Grodintown
Overall Album Score: 8.5 out of 10 After McCartney's disappointing 1976 release Wings at the Speed of Sounds, he recoils with this utterly solid pop album that's fit for all seasoned fans of this ex-Beatle. This is quite an improvement over the previous Paul McCartney/Wings effort Wings at the Speed of Sound, which just contained too much filler material for taste. Also, he axed his decision to let the other members of the band contribute to the songwriting and write all the material himself. That's only a complete benefit, because as we all know, McCartney has always been one of rock 'n' rolls greatest songwriters. He proves this reputation all throughout this rather huuuuge album. (It contains 14 tracks, and then two bonuses, which comes to a grand total of 1.0 hours.) But it's chock full of happy melodies, diverse tunes and just more great memories. It's hard to pick a favorite song here. "With a Little Luck" has a happy vibe of a White Album-era Beatles tune (if it weren't so straitlaced in the production techniques, that is) and "Deliver Your Children" is just a fabulous folk-pop tune with one of McCartney's better vocal performances. "Famous Groupies" is notable for being an old-style gypsy folk tune with a catchy melody and a very fun vocal performance. The title track, and the album opener, is entirely pleasant and brings the effort off to a solid start. His attempt at arena rock with "I've Had Enough" beats most efforts from bands such as Journey and Foreigner, and "I'm Carrying" is such a lovely British folk song. Every moment of the album was a good one (it is noticeable that every song received an 8 or higher) ... apart from perhaps "Backwards Traveller," which seems too short, it amazes me why so many people say that McCartney only writes filler material during his post-Beatles career. I listen to this album, and I think they must be smoking something smelly. Even the two bonus tracks are keepers. Who's to say that "Girls' School" doesn't get their feet tapping and the Scottish-bagpipe song "Mull of Kintyre" doesn't charm the pants off you. Wings haters must not be wearing pants. That'll explain it. Overall Album Score: 8.5 out of 10 (A return to solid and tasteful pop music. This is a wholly enjoyable album.) Average Song Score: 8.5 (The melodies are catchy, and there isn't a weak spot on this whole thing. Very nice!) Album Tilt: 8.5 (This is a pleasant album that's loaded with diversity.) Artist Rating: 8.5 (McCartney loves showing that he can do anything. I almost believe him.) Track Reviews London Town 9/10 Paul McCartney doesn't try to impress you, and he makes that pretty clear right from the beginning. This track just wants to please you. And why shouldn't it? It has a sweet, simple melody that proves why McCartney is considered such a songwriting genius. The fairly subtle instrumentation all produces quite a nice effect. McCartney merges different melodic sections (each intriguing in its own right) of this track together masterfully. The result is a subtle but beautiful product! Cafe on the Left Bank 8/10 He goes for a more rock vibe now. Naturally, McCartney proves how great he is as a songwriter... This song is so catchy that he makes it seem so effortless! I guess that's characteristic of all the masters! The big problem here is the melody is just a tad too repetitive, and the song's development rating suffers as a result. I'm Carrying 9/10 Ah, beautiful! This is a lovely throwback to old British folk songs with a sweet melody to match. The instrumentation is pleasant and subtle ... just consisting of a light violin backing track and a lightly picked guitar. Backwards Traveller 8.5/10 Everybody who says that McCartney throws away all his brilliant melodic ideas have a point with this track. It's a very catchy song, but it's only one minute long! He even has some nice instrumental ideas ... I like the bouncy guitar, and that bubbly sound effect going off in the background was a nice touch. This song surely had more potential than just a minute! Cuff Link 8/10 This isn't bad. It's a pretty off kilter instrumental with a few odd choices in instrumentation. It has a nice groove, at least. It's a very throw-away moment, but it's pretty pleasant to the ears. McCartney is still awesome. Children Children 8/10 The overabundance of cutsiness of this is already pointing to the relentlessly cutesy turn that he's going to take in the '80s. For the love of god, this cute fantasy song that sounds like Tolkein was overdosing on cotton candy. Oh, but the melody is very good that this manages to be a delightful song regardless. Girlfriend 8/10 Many of you know Michael Jackson's version, but you might not know that it appeared on this Wings release a year earlier. So, bwah hah!!! It's basically the same thing as the Jackson song except without the funky guitars. The melody is nice although even "Children Children" had a much better melody. McCartney sings in a falsetto voice, and it's kind of cute. I've Had Enough 9/10 This has one of those melodies that's likely going to get stuck in your head for a long time! Oh, and it's not an unpleasant experience either. McCartney lands a very strong hook here and a fun riff that would have turned into a great arena-rock song if he wanted to go in that direction. It's quite a bit dumber than McCartney usually does, but ... well, it still works. It's much better than the average Foreigner song. With a Little Luck 9.5/10 This would have made a great Beatles song if they never broke up. It has a such a catchy melody and McCartney delivers an appropriately soulful vocal performance. Who says he throws everything away? He does seem like he cares about what he's singing! This is a snappy little tune. Famous Groupies 8.5/10 I should hope there were no "Famous Groupies" touring around with Paul McCartney, because he also toured around with his wife! Anyway, this is a fun song. He writes a sort of gyspy folk song ... well, nobody ever denied that McCartney enjoyed trying different styles! He delivers a goofy but appropriate vocal performance. He has a lot of fun with it, and I enjoy listening to it likewise. Deliver Your Children 9.5/10 McCartney takes an extremely welcome turn toward folk-rock with this enormously tuneful track, which he co-wrote with Denny Laine. Heavy guitar strumming provides its base, and he adds some nicely played noodly acoustic guitars! Laine takes lead vocals and even manages to be pretty convincing in its folky lyrical subject ... he sings it with plenty of passion! Name and Address 8/10 This traverses some of the sides of '50s rock ... well, the era was going through a revival at the time at least. McCartney emulates Elvis with that vocal performance, and the guitars are appropriately sloppier than usual. What I miss here is the typical *catchy* melody. It's generally well done, but it's not too catchy. Don't Let it Bring You Down 8.5/10 It's an odd little tune. It's pretty simple (though catchy) for McCartney, but the instrumentals are weird. There's an odd effect on those guitars! Well, I guess he could afford all the time he wanted to spend in the studio to mess around with stuff like that! He does a very nice job with an Irish folk sounding flute! The end, in particular, you can notice a pretty awesome guitar groove... mmmm!!!! Morse Moose and the Grey Goose 8/10 This begins with a strange space-age groove. McCartney was experimenting, but not in the greatest sense that he probably thought he was! He then explodes into a rather furious melody that really manages to help the song pick up sing. Then that stops, and that spacey groove takes over... The middle of the song seems to turn into a sea shanty. It's like a sea shanty from hell!!! That all breaks up and it eventually turns into a *ahem* disco song. Above everything else, this is a unique song, and I don't think it turned out as badly as it's reported to have. But this is the only actual unpleasant song of the album. For that reason, it sticks out like a sore thumb. BONUS TRACKS And the first of the two lovely bonus tracks is "Girls' School." It begins with some silly vocals and cheering, and then a very catchy little riff starts up. This must be one of McCartney's most convincing rockers. It's a toe tapper, and it's also quite catchy! McCartney goes all Scottish with "Mull of Kintyre" bagpipes and all! The folky discourses he's been doing lately have all turned up rather treasurable products. It's a shame that he wouldn't revisit this idea much in the future. Well, the melody manages to be great and sound like a genuine Scottish folk tune. Interesting how McCartney can make old fashioned songs that you might be surprised didn't actually come out of the era. I care about all of your comments. Please send them here! dantheman_sg27@yahoo.com (Dan) received May 2, 2007 Denny sang lead on the two Children songs. I don't know if he co-wrote 'em or not tho. But "Deliver Your Children" has always been far and away my favorite track on this still-pretty-good album. |
All reviews are copyrighted by the author, Michael Lawrence. He's not sleepy. Nog.
