Paul McCartney - Chaos and Creation in the Backyard
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Free Music Notes for Chaos and Creation in the Backyard
Free Music Review: Faith in Paul Finally Rewarded
Hit: 4 Stars
For a middle aged guy who should have stopped dreaming long ago , it's still one of my desires to meet Paul McCartney . He influenced my youth with his warm lyrics and attractive , interesting tunes . I bought religiously all his works - Band On The Run , McCartney I and II , Ram , Off The Ground , Speed of Sound - look , I've got the lot! LOL . It's a clear fact in my view that the last decade has been a struggle for him to get it back . In Chaos and Creation , McCartney reveals again some of the melodic gifts he is capable of (How Kind Of You , Jenny Wren , and the early Queen sound of English Tea) , and some good , grown up rock (Fine Line , Friends to Go ) and of course , the expected and not disappointing love inspired songs (Too Much Rain and This Never Happened Before ). Sadly , this last bracket appears misplaced , but it was present long enough to create these quality tunes .
All in all , its a very creditable album , a long time in coming in some ways . Given that , I can pull one of 20+ albums from my collection and be made very happy from a guy who is , obviously , a caring and thoughtful man who has done more in his life than most of us would in 3 lifetimes . Yes , buy it and enjoy quality . And yes , I'd still like to meet him . One day ....................
Free Music Review: Essential to the Macca solo collection
Hit: 5 Stars
"Chaos and Creation" is one of Paul McCartney's strongest solo recordings, along with "Flaming Pie", "Tug Of War", and of course "Band On The Run". The tunes are of the stick-in-your-head variety, many of them featuring interesting chord progressions that lend a poignancy to the proceedings. Lyrically things are kept direct and simple - in a good way. Think in terms of "Hey Jude" and "Maybe I'm Amazed" instead of "All Together Now" and "Bip Bop". In fact it's the simplicity of the lyrics playing off the richness of the melodies that has always defined Paul at his best.
Nigel Godrich's touch is perfect here, avoiding the over-production that has sagged quite a few post-Beatle efforts. Things are kept stripped down to Beatle-esque pianos and guitars, tasteful strings, and trademark fluid bass lines a la Abbey Road. There are even some fun touches here and there, such as the recorder on "English Tea" and a Venus-and-Mars synth cameo on "Promise To You Girl".
Buy the CD and you will enjoy it immensely!
Free Music Review: Sublime!
Hit: 5 Stars
"Cheos and creation in the backyard" is probably the best album released by McCartney in his career. The blend of simple, though powerful lyrics and excelent music, makes this album a "must" for all McCartney fans and not only. The album is the story of a broken relationship.Paul is lost and realizes that he is about to cross the "fine line" between chaos(alcohol,drugs) and creation(the wonderful music that we all know about). In the end creation prevails and we get to listen to the story of Paul McCartey and Heather Mill(no other than Jenny Wren). Using his unmistakable talent and imagination, Paul manages to make us feel his anger,sarcasm, pain,regret and thougths of hope, all reflected in sublime songs.This is an unforgetable and unique album by Sir Paul. Free Music Review: Music Okay; Lyrics and Singing NOT Okay
Hit: 2 Stars
There are two particular problems here: First, music this minimalist needs lyrics that are incisive or clever or at least interesting in some way. These lyrics are consistently banal and in many cases inane. Second, McCartney's singing voice appears to be tired or ravaged by age or overuse. His lowest pitches (and none are THAT low) sound strained, and his higher pitches, which are mostly taken falsetto, sound thin and weak. His intonation is generally faulty; he is often painfully out of tune. Oddly enough, his singing seems to deteriorate as the record wears on, almost as if it had been recorded sequentially in one session, as I doubt it was.
There are chord relations in the first three songs (although only briefly in the first) that I never expected to find in a McCartney song. Possibly someone finally pointed out to McCartney that John Lennon's and George Harrison's Beatles songs were generally much more harmonically adventurous than his and he is seeking belatedly to even the score or possibly he is letting himself be influenced by David Bowie or by people who were themselves influenced by David Bowie. The opening of each stanza of "This Never Happened Before" ("I'm very sure/this never happened to me before") derives directly from Burt Bacharach, and McCartney unfortunately lacks the compositional technique to develop Bacharach's motive--or else he's too lazy to try. "A Certain Softness" is more or less reminiscent of Thomas Dolby's reading of "I Scare Myself" or perhaps of Brian Ferry going thirties-Latin. An otherwise pleasant-enough melody is destroyed by singing so out of tune on the critical last line of each verse that it is nearly impossible to tell what pitches were intended. "Follow Me" surrounds with filler some bits taken from George Harrison songs.
The best things about this record are Joby Talbot's tasteful, unobtrusive string arrangements and the remarkable clarity with which it has been recorded. There ought to be a law against letting McCartney touch a fipple flute, however. He murders the instrument on "English Tea" just as he once murdered it on "Fool on the Hill". The liner notes tend to be very specific--fussy, let's say--about instruments played, and although I think a "A Fine Line" one of the better songs, I'm a little saddened to learn the piano that McCartney is beating up here--banging out chords on--is an expensive, refined, and delicate Bosendorfer. Speaking of beatings, the booklet-back lengthy paragraph admonishing us not to make copies of this record (which I notice below is being blithly ignored) includes this sentence: "By [sic] carrying out any of these actions it [sic] has the same effect as stealing music." I don't know who is responsible for mangling the English language in this way, but I shouldn't be surprised to discover it to be the author of the lyrics on this disc; I find a stylistic consistency.
Free Music Review: A Fine Disc
Hit: 5 Stars
A Fine Line is a fine hit song, but the rest of this album deserves multiple listens. Jenny Wren and Too Much Rain are stunning songs. English Tea is a riot. McCartney's optimism regarding love is here but with deeper, more mature tones--not silly, it isn't silly at all.