My POLL does it good - The "Red Rose Speedway" Poll

Tempted to vote for the medley, most of all because "Hold Me Tight" is great. But it has to be "Band On The Run", boring as it is as a pick tho.

"Band On The Run??"

Hmm... "My Love" I mean :)

Big Barn Bed, which sounds like (and kind of is) an escapee from Ram.

And yeah, I always want to try to be revisionist with Wild Life, but man does it suck.

This is an awful record. "My Love" gets my vote as worst Beatles solo single, because it tries so hard.

Obviously a patchy album, but much better than "Wild Life", and has its moments.
And "My Love" is beautiful.

Geir, have you done others of these while I haven't been keeping up with New Answers? This my dream series of polls, bravo. Tough call on this one; I think this album is underrated and generally listenable all the way through, although "Loup" does kind of kill the momentum. I think "Single Pigeon" is probaby the best song but the Medley is really catchy and "Big Barn Bed" is the most fun. Going with "Single Pigeon" though. Do you need a pal for a minute or two?

Geir, have you done others of these while I haven't been keeping up with New Answers?

"Baby Im amazed at the the way you POLLED me out of time" - The "McCartney" Poll
We haven't done a bloody POLL all day! - The "Ram" Poll

I'm looking forward to "Tem-poll-rary Secretary" though given who's starting these, I doubt it'll happen.

"McCartney II" must be polled too, although I am sure there are other tracks/lyrics where the wordplay is more fitting. Still a long time to go. :)

Among solo Macca fans, this is a sentimental favorite. The lyrics are just awful -- dummy lyrics he never bothered to rewrite. I had to go w/ Big Barn Bed, b/c of the chorus, but Little Lamb/Dragonfly is probably a close second. I really enjoy most of this, tho...

Didn't you memorably say that Paulie was audibly "stoned to the gills" on this one?

Indeed, I did.

And indeed, he was.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

I like "Wild Life"

"Mumbo" ftw. (distant cousin of "Music is my Radar" Blur)

I didn't realize the new reissues included a double vinyl album "reconstruction" of the original double album plan. Looks kind of cool - it includes "Night Out," "Country Dreamer," "Seaside Woman," "I Lie Around," "The Mess," "Best Friend," "Mama's Little Girl," "I Would Only Smile," and "Tragedy."

Somehow, I didn't know about this either - looks like a bit of an improvement, although even with all those tracks added (and even though it has its highlights) it's still one of the lesser Wings albums for me.

That double vinyl reconstruction was originally included as part of the ongoing Paul McCartney Archive Collection of reissues, where pretty much every McCartney album will be reissued in an expanded edition with one additional disc or as a deluxe box set with much more material. Since the run time of that double LP is less than 80 minutes, they put it all on one single CD as part of the deluxe box set edition of Red Rose Speedway. (The expanded edition has every track used in that double album, but it's spread out across two CD's along with other material, which means they haven't been sequenced in the proper double LP order either.)

I'm an enormous Beatles fan, but I'm at best a frustrated fan of McCartney's post-Beatles work - except for Run Devil Run, there's not a single McCartney or Wings album I'd listen to from start-to-finish. (The U.S. version of Band on the Run with "Helen Wheels" as a bonus comes close - "No Words" is the spoiler.) So I was never a fan of Red Rose Speedway, and I held off on revisiting it until now.

A large majority of McCartney fans claim the double LP version is much better, and I was deeply skeptical because most of it is basically what you'd find on every CD version of the album thanks to the bonus tracks. On top of that, many of the "lost" tracks were already released elsewhere (for example, "Country Dreamer" was the B-side to "Helen Wheels"), and the double LP still didn't include "Hi Hi Hi." So I listened with much doubt, and I have to admit that it really is a better album. A lot of it comes down to craft - everything just flows better. For example, if you hated the execrable "My Love," it helps that it now closes the first side rather than capsize the entire thing by showing up early as the second track.

The double LP still comes off as inconsequential and very lightweight so there's no way I'd call it a great album, but having a larger and massive pile of melodic, catchy songs with a much better flow add up to a pleasant listen. It still reflects the vacuous complacency that characterized this era - a big reason why I never found most of it compelling or interesting - but for better or for worse, it does show how complacency can be very appealing. I mean, a guy relaxing in the shade and performing ditties on his guitar for his wife and kids isn't going to turn my world upside down, but if the guy has found peace and happiness in his own life, good for him.

"Seaside Woman," which I'd never heard before, just popped in one of my algorithms. Was prepared to resist but it turned out to be pretty good.

jeez, i wish we’d run this poll more recently — “my love” aside, i really like all of it. and no votes at all for “single pigeon” :(

I've been listening to the McCartney/Wings albums in order, looking for quality deep tracks. "Little Lamb Dragonfly" is probably the only great non-single I've found post-Ram. "Single Pigeon" is nice.

I can't stand RRS. Boy, have I tried.

It doesn't do you good?

Yeah, I really don't like RRS either, and I really gave it a fair shake, especially when the super deluxe set came out. I do agree the double LP is a "better" listen - it helps that it actually has one great track on it, "The Mess," though I actually prefer the studio outtake over the 'master' which is a live concert recording. At best, RRS feels like a pile of shallow mediocrities, but somehow doubling the load makes it feel like it may have some worth, as if the lack of substance was really a byproduct of volume.

And this would be it, the studio outtake - it was already bootlegged years ago in excellent quality, but it was nice to finally get an official release straight from the master tape:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ma4zYmLIlDQ

I just looked this up, and it turns out "Hi Hi Hi" and "Live and Let Die" were recorded at the same studio sessions. I actually like those tracks, but they were never intended for the album - they were released only as singles (and later reissued on various hits collections).

I said in some other thread that the ratio of good-to-bad post-Beatle McCartney tracks is something like 1 to 11, and I feel like 90% of the good ones were non-LP cuts like "Hi Hi Hi" and "Live and Let Die," not to mention outtakes like "The Mess." Even the album cuts I like were usually released as singles - "Helen Wheels" would've been a single-only release if Capitol's head of marketing, Al Coury, hadn't intervened. (Too bad they didn't cut "No Words" out of Band on the Run in the process.)

awww i'm fond of "No Words."

RRS is very slightly more than the sum of its parts for me --- not that they actually add up to anything, mind you. just kind of a pile of sometimes charming, unfinished things prematurely worked up to full arrangements and studio finish without ever becoming entirely compelling songs with any reason to exist. it's kinda the most stoner Macca album around except maybe the extended McCartney II.

i've listened to this album ten million times though. it's probably like the third one i bought cause it was $10 at Best Buy, and i only owned like twelve CDs and i had a lot of hours of Duke Nukem level editing to soundtrack. i have internalized every development in "Loup." i do think it helps that so much of my experience of it therefore includes "I Lie Around," "Country Dreamer," and "The Mess." like this little encore set of slightly more completely-formed songs comes in after the conclusion.

"Little Lamb Dragonfly" is probably the only great non-single I've found post-Ram.

“big barn bed” good

"big barn bed" gets stuck in my head CONSTANTLY for reasons i can't quite explain. in particular the "sleep on a pillow! leapin' armadillo!" section.

and aww, i love seeing that attachment to Little Lamb Dragonfly. having your own personal song is cool!

The concluding medley is some incoherent shit, though.

I like the melodic/compositional exercise, and find all the bits pleasant to sing along to. But I'd allow that they're all so slight and lyrically empty it's hard to feel like they've arrived at anything significant. Did I imagine the idea that in the double-album version, the different bits would have popped up throughout, allowing "Power Cut" at the end to create the illusion that it was weaving together a bunch of themes or something?

"My Love" has a very pretty verse/chorus melody, but the words are nothing and the whole thing is sunk by the terrible bridge/coda.

"Great Day" (cut in 1992 but unreleased until Flaming Pie in 1997) is a favorite deep cut, and it basically rescues the melody from "Big Barn Bed."

thoughts listening to this on for the 1,001th time, only now on headphones on a saturday night:

* man, i need to get a less beat-up copy of this album, these days my surface noise tolerance, especially for lush 70s studio sounds, is WAY down. and I love the overall sound/mix of this album, it's getting into that slIGHTLY more polished, sheeny mix that i associate with Band on the Run and V&M.

* the lyrics on this album really aren't very good overall. there's a couple songs with interesting word choices and imagery but overall they really feel like placeholder/generic words. "my love" is obviously the worst offender, but "get on the right thing," "when the night" and the medley also suffer from this imho. think better lyrics would REALLY win out a lot of the people who can't hack it with this one --- i think the songs and sounds are generally pretty satisfying and not SO far off from what he was doing on Ram, though here perhaps with a weaker core band playing on the sessions.

* "get on the right thing" has such a cool intro. real headphone-appreciation moment, with the way the instruments chime in and decay.

* the mix of Little Lamb Dragonfly really has some fun stuff as it goes on. it's a really complete and thoughtful arrangement they've put behind the track.

* "when the night" benefits a lot from focusing on the mix/arrangement. there's this nice drone sound, maybe a Moog but possibly a kazoo, that runs under the bedrock of the track. another Moog sound comes up late in "Loup," kinda out of nowhere to do very little.

* what do we really think of the title "Loup (1st Indian on the Moon)"? it feels like some pretty casual and unpleasant 70s racism to me with the "chant" (as named in the printed credits) to me invoking stereotypes of indigenous North Americans. or am i really reading that totally differently than intended? because i'd be much more on board with the song and "chant" if it was just some dumb thing they thought sounded cool.

* speaking of the liner notes, the booklet as a whole feels so silly and half-assed to me. it's this big full-color 12-page production but most of the pages are like an afternoon's work at best. maybe it's the prominence of the Wings logo that's putting me off.

* i love the front cover though! really contributes to that glossy dumb candy luxury feeling, while also already giving up completely on the conceit that this is a genuine "band" and not a solo project.

* does anybody else really sing/sound like Paul McCartney? like for such a huge huge artist, a Beatle, even, does he have all that many imitators? i feel there's something really unique in classic rock to the way his high, pretty voice cuts through the mix.

* yeah i do need to get a nicer copy of this, no matter how dumb it is.

* i basically am okay with the medley and especially "Power Cut" - even before it starts weaving the others in, it's got the most oomph with that super basic bouncy octave bassline and steady piano rhythm. feels like a forerunner to "Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five."

* in contrast to the booklet, the gatefold art, with the intense Pop graphics, is pretty cool! i have no idea if this would have been seen as dated 60s style by 1973, but i dig it and am open to a universe where it's the cover art.

does anybody else really sing/sound like Paul McCartney?

Are you familiar with Emmit Rhodes? Similar vocal tone and range, not to mention his style of songwriting.

i'm not, actually! i know at some point i kept seeing the name enough that i listened to at least something, but it didn't stick... is there an album or comp or something i should start with?

from the other thread:

"Some People Never Know" and "Dear Friend" are better realized -- musically and conceptually -- than just about every RRS album track.

― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, December 11, 2021 11:59 AM (eleven hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

I gave RRS another listen on my morning walk and -- well, I can't. The wtf song titles just sit there, looking for something other than a hook (this is when I realized what shitty musicians the early Wings guys were, apart from maybe Denny Laine).

― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, December 11, 2021 12:01 PM

See,I think there's nothing wrong with"My Love", it's laid back in its sentiment but with surreal touches (I never say goodbye,because she's everywhere..) it's almost a religious song turned secular.

Oh,and I like "Loup" and wish it was longer.

I saw an interview (mccartneyii time) where Paul basically laid claim to being more interested in music and less bothered about being a lyricist.

But,his Beatles lyrics are some of the best anywhere.

I guess not having to compete with John anymore meant he didn't have to try too hard.

on this topic, another thought from last night: people say that without John, he had no one saying "no" to him. I wonder how much john ever did say "no," versus a style of "yes, and..." or "oh cool, orrrrrr we could..." filtered through their friendship/rhythm/private language. IOW john was good at taking paul's stuff and punching it up to the next level.

is there an album or comp or something i should start with?

I like almost every one of the 48 tracks on The Emitt Rhodes Recordings (1969–1973), containing his first four solo records, but the 1970 self-titled album is usually regarded as his best.

...it's also a one-man production, like McCartney.

sweet, thanks!