/p>\n
He has not written this many good ballads in a long time:
\n“Beautiful Night” is a romantic tune that sounds like it could be
\nin a broadway musical. “Calico Skies” recalls some of his sweet,
\nfolkish White Album tunes. “Souvenir” is a passionate R&B
\nballad, sort of like “Oh! Darling” without the tongue and
\ncheekiness. “Sometimes,” a bittersweet number with a string
\narrangement from former Beatles producer George Martin, recalls his
\ngreat ballads, and with another rewrite could have been one.
\n“Heaven On A Sunday” is a pleasant light-jazz number. And what can
\nI say about “Young Boy” except that it is just plain catchy.<\/p>\n
But this isn’t just a collection of ballads. This album proves
\nwrong anyone who thinks McCartney can’t rock anymore. “The World
\nTonight” is a tough, rhythm-oriented rocker relevant for today. The
\ntitle tune is a fun, bluesy number, and so is “Used To Be Bad,” a
\nduet with Steve Miller who provides some tasty guitar licks and a
\nplayful vocal. McCartney really jams on the bass on “Really Love
\nYou,” a song that plays like an extended version of “Come
\nTogether.”<\/p>\n
The lyrics have a wistful feel of someone looking back on a
\ngreat life. “The Songs We Are Singing” is about hanging out with
\nhis friends, talking and making music. “Calico Skies” recalls the
\nsixties protest movement, and
\nFlaming Pie<\/i> is a reference that John Lennon had jokingly
\nmade about how they got the name Beatles: in a vision from a man on
\na flaming pie.<\/p>\n
And this is the key to the album’s success because by looking
\nback, McCartney mustered enough of the John Lennon within himself
\nto make this a thoughtful album. Welcome back, Paul.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":27510,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5744],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-38884","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-paul-mccartney","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38884","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38884"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38884\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38884"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=38884"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=38884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}