Today's Tunes You Need Tuesday is a sentimental favorite and since it's my blog, and I'm in a sentimental mood, I'm going to share some Paul McCartney with you. And I'm leaving out the whole Beatles aspect because far better writers than I have discussed his contributions there. From my earliest exposure to The Beatles, McCartney was always my favorite, and I liked his solo material as well. I loved McCartney's voice; it was sweet and warm and felt like an old friend, not pretentious, never trying to be the coolest guy in the room. My other reason for always being a McCartney fan was for his lyrics. He writes honestly and sometimes painfully, and his voice matches the song.
The song that most exemplifies what I love about McCartney's lyrics and voice is "Here Today," the song he wrote as a tribute to his friendship with John Lennon. "Here Today" is a beautiful somber song, one I identified with a great deal once upon a time and quoted in the beginning of my yet-unpublished novel. Anyway, here is "Here Today."
http://kerryfaler.typepad.com/files/05-here-today-1.m4a
My uncle Ron was the first to really introduce me to the early McCartney stuff and after the introduction I was smitten. After babysitting my cousins once when I was 12, Uncle Ron sent me home with a stack of solo McCartney records and it was years before he got them back. McCartney's first solo album, McCartney, was released in 1970 and he played all the instruments on the album. If you were to listen to the album now you'd hear the almost raw McCartney sound you're not used to hearing. It's quite different from what you've grown accustomed to and there are diamonds in the rough on the album, like "Maybe I'm Amazed" that was written in the midst of The Beatles break-up and the birth of Paul and Linda's first daughter. It's a pretty perfect rock love song (not a silly love song).
http://kerryfaler.typepad.com/files/2-04-maybe-im-amazed.m4a
1971 brought Ram, the second solo album by McCartney, then he formed the bang Wings with wife Linda, Danny Seiwell, and Denny Laine (McCartney would later add and subtract members of Wings) and they released Wild Life. In '74 Wings hit their stride with Band on the Run. Band on the Run is still a great rock and roll album (and the only album cover I know of to feature Count Dooku from Star Wars) that holds up great with songs like "Jet" and "Band on the Run."
Wings went on to put out a few more albums that were decent at best, then McCartney was back to a solo act. In '82 Tug of War brought a few great new songs like "Take it Away," "Here Today," and "Ebony and Ivory" with Stevie Wonder and "Get It" with the great Carl Perkins.
The 80's were a mixed bag for McCartney, with duets with Wonder, Perkins, Michael Jackson, and Elvis Costello. There were hits and misses on each album and McCartney explored different avenues creatively, painting, conducting, classical music, and so on. I really think he's back, musically. McCartney's latest album, Memory Almost Full is good stuff, so is his Fireman effort, Electric Arguments.
And for fun, here's Paul and company performing "That Would Be Something" on MTV Unplugged, back when MTV played music, in 1991. Love that Paul.
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