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Post by spyrosfab4 on Oct 11, 2013 14:40:25 GMT -5
One of the best songwriters ever and definitely the greatest melody writer in the history of pop-rock music is back.
I started listening to his solo career around the time of Chaos and it has been a complete revelation for me. It was like discovering the new beatles at last.My collection of mccartney songs i really like before hearing this album, included around 140 songs.
In my opinion he is miles ahead of other heavyweights like dylan and bowie, who are considered cool, but to me the majority of their work sounds very weak melodically and relies on style or lyrical ability and i think that when it comes to music, the truly difficult and important thing is to write good melodies. Now my impressions after 3 listens on this album are the following.
01 - Save Us 7,5 / 10
A great start which is almost as good as Only mama knows. Good melody and singing and the only part i don't like is the final "save us" line on each chorus.
02 - Alligator 7,5 / 10
Really nice orchestration and decent melody overall. Another good one.
03 - On My Way To Work 6 / 10
Simplistic melody which somehow reminds me of something Ringo would sing. Nice quitar break but still by Mccartney's standards this is not good enough.
04 - Queenie Eye 7 / 10
Great,vibrant rythm and really exciting sound overall, but i wish it was a bit more wistful like Mr.Bellamy. Overall another good but not great track.
05 - Early Days 7,5 / 10
Fantastic and very moving delivery on this sweet melody and also great acoustic sound.
06 - New 7,5 / 10
Great uplifting sound and decent melody, but it's missing a good bridge or an extra melody somewhere to make it a classic Mccartney single. Still good though.
07 - Appreciate 7 / 10
This is one cool track with excelent atmosphere and good verse melody. The chorus is Beta Band - like but is not melodic. I like this track a lot though.
08 - Everybody Out There 5,5 / 10
Bad news. Totally generic melody and predictable song. Good singing and fresh sound saves this. The "wooa wooa" vocals sound embarassing and desperate when Coldplay are doing them and they don't sound better here.
09 - Hosanna 6 / 10
Weak melody in my opinion. It is a weaker version of You tell me and i was pretty dissapointed by this because it was hyped early on as a great tune. Again,it is not bad,but i expect more from the best.
10 - I Can Bet 8 / 10
Great tune and rhythm and it would be perfect if it had a better chorus,which sounds like "rolling,rolling by the river" or however that CCR song goes. Still,this is really good.
11 - Looking At Her 7,5 / 10
Another good song which somehow reminds me of U2 and is very melodic , but these melodies sound a bit predictable,especially on the "i'm losing my mind" bit.
12 - Road 7 / 10
Also reminds me of U2 and though the verses are not very good,the chorus and the rest are better.
13 - Turned Out 5 / 10
Don't like this one.I don't hate it either,but it reminds me of Biker like an icon in the verse melody and it isn't good enough for me.
14 - Get Me Out Of Here 6 / 10
Average melody but nice sound and delivery. Overall this is decent,but it rightfully is a bonus track.
15 - Scared 8 / 10
Really good ballad,nice melody and the song overall is as good as I want to come home,which i love.
All in all this sounds at the moment like a 7 /10 album for me which is as good as i can expect from an artist these days,but i will always expect more from Mccartney and he has delivered in the last 15 years two albums which are better musically for me. These are Chaos and Flaming pie which are 7,5 / 10 and 8 / 10 respectively.
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Post by NYR on Oct 11, 2013 19:23:36 GMT -5
I appreciate the fact that Macca's still out there releasing new stuff, but he hasn't put out a really good record since "Flaming Pie."
I've seen a trend recently, especially after all these continuous farewell tours and reunion tours. I understand that Paul wants to stay current, and all the more power to him, but nobody's going to see him live to hear him play songs from "Memory Almost Full," you know?
For an album to be popular these days, the current trend is that the fans want the artist(s) to be hungry. They're going to have to grind and work their asses off to get there. Simply throwing out money the way Elton John has for his new record (billboards all over, adverts on taxis in NYC, etc.) definitely would have worked in the 90s, but not in 2013.
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Post by yeayeayeah on Oct 11, 2013 19:37:52 GMT -5
The last album of his that I think is really good is Flaming Pie. The recent albums have had a few great songs but they don't quite work overall. Even FP doesn't have a very good flow. 'My Valentine' was great, I would love him to make a more "mature" sounding album with similar type songs. I think he has it in him but he pushes for commercial success but it wont work in today musical climate. Dylan has had great success critically and commercially releasing really non-commercial music (Not that Dylan ever has released commercial music in the same way Paul has).
On a side not, I personally don't think Dylan has released anything good since Time Out of Mind, which came out the same year Flaming Pie did.
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Post by mkoasis on Oct 11, 2013 22:10:40 GMT -5
I thought Driving Rain from 2002 had some good tunes on it  |
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Post by Lennon2217 on Oct 11, 2013 23:01:35 GMT -5
The album featuring "Jenny Wren" that was produced by Nigel Godrich wasn't bad either.
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Post by spyrosfab4 on Oct 12, 2013 9:17:14 GMT -5
I see the following as classic pop songs by anyone, no matter how much they sold and how many people know them.
Hope Of Deliverance, Young boy, Calico skies, Beautiful night, Little Willow, Somedays, I Do, Jenny wren, This never happened before, A certain softness, Ever Present Past, Only Mama Knows, Mr. Bellamy, (I Want To) Come Home, My Valentine, Back on My Feet , This One, Put It There, Distractions, My Brave Face, No more lonely nights, On The Wings Of A Nightingale, So Bad, We all stand together, Pipes of peace.
Definitely as good or better than most pop classics on the radio from the past 30 years. If any of these songs was released on the White Album for example,which is the most eclectic Beatles album,they would be universally known and recognised as classic tunes. The most annoying idiots for me,are the ones who say that mccartney hasn't written any good tunes in the last 40 years.
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Post by matt on Oct 12, 2013 12:10:36 GMT -5
I thought Chaos and Creation was decent, but found Memory Almost Full quite poor - never listen to it.
I thought his 2008 collaboration with Flood - The Fireman's Electric Argument is brilliant though. That is the best thing he's done since the millenium.
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Post by manicsfan on Oct 13, 2013 7:13:55 GMT -5
I see the following as classic pop songs by anyone, no matter how much they sold and how many people know them. Hope Of Deliverance, Young boy, Calico skies, Beautiful night, Little Willow, Somedays, I Do, Jenny wren, This never happened before, A certain softness, Ever Present Past, Only Mama Knows, Mr. Bellamy, (I Want To) Come Home, My Valentine, Back on My Feet , This One, Put It There, Distractions, My Brave Face, No more lonely nights, On The Wings Of A Nightingale, So Bad, We all stand together, Pipes of peace. Definitely as good or better than most pop classics on the radio from the past 30 years. If any of these songs was released on the White Album for example,which is the most eclectic Beatles album,they would be universally known and recognised as classic tunes. The most annoying idiots for me,are the ones who say that mccartney hasn't written any good tunes in the last 40 years. Why the giant text in both your posts?!?! |
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Post by matt on Oct 11, 2014 17:07:04 GMT -5
I listened to New today - coincidentally a year after it had been released (I think...).
I still really really like it, it's a brilliant album. Far far better than Memory Almost Full. What do others think of it a year on?
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Post by mkoasis on Oct 11, 2014 19:40:35 GMT -5
I haven't listened to it yet but I can already tell you that it is better than Memory Almost Full.
(heard a couple tracks, do sound good though)
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Nov 4, 2024 5:04:30 GMT -5
Nov 4, 2024 5:04:30 GMT -5