We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago…..
Paul McCartney was used to adoration as a member of The Beatles. The dozens of songs he wrote sold millions of copies and generated critical acclaim as some of the best pop music ever written. So, imagine his surprise when his first solo effort after the breakup of the Fab Four was critically slagged. And imagine his further surprise when his second solo effort, “Ram”, released in 1971, was also put through the critical wringer. Granted the bar for the guy who wrote Yesterday, Eleanor Rigby and The Long & Winding Rd is going to be higher than for most other artists but the dislike for this record was almost universal within the music press.
Jon Landau in Rolling Stone called it “incredibly inconsequential” and monumentally irrelevant” and “emotionally vacuous”. New Music Express said it was “an excursion into almost unrelieved tedium” and Robert Christgau called it a “bad record” Oh, and John Lennon(feuding with Paul at the time) called it “muzak”.
It wasn’t all negative although Melody Maker was a bit back-handed when they said “Its a good album by anybody’s standards and certainly far better than the majority of released by British groups and singers. Trouble is you expect more from a man like Paul McCartney.
So, I listened to the Lp for the first time in ages yesterday. And while it certainly isn’t Sgt Pepper, Rubber Soul or Revolver, it does have some moments that stand out. One major difference from his first solo record was that he brought in some other musicians. Drummer Denny Siewell (who would later be part of Wings) and session guitar aces David Spinozza and Hugh McCracken who add some tasty solos and fills throughout the record.
I thought the song Smile Away is a good pop song that has a fifties feel…in a style that McCartney would have been listening to when he was a kid. Also a goofy tune called Monkberry Moon Delight which has Sir Paul singing in a raucous style unlike his usual crooning. Shades of some of his Wings stuff in the future. The song also has Paul & Linda’s young adopted daughter Heather singing background harmonies….and doing it well. Its a fun tune.
And then, of course is the song that most of you are familiar with…Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey which gave McCartney his first #1 single since leaving the Beatles. It’s a mashup of two different songs and certainly sounded different than most of the stuff coming out of the radio. I’ve always liked the song and McCartney wrote some strange ones even in his time with the Fab Four. Ob-la Di, Ob La Da or Rockey Raccoon anyone?
One of the songs from the session that didn’t make the Lp was released as a single. Another Day became a Top 5 hit.
McCartney fans didn’t care what the critics had to say. The LP went #1 in the UK and #2 in America. Was it McCartney’s best work? Not even close…but many current critics have re-appraised the record with one calling it ” a record that celebrates small pleasures with big melodies”.
Give it a spin and see what you think….
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