Wings - Wild Life

Wings - Wild Life (1971)

Genre: Rock, Lo-Fi

With a newly formed group, McCartney seemed to backtrack on musical ideas with this debut. Personally, this is a pretty big disappointment, especially after he had just released Ram. As a reminder, I do not intend for this to be a really in-depth and complex review. I'm just sharing my quick personal thoughts on the album. As for any album review I do, I try to be objective without letting any personal bias get too much in the way of the final grade. 

I fully understand why many consider this to be one of, if not the worst McCartney project to ever come into fruition. From the first time I listened to it, I thought it was a joke. The group that would later be known for Band On The Run sound cutesy, awkward, and even unprofessional throughout most of this record. Makes me wonder if Macca meant to put out a subpar record for his standards. As negative as it seems that I'm being towards this record, I only say it like this because Ram was such a great record, personally, that it's really puzzling how it was followed up by this.

This record isn't all bad, though. Love Is Strange, while being a cover, is quite beautiful, if only a tad bit long in its instrumental intro. Tomorrow, has a pretty basic start, but evolves into a beautiful outro jam. The sappy love song I Am Your Singer, while short, is perhaps the highlight on here, which includes a cute duet by Macca and Linda. It's got  a lovely, simple, but effectively very Paul-like melody, which can't really be said about some of the other songs on here. 

The opening track Mumbo, is a nonsensical rock jam and exercise in wailing vocals, which unlike the song Monkberry Moon Delight on his previous album, Paul actually sounds quite obnoxious and irritating at times throughout this song. I can admit that it grew on me a bit over time, but I can perfectly understand how this song can be seen as the worst. Then there's Bip Bop, which is just straight up lo-fi garbage, with its repetitive riff and strange "growly whispered" vocal performance. The title track Wild Life plays out like another exercise in wailing vocals throughout, and at nearly 7 minutes, drags on for way too long. 

In short, the first side of this record is mostly just throwaway tracks, save for Love Is Strange. While you're not getting anything spectacular on the second side, it still offers enough of McCartney's charm for me to still recommend this album for anyone who may be a fan of his, or even people who are into lo-fi indie rock, because this is really what I would describe it as, even though "indie" as we know it nowadays wasn't a thing at the time. But for everyone else, this can easily be skipped. And in all fairness, even the worst songs on this record have grown on me just a bit over time.

C

Favorite Tracks: Love Is Strange, I Am Your Singer, Tomorrow

Least Favorite Track: Bip Bop

Paul and Linda McCartney - Ram

Paul and Linda McCartney - Ram (1971)

Genre: Country Rock, Folk Rock, Blues Rock

Acknowledging the criticisms he received from critics for his debut album, Macca used them to whip up a better sophomore effort. Ironically, critics at the time did not agree. As a reminder, I do not intend for this to be a really in-depth and complex review. I'm just sharing my quick personal thoughts on the album. As for any album review I will do, I try to be objective without letting any personal bias get too much in the way of the final grade.

As previously stated, this record was not very well received by most critics back in 1971. I've always wondered what these critics were smoking back in the day, because this record is such a great improvement over his debut. For one, the production here is noticeably better as a direct result of criticism aimed at the production of his first album. As charming as the "homemade mixtape" aesthetic of his previous effort was to me, I admit that this time around, it actually sounds more like an actual professional release, which is a much better fit for a musician of such high rank. Aside from that, Macca also hired actual studio musicians this time, including his future Wings drummer, Denny Seiwell. 

Seeing as this record is credited to his wife as well, it's cute to hear more vocal contributions from Linda this time around. There's a sense of greater sonic experimentation here as well. Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey combines stormy sound effects, distorted vocals and dabbles in baroque to paint a story, and it makes for one of the more amusing tracks on the record. As much as Paul is known for writing "silly love songs," it's amazing to note that there aren't that many obvious ones on here. Long Haired Lady and Back Seat Of My Car are the most direct approaches to writing a love song here, with the former including a strangely hypnotic, almost psychedelic outro that, admittedly drags on for a bit too long, but is quite interesting.

Let me not forget to mention the more straightforward rock tracks. Smile Away is a nice throwback to the "swing beat" style of 50's and early 60's rock. It's also notable for featuring lyrics about "stinky feet, stinky breath, and stinky teeth." Eat at Home is one of my favorite on here. It's simply catchy as hell. Monkberry Moon Delight on the other hand is an odd specimen on this record, if not for its purely non-sensical lyrics, but also for Paul's incredibly heavy, growly, and at times screechy vocal performance. It's also catchy in it's own right, though.

Every time I go back to this album, I catch myself smiling throughout most of it. Objectively speaking, I wouldn't call this a masterpiece, but I never seem to get bored of replaying it. Within Macca's discography, I'd be hard-pressed to consider any of his albums to be "perfect," but this may very well be the closest he'll ever get to that (as a solo act). It's just an incredibly upbeat, sweet, and at times, comedically amusing album. I seriously have yet to understand what critics back in 1971 thought was so bad about it. There is just so much charm here that's hard to deny and not enjoy.

A

Favorite Tracks: 3 Legs, Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey, Smile Away, Heart Of The Country, Monkberry Moon Delight, Eat At Home, Long Haired Lady

Least Favorite Track: Dear Boy

Paul McCartney - McCartney

Paul McCartney -  McCartney (1970)

Genre: Rock, Lo-Fi

Released less than a month before the release of the final Beatles record Let It Be, McCartney's debut album received substantial hype, thanks in part to rumors of The Beatles' eminent break-up. As a reminder, I do not intend for this to be a really in-depth and complex review. I'm just sharing my quick personal thoughts on the album. As for any album review I will do, I try to be objective without letting any personal bias get too much in the way of the final grade.

It was perfectly reasonable to expect nothing short of a masterpiece from Macca. After all, he contributed so many hits to The Beatles' discography as part of his songwriting partnership with Lennon. The first time I listened to this record all the way through, I was honestly left a bit confused and disheartened. It's riddled with unfinished songs and short, whimsical ditties that by the end, it felt like I had listened to a collection of cut studio takes and abandoned B-sides. It definitely didn't have the consistency and wow factor that one would expect from a former Beatle.

But I digress, as none of the tracks on here are downright stinkers. In fact, this album did spawn one of McCartney's most celebrated solo efforts, Maybe I'm Amazed, a raw, yet sweet piece of romantic piano rock. It's very clear that most of the album drew inspiration from his wife, Linda. The opening track, The Lovely Linda, while only being a mere 44 seconds long, is one of the cutest acoustic piece that McCartney ever recorded and stands out as one of my favorite tracks on the record. If you like cute, sappy love songs, then Macca has you covered on this record.

It's interesting to note, however, that out of the 13 tracks, 5 of them are instrumental and that includes Singalong Junk, which is just an instrumental version of Junk. Pretty cheap of him, if you ask me. While the incomplete songs were already a big indication, this further solidifies my claim that poor Paul was simply struggling with coming up with enough decent material. Junk is quite pretty, at least. Glad he didn't do this with some of the other tracks. Oo You is the most hard-rocking tune here, very much uninspired in it's lyrical content, but quite catchy nonetheless. Man We Was Lonely dabbles in some country influences and remains another simple, but effectively catchy tune. To sum up my thoughts on most of the track-listing, a lot of these may be pretty short, simple tunes, but they're mostly quite pleasing and enjoyable.

 I'd like to properly address Kreen-Akrore. I like to think of this track as an excuse for McCartney's ego to shine through. It's a glorified percussion-heavy jam session. Seeing as he played every instrument on this album, he possibly wanted to show off his [subpar] drumming skills. It's not a particularly horrible track, but it seems quite odd to include it, especially as the closing track. Overall, the album has a low-fi quality about it, production wise. Seeing as a lot of the tracks were recorded at home, it stands to reason that McCartney was going for a more "DIY" kind of sound and aesthetic. For the type of tunes he was putting on this record, it works well enough. This was probably not what most people expected from Macca's debut solo effort, but it has its charm.

B

Favorite Tracks: Maybe I'm Amazed, Man We Was Lonely, The Lovely Linda, Junk, That Would Be Something

Least Favorite Track: Kreen-Akrore