Take the speedway back to the main Paul McCartney page ... by clicking on this link ... Red Rose Speedwagon Overall Album Score: 8.6 out of 10 PAULLLLLLLLLLLLL... Well, here is the second Wings album (the follow-up to Wild Life), and ... it's not really a whole heck of a lot better, eh? But ... this time, I at least get the feeling that Paul McCartney and his team produced the album much better. Some of these even have a Beatles feel to them (even though ... these aren't quite up to the same quality as the Beatles, you know)! And this isn't charming enough to really compete with the brilliance of Ram. Nevertheless, McCartney manages another good album! "Little Lamb Dragonfly" is what really makes this album for me. It's such a beautiful little tune!! "My Love" is another excellent song from the album that's probably the most well-known ditty on here. I also quite enjoyed the country-western-ish (but not offensive) "One More Kiss." "Big Barn Bed" is an effective album-opener, and the melodious 11-minute closer, "Melody" is pretty fun to listen to as well. It's nothing to get excited over, but Red Rose Speedway is another album all McCartney fans should get. And as long as you're not deeply offended with easily-likable music (that probably won't move you), everybody should like Paul McCartney. Overall Album Score: 8.6 out of 10 (Not one of Paul McCartney's greatest post-Beatles albums ... but he sure does a nice job picking up the pace from Wild Life.) Average Song Score: 8.7 (Good songs altogether! I'm not a big fan of "Loup," but ... who is?) Album Tilt: 8.5 (Another fun and dandy Paul McCartney album. Any questions?) Artist Rating: 8.5 (Not artistically significant ... not artistically stupid.) Track Reviews Big Barn Bed 9/10 This is wonderfully typical of Paul McCartney's non-hits! (And not much like the non-hits were on Wild Life). The melody is pretty awesome and produced deliciously. It's not one of Paul McCartney's greats, but it's certainly a GOOD song reminiscent of the stuff that appeared on Ram! ... Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My Love 9.5/10 A HIT!!! A HIT!!!! Paul McCartney's schlocky love song that infests classic rock radio is ... sweet! ... What's there not to like about it ... unless you're a dude? Because *I* certainly like it! (Hey, I don't attract women, so there's nothing wrong with me liking it. Other dudes, there might be a problem.) The melody is 100 percent Paul McCartney classicness and ... yeah ... you know it's awesome. Maybe one of rock's premier love songs. Get on the Right Thing 8.5/10 Yay!!! This is probably even one of McCartney's more "throwaway" songs (because the melody isn't particularly catchy or memorable), but you listen to this ... how can you honestly think this is a bad song? I mean? DUDES! THIS IS PAUL MCCARTNEY!!! If that's not a good enough argument for you, then you have serious hearing problems ... or you're just totally weird and should go back to listening to Stravinsky. This one even features some backwards recordings and a bit o' sitar! ... HEY!!! THIS IS THE SAME GUY WHO USED TO BE IN THE BEATLES!!!! I NEVER KNEW THAT UNTIL NOW!!!!!!! HOLY CRAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! One More Kiss 9.5/10 A very happy little song with country-western leanings (but it's not nauseating at all for poor people like me who thinks that country-western music is responsible for the decline of Western Civilization). It's a very pleasant pop song that contains one of McCartney's above-average songs, and ... I like it! Little Lamb Dragonfly 10/10 I LOVE THIS SONG EVEN MORE!!!!! It's a perfect Paul McCartney tune ... which ought to be a requirement for every single album ever cut ... but as we all know, that's not how it works in our stupid world. We have to rely on Paul McCartney on perfect Paul McCartney tunes! (Boooo!!!) ... This song, all six minutes of it, is just a lovely soft-rock song for the 70s. Single Pigeon 8.5/10 More of an old-timey song that sounds like it could have been on The White Album. It's rather simple but charming piano-led song. It's not very long either, nor does it seem very significant. When the Night 8/10 The melody is nice and stuff. ... It's not insanely catchy, though. And I do find this a little bit boring. It just seems to be routine McCartney. ... Not that routine McCartney is a negative thing. Loup (1st Indian on the Moon) 7/10 Eh ... figured at least one song on a Wings album should have a completely boring song on it. ... I guess stylistically speaking, this song is more "interesting" than a lot of the other track on here. But the instrumental rambling part, nor the vocal "ooh" sequence really does it for me. Medley 17/20 So, let me get this straight. THIS IS AN ELEVEN MINUTE SONG??? ... Does this mean I can sleep through it? ... NO! BECAUSE THIS IS A GOOD ELEVEN MINUTE SONG!!! All of it is infested with Paul's grand gift of melody-writing. I can listen to this track without being bored not for a second. ... Indeed, I'm bloody pleased for this whole 11 minutes. It's charming, the instrumentals are fun to listen to ... how can anyone hate this? NOOO!!! It changes from normalish 70s McCartnian pop, then it adapts a light rhythm section and some pleasant guitar comes in ... and then some very silly horns. Then it ends with a nice, bouncy pop tune. (He could have gotten away with just separating this into three different tracks, but ... whatever.) Of course, it's no "Funeral For a Friend" by Elton John, so not once do I get the impression that I'm listening to something great, but ... this is certainly good. See me in a loincloth here.

All reviews are copyrighted by the author, Michael Lawrence. He caaaaameeeeeeee and sailllleddddddd awaaaaaaaaaay!!