New Paul McCartney

[norton]

The Queen of the castle brought this record home from cheapo's used cd racks last night....and although i haven't listened to it much...yet...

BUT the DVD that came with it is super cool. a little hokey with some staged footage of Paul tracking stuff - but there's plenty of raw film of actual tracking sessions, and tons of interview footage with paul and nigel godrich. very interesting stuff.

the 30 min film really does a good job of setting the stage for the record.... At first listen i was hearing his stuff with pretty judgemental and jaded ears. but after watching the dvd i'd have to say that it's a really nice album with a couple of stand out tracks that are better than just about anything he's done post beatles. It's almost as if he's going down the ray davies super personal storytelling road.

i'd be really interested hearing what the wise ears of the tomb have to say about it.

[JohnDavisNYC]

good topic. i really like the sound of this record. listening to it now to see if i can think of anything of note. i think what stands out the most to me is paul's playing on this album... it's absolutely amazing. he kinda sounds like all the other beatles on each instrument... his drumming is so 'ringo'... alot of his electric guitar playing sounds like it could be george... i like that alot. i think from a recording perspective, it is a pretty refreshingly nice sounding album. it sounds classic, but not in a retro way... it's not toooo loud. i could have used a few more db of headroom, but the fact that there is ANY for a current big label release is awesome. i get the feeling it was mixed to be about as loud as it is... doesn't sound like the mastering engineer slammed it. nice to hear some tape hiss, too. there are a couple cool little nigel-y wierd noises that i like, particularly the tape start up sounds at the top of some of the songs and stuff. not too 'clean'. the piano sounds are pretty amazing... it's one of those things where i think from a production perspective it's almost perfect. granted, the lyrics are kinda shit... but i never look to paul for the lyrical content that much. some of the strings are a bit dramatic for me, but not any more than the strings on sea change or anything. the acoustic sound on the 3rd song are perfect. i think that song is kinda perfect.

john

[Shawn Simmons]

I think it's a pretty good record. There are some great songs on it. But there are also a few bad ones. "At The Mercy" is unlistenable to me. But "Jenny Wren" is great. Nigel Godrich, what can I say? Very tasteful and beautiful production/engineering. And Paul is a master songwriter. Complicated chord changes that dont' sound complicated.

shawn

[norton]

i complete agree with you guys on this album... really nice sounds... some great sounding songs... a couple a not so good ones... and a couple really nice ones...

english tea pops out at me as one i immediately like... don't care for the big strings at the front but it's got that "martha my dear" kinda tin pan alley thing going on for it. and for some reason it strikes me as being clever in the classic songwriting sense.

so this stuff was tracked to tape? i was wondering if it was... still haven't heard the little bits of tape ramp up. i've been listening to it in the car. soo not the best environment.... but i can still tell it's a pretty sounding record, with well recorded sounds.

piano sounds indeed! some of the guitars are just amazing....right on the edge of distortion in an instantly 'beatle" way.

[cgarges]

I just got it and I like it a lot. For me, it took some warming up. The first few tunes were interesting, but I kept thinking, "These are interesting but I probably won't listen to this CD much after today," but some of the later tunes on the record are really good. It is very reminiscent of older Wings-era stuff to me. Nice to hear Paul playing most of the instruments, too.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[sad iron]

I am going to second most everything previously said (so why post at all?), but I also want to add how impressed I am with Macca's voice on this record. Still clear and strong and his range is as impressive as ever. I mean, the guy's in his 60s and he still sounds ike he did at 25.

I certainly haven't had Chaos on repeat sonce I got it, but it makes me smile when I do listen.

[hammertime]

Personally, I hate the guy and his music. It's chronically boring, unchallenging to listen to, has no tragic dimensions, and just plain downright sucks.

[JGriffin]

Personally, I hate the guy and his music. It's chronically boring, unchallenging to listen to, has no tragic dimensions, and just plain downright sucks.

That's a remarkably sweeping statement, considering "the guy's" 40+ year music career and status as one of the main songwriters of one of the biggest musical groups in recorded history. You're telling me that over four decades and hundreds of songs you can't find one single thing by Paul McCartney that's worth your time? Wow. Your CD collection must be mind-blowing.

[hammertime]

I had the complete Beatles on my computer, and listened to just about every Beatles song while on a plane trip to Europe. And, honestly, I didn't like one single song all that much, except for Taxman (which McCartney didn't write), and Flying. I guess what I dislike most about McCartney is his complete lack of authenticity. He started out by trying to look and sound like Americans who were themselves just Hollywood imitations of other people (Brando and Elvis come to mind). His songs are pleasant enough, and I guess he's mellowed into an unthreatening, levelled down, soft and cuddly -- but honestly, nothing he's written or ever played has touched my spirit in anyway. All in good humor of course -- reasonable people can disagree.

Personally, I hate the guy and his music. It's chronically boring, unchallenging to listen to, has no tragic dimensions, and just plain downright sucks.

That's a remarkably sweeping statement, considering "the guy's" 40+ year music career and status as one of the main songwriters of one of the biggest musical groups in recorded history. You're telling me that over four decades and hundreds of songs you can't find one single thing by Paul McCartney that's worth your time? Wow. Your CD collection must be mind-blowing.

[spectralgrey]

You do know that despite Taxman being written by George, Paul did a great deal of the guitars, right? The solo in that song is played by Paul on the same guitar that he uses a lot on the new album.

[JGriffin]

I had the complete Beatles on my computer, and listened to just about every Beatles song while on a plane trip to Europe. And, honestly, I didn't like one single song all that much, except for Taxman (which McCartney didn't write), and Flying. I guess what I dislike most about McCartney is his complete lack of authenticity. He started out by trying to look and sound like Americans who were themselves just Hollywood imitations of other people (Brando and Elvis come to mind). His songs are pleasant enough, and I guess he's mellowed into an unthreatening, levelled down, soft and cuddly -- but honestly, nothing he's written or ever played has touched my spirit in anyway. All in good humor of course -- reasonable people can disagree.

Personally, I hate the guy and his music. It's chronically boring, unchallenging to listen to, has no tragic dimensions, and just plain downright sucks.

That's a remarkably sweeping statement, considering "the guy's" 40+ year music career and status as one of the main songwriters of one of the biggest musical groups in recorded history. You're telling me that over four decades and hundreds of songs you can't find one single thing by Paul McCartney that's worth your time? Wow. Your CD collection must be mind-blowing.

Okay...so what do you consider good? What do you listen to?

[sleep over jack]

I had the complete Beatles on my computer, and listened to just about every Beatles song while on a plane trip to Europe. And, honestly, I didn't like one single song all that much, except for Taxman (which McCartney didn't write), and Flying. I guess what I dislike most about McCartney is his complete lack of authenticity. He started out by trying to look and sound like Americans who were themselves just Hollywood imitations of other people (Brando and Elvis come to mind). His songs are pleasant enough, and I guess he's mellowed into an unthreatening, levelled down, soft and cuddly -- but honestly, nothing he's written or ever played has touched my spirit in anyway. All in good humor of course -- reasonable people can disagree.

Personally, I hate the guy and his music. It's chronically boring, unchallenging to listen to, has no tragic dimensions, and just plain downright sucks.

That's a remarkably sweeping statement, considering "the guy's" 40+ year music career and status as one of the main songwriters of one of the biggest musical groups in recorded history. You're telling me that over four decades and hundreds of songs you can't find one single thing by Paul McCartney that's worth your time? Wow. Your CD collection must be mind-blowing.

get new ears.

[Rigsby]

I heard the new macca was a goody, and i really wanted to like it, but i can't, i just find the guy generally pretty soul-less, it's not really the songs so much as his voice, though it is his songs as well.

[joeysimms]

Okay...so what do you consider good? What do you listen to?

dwulby - there's MUCH MUCH MUCH more to music than paul MCcartney's contributions, I don't know whay you're bothering. hammer/stillafool has said he likes old blues, lightnin hopkins, ac/dc, etc.. it's not like if you DON'T care for macca that you must not like anything.. C'mon.

[hammertime]

Bullshit. The guy stinks. True -- he probably sounds as good as any of the other shit that some of you guys talk about (all this effeminate, whining singer songer writer shit I always hear you guys talk about). But lets not get personal. Different people can have different opinions. Some people like hearing a middle-aged stale mediocrity long past his prime playing hack chord progressions and singing banal lyrics.

Okay...so what do you consider good? What do you listen to?

dwulby - there's MUCH MUCH MUCH more to music than paul MCcartney's contributions, I don't know whay you're bothering. hammer/stillafool has said he likes old blues, lightnin hopkins, ac/dc, etc.. it's not like if you DON'T care for macca that you must not like anything.. C'mon.