Paul McCartney's new album comes out today, "Chaos and Creation in the Back Yard"

 

Here is the Tribs review...

 

Paul McCartney gives the impression that he could fall out of bed and dash off an album's worth of songs in a matter of hours.

 

Trouble is, much of his post-Beatles work is just as easy to dismiss; McCartney has turned breeziness into a genre all his own.

 

But the singer's casual genius is more focused than usual on his 20th studio recording as a solo artist, "Chaos and Creation in the Back Yard" (Capitol), due in stores Tuesday. Designed to evoke the intimate, one-man-band feel of "McCartney," his 1970 solo debut, and "McCartney II," its 1980 successor, it's much better than either of those albums.

 

Though most of the 13 songs are ballads and smaller mood pieces, only a couple sound trivial. The arrangements are richer, the melodies more nuanced than anything the singer has done in years. McCartney plays most of the instruments himself; he's a brilliant bassist, of course, and an accomplished pianist and guitarist. But he also does a passable impression of a self-contained orchestra while playing drums, tambourine, melodica, recorder, flute, harmonium, even a flugelhorn.

 

At their best, these layered arrangements conspire to create finely tuned chamber pop, augmented by subtly appropriate string arrangements. In its scope and tone -- songs about heartache, forgiveness and redemption -- "Chaos and Creation" echoes the more personal work of one of McCartney's heroes, Brian Wilson. That McCartney was motivated not just to write and perform the songs, but to refine them until they merited comparison to his best work, is the key to the album's sense of accomplishment. Credit should be shared by producer Nigel Godrich, whose resume includes albums by Radiohead, Pavement and Beck.

 

It's doubtful McCartney has heard the word "no" much in a recording studio since his days in the Beatles, when John Lennon and producer George Martin acted as bad cop-good cop quality-control monitors. But in recent interviews, McCartney has said Godrich wasn't intimidated into silence, and didn't mind telling the legend when his work was less than legendary. The craftsmanship and attention to detail are evident: the way McCartney's piano and a string section drive "Fine Line" before dissolving into a dreamy bridge; the two recurring notes on a toy glockenspiel that become a beacon in the troubled waters of "Riding to Vanity Fair"; the wordless vocal that floats alongside the mournful melody of a duduk (an Armenian clarinet) on the acoustic reverie "Jenny Wren."

 

There are a couple of slip-ups. The preciousness of "English Tea" is caustic, with McCartney celebrating effete upper-crust rituals without apparent irony. And "Certain Softness" is a bossa nova that verges on lounge parody.

 

Otherwise, a bittersweet melancholy hangs over most of the songs, and the singer is in supple voice. Even when he slides up to a falsetto, McCartney's delivery sounds conversational. If his emotional engagement has been suspect in the past, buried beneath a veneer of can-do optimism and banal lyricism, McCartney lets his guard down a little here. He's just turned 63, and that knowledge shades the songs in autumnal colors. A line as simple as "no more rain" sends chills, and the song "Too Much Rain" becomes a hymn to deliverance.

 

His performance on "How Kind of You" is equally moving, especially the way his voice quivers the first time he delivers the line, "I thought my faith had gone."

 

Even some of his fans might've felt the same way in recent decades. Now McCartney's given them reason to believe again.

 

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gregkot@aol.com

Brian Jonestown Massacre tomorrow night at Metro.

I'm AMPED.

Paul McCartney's new album comes out today, "Chaos and Creation in the Back Yard"

 

Here is the Tribs review...

 

produced by nigel godrich

Brian Jonestown Massacre tomorrow night at Metro. 

I'm AMPED.

 

 

review review review

sweet, i just got a neutral milk hotel live show

sweet, i just got a neutral milk hotel live show

 

and velvet underground box set!!!!

and velvet underground box set!!!!

 

Then one fine mornin' she puts on a New York station. She don't believe what she heard at all. She started dancin' to that fine fine music. You know her life was saved by Rock n' Roll........Hell YEAH!!!

Paul McCartney's new album comes out today, "Chaos and Creation in the Back Yard"

 

Here is the Tribs review...

Worst post-Beatles career out of them all.

Worst post-Beatles career out of them all.

 

worst then ringo? Give me a break

worst then ringo? Give me a break

 

worst then ringo? Give me a break

Thomas the Tank Engine > Wings

Thomas the Tank Engine > Wings

 

your insane!

your insane!

Man I hate Wings. "It Don't Come Easy" blows any Paul song away. I think we can at least agree George is the best by far.

Ummmmmm

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

no?

 

Paul's career post-Beatles has been nothing short of remarkable. Let me know when he makes some Ringo-esque Pizza Hut commercials.

Man I hate Wings.  "It Don't Come Easy" blows any Paul song away.  I think we can at least agree George is the best by far.

 

 

In my opinion

 

George>>>>>John>Paul>>>>>>>>>>Ringo

In my opinion

 

George>>>>>John>Paul>>>>>>>>>>Ringo

In my opinion,

 

John>>>>George>>>>>Ringo>>>>> Paul

 

I'm a huge Lennon fan. Paul's stuff is just too "white bread" for my liking. George put out some of the best stuff by far, but mostly just not my cup of tea.

Thank you!

For me it was

 

Paul just barely over John

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

George

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ringo

Yoko

thats strange because i thought it was pretty much consensus that george had the best stuff, i always considered this because he did not write songs for so long for the beatles he would've had the most to go with in a solo career because he had more to prove.

 

ringo's stuff is just aweful to me.

thats strange because i thought it was pretty much consensus that george had the best stuff, i always considered this because he did not write songs for so long for the beatles he would've had the most to go with in a solo career because he had more to prove.

 

ringo's stuff is just aweful to me.

Ringo's stuff is just that, Ringo. It's simple and harmless. "Back Off Boogaloo", "It Don't Come Easy" and "Photograph" were are listenable good Top-40 stuff. I love "It Don't Come Easy". Ringo's tribute song to George (I forget the name of it) was great, very heartfelt and moving.

The fact that he has recorded and toured extensively with his always changing All Star Band is, I think, cool. A neat opportunity to see guys again like Joe Walsh, Dave Edmunds, John Waite, Paul Carrack, Gary Brooker, Greg Lake and Jack Bruce.

The thing about Ringo is and always has been, you don't expect much but you're usually pleasantly surprised. Well, for me anyway.

Paul (and especially with Wings)>>>>>>>>>>>>>George>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>John>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Ringo.

 

I'm not much of a post-Beatle John fan. I think his stuff suffered from wanting to be too much of an "artist" and forgetting he was a Rock and Roll star. Somebody needed to make him relisten to his Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent albums again.

Its simple....Beatles >>>>> All the other s*** any of them did on their own

this velvet underground box set is amazing.

Its simple....Beatles >>>>> All the other s*** any of them did on their own

 

No matter which solo Beatle one likes better, I don't think anyone would argue that the any of the Beatles were better solo than the magic they made together.

No matter which solo Beatle one likes better, I don't think anyone would argue that the any of the Beatles were better solo than the magic they made together.

 

...for years my Wings stuff got more play.

 

I got burnt out on The Beatles though...big time.

 

The Beatles never recorded "Juniors Farm".