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Paul mccartney discography5/29/2023 ![]() ![]() The album is not without its touching moments. Songs made famous by Gene Vincent (“Blue Jean Bop”), Larry Williams (an incendiary “She Said Yeah”), and Fats Domino (“Coquette”) are also present and McCartney sings the hell out of everything here, clearly enjoying himself immensely. The performances are not fussed over, and the tracks were laid down quickly, which helps keep things fresh. ![]() Leading a crackerjack band that included Pink Floyd’s Dave Gilmour, Mick Green, Ian Paice, Dave Mattacks, Pete Wingfield and Geraint Watkins, McCartney runs through the well-known (“All Shook Up,” “Brown Eyed Handsome Man,” “Lonesome Town”) and the obscure (the Vipers’ “No Other Baby,” Carl Perkins’ “Movie Magg”) with a wide-eyed passion and sense of reverence for the originals. I do, mainly because Run Devil Run has a spontaneity and a sense of abandon that much of Paul’s solo catalog lacks. Here’s your wild card: it’s a cover-heavy record, recorded following the death of Linda in 1998, that most wouldn’t rank among McCartney’s finest achievements. While Band on the Run may get more love from the masses, to me, Venus and Mars is probably the more consistent record. Denny Laine took a lead vocal turn on McCartney’s slightly mysterious, echo-laden “Spirit of Ancient Egypt,” while Paul’s Marvel Comics tribute, “Magneto and Titanium Man,” and another in a long line of his music hall homages, “You Gave Me the Answer,” were both quite fetching. Jimmy McCulloch contributed and sang lead on his own “Medicine Jar,” an anti-drug warning (with a wonderful lead guitar solo) that would become sadly ironic in the wake of McCulloch’s drug-related 1979 death at age 26. The album-opening medley of “Venus and Mars”/”Rock Show” was the perfect call to arms for Wings, and a readymade concert opener with the lyrics, “Sitting in the stands of the sports arena/waiting for the show to begin.” Indeed, it would kick off all the shows on the band’s Wings Over the World tour in 19, and the push and pull of the dynamics between the sedate “Venus and Mars” and the storming “Rock Show” was enticing and memorable. Ace session cat Tom Scott’s soprano sax makes the song, which became McCartney’s eighth consecutive top ten single in the U.S. The first single, “Listen to What the Man Said,” is a stirring example of classic McCartney popcraft. ![]() While generally not seen as being in the same league as Band on the Run, Venus and Mars was certainly a more than worthy follow up, with quite a few standout tracks. Placing two slow-ish medleys back-to-back probably wasn’t the wisest idea, although I stand by my assertion that half of one of said medleys – the charming “Love Awake” – is one of the loveliest ballads of Paul’s solo career. (It’s probably safe to say it’s the only pop song ever to rhyme “salamander” with “don’t answer.”) “Spin it On” was as close as McCartney ever got to punk, with superb performances from guitarist Laurence Juber and drummer Steve Holley the forceful “Old Siam, Sir” came together around a vaguely Oriental-sounding keyboard riff “To You” sounded a bit like The Cars, particularly the vocals and the nostalgic “Baby’s Request” had originally been written for the Mills Brothers.Įlsewhere, Denny Laine’s pure pop “Again and Again and Again” was perhaps his finest contribution to Wings, and a couple of thunderous-sounding songs the band recorded with what McCartney dubbed the “Rockestra” – a super-sized supergroup assembled only for one session – were both excellent. and although it barely edged into the top twenty, the insistent number was a typical upbeat McCartney ditty, albeit with some strange lyrics. Not many would rank Egg this highly, but I’m of the opinion that it’s a damned fine record, a winning mixture of classic McCartney sounds with a touch of the then-burgeoning “new wave.” “Getting Closer” was released as the first single in the U.S. ![]()
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