In this thread I rank my favorite post-Beatles Beatles songs: 291-1. (2 Viewers)

[Pip's Invitation]

Wow, I had no idea.  Just looked this up and didn't realize that she also dated the entirety of SNL.  I thought of her and Gene Wilder (whom I loved) as long-time soulmates, but they were only married five years.

Yes. I think because the world saw Gene’s pain — he truly, truly loved her — when she died young, a lot of people assumed they had been together for a very long time, but they had not. 

From the “why the hell do I know this?” category: GE Smith began playing with Hall and Oates on their 1979 album X-Static. He played on their next one, Voices, which began their run of megastardom in the 80s, but does not appear in the videos for those songs. Why? Because in 1980, he was touring as musical director for a revue called Gilda Live that Gilda and Lorne Michaels put together. Despite yielding an album and a TV special, it was a bomb, and one that Gilda’s career never really recovered from.

 

[Pip's Invitation]

See, now this is not OK.  It's like when OH was mad about that Rush documentary because it made him like Rush as people.  I need my disdain for GE Smith in my life; I don't want to like him.

OH should have known better. Rush are Canadian, of course they are nice people. What did he expect exactly?

 

[Dr. Octopus]

Michael McCartney, who took the name to try to avoid being seen as trading on Paul's fame.  "Gear," in Liverpool, is the equivalent of "fab." 

I’m glad to see all of Michael’s success came on his own merits.

 

[Bracie Smathers]

One of the other most notable songs is his duet with Chrissie Hynde, “Don’t Hang Up,” which I might not favor only because I don’t dig her much (with apologies to @Bracie Smathers). 

Your misanthropy has been well established as no one can question the jealous rage of the charting member of the 'She-fem womin' haters club'.

 

[Dr. Octopus]

I actually like Ferry better as a song than Heavy, but it's not a favorite or anything. I thought this version was kind of dull until the vocal arrangement got spiced up around 3:00. 

Children in Need is '80s cheese. Paul was no stranger to that. (3:20) OF COURSE there's a children's chorus.

1987 was a bad year to re-record classics from earlier decades, Let It Be is no exception. Is that Jeff Beck and Mark Knopfler trading guitar solos? It does get better in the second half. 

Do They Know It's Christmas is 10 times better than We Are the World and I don't get tired of it when it reappears on the radio during the holidays. I also don't hate Wonderful Christmastime so maybe I'm weird. Also, my favorite part of the video is Roger Daltrey looking at the lyric sheet all confused. 

I enjoyed the Come Together cover, but I am likely to rate highly anything Paul Weller is involved with (late-period Style Council excepted). '90s Paul Weller especially. 

Love Song to the Earth sounds like one of those things that was focus-grouped to death. It's not good, and it's not "so-bad-it's-amusing" like Wyclef's Haiti benefit song. It's just blah. 

I couldn’t figure out who the other guitarist is. It does sound a bit like Beck’s style but I don’t remember him ever getting fat like that. Around that time he was actually getting some MTV airplay with Rod Stewart collaborations and he was as thin as always.

 

[Dr. Octopus]

I'm just gonna go ahead and punish you guys with another Ringo.

278.  Fading In Fading Out (Choose Love, 2005)  Spotify  YouTube

(Ringo #28)

This song is from Ringo’s 14th – 14th! – studio album, Choose Love, released in 2005.  We’re going to be skipping around a bit on albums from all the guys, which isn’t ideal, but I’ll try to work the history in as best I can.  Following several commercial failures, Ringo had some moderate success with his “comeback” albums Vertical Man and Ringo Rama, and here he once again partnered with Mark Hudson and a couple of moderate or major stars on a perfectly nice and friendly (though possibly unspectacular) record.  This one, however, did not see any commercial success despite good reviews for a Ringo album, or as one review put it, not just a good Ringo record but a flat-out good record. 

Of the lesser-known Ringos, this is a satisfying album, as usual featuring Ringo’s effortless good cheer and in this case a couple of strong-ish songs that just missed my countdown:  “Give Me Back the Beat” (which I originally had slotted in this spot, so let me know if I made a mistake with my last-minute switcheroo) and “Satisfied”.   One of the other most notable songs is his duet with Chrissie Hynde, “Don’t Hang Up,” which I might not favor only because I don’t dig her much (with apologies to @Bracie Smathers).  The song I did choose to feature is just a jovial little Ringo-ism, nothing that’s going to rock your world, but a nice toe-tapper with a good nature that showcases a lesser-known Ringo album that doesn’t deserve to be completely overlooked, so I'm giving it one slot here.

That song would probably work a lot better with a better vocalist (no offense Ringo). It’s such a peppy happy song but his vocals are so flat.

 

[Pip's Invitation]

I couldn’t figure out who the other guitarist is. It does sound a bit like Beck’s style but I don’t remember him ever getting fat like that. Around that time he was actually getting some MTV airplay with Rod Stewart collaborations and he was as thin as always.

Is it one of the dudes from Status Quo? They are a big deal in the UK but no one cares about them in the US. 

 

[simey]

As promised, it's time for McCartney Minus McCartney Plus...McCartney

280.  Roger McGough and Mike McGear - So Much in Love (McCough & McGear, 1968)  Spotify  YouTube

I like this.

 

[Pip's Invitation]

As promised, it's time for McCartney Minus McCartney Plus...McCartney

280.  Roger McGough and Mike McGear - So Much in Love (McCough & McGear, 1968)  Spotify  YouTube

279.  Mike McGear - What Do We Really Know? (McGear, 1974)  Spotify  YouTube

(Paul #136 and 137)

McGear is the second (and last) solo album put out by Mike McGear.  Who the heck is Mike McGear, the crowd demands?  It's the pseudonym of Paul's baby brother, Peter Michael McCartney, who took the name to try to avoid being seen as trading on Paul's fame.  "Gear," in Liverpool, is the equivalent of "fab."  Fine, the crowd admits, but what does that have to do with any of this?  Well, the McGear album includes not just Paul as a producer, songwriter (he wrote or co-wrote every non-cover on the record), and musician, but also features current or soon-to-be members of Wings - Linda, Jimmy McCulloch, Denny Seiwell, and Denny Laine.  Some people consider it a "hidden" Wings album, and to me it's better than one or two of the official Wings albums.

Mike is a damned interesting guy.  Before releasing any albums, he was part of the group The Scaffold, which had formed out of a group called The Liverpool One Fat Lady All Electric Show and was a blend of poetry, music and comedy that you really have to listen to to understand.  Actually, I listened to them, and I still don't understand.  Anyway, the group had several top ten singles in the UK, including their #1 hit Lily the Pink, and a hit children's TV show.  That video really must be viewed.

In 1968, Mike also released a separate album entitled McGough & McGear with one of his two compatriots in The Scaffold.  Why do we care about this album, which is mostly made up of comedy bits and spoken word poetry?  We care not only because of Paul's heavy participation in the album, contributing vocals, piano, and some of the songwriting, but because the first and last tracks on the album feature a guitarist that you might just recognize without my having to tell you who it is.  Take a listen to #280 up there and give it a shot.*

I enjoy quite a few songs on McGear but didn't want to muck up this list with too many not-purely-Paul entries.  If you like the one above, which I think is a great banger with that Wings support, check out "Leave It," which was recorded to be released as a single, but when Paul sent it to the in-laws for release, they suggested a whole album be put together instead.  "Givin' Grease A Ride" is a Gary-Numan-esque piece five years before "Cars," and I like "Norton" but understand it would not be for most people.

On McGough & McGear, definitely listen to the other song that features that pretty good guitarist, "Ex Art Student." 

So Much in Love starts a bit like Jimi's Spanish Castle Magic. It's very groovy in that '60s kind of way. It's the The Word of Beatle sibling songs. I dig it. 

The beginning of What Do We Really Know screams "Hey everybody! Late '60s Beatles guitar!" Then it becomes skiffle-riffic. I presume the bass solo is Paul, that was cool. I was not expecting a turn into heavy metal at 2:30. This is very much in Paul's "stick a bunch of unrelated passages together and call it a song" tradition. It's a little more jarring than his other '60s and '70s efforts in that milieu. 

 

[simey]

One of the other most notable songs is his duet with Chrissie Hynde, “Don’t Hang Up,” which I might not favor only because I don’t dig her much (with apologies to @Bracie Smathers).  

Chrissie is close with the McCartney family, and was especially good friends with Linda.

 

[simey]

He was such a mainstay of early Hall and Oates and he always struck me as so odd looking ...and then Saturday Night Live.

GE Smith's looks remind me of someone that would be a hit man or villain in a movie/show.

 

[krista4]

That song would probably work a lot better with a better vocalist (no offense Ringo). It’s such a peppy happy song but his vocals are so flat.

Definitely.  He has more good songs than I expected, but many are made worse by his voice.  I also don’t like that he usually punches hard on one syllable per note or most of the time it’s one word per note.  This one wasn’t as bad in that regard.

 

[Dr. Octopus]

Is it one of the dudes from Status Quo? They are a big deal in the UK but no one cares about them in the US. 

That’s possible.

 

[Pip's Invitation]

including their #1 hit Lily the Pink

This, like The Move's Blackberry Way, is the kind of song that would get big in Britain and absolutely nowhere else. Holy music hall. 

 

[Pip's Invitation]

On McGough & McGear, definitely listen to the other song that features that pretty good guitarist, "Ex Art Student." 

This answers the question that I don't think anyone was asking: "Did Dave Mason ever play sitar again after the first Traffic album?" 

There are elements of the Kinks here, especially at the beginning. Aside from that, this combines a whole hodgepodge of trends that are very '60s and did not continue after that in any way, shape or form. The chaos in the middle sounds a bit like passages from side 3 of Electric Ladyland. 

 

[Bracie Smathers]

Your misanthropy has been well established as no one can question the jealous rage of the charting member of the 'She-fem womin' haters club'.

krista4 reacted to this >>>  LINK

 

[Pip's Invitation]

I enjoy quite a few songs on McGear but didn't want to muck up this list with too many not-purely-Paul entries.  If you like the one above, which I think is a great banger with that Wings support, check out "Leave It," which was recorded to be released as a single, but when Paul sent it to the in-laws for release, they suggested a whole album be put together instead.  "Givin' Grease A Ride" is a Gary-Numan-esque piece five years before "Cars," and I like "Norton" but understand it would not be for most people.

Leave It is good and would not be out of place on a Wings album -- perhaps even as a Wings single. Mike sounds more like Paul here than on any of his other songs I've listened to so far. 

Givin' Grease a Ride -- Paul had to have been listening to Kraftwerk when he wrote this. It would fit with his "keeping up with the latest avant-garde trends, even if it's just because those people have the best parties" ethos. It's probably because I've been listening to too much Neil, but to me the inflection of Mike's vocals on the verses sounds similar to that in Mr. Soul. The guitar solo starting around 4:00 is cool, I presume that's Paul. 

Norton -- This does not make sense to my American ears. And the lyrics are total cringe. 

 

[Morton Muffley]

Your posts are unbelievably kind in referring to my "ear," but I'm going to disappoint a lot in this endeavor.  My ear is not particularly trained, anyway.

I am extremely interested in your top 25, even moreso based on this post.  Dammit, I don't want to wait.  I'd say 50% of my top 10 Paul are lesser known, or at least not ones you hear all the time on the Beatles channel.  I'm glad to hear I'm not on an island there, though I wouldn't be surprised if we didn't have much overlap in those.  I know you've referenced a couple of lesser-knowns that will rank highly for me.  It's certainly not novelty but the fact of Paul's incredible output.

As to Ringo, ahhhhh, his albums are rarely horrible to listen to, but also rarely something I want to repeat.  They're amiable, unassuming, and usually quite warm.  I did come across a few underappreciated gems along the way.  A few.

on the first bolded: contrary to having been understandably called out, I actually DO read your posts!  So am aware that your approach herein will be less about music diagnosistics.  Nevertheless, my point stands that I am interested to see what songs we respond to similarly and which we differ wildly on.  From the Beatles thread I think I have an inkling for where we will differ.

On the second bold: I have no doubt.  I know it's a cliche to say/write but my top songs I suspect will vary widely year.  I also know that I am partial to my entry-point in the catalog.  I think this is true of most, but am curious if your experience is different- either due to personality or to the nearly scientific approach you undertook for this project.

Lastly, your description of Ringo's was apt for the Ringo songs you have posted thus far.  Both new to me.

Question I look forward to discovering the answer to: how many Paul songs in your top 50 have willow trees as a key theme?  

 

[Pip's Invitation]

I'm just gonna go ahead and punish you guys with another Ringo.

278.  Fading In Fading Out (Choose Love, 2005)  Spotify  YouTube

(Ringo #28)

This song is from Ringo’s 14th – 14th! – studio album, Choose Love, released in 2005.  We’re going to be skipping around a bit on albums from all the guys, which isn’t ideal, but I’ll try to work the history in as best I can.  Following several commercial failures, Ringo had some moderate success with his “comeback” albums Vertical Man and Ringo Rama, and here he once again partnered with Mark Hudson and a couple of moderate or major stars on a perfectly nice and friendly (though possibly unspectacular) record.  This one, however, did not see any commercial success despite good reviews for a Ringo album, or as one review put it, not just a good Ringo record but a flat-out good record. 

Of the lesser-known Ringos, this is a satisfying album, as usual featuring Ringo’s effortless good cheer and in this case a couple of strong-ish songs that just missed my countdown:  “Give Me Back the Beat” (which I originally had slotted in this spot, so let me know if I made a mistake with my last-minute switcheroo) and “Satisfied”.   One of the other most notable songs is his duet with Chrissie Hynde, “Don’t Hang Up,” which I might not favor only because I don’t dig her much (with apologies to @Bracie Smathers).  The song I did choose to feature is just a jovial little Ringo-ism, nothing that’s going to rock your world, but a nice toe-tapper with a good nature that showcases a lesser-known Ringo album that doesn’t deserve to be completely overlooked, so I'm giving it one slot here.

I can see why you picked Fading... from this album. The drums are distinctively Ringo -- is it A RINGO SHOWCASE? This is pleasant, especially the bridge. 

The night of Ringo's birthday special, AXS TV also broadcast a 2005 TV performance (Soundstage?). I remember Give Me Back the Beat from that. This is also pleasant, especially the "I never knew how much I needed you" part and the instrumental break in the middle. This vs. Fading comes down to personal preference, I don't have strong feelings about one over the other.  

Satisfied is OK. It sounds like a Wilburys outtake. Whoever's playing the main guitar line at the end is channeling George.

I actually like Don't Hang Up best of all of these. It has a harder edge than what we usually hear from Ringo, with some very Beatlesque instrumental touches and a very good vocal arrangement. The "ah-ah-ah-ah" coda starting around 3:00 is great. Chrissie's presence doesn't add or subtract anything for me, it's a good song regardless. 

Off to have lunch and then to face the music by starting to prewrite Neil entry #1. 

 

[Kilgore Trout]

Before I get to the next song, I have to tag a VIP from the first thread.  He didn't make it into the first sets of tags, because I could only remember his real name and not his screen name!  For two days I tried to think of it when it finally hit me.  Aging sure is fun!

@Kilgore Trout

Well I am not exactly a prolific poster these days. Other than the Traveling Wilburys songs, I haven't heard of any of the other ones, minus the song from our future president.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

Anyway, the group had several top ten singles in the UK, including their #1 hit Lily the Pink, and a hit children's TV show.  That video really must be viewed.

Lily the Pink

• 2 oz Gin
  
• 1 oz Jägermeister
  
• 4 qualudes, crushed
  
• Splash of Cranberry Juice
  

 

[facook]

OH should have known better. Rush are Canadian, of course they are nice people. What did he expect exactly?

I'm guessing personalities as grating and annoying as that voice.

 

[prosopis]

This topic moves fast, damn !!

 

[krista4]

Question I look forward to discovering the answer to: how many Paul songs in your top 50 have willow trees as a key theme?  

  

I think you and @Pip's Invitation should team up and do all my song write-ups.  Pip is doing some great analysis, and you know the stuff better than anyone else.  You can be my ghost writers!

 

[caustic]

Missed the festivities in the first thread but it seemed like a lot of fun, so I’ll try to keep up with this one.

I know very few of these song, so my contributions here may be limited to liking everyone’s posts and nothing more.

 

[krista4]

This topic moves fast, damn !!

I've thought about how quickly to post new songs, etc., and I'm not sure where the right balance is.  I don't want those who are caught up to get bored waiting for another selection, but I don't want to go so fast that people fall behind and give up.  I dunno.

Speaking of which, I should post another song.   

 

[krista4]

Missed the festivities in the first thread but it seemed like a lot of fun, so I’ll try to keep up with this one.

I know very few of these song, so my contributions here may be limited to liking everyone’s posts and nothing more.

Welcome!  Happy to have you here.

 

[facook]

I've thought about how quickly to post new songs, etc., and I'm not sure where the right balance is.  I don't want those who are caught up to get bored waiting for another selection, but I don't want to go so fast that people fall behind and give up.  I dunno.

Speaking of which, I should post another song.   

Just one opinion, but a little slower pace than the first thread would be appreciated.  There were days I'd log on and be 6 or 7 pages behind.  That's pretty daunting.  

 

[prosopis]

I've thought about how quickly to post new songs, etc., and I'm not sure where the right balance is.  I don't want those who are caught up to get bored waiting for another selection, but I don't want to go so fast that people fall behind and give up.  I dunno.

Speaking of which, I should post another song.   

I will do best I can but no way I keep up at this rate. I think your averaging 6 songs a day? That is a lot to keep up with. 

Thankfully, I have lost all the free time covid gave me.

 

[Morton Muffley]

  

I think you and @Pip's Invitation should team up and do all my song write-ups.  Pip is doing some great analysis, and you know the stuff better than anyone else.  You can be my ghost writers!

Ha.  Agree with you that @Pip's Invitation write-ups are fantastic and truly a pleasure to read.  As are yours @krista4.  But what kind of lfool do you take me for.  I need sleep! Moreover, it was not I who started this countdown at 290!!!  No, no, no. You are on your own here my friend.

 

[krista4]

Just one opinion, but a little slower pace than the first thread would be appreciated.  There were days I'd log on and be 6 or 7 pages behind.  That's pretty daunting.  

Yes, that's a lot.  Number of pages is a little bit out of my control since discussion can go in any direction, but posting fewer per day could help.

I will do best I can but no way I keep up at this rate. I think your averaging 6 songs a day? That is a lot to keep up with. 

Thankfully, I have lost all the free time covid gave me.

Definitely not my intention to do six a day, and if I am right now it's more that I'm eager to get to the really good stuff.  I'll slow down a little!

 

[krista4]

Does 2-3 a day seem reasonable?  

 

[Binky The Doormat]

Fading In Fading Out (Choose Love, 2005)

this is pleasant

 

[Pip's Invitation]

I've thought about how quickly to post new songs, etc., and I'm not sure where the right balance is.  I don't want those who are caught up to get bored waiting for another selection, but I don't want to go so fast that people fall behind and give up.  I dunno.

Speaking of which, I should post another song.   

There's no wrong answer. Do what works for you and everyone will catch up on their own time. 

 

[facook]

Does 2-3 a day seem reasonable?  

3 sounds like the sweet spot.

 

[facook]

There's no wrong answer. Do what works for you and everyone will catch up on their own time. 

Ultimately this is the right answer.  I gave feedback but this is your baby.  We're all just along for the ride.

 

[krista4]

Sticking with Ringo for one more...

277.  In Liverpool (Ringo 2012, 2012)  Spotify  YouTube

(Ringo #27)

Ringo has stated that he doesn't want to write an autobiography because no one would want to hear about anything but the Beatles years, so instead uses his songs to tell his full story.  He sings about the old days in Liverpool a lot.  We have, for instance, "Liverpool 8," "The Other Side of Liverpool," "Rory and the Hurricanes," and more.  As I discussed above, it's a bummer that he - the one who actually writes nice little songs about Liverpool - is now disliked there due to his off-the-cuff remark during that TV interview, while John is beloved.

Ringo had the roughest upbringing of any of the Beatles, having grown up poor in a tough and violent working-class area of inner-city Liverpool called Dingle.  His parents divorced when he was 4 or 5, and he had very little contact with his father thereafter.  His mother took a variety of back-breaking jobs to try to support the family, cleaning houses or working in bars.  After contracting an infection during an appendectomy when he was six, Ringo was in a coma for several days, and a year-long recovery took him out of school for that period of time.  By eight years old, he still hadn't learned to read.  When Ringo had almost recovered from all of that and caught up in school, at 13 he got TB and was in a hospital for two years.  It was during this time that he learned to drum, as the hospital staff encouraged participation in music as a therapy to assist their patients.  When Ringo was finally released from the hospital, he never went back to school and instead took a variety of jobs such as machinist, waiter, railway worker...anything to eke out a living...until Rory and the Hurricanes started to have enough success for him to be a full-time musician.

Since Liverpool is such a focus of his recent songwriting, I wanted to include one of these songs, and this is my favorite of the group.  It was co-written by Dave Stewart and appeared on Ringo's 17th(!) studio album, Ringo 2012.  I need to find another word to call Ringo's songs other than "amiable," but this one fits right in with the last as just a pleasant pop song, and it's a cheerful trip down memory lane.  This is the only song I'll be listing from this album, but much like the one above, the record as a whole is not a bad listen.  It continues his usual themes of peace and love combined with nostalgia, and features a nice tight band that includes, in addition to Stewart, Joe Walsh, Van Dyke Parks, Edgar Winter, among others.  The album also has examples of this odd tendency of Ringo to re-record his own songs, as it includes remakes of "Wings" and "Step Lightly" from earlier Ringo albums, neither of which was a song we really needed another version of.  "Anthem," which gets some play on the Beatles Channel, is on this record.

 

[krista4]

Ultimately this is the right answer.  I gave feedback but this is your baby.  We're all just along for the ride.

The feedback from you and prosopis was good and was appreciated.  I'll slow it down a bit.

 

[Raging weasel]

Sticking with Ringo for one more...

277.  In Liverpool (Ringo 2012, 2012)  Spotify  YouTube

(Ringo #27)

Ringo has stated that he doesn't want to write an autobiography because no one would want to hear about anything but the Beatles years, so instead uses his songs to tell his full story.  He sings about the old days in Liverpool a lot.  We have, for instance, "Liverpool 8," "The Other Side of Liverpool," "Rory and the Hurricanes," and more.  As I discussed above, it's a bummer that he - the one who actually writes nice little songs about Liverpool - is now disliked there due to his off-the-cuff remark during that TV interview, while John is beloved.

Ringo had the roughest upbringing of any of the Beatles, having grown up poor in a tough and violent working-class area of inner-city Liverpool called Dingle.  His parents divorced when he was 4 or 5, and he had very little contact with his father thereafter.  His mother took a variety of back-breaking jobs to try to support the family, cleaning houses or working in bars.  After contracting an infection during an appendectomy when he was six, Ringo was in a coma for several days, and a year-long recovery took him out of school for that period of time.  By eight years old, he still hadn't learned to read.  When Ringo had almost recovered from all of that and caught up in school, at 13 he got TB and was in a hospital for two years.  It was during this time that he learned to drum, as the hospital staff encouraged participation in music as a therapy to assist their patients.  When Ringo was finally released from the hospital, he never went back to school and instead took a variety of jobs such as machinist, waiter, railway worker...anything to eke out a living...until Rory and the Hurricanes started to have enough success for him to be a full-time musician.

Since Liverpool is such a focus of his recent songwriting, I wanted to include one of these songs, and this is my favorite of the group.  It was co-written by Dave Stewart and appeared on Ringo's 17th(!) studio album, Ringo 2012.  I need to find another word to call Ringo's songs other than "amiable," but this one fits right in with the last as just a pleasant pop song, and it's a cheerful trip down memory lane.  This is the only song I'll be listing from this album, but much like the one above, the record as a whole is not a bad listen.  It continues his usual themes of peace and love combined with nostalgia, and features a nice tight band that includes, in addition to Stewart, Joe Walsh, Van Dyke Parks, Edgar Winter, among others.  The album also has examples of this odd tendency of Ringo to re-record his own songs, as it includes remakes of "Wings" and "Step Lightly" from earlier Ringo albums, neither of which was a song we really needed another version of.  "Anthem," which gets some play on the Beatles Channel, is on this record.

Best Ringo track so far but as usual the music outshines his vocals.

I was shocked to see how many albums Ringo's released. Only ones I've ever listened to are greatest hits and all star band releases.

He's by far the least talented Beatle but probably the most fun to hang out with.

 

[rockaction]

Ringo stuff is tough. Lots of people with extensive talents and expensive instruments sort of name trading, if you will. If this were cycling, they'd be name drafting. You get the picture. The band don't sound back together in these nods to a wonderful youth.  He looks fit, though, which is good. 

 

[Morton Muffley]

Best Ringo track so far but as usual the music outshines his vocals.

I was shocked to see how many albums Ringo's released. Only ones I've ever listened to are greatest hits and all star band releases.

He's by far the least talented Beatle but probably the most fun to hang out with.

Agreed, best Ringo yet and actually enjoyed that one.  For those keeping score: since 1970 Ringo has released more studio albums than the Rolling Stones.  I don't know why, but I find that quite amusing.

 

[krista4]

---INTERLUDE – London Town (1978)---

My next selection will be from the Wings album London Town, so I wanted first to talk a little about that record, which is something I intend to do for all the non-Ringo records (sorry Ringo).  As I previously mentioned, these descriptions will suffer a little not being presented in chronological order, but I’ll try to provide background to make it easier to follow.

After struggling to re-establish himself with an audience post-Beatles, Paul had finally found great success with the Wings albums Band on the Run, Venus and Mars, and Wings at the Speed of Sound.  The band then followed with the outrageously successful “Wings over the World” tours in 1975 and 1976, with the “Wings over America” segment representing the first time Paul had played live in North America since the Beatles’s last tour in 1966.

Wings then went back into the studio in early 1977 to begin recording tracks that would eventually become London Town.  The plan had been to tour in support of the album, but the whole endeavor went a bit off-track when Linda learned she was pregnant (James McCartney, b. September 1977).  With less urgency surrounding the record release, the recording sessions ended up lasting over a year, with many of the sessions taking place – at the suggestion of Denny Laine who cribbed the idea from Rod Stewart – on a yacht called “Fair Carol” that was anchored at Watermelon Bay, St. John, in the USVI.   London Town was finally released in 1978 as the penultimate studio album from Wings, with the name of the album having been changed from the original title, “Water Wings,” that they had chosen to reflect the “studio” they’d recorded in.

London Town seems to be largely forgotten these days, despite going platinum at the time, and despite the presence of a #1 hit (“With a Little Luck”), another song (“Girlfriend”) the cover of which became a hit for Michael Jackson, and two other top 40 songs (“London Town” and “I’ve Had Enough”).  I might like this album better than most people, as I think it’s a great mix of songs, some of them a bit eccentric but not in a McCartney II way, and many of them in a more folksy, storytelling style that I naturally gravitate to.  It might be that the album is too understated for some.  The laid-back recording atmosphere on the Fair Carol seems to fit the more laid-back quality of many of the tracks, and perhaps that was jarring after the prior more powerful albums and the rocking tour.  I do think the record suffers from poor recording quality or decision-making on a few tracks, which might be due to the yacht studio, though these were all finished at Abbey Road.

This album is something of a showcase for guitarist and Wings stalwart Denny Laine, who co-wrote five of the tracks and sang lead on two of them.  IT’S A LAINE SHOWCASE!  Hmmm, doesn’t have the same ring to it.  Unfortunately, during the recording of London Town, Wings lost two other key members – drummer Joe English, who missed home and decided to return to the US, and guitarist Jimmy McCulloch, who left to join Small Faces, perhaps because this set of songs didn’t showcase him in the way the prior albums had.  At least those were the publicly stated reasons they left, but many have speculated it was instead due to Paul’s refusal to share in more of the profits with them or treat them as more important members of the band in terms of song choices.  While Wings released one more album (Back to the Egg) after this, many people consider this the last “real” Wings record due to these personnel changes.

By the way, there is a “yacht rock” joke in here that I’m not going to make.

Track listing:

1. London Town
   
2. Café on the Left Bank
   
3. I’m Carrying
   
4. Backwards Traveller
   
5. Cuff Link
   
6. Children Children
   
7. Girlfriend
   
8. I’ve Had Enough
   
9. With a Little Luck
   
10. Famous Groupies
    
11. Deliver Your Children
    
12. Name and Address
    
13. Don’t Let It Bring You Down
    
14. Morse Moose and the Grey Goose
    

 

[krista4]

I'd definitely choose Ringo as the one I'd want to hang out with, with Paul my second choice.  I mean this as assuming they were all alive, not that I"m choosing those two by virtue of their not being dead.  

 

[Raging weasel]

I'd definitely choose Ringo as the one I'd want to hang out with, with Paul my second choice.  I mean this as assuming they were all alive, not that I"m choosing those two by virtue of their not being dead.  

Same here. John is my fav Beatle and the only one I never got to see but would be my last choice to hang with. He was a known and admitted angry drinker and would have to have Yoko with him too.

Love all the background and history you include in your posts. Even if I'm not a fan of the song it's cool to know a little of the story behind it.

 

[krista4]

Same here. John is my fav Beatle and the only one I never got to see but would be my last choice to hang with. He was a known and admitted angry drinker and would have to have Yoko with him too.

Love all the background and history you include in your posts. Even if I'm not a fan of the song it's cool to know a little of the story behind it.

John was certainly my favorite in the Beatles as Beatles, but I agree with you that he's the one I'd least one to grab a drink with.  Thank you for saying that about the history!  I wondered if people were finding that at all interesting.

 

[krista4]

276.  Wings - Girlfriend (London Town, 1978)  Spotify  YouTube

(Paul #135)

Paul wrote this song in 1972 or 1973 specifically with Michael Jackson in mind.  At a party in the mid-70s, Paul played the song for Michael and offered it to him for recording, but the two lost touch and it didn’t come to pass.  Paul then dusted it off for the London Town recordings, this being one of the songs recorded at Abbey Road rather than on the Fair Carol yacht.  At the point of recording in December 1977, McCulloch and English had left the band, so that’s Paul you hear on drums, bass, synth, and the electric and acoustic guitar parts not covered by Denny Laine.  Linda is also on there doing something or other.

Interestingly, Michael Jackson did end up recording the song after all, when Quincy Jones heard it and brought it to Jackson suggesting he cover it, not knowing it had originally been offered to him.  Jackson included this on his Off the Wall album in 1979 and had a minor hit with it.  It’s easy to see why Paul had written it with Jackson in mind, in particular given how the falsettos perfectly fit Jackson’s vocal style.  Paul’s falsetto is actually the weak point of the song for me, but that’s just personal preference.  What I do love about the song is the second section where Paul is singing in terrific lower voice, and I enjoy the short guitar interlude thereafter.  The outro also features Paul in great voice.  I know we’ll get tired of hearing this, but this is also a fascinating bass line with typically-Paul-like melodicism but also all kinds of little riffs and changes.

I could see this one being a bit polarizing due to the falsetto and 70s production, but OH is a big fan of this song:  “It should be no surprise that I like that song.  I like the falsetto.  I like songs in the vein of the Stylistics or the Five Stairsteps.  So 70s but…and it’s always weird when a white person does it…but it’s still awesome.  I like people singing parts with their mouth that would otherwise be played on keyboard or bass.  I’m into it.  I’ll take all of it.  It’s so overworked and cheesy and I don’t like the Bee Gees that much, but I like that.”

 

[facook]

I think I would like the MJ version, and I'll look it up at some point.  Thanks for that info.

Your analysis is spot on imo: the lower voice is MUCH better.  The falsetto is actually cringey.  I can't imagine ever wanting to listen to that song again, and I'm a Paul guy by a million miles.

 

[krista4]

I think I would like the MJ version, and I'll look it up at some point.  Thanks for that info.

Your analysis is spot on imo: the lower voice is MUCH better.  The falsetto is actually cringey.  I can't imagine ever wanting to listen to that song again, and I'm a Paul guy by a million miles.

I added a link above to the MJ version to make it easier - should have thought to do that!

 

[rockaction]

I made it through about a minute and a half of Girlfriend. I like the song, just not the performance. Total agreement on Paul's falsetto, especially the break of "YEAH!" One can believe that this was definitely written for Michael. And the Michael version is messed up by Quincy Jones's flourishes. Ay de mi. A better song than its performances. 

 

[facook]

Same here. John is my fav Beatle and the only one I never got to see but would be my last choice to hang with. He was a known and admitted angry drinker and would have to have Yoko with him too.

Love all the background and history you include in your posts. Even if I'm not a fan of the song it's cool to know a little of the story behind it.

Fascinating to think what John would be like now if he'd lived.  I'm guessing a bitter, unpleasant fringe celebrity.  Hope I'm wrong.