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[Mr Mustard]

I was thinking of focussing in on Macca's variable 1970s output before deciding to grasp the nettle and do a full blown countdown of ALL his mainstream/studio albums.

Hoping it might trigger a few comments leading to a healthy exchange of views - I haven't set out to be provocative here, it's an honest subjective assessment, but I'd be fascinated to hear other opinions, highs and lows, see if any pattern or trends develop re the trajectory etc of his, let's face it, unparalleled career.

So, from worst to best - with five broad bandings just for a dash of mischief - here's what I came up with:

NO THANK YOU!
25. Press To Play
24. Kisses On The Bottom
23. Wild Life
22. CHOBA B CCCP
21. Give My Regards To Broad Street

WELL, IF I MUST...
20. Back To The Egg
19. Run Devil Run
18. Red Rose Speedway
17. Chaos And Creation In The Backyard
16. Wings At The Speed Of Sound

HMMM...OK THEN
15. Driving Rain
14. McCartney
13. Off The Ground
12. McCartney II
11. Venus And Mars

SURE, LET'S GO!
10. London Town
  9. Flaming Pie
  8. Memory Almost Full
  7. Pipes Of Peace
  6. Flowers In The Dirt

WOW! YES PLEASE!!
  5. Egypt Station
  4. New
  3. Ram
  2. Band On The Run
  1. Tug Of War

[Moogmodule]

Excellent thread! I’ll have to think about this.

One thing I noted the other day was that, of my Paul post-Beatle playlist, 21 of the 39 songs are from the Flaming Pie-onward era.

I think the No Thank You category is about what I’d do. Although I’d squeeze McCartney II in there somehow. Temporary Secretary still traumatises me.

But I’ll come back with more considered views.

[tkitna]

WOW! YES PLEASE!!
1. Ram
2. Flaming Pie
3. Band On The Run
4. Tug Of War
5. Chaos And Creation In The Backyard

SURE, LET'S GO!
6. Back To The Egg
7. Off The Ground
8. Venus And Mars
9. Run Devil Run
10. Red Rose Speedway

HMMM...OK THEN
11. Flowers In The Dirt
12. Press To Play
13. New
14. Wings At The Speed Of Sound
15. Give My Regards To Broad Street

WELL, IF I MUST...
16. McCartney
17. London Town
18. Driving Rain
19. Memory Almost Full

NO THANK YOU!
20. Wild Life
21. Pipes Of Peace
22. CHOBA B CCCP
23. Kisses On The Bottom

F#%K NO!!!!!!
24. McCartney 2

*Egypt Station hasent been listened to yet*

We will always be at odds with 'Pipes Of Peace' and 'Press To Play' Mr.M.  Lol

[Moogmodule]

Here’s my go...

With the exceptions of Tug of War and Flowers in the Dirt it seems 80s Paul is my
least  favourite era.

WOW. YES PLEASE

1. Tug of War
2. Flaming Pie
3. Ram
4. Egypt Station
5. McCartney

SURE. LETS GO.

6. Band on the Run
7. New
8. Chaos and Creation in the Backyard
9. Back to the Egg
10. Flowers in the Dirt

HMM. OK THEN

11. Wings at the Speed of Sound
12. Venus and Mars
13. London Town
14. Driving Rain
15. Memory Almost Full

WELL. IF I MUST

16. Run Devil Run
17. Off the Ground
18. Kisses on the Bottom
19. Red Rose Speedway
20. CHOBA B CCP

NO THANK YOU

21. Press to Play
22. Wild Life
23. Give my Regards to Broadstreet
24. Pipes of Peace
25. McCartney II



 

[Mr Mustard]

F#%K NO!!!!!!
24. McCartney 2

 

We will always be at odds with 'Pipes Of Peace' and 'Press To Play' Mr.M.  Lol

Yeah but these differences are what make the discussions so fascinating, to me at least 

I'm grateful to you and Moog for deciding to join in with compiling a full list, and I'd be just as intrigued should anyone like to chip in with comments about their ranking/opinion of any individual album.

Seems like you and moog are drawing some disdain for McCartney II, I think many fans agree with you there but I've never had a problem with it.

On the other hand, the popularity of Chaos And Creation has always left me rather nonplussed.

I'm now wondering whether my high opinion of Flowers In The Dirt is at least partly a consequence of its following on the heels of two (IMO) stinkers (Press and CHOBA) maybe I was so relieved at a return to form that I was overly impressed?

Would love to know what others think.

[blmeanie]

Here’s mine

 

ALL THE WAY, ALL THE TIME

1. Band on the Run
2. Flowers in the Dirt
3. New

PLEASANT ENOUGH

4. Memory Almost Full
5. McCartney
6. Off the Ground

TBD Egypt Station


ALL OTHERS

Tug of War
Flaming Pie
Ram
Chaos and Creation in the Backyard
Back to the Egg
Venus and Mars
London Town
Driving Rain
Run Devil Run
Kisses on the Bottom
Red Rose Speedway
Press to Play
Wild Life
Give my Regards to Broadstreet
Pipes of Peace
McCartney II

There are songs that I like on all these albums at the bottom of my list, but I just can't play the album and let it go for them.  That was my criteria today.

[Moogmodule]

 

Seems like you and moog are drawing some disdain for McCartney II, I think many fans agree with you there but I've never had a problem with it.

On the other hand, the popularity of Chaos And Creation has always left me rather nonplussed.

.

I just never liked McCartney II. The first song, Coming Up, and the last, One of These Days, are the only songs I can hack and even then I don’t like their production. To use technical terms it’s all a bit too electronicky, drum machiney, beepy  and squeaky. I’d never hesitate putting it last on a list of his albums.

Chaos i blow hot and cold on. I love a couple of tracks like Too Much Rain and Jenny Wren. And there’s a few decent cuts to back them up so it pushes it into my top ten. Ask me another day and it might move into the middle category as it has several songs that don’t do much for me. I think it’s a polished album overall though.
 
I’d pretty much stand by my top five and bottom ten. I can’t see them altering much. The Sure Lets Go and HMMM OK Then categories might interchange a bit depending on when I was asked. I wonder if I’ve ranked Venus and Mars and London Town lower  than they deserve for instance. London Town doesn’t get a lot of love but I quite like the arrangements on it. That and Back to the Egg are particularly nostalgic for me, so I give them more of a go than I might other albums.

Flowers in the Dirt  scrapes into my top ten. I like a lot of the songs but I’m not mad on the production. Ignoring the production it might go higher. Song for song it’s probably stronger than Chaos or New.

[Loco Mo]

I'd like to participate in this thread but it would be very challenging to rank Paul's albums, I think.

I'd have to re-listen to many of them.  And I wouldn't want to go on a listening binge.  The most natural way is to listen to the albums as they come out.

I liked Paul's early solo albums.  They reminded most of the Beatles overall sound.  But starting with "Back to the Egg," I began to lose interest in his solo works.  There's a lot of song gems in his ouevre however.  I don't deny that.

I think you have to be a major fan to be interested in all of his solo stuff, much less in ranking it all.

[Bulldog]

Wasn't 'McCartney' recorded in a couple of days? And 'McCartney 2' recorded at home? I heard that Double Fantasy was recorded quickly as well.

A big difference from the disciplined recording sessions with The Beatles, with some of the albums taking months to make.

The huge difference in quality between the solo & Beatles albums is not surprising.

[Bulldog]

I have only heard 'Band on the Run' & McCartney.

BOTR I really like. Seems that 3 years after the Beatles split, Paul was scared into writing a classic, as John said he would be. Also like 'Live & Let Die' from the same year.

'McCartney' was terrible & no surprise it was recorded so quickly. Some people may like a throwaway album. I prefer the Beatles albums where they took their time.

Paul said himself he avoided writing Beatles esq songs. I am sure you could tell on McCartney 2 which he basically made from home.

He seemed to improve afterwards and his 80's solo albums were proper albums. 'Flaming Pie' also got good reviews. Maybe working on the anthology inspired him.

Some of Paul's & Wings hit singles I like.

[Loco Mo]

The funny thing is that Paul was still a Beatle when he was recording "McCartney."  Those could have been Beatles songs, I guess.  The standout of that album was, of course, "Maybe I'm amazed."

There's a version of John accompanying Teddy Boy on the Anthology which sounds pretty good.

I'll have to give McCartney a fresh listen.  I haven't played it in years.

[Loco Mo]

"That would be something" really sounds like beatbox before there was beatbox.