Be amazed by Macca’s not so silly love songs
PAUL McCARTNEY: Pure McCartney (Virgin EMI) Verdict: Pure class THE BEACH BOYS: Pet Sounds 50th Anniversary Edition (Capitol) Verdict: Great vibrations
Paul McCaRTNEY is such a compulsive crowdpleaser he could never look back on his long and winding career without playing to the gallery. So this collection of his post-Beatles work features all the well-loved songs of the past five decades.
Compiled by Sir Paul himself — thumbs aloft, cheeky grin intact — the basic 39-track, two-disc version picks up from where recent solo tours left off: it offers a rich celebration of shared memories, with Mull Of Kintyre, Band On The Run and live and let Die all featuring.
But it is the album’s unsung gems that are the most rewarding.
Paul’s solo work, including songs he wrote for the band Wings, is often judged unkindly, and he could never hope to match the cultural impact of The Fab Four.
But he has always been refreshingly adventurous. His talent shone brightest immediately after The Beatles split up in 1970, but there are some relatively recent pearls, too.
His first wife linda (a Wings bandmate) provided much of his early inspiration, helping him through The Beatles’ demise and acting as his muse for the superb love songs Maybe I’m amazed and My love.
Rural living in the couple’s remote Scottish retreat was also a stimulus on tracks such as the folky Heart Of The Country and the whimsical uncle albert/admiral Halsey (both from 1971’s Ram). Other early peaks included another Day, a vivid female character observation in the class of Eleanor Rigby, and the lovely Junk, originally earmarked for The Beatles’ White album.
If the Seventies, with ten albums in as many years, were largely fruitful (we’ll overlook Silly love Songs), the Eighties were less impressive.
THE electro-pop boom of that decade prompted Paul to produce the feeble Coming up. Pipes Of Peace and No More lonely Nights were mawkish ballads. But 1997’s acoustic-flavoured Flaming Pie, represented here with three fine songs, signalled the start of a late-career renaissance, with the indelible choruses and subtle melodic twists of old back in abundance.
Some latter-day compositions stand comparison with anything he has written since 1970, and the inclusion of 2005’s Jenny Wren and 2012’s Eric Clapton-assisted My Valentine suggest he still has confidence in his songwriting.
For fans wishing to explore further, there is an expanded version with 67 songs over four discs rather than two. But for those seeking an overview of Macca’s solo years, the double album works a treat.
ONE songwriter who was constantly trying to out-perform Paul and his bandmates in the Sixties was Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys. The american admits he was driven to the sonic experimentation of 1966’s Pet Sounds after listening to The Beatles’ Rubber Soul.
In combining complex orchestration, layered harmonies and introspective lyrics, he sought to produce a record that ‘would still sound good in ten years’.
He was actually being cautious — as this expanded anniversary edition shows, Pet Sounds still delivers 50 years on. From the symphony of kettledrums, bells and brass that launches Wouldn’t It Be Nice to the heartfelt study of love and loss that is Caroline No, the album remains an awe-inspiring statement of his creative ambition. No wonder it is often voted the best of all time.
It certainly pushed pop in bold new directions, with God Only Knows evolving from Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite as much as it sprang from the Californian surf-pop of earlier hits like I Get around.
as for the bonus material, many of the out-takes also cropped up on 2006’s 40th birthday edition, though the four-disc version of this package does contain previously unheard live recordings.
and, with recent re-mastering advances further enhancing the overall audio quality, a true classic now sounds even better.
The two-CD version of Pure McCartney costs £10, the four-disc package £28. The two-CD Pet Sounds is £11, the deluxe box set £56. All are out today.