Released in 1989, Paul's Flowers In The Dirt hit a chord with me. Released at a time I was going through some tough personal stuff I latched onto much of this unheralded album.
I just had a listen today to it in it's entirety, really enjoyed it and the memories it brought back.
1- My Brave Face : nice enough song, overplayed as it was released as a single, still enjoy hearing it though, great voice throughout
2- Rough Ride : my favorite on the album, absolutely love the off-beat and how, when it gets going, the energy level gets going, half the time sounds like a simple jam song, need to hear it loud; drumming in it is cool, nice echo around the 2:44 mark
3- You Want Her too : Elvis playing the contrary to Paul. Genius, perfect performer at that time to join up with. Ending is cool.
4- Distractions : normally I would skip this song early in the listening process, but the mood I was in when the album came out, this song fit and became a nice song for me. Solo beginning at 2:50 is nice. Song is just a little too long.
5- We Got Married : Did not know until now but David Gilmore played guitar on this one. Catchy tune and tempo. Really enjoy this song for the guitar beginning at 1:34 and the 3:00 mark, solo/chorus riffs are cool. Just a tad long too. Seems to be the biggest complaints I have on the album, couple of songs go too long.
6- Put it There : tear jerker for me. Pure emotion in a simple song. When this came out I hadn't yet had kids, envisioned/hoped I would have moments like this song with a son (or two).
7- Figure of Eight : Another single release, along with My Brave Face and This One. I like this song, thought it got a bad rap as a simple McCartney song. Nice harmonizing. Obviously catchy. Macca's screams in the chorus of "Figure of Eight" sound great. Overall good enough.
8- This One : Of the three singles, This One takes less chances and easily flows from beginning to end. Nice tune, nice melody, just leaves me wanting a little more.
9- Don't Be Careless Love : The second song written with Elvis. The song has some parts that I like, but it never seems cohesive, something odd about the whole song.
10- That Day is Done : Third Elvis collaboration, this song works where Don't be Careless didn't. Seems to have beginning, middle, end with common threads. Could easily be an Elvis song with Paul helping out. They get the words "Flowers in the dirt" into the album in this song. Beautiful, but a bit long in the tooth too.
11- How Many People : Feels like Paul's anthem on Peace and Love, believe it was written for specifically something going on in the Rain Forest. Love the reggae feel and contrary "One too many for now" responses to the song's question.
12- Motor of Love : 6:25 , unless you are Hey Jude, Stairway to Heaven, Sympathy for the Devil, or Riders on the Storm you need to limit the length of this song. True throw away for me. Catch and release. Never got into this song.
13- Ou Est Le Soleil : Bonus Track that, I think, appeared on every medium you could buy
; every make a mix tape (or cd) and realize you had enough room to squeeze one more song on? This sounds like a sound check fun song for the band but to me the term "bonus" should be worth waiting for. Throw this one back in too. At most should have been 1:30 and never sniffed close to 5:00
Really a good listen for me, I haven't heard the whole album since, probably, the early 90's. Would love to read opinions, even though they may differ.