Paul McCartney

Artist Rating: 92%

Peak Album Score: 25

Average Album Score: 24

Development Score: 7

- Although his career had its peaks and valleys, and styles were certainly shifted and adjusted throughout, it's always a little odd to say that Paul 'developed' after he left The Beatles. It always feels more as if he was trying out new combinations indefinitely.

Originality Score: 8

- Of course he's original - he's Paul McCartney - but again, his style shifts (effective as they often were) seem a little more David Bowie than The Beatles: affected.

Personal Bias Score: 28

- All that said, he didn't lose a shred of his songwriting ability after the group split. There's a whole slew of solo Paul/Wings songs I can genuinely say I like as much as Beatles works (plus, Ram...).

McCartney (1970) - 86%

This one was extremely rushed. Apparently, Paul felt the need to be the first ex-Beatle to release a full album as a solo artist, so he went into the studio and rush-recorded (doing all the instruments himself) a bunch of half-baked songs (note: I'm don't dislike 'homemade'-sounding albums, as the next review will show - I don't find this one to sound like that, just sloppy). It shows, though the ideas are obviously brilliant. "That Would Be Something" is a little acoustic stomper with a nice groove about its verse, though it just repeats itself throughout. Perhaps that would have been worked out with time. "Every Night", "'Oo You" and "Man We Was Lonely" could use virtually the same advice, though all are pretty dang good as is. Only "Teddy Boy" (apparently an old Beatles outtake) is a little lamer than the rest (though I guess it could have been transformed into a "Rocky Raccoon" sort of thing). The instrumentals and shorter segments are cute, but again could probably have been better utilized. "Momma Miss America" is the best of the lot, with a great electric piano and bass-driven groove building up for a few minutes. The opening "The Lovely Linda" is cute as can be, and perhaps that one alone could be left at :46. The best songs, by far, though, are a bit more complete. Well, maybe "Junk" isn't. The melody is simply one of the best Paul's ever come up with, and he knew it (it's reprised in instrumental form towards the end of the album). But man, how great would this thing be if he built it up into something more complete? "Maybe I'm Amazed" is a good deal closer to completion, and you've probably heard it. It's one of those classic Paul piano ballads, with great harmonies, a nice instrumental build-up throughout the song, wonderful key changes, and one of his best vocal deliveries ever. Just brilliant.

- Highlights: "Junk", "Maybe I'm Amazed"

Ram (1971) - 99%

See what happens with a little effort? Ram may be homemade, but it also happens to ridiculously well-written. Literally every song on the album is bursting with hooks, whether it's a five-minute polka dirge about nothing (perhaps my favorite, "Monkberry Moon Delight", on which Paul completely destroys his vocal cords) or a two-minute mandolin-and-voice ballad ("Ram On", a simply delightful little thing that kind of defines this album). Stylistically, the album is all over the place. "Heart of the Country" is a little acoustic stomper with brilliant vocal melodies and, best of all, this scatted part that's just too fun to describe. "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" is a Brian Wilson-esque mini-epic of a song, opening with a spacey soft section with a cool chromatic turnaround, building into this unbelievably catchy pop section ("Hands across the water, heads across the sky") which then alternates with a little fast polka bit (what??). It's great. In the department of multipart pop epics, "Long Haired Lady" may even beat it out, though. It's loaded with melodies, and ends with a grand "Hey Jude"-like coda (you can tell that's what he was going for, at least). In the pop-rocker department sit "Too Many People", "Eat at Home" and "Smile Away", though the third is more of a manic blues rocker (with joyfully senseless lyrics - "I was walkin' down the street the other day, ah, who did I meet? I met a friend of mine, and he did say: 'Man, I could smell your feet a mile away!'"). "Too Many People" is a perfect little piece, with a blocky (in a McCartneyesque way, if you know what I mean) verse melody offset by a harmonically tense chorus (it's toned down, too, and really effective). Also, the guitar solo kicks butt. Is that really Paul? Probably my favorite track, though, is the closing "Back Seat of My Car", which manages to equal-or-best all of Paul's Beatles ballads (and it, too, has its own "Hey Jude"-like coda). That's what one should understand about this album. It really is as good or better than most of the best Beatles work. Buy it now!!

- Highlights: "Too Many People", "Ram On", "Dear Boy", "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey", "Monkberry Moon Delight", "Long Haired Lady", "Back Seat of My Car"

Wild Life (1971) - 86%

This is a raw album. Nobody takes it as seriously as they take Plastic Ono Band, perhaps because it takes itself a little less seriously, but it's got the same sort of deconstructionist merit, to me. Of course, it's note quite as strong - the first two tracks are rather hilarious totally improvisational messes ("Mumbo" and "Bip Bop"), and while both are entertaining, they get old. Virtually the rest of the album is pretty solid, and hard to pin down. Paul's cover of Buddy Holly's "Love Is Strange" is a little funky and pretty dang good, and "I Am Your Singer" is a swell little ballad with flute solo and interesting chord progression, and "Tomorrow" is a phenomenal, Ram-quality pop tune, but the other three tracks are the heaviest and longest. "Some People Never Know" is another of Paul's epic pop songs, with great harmonies, subtle hooks, understated acoustic instrumental backing. The closing "Dear Friend" is a heavy piano ballad responding to John's scathing "How Do You Sleep?". It's a rather mature response, lamenting that John would say such things to so close a friend rather than insulting back (as he did a bit in "Too Many People"). Instrumentally and melodically it's spare as can be, but that falsetto note Paul hits every verse holds as much pathos as any scream of John's on "Mother". The title track is slightly weaker, but only in the ceaseless repetition. The verses themselves are quite moving, regardless of what the listener thinks of Animal Rights - Paul tears his voice up just like on "Monkberry Moon Delight", but this time he sounds more serious, and the chord progression (and the slow waltz rhythm) oozes lament. Good stuff, and an album that shouldn't be dismissed as offhandedly as it always seems to be.

- Highlights: "Some People Never Know", "Tomorrow", "Dear Friend"

Red Rose Speedway (1973) - 90%

This is a cute little album. The trend seems to be toward professionalism, and this is the in-betweener from Wild Life to Band on the Run. But it's significant, too! The more Wild Life-y tracks on here are better, even - "Big Barn Bed" is practically wordless and mono-melodic, but it's pretty darn catchy (also notice it's purely an expansion on that bit tagged onto "Ram On (Reprise)" from Ram); and "Get on the Right Thing" is as solid a rocker as Paul's ever written, with a cool main chord progression and nice harmonies. There's some oddballs, too - the country-swagger ballad "One More Kiss", which would be sort of inconsequential if Paul didn't know how to insert great hooks in everything... which he did at this point; and "Loup (1st Indian on the Moon)" is a totally pointless instrumental, "Single Pigeon" is a little piano swinger that would've fit on Ram (high compliment!) the likes of which we haven't heard since McCartney - but the big deal is the others. "My Love" is a fantastic little acoustic ballad.. a bit schmaltzy, maybe, but the hooks are so great that I couldn't really care less ("My love does it good! Whoa whoa whoa whoa..."). "When the Night" is a very catchy little stomper, with more great backing harmonies to a lovely melody, shifting in tonality from verse to chorus, etc. The closing "Medley: Hold Me Tight/Lazy Dynamite/Hands of Love/Power Cut" is good, but doesn't blow me away. The first section has a beautiful verse section, but a chorus that repeats just a little too much; the second is cute but doesn't go anywhere; the third is the best, with a cute, bouncy acoustic rhythm and chromatic vocal harmonies; the last is a pretty good ballad with a nice repeating hook in the middle. The best on the album, by quite a bit, is the 'pop epic' "Little Lamb Dragonfly", which carries a delightfully sweet instrumental tone throughout, from one pretty melody to the next, culminating in a lovely 'la la' climax at the end. A memorable, if overshadowed, album.

- Highlights: "My Love", "Little Lamb Dragonfly", "Single Pigeon", "When the Night"

Band on the Run (1974) - 96%

At times this album bothers me with its obviously contrived nature. Everything is set up for flawlessness, as if Paul was trying to sculpt a rock opera out of a bunch of disparate songs. But despite all annoying crispness, the quality of the songs wins out. They're just really dang good. The opening title track is another one of those Wilson-esque multi-part epics, opening with a real smooth ballad-fragment, segueing into a pretty badass riff-driven section, and finally into the main song, an acoustic rocker with a ton of great hooks (albeit some pretty silly-sounding ones, but who cares?). It's a masterpiece. Elsewhere in the softer bits lie "Bluebird", a very pretty ballad with nice echoing harmonies in the chorus and a cool brief harmonized acoustic guitar solo, and "Mamunia", a more plaintive bass-and-vocals ballad (with light acoustic strumming), both of which verge on a little too smooth, but again, the hooks are sufficient. Nobody likes this album for the softies, though. Five of the album's nine tracks can be classified as rockers, and they all kick butt. "No Words" has the neat idea of playing a riff in unison between a string section and a distorted guitar. Also, the melodies themselves are more Beatlesque than usual (and man, that guitar melody in the bridge is really moving). "Mrs. Vandebilt" is an oompah classic, with the choppy little "Ho. Hey Ho." vocal riff and a brilliant two-part chorus ("What's the use of worrying?" and "Leave me alone, Mrs. Vandebilt") followed each time by a nice saxophone melody. The other three are the stars of the show, though. "Jet" may contend with half of Ram as my favorite Paul song ever. The thing is just exploding with hooks, so I'll only mention my two favorites: obviously, the "and Jet, I thought the major was a lady" turnaround (reusing the opening riff so brilliantly!!), and, much more subtle, the strangely reggae-ish feel given to the main riff by those muted upbeat guitar strokes. I really dig that! "Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five" is a real grandiose rocker with a bit of a disco feel throughout. The verses have tons of energy, the bridge is genius in its total disparity from the rest of the song, and the guitar solo/coda is as good as any of Paul's epic codas. Most entertaining, though, is "Let Me Roll It", a song which threatens to be generic at one point, ugly at another, and ends up being totally unforgettable. It begins like any other doo-wop song (which it... isn't), and finds its way into this minor key groove led by a hideous repeating guitar lick.. which really grew on me. The verse melody is pretty ominous (and I love the octave jump in the second line), but the chorus is just sort of ethereal. Goodness, I love that song.

- Highlights: "Band on the Run", "Jet", "Mrs. Vandebilt", "Let Me Roll It", "Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five"

Venus and Mars (1975) - 93%
This may be a bit of a drop after Band on the Run, but it's mostly only because Paul allowed his wingmen (hah) to drop a track in here (and sing another). McCulloch's "Medicine Jar" is a pretty good swingin' rocker about drug abuse (the title-hook at the end of the chorus is great; my only complaint is that the whole thing is totally drowned in annoying reverb), but the Laine-sung (Paul-written, though) "Spirits of Ancient Egypt" is kind of a mess - the verses are a totally generic swingin' rocker, and the chorus is an ominous little thing... and there's no great transitions. Otherwise, this album is just candy. The title track and its reprise are delightful, with a great main melody adorned in appropriately different ways in both cases. The two ballads are great - "Love in Song" is spare and beautiful, with a few very memorable sections (the chorus was semi-rewritten by Nick Cave to great effect in "Watching Alice"... maybe unintentionally, but who knows), and "Treat Her Gently/Lonely Old People" is a little slow at times, but the harmonies are pretty, and the mood suits the lyrical theme well. It turns out that the rockers are, just like last time, the best (Who said Paul can't rock? Oh, yeah, everybody. Idiots.). "Rock Show" simply kicks butt, employing more energy as Paul's used on anything since Ram (and sometimes more), great riffs, great vocal melodies, an inspired vocal performance, funny lyrics parodying the glammers (even if it's kind of a tribute), and an awesomely funky coda finishing it out - one of Paul's best. "Magneto and Titanium Man" verges on idiocy - that little bridge with "Magneto was mad, Titanium too" is a little much for me - but goodness, the turnaround melody of the verse is too fun ("you was involved in a robbery that was due to happen at a quarter to three in the main street", etc). Perhaps as good as "Rock Show" is "Letting Go", a stompin' horn-driven rocker that builds up incredibly, culminating in a great modulation with the horns and guitars in harmony... awesome (and the chorus hook is great too - "oh, oh, feel like letting go"). All in all, this is a cut of the same meat as Band on the Run, so don't miss it.

- Highlights: "Venus and Mars", "Rock Show", "Love in Song", "Magneto and Titanium Man", "Letting Go", "Venus and Mars Reprise"

Wings at the Speed of Sound (1976) - 79%

Boy, is this album frustrating. Paul doesn't sing 5/11 songs on it, and two of them are other Wingmen's compositions. McCulloch's "Wino Junko" isn't too bad, actually, just a few minutes longer than a pretty generic and relatively hookless rocker needs to be. Laine's "Time to Hide" is also pretty decent, with a pretty nice 'dark' vibe throughout. Paul's set of songs is easily his weakest to date... patchy. As for the Wings-sung tunes, "The Note You Never Wrote" is a little banal-sounding in the chorus, with that long line smashed in there unmelodically, and there's a general lack of hooks (even if the eerieness is effective), and "Must Do Something About It" is pretty darn good, with a nice Dorian-edged chorus, and a swell vocal delivery by drummer Joe English, but the Linda-sung "Cook of the House" is just awful. If it weren't present, the album would be pretty decent. Generic 50's swung-blues with annoying lyrics, awful faux-50's production quality, and nothing attractive about it. Even the Paul-sung ones are sorta patchy, though. "San Ferry Ann" is good, with a cool polka vibe, but not enough melodic hooks. "She's My Baby" bounces along ramblingly (and sort of uncatchily), but is toe-tapping enough to get by. The huge misfire is the closing "Warm and Beautiful", which is pure schmaltz. The idea of a piano-and-vocal ballad isn't bad, of course - Paul has nailed it so many times - but God, this melody sucks! Granted, the flashes of genius are still there: there are a handful of melodic turns I really like, and think, 'maybe it isn't so bad', but then the rest of it continues and makes me want to turn it off.. really quickly. Paul's off-time vocal performance hurts things significantly. Well, the highlights are still darn good. The opening "Let 'em In" is easily, easily the best song here. Sure, the lyrics sound like something Paul came up with at a random moment when the plumber knocked (in fact, I would put money on that being how this song got its genesis), but everything else is totally genius! The pedaled bass, the spare chords on top, the bouncy melody and delivery.. great. Almost as good is "Beware My Love", a pretty furious song featuring one of Paul's most heartfelt, voice-shredding deliveries ever ("No, no, NO!" *voice crack*), if not quite enough melodic hooks to blow me away (i.e. not quite as good as "Rock Show", even if more genuine). The big hit, "Silly Love Songs", is what it is - a proud response to Lennon's snide comment that Paul writes only them. While the bassline does kick butt, and there are a handful of solid hooks, I can't help but feeling that the song inadvertently justifies Lennon's remark - the "I love you" section may be a little much, and the string/horn arrangement is so saccharine. Perhaps if the song was as catchy as "Maybe I'm Amazed" or "Long Haired Lady" I would be won over and declaring it an ironic masterpiece... but it isn't. So, maybe skip this one (and pick up "Let 'em In" elsewhere).

- Highlights: "Let 'em In"

London Town (1978) - 95%

Whoa. Did not see this coming. So Wings sort of fell apart during their '77 tour - two members quit, the sessions for the follow-up to Wings at the Speed of Sound ended abruptly, and things seemed over - but Paul, Denny Laine and Linda got back in the studio and kept at it, and this thing popped out. London Town is easily the second best Wings album, and the third best of Paul's post-Beatles career. This is a stunningly consistent collection of great, very-well arranged songs. The opening trio is ridiculously good. The title track is a total classic with a sweet-sounding instrumental backing to a memorable, leapy melody (Paul's vocals are brilliant), and it manages to rock out for a bit and even use strings briefly. "Café on the Left Bank" is a pretty hard rocker with a ton of neat chord changes and another memorably leapy melody. "I'm Carrying" may actually be Paul's best post-Beatles love ballad (well, "Maybe I'm Amazed" and "Long-Haired Lady" are pretty great... but this is much more low-key), with an extremely lovely set of melodies, a brilliantly-simple chorus ("I'm carrying something, I'm carrying something for you"), and touching strings towards the end ("Yesterday", anyone?). In other major highlights, "Girlfriend' (later covered by Michael Jackson) is an awesome folky pop tune sung entirely in falsetto. "With a Little Luck", while maybe a little longer than its simplicity warrants, sports a real nice set of verse melodies (the "there is no end to what we can do together... together" bit is really well-harmonized!), and thankfully the synthesizers border on dumb-sounding without crossing it. "Famous Groupies" is a highly enjoyable acoustic romp with Paul taking on a great accent in the verses (which have pretty funny lyrics as well), and also singing a great hook at the end of each verse ("Nobody knows what the famous groupies know"). "Deliver Your Children" is a surprising addition to Paul's (and Denny Laine's, who co-wrote it) repertoire, with more stylistically in common with The Band than anything else I can think of - this is seriously rootsy, American music. It's also really good, with real convincing downer lyrics (think Great Depression) and lovely acoustic guitar melodies adorning earthy vocal harmonies. The only odd man out is the closing "Morse Moose and the Grey Goose", which is simply bizarre, and hard to pin down - a veritably disco beat underpinning a mess of distorted guitars, chiming keyboards, and Paul yelling in his "Monkberry Moon Delight" voice. I'm not a big fan, though I think moreso because there's barely a vocal melody than because the accompaniment bothers me - it's kind of neat. In any case, please pick up this album somehow - it deserves much more love than it's gotten.

- Highlights: "London Town", "Café on the Left Bank", "I'm Carrying", "Girlfriend", "With a Little Luck", "Deliver Your Children"

Back to the Egg (1979) - 83%

Not the worthless-piece-of-shit it's made out to be, but no great shakes, either (for McCartney). Paul goes for a hard rock sound on a surprising portion of this album, and on that front does a pretty decent job. The opening "Getting Closer" (preceded by an awesomely funky intro, "Reception") is actually a pretty hooky and memorable hard rocker, along the lines of "Rock Show" (isn't it weird, though, that he refers to his love as "his salamander"?). None quite match it, but "Spin It On", the faux-50's swingin' fast rocker, is pretty enjoyable for its quickly-sung verse hooks, "Old Siam, Sir", which has a pretty great set of riffs (and would be as good as the opener if it had a few more vocal hooks), and "To You", a staccato-laden rocker with sweet guitar parts, all come close. On other fronts, "We're Open Tonight" is a pretty, spacey acoustic ballad that would've done well on London Town (is it an outtake?), and "Arrow Through Me" is a 'disco' tune with some really jarring vocal hooks and cute lyrics ("Ooh baby, you couldn't have done a worse thing to me, if you had taken an arrow and run it right through me"). Its hooks are a little too jumpy to be catchy, but it grew on me. On the pop front, there's two shorter medley songs ("After the Ball/Million Miles" and "Winter Rose/Love Awake"), neither of which impress me very much as whole compositions. "Winter Rose" is quite pretty, though, and "Million Miles" is poignant in a sort of... backwards way. The other two don't do anything for me, though. Again, this album is more of a gradual step down than any sort of tumble (though I guess most people, inexplicably, find London Town pretty awful as well) to shit.

- Highlights: "Getting Closer", "We're Open Tonight"