I spent a considerable amount of time trying to dig into this album, Paul McCartney's 20th solo release. I tried. I mean who the hell am I to say the album stinks.
Well, as always, I'm a listener and if I don't like, I don't like. That aversion inverted as I kept on listening. I played it low (a bad idea). I played it through different speakers. I played with extra bass, and tried different settings on my stereo. I have a regular stereo on which to listen to reviews, because that's what most people have.
All that knob-twiddling isn't normally important, but sometimes it is. It was here.
I listened fully attentively and I listened to it as background noise, seeing if something would capture my interest.
No.
But then I played it loud. Better. Much.
I reviewed "Fine Line" before the album came out. After listening to the full album, I felt at first that that song had led me astray and that it was the best one on the album.
The comments after that one-song review helped me remember there were a lot of solo McCartney songs I liked. Most had escaped my memory. For a while listening to Chaos and Creation In the Backyard, I was fully prepared to let this album similarly slip away.
It was flat and certainly didn't seem like "This Never Happened Before."
Late in the day, I realized that, Chaos ... was the exception that proved the rule to headphones being the best way to listen to most music. Played louder and played through speakers with multiple parts, I was reminded again of the word "acoustics." Any room is better than the inside of my head.
Some music is meant to soothe. The first couple of times I listened to Chaos ... , I was bored. And when I was stressed one night trying to write a few articles I listened to it, relatively quietly and it irritated me to no end.
The next day I listened again, and while playing it wasn't irritating me, I really wasn't excited. But then I cranked it. Not wall-poundingly loud, but enough so the floor shook just a little and the table, if I put my fingers against it, shook just a little more.
Paul McCartney is not gimmicky here. I love him for that. I don't count playing almost all the instruments yourself as a gimmick, more an achievement of a music world demigod and a true well-rounded musician. (Famously, McCartney could not read sheet music while he was in the Beatles. I wonder if he can now?) I mention gimmicks because there is no greater audio or culturally defiling horror I can think of than Paul McCartney trying to break into a 7-7-7 rap, or jaunting a frat-rock chord. And there's nothing quicker that would send me burning a few tracks on my computer and never listening to the album again.
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Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - lg
Interesting review. Cheers.
2 - Temple Stark
Thanks. I strain for "interesting."
More seriously, thinks for reading.
- Temple
3 - Paul Roy
I had a similar experience to you. It's been a long while since I bought my last McCartney album (the word Wings was probably included somewhere in the name) but after reading all of the stellar reviews of Chaos, I felt I needed to give Paul another try. Like you, I listened the first few times through headphones, and was mostly bored. Yeah a few songs stuck out, but nothing magical. Now I will pop that thing out of my diskman and try it nice and loud through my stereo system. Thanks.
4 - Paul Richards
The album has it's moments but the song "This Never Happened Before" is one of the finest songs he's ever written and recorded. The melody just stays with you and spins around in your head. And you don't want it to leave either. It is the crown jewel of this album.
5 - DJRadiohead
This is a very good review, Temple. I cannot tell you how many times I have committed words to page about an album only to find my feelings changed after a couple of additional listens. It taught me to really try to hear an album before praising or panning it. One thing I don't think I had ever considered is changing the listening environment or method. I might have to give that a whirl.
To the Macca album... the one thing your review might not have been as clear on is the songs on the album. Your review tells the tale of you trying to get your head around it. You do a good job of discussing the album as a whole (which is a valid way of looking at an album). I just don't feel like I know much about the individual songs. It's a minor pick on my part and maybe it's a pointless one but it is just a thought.
6 - Mark Saleski
multiple listens: nearly everything i review has been listened to in its entirety at least five times. it's a good idea.
nice review temple.
i've been wanting to pick this one up.
7 - DJRadiohead
Mark... five is a good benchmark. I haven't imposed any sort of rule on myself other than to listen to every song more than once. Some pieces are more listener- friendly than others but five is good.
I think, in addition to having written a good review, Temple has provided some good tips for how to approach any album.
8 - Mark Saleski
different listening environments happens with me just by situation. i put review material on the ipod, i listen on the home stereo and the ipod. also on the way to work in the car and then on the computer at work.
i figure that if they put all that time into the music i should spend some time myself.
9 - Temple Stark
Good point DJ. I'll try and post a bit of an addendum on individual tracks. Mostly he's a like him or don't kind of guy (when it comes to his solo work) but the varying strength of the songs is worth including.
Paul. R. Hmmm. A vibatious* parallel on the listening experiences.
*Made up word, just like my use of jaunting in the review I believe.
10 - Randy Peterson
I think the CD is absolutely fabulous!!!
11 - Brian Lenni
The album really begins with the 2nd track. "Fine Line" was put in for commercial reasons. During the Beatles' era, "Fine Line" would have been released as a single only ... like "Hey Jude".
12 - Jess
I gotta say when i first listen to this cd, I wished it rocked more and had more guitars and louder drums but after a couple of days i noticed i could`nt get some songs out of my head this never happen before is a gem, follow me and vanity fair ( is this about yoko?) now i`m hooked paul has done it again.no trends just pure paul.it`s not band on the run but it`s a mighty fine cd..`i` do wonder how it would`ve sounded with abe on drums that guys a monster.
13 - Randy Peterson
Hey Jess:
I had heard that "Riding To Vanity Fair" was actually about John Lennon.
Randy
14 - Jess
I heard that too but John was his friend and writing partner since they were in there teens and had made peace before John was killed.It sounds more like yoko to me since she still stabbing Paul with jabs.Or it could be about Michael jackson.But i really don`t think it was about John.
15 - Jim
That is hardly a review. It tells me very little about the music. It could just as well be a review about a pair of speakers or something. "The music on this album is of the kind I would normally describe as that which washes over you and away, into the sewer drain and out to sea. " What is that supposed to mean? I have no idea what that means. I would think a professional reviewer might talk about music using, get this, musical words. Whenever the writer (or performer) use nonmusical words to describe music, it's never quite clear what is meant.
16 - Ron
Interesting review. Back in the day you would pick up an album and absorb yourself in it to plumment the depth of it. It wasn't meant to be a "first listen" experience the record grew on you with every listen. Now you find a lot of disposable pop, rock, rap music that caters to the musically challenged. It is hot because of insane promo or push. People buy it and the songs have an immediate likeability which doesn't last over time. This CD grows deeper with every listen. The base line in all the songs is draws you in completely and is totally McCartney at his Beatle best. If you listen to the way all the instruments come together it is mesmorizing. The songs themselves are "genuis" give them a good listen! There are one or two songs which may not fit that category but have a good listen to the CD.....this is a man who has gifts that you won't see in most musicians today. Some people want Paul to rock and some people want him to play accoustic. Rather than be disappointed because there aren't enough rockers take the album for what it is meant to be. I guarantee you you will not find any more beautiful or more intricate songs out there by anyone. Paul can rock...absoloutely but he can also right the most amazing ballads you'll ever hear. Writing a straight up rocker is quite easy....to be able to right what seems like a ballad or simple love song is much more difficult and Paul has it down to a science (think of Yesterday, Here There and Everywhere, Let it Be, Hey Jude). It is genuis to be able to write what seems to be a simple song as every note and turn matters. Listen to the twist and turns and middle sections! As many of you have experienced the more you play the CD the more the songs in grain themselves in your mind. That is because you have given the song some time and the McCartney magic...the genuis does it's work again.
This CD is very special and needs to be heard! All the things that made you love Beatle Paul are here.
These are the type of songs that only Paul McCartney can deliver with the Beatles and without the Beatles, Paul has come home on this CD.
Do yourself a favor and really listen to it.....it will be one of your favorite CD's in years and it will bring back...."that magic feeling" once again....you will feel the genuis of the man.
Most stuff that is out there is dispensible, hot in the moment, but dispensible. This CD grows with each listen.
CD OF THE YEAR. PERIOD.
17 - Trish
Paul is just totally sexy when he sings I just melt and when he plays the bass and goes up high and does that zoomy stuff OH MY GOD !!! I just lose it I don`t care if Bon Jovi is younger Paul puts every man to shame No one comes close to his talent . I LOVE PAUL !!!
18 - ken
I liked Fine Line before it came out. As a die hard Macca fan, at first after listening the whole CD through I didn't know what to think. Then I listened again. It grew on me. I think I kept waiting for some song that would seem out of place or dissjoint "Ou est le Soliel" or "Peace in the Neighborhood." But none of that was here. This was pretty solid McCartney. His lyrics were tighter than they've been in some time.
English Tea is classic White Album/Ram/Venus and Mars McCartney. He does these retro songs brilliantly, and he can pull it off. "Promise to you girl" rocks at the end. He shows he hot the ability to play with melody and tempo like he used to do. I was almost expecting him to launch in Band on the Run for the last few chords. What can I say about "This Never Happened before" that hasn't been said. Too much rain is a George Harrsion-esque song if you didn't catch the thunderous amount of acoustic guitars I almost expect to hear George. Jenny Wren sound like White Album redux which is a good thing!
19 - losackmd
i miss John, i miss George Martin.
I know that if they two were involved they would have ameliorated 1/3 to half of these songs and the other half would have never made it to the album. I think Paul would agree. There will never be a musical experience like the Beatles ever again. Nothing in the past 30 years even comes close. It is a tremendous loss in my life losing Lennon and Martin and Harrison. Unfortunately this album does not make up for them. critical. PM has
given me so much musical joy that criticizing him is impossible. The best will never return.
20 - Herman
why don`t you give it a rest John has been dead for like 25 years STOP comparing what paul did back then to what he`s doing now. pauls alive and still here to give us the music.. we all know that the music he did with john and george and ringo will never be touched again so it it a freaking rest. george mating is stil alive you fool he`s just doent hear like he use to and for you to talk about missing john and georeg how in the hell do you think paul feels?? paul actually know both of them since he was a teen you never knew any of them except thur the records and book paul wrote all those beatles songs with john . they are all lennon/mccartney songs not lennon/ono or lennon/harrison or lennon/martin.pauls new records is a new record so stop living in the past get over it pauls a god
21 - Barold Barrantine
Hated it when I first played it. On the 5th listen i realised it had totally permeated my subconscious, and in fact I love just about all of it. I think most of what McCartney has done since Tug of War has been utter utter pap. This though, is very good, and one fo the best albums I've heard by anyone in years. Why couldn't he have developed this much earlier instead of all the filler of the last 20 years?
Beautifully crafted and genuine, sympathetic, edgy, introspective songs. Beautifully played by a man with talent and creative energy in abundance. What a lucky bastard. I hate you, Paul McCartney.
22 - fab4fan
Barold,
I hope those comments are meant to be sarcastic about hating Paul!
23 - vinny
i'm 47 and 2/3rds, and i need my music heroes to deliver. brian wilson lost his voice in the early 70's, and his work the past 33 years can't compare to beach boys days 61-73.
thank god mccartney can still deliver a melody with a fine vocal performance. chaos needs a few listens, but what melodies! dylan flashes some magic but he is certainly an acquird taste. forget the stones, clapton, page/plant, townsend...it's over for most Paul's age.
Only Paul can get me friends, none of which own more than a couple of Beatle albums and no solo wings or macca, so excited that they called me a dozen times from his MSG concert to state what i always knew and STILL believe: there is no other in McCartney's league.
24 - Sir James
I'm 56, and have been living through the modern crap that has seemed to have evolved since the "breakup" and other demises of the beatles..I too first listened to Chaos and said to myself.."Myself, this ain't bad, but I don't think, that great either"...Then, the next morning at around 6:00 a.m while getting ready for work..(TEACHER), I cranked up my vintage yamaha cr820 and sat back while drinking my coffee and then it hit me..The proof is in the melodies and myriad of chord changes..While the song lyrics are good, it is definitely the background "meat and potatos" that makes the difference in this album..I don't think there is another artist out there who can come close to weaving all the complex "sounds" that Sir Paul has done with this album...Some folks in this forum are trying to examine and compare this work to earlier McCartney works and even as far back as the Beatles...Folks, give it up..The Beatles are gone, but Paul is still here, and my god what has Paul done with this work is prove that you don't have to be 25 to be able to come up with pure gold...NO, you won't likely see Paul on stage grabbing his crotch to get attention, and he surely won't "rap" where he doesn't sing, doesn't play his own instrument, doesn't write his own songs..(SAMPLING?), but isn't that refreshing in this time of talentless crap that seems to have invaded the music industry...While Chaos and Creation will probably not make much head way in the "top 40" market of today, I personally don't care..I'll just sit back as an older rocker and feel assured that yes, there is a Santa Claus, who this year has given me back the gift of pure music and Santa's name is Paul...
25 - John Lawler
This Macca album extracts from Paul and we the listeners a number of unexpected demands
1. Patience - the album doesn't reveal itself untile a number of listens
2. Professionalism...besides for the occasional Martin. In contrast, much of Driving Rain sounds incomplete and insufficient.
3. Subtlety - the Devil is in the little details The choices made are the right ones
4. Cleverness - weaving of melody and harmony in and out. It doesn't sound like Steely Dan, but there's the same CARE and THOUGHT
5. Challenging - Godrich pulls from Paul his best - wrung the laziness right out of him.
6. The whole is more than the sum of parts...Sometime, someway, some day, you'll get the flow from How Kind of You to Anyway.
Instead of the choke-hold of instant melody imprinting of the Beatles, we have a more persuasive introspective writing and production. This is an album for adults, not arrested-development adolescents. In the end Paul makes it sound so damn effortless. Almost as if these songs and recordings had ALWAYS existed. The mark of true genius.
Certainly one of the best of the post Beatle recordings for a Fab Four, if not the best.
How Kind of You, Jenny Wren, At the Mercy, Friends to Go, English Tea, Too Much Rain, Riding to Vanty Fair, Promise to You Girl, This Never Happened Before, Anyway are classic recordings. Follow Me. and A Certain Softness are close.
Friends to Go, This Never Happened Before, and Vanity Fair in particular are darn near perfect George and Paul would be proud. This album is almost an apology for most of his career and "Freedom."