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[An Apple Beatle]

Jenny Wren has been described as the offspring of Blackbird. Gonna have another listen right now!

[Joost]

Jenny Wren has been described as the offspring of Blackbird.

Well, I think it really is... It's even almost as good... And the solo is just heavenly.

[An Apple Beatle]

It really is enchanting. I love it. ;0

[Indica]

Paul is the master at these type of songs.
he just pulls them out of the hat now & again

[Bobber]

However, I am not to sure about a couple of other songs on the album. I think the production is wonderful, Nigel Godrich has taken McCartney a level higher than average. I really like Jenny Wren, but I don't hear any Blackbird in it. He's done so many things like this, they were never called new Blackbirds! But 'This Never Happened Before', 'At The Mercy', 'Too Much Rain'... not too sure about these.

im getting it for my birthday on the 30th!!

[CleanOldMan]

The story behind Blackbird...

In England of course, girls are sometimes called "birds." So Paul wrote Blackbird about the Civil Rights movement taking place in the US.

[In Blue Hawaii]

Jenny Wren has been described as the offspring of Blackbird.

He is the father of both. Erm, isn't that illegal?

[In Blue Hawaii]

Some interesting reviews here:

http://www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/Music/09/13/music.paulmccartney.ap/index.html

'You're going to make a good album'

McCartney's hard work shows: New CD earning good reviews

Tuesday, September 13, 2005; Posted: 10:55 a.m. EDT (14:55 GMT)


NEW YORK (AP) -- It sounds cruel, but let's face it: Except for the occasional highlight like "Vanilla Sky" or "My Brave Face," for the past 20 years, Paul McCartney's catalogue has been pretty barren.

So the former Beatle wanted to make his new solo album, "Chaos and Creation in the Backyard," stand out.

"I decided to lay it on the line for myself and challenge myself and say, 'You're going to make a good album here.' It was a good motivator," he told The Associated Press.

Time magazine breathlessly declared "Chaos" to be McCartney's first album that matters since the Beatles broke up 35 years ago. But it's simply unlike anything he's done before, a quiet disc with complicated emotional shadings -- the album that generations of critics who derided his sunny, silly love songs have been asking him to make.

He'll never be mistaken for Nine Inch Nails. But the heartache of "Too Much Rain" and smoldering anger of "Riding to Vanity Fair" are unusual for McCartney. When the 63-year-old struggles for the notes in the "Blackbird" successor "Jenny Wren," he even sounds fragile.

"Even though I'm essentially an optimist, an enthusiast, like anyone else I have down moments in my life," he said. "You just can't help it. Life throws them at you.

"In the past I may have written tongue-in-cheek, like 'Maxwell's Silver Hammer,' and dealt with matters of fate in a kind of comical, parody manner. It just so happens in this batch of songs I would look at these subjects and thought it was good for writing. If it's good enough to take to your psychiatrist, it's good enough to make a song of."

McCartney also was pushed by the blunt Nigel Godrich, a producer known for his work with Radiohead and Beck.

His method was to force the music legend out of his comfort zone. McCartney brought his touring band in to record; after two weeks Godrich dispatched them. Much like he did with his very first solo album, McCartney played virtually every instrument himself -- on "Friends to Go" alone, he's credited on the grand piano, acoustic/bass/electric guitars, harpsichord, drums, tambourine, flugelhorn, melodica and shakers.

'I could just fire this guy'

Producer and artist particularly clashed on "Riding to Vanity Fair," which McCartney brought in as a fast song and Godrich kept trying to slow down.

"There were one or two moments on the album when I had to think to myself, 'You know, I could just fire this guy,' " McCartney said.

Widening his emotional palette doesn't necessarily belittle his optimism, McCartney said. He's not disowning anything. He spoke of talking with Bruce Springsteen a few years ago at a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction where the Boss admitted he didn't really get "Silly Love Songs" at the time it came out in 1976. He feels differently now that he's a family man.

"It took a little nerve to hold on, knowing that people were going to take a cheap shot," McCartney said.

Obviously he never set out to log many years of lackluster recordings.

"You're not really aware of that," he said. "You can maybe get a little complacent, or you're not hitting a good patch, or you can think it's great and it isn't. There are a multitude of reasons why."

For a man who seemingly tumbled out of bed every morning of his youth with a brilliant melody, the struggles were painful to listen to. Think "Freedom." What was once effortless seemed forced.

Working with John

Writing songs isn't necessarily harder for him as he gets older, McCartney said. And for whatever reasons -- time, a happy remarriage and new fatherhood -- he feels he's writing better than he has in a long time.

"I still have this deep love for melody in particular and writing songs," he said. "It isn't any more difficult. Obviously what made it easier then was writing with John (Lennon). He was such a great collaborator. The two of us were on fire every time we sat down to write.

"If he was stuck, I knew that I could help him out and vice versa. We normally sat down for three hours and bingo, a pretty good song came out. We never had a dry session. Every time we sat down, we came out with a song."

That happened up to the end; Lennon even asked for advice on "The Ballad of John and Yoko," he said. "We're not stupid," McCartney said. "We knew a good thing."

Yet it put in place the essential dilemma of his solo years. McCartney seems to intrinsically understand the value of a strong collaborator, but what can compare when you've had a partnership for the ages?

He enjoyed, for example, a brief songwriting collaboration with Elvis Costello that produced some good music ("My Brave Face"). But "you do something like that and it makes it even more obvious that there's no replacing John for me and no replacing me for him."

McCartney spoke by telephone from a car driving to band rehearsals in Miami for his American tour. He's long past the period where he felt he had to prove himself post-Beatles so, twistedly, he avoided the band's work in concert.

Now the whole catalogue is up for grabs, and it's easy to find songs he's never played live before -- like the voice-shredding "Helter Skelter," which he brought out for the Live 8 concert.

One last query as the car pulled up: Has he ever thought over the years, I've put a pretty good songbook together, maybe it's just time to let it be?

"Pardon the pun," he said. "The trouble is, I like it too much. If I was asked to retire tomorrow, if I was forcibly removed from my contract, I'd just do it for fun."

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

The ONLY Macca album that matters? That's hyperbolic, Time, and also proves they haven't really listened to the man's catalogue.

[In Blue Hawaii]

Oh. more reviews. If these don't entice you to purchase this immediately,
then I guess nothing will.

Billboard Magazine
"Thirty-five years into his solo career, McCartney continues to surprise. Top notch, moody, briming with melodic delights. On "Chaos," he proves that he still has a few tricks up his sleeve."

Rolling Stone Magazine
"****. The tingling sense of a new beginning is palpable. His voice is front and center, as wistful and full of yearning as ever, effortlessly lending these songs a rich sense of emotional conviction. Chaos suduces the listener into a playful world of musical ideas that shimmer and disappear.

Newhouse NewsWire
"****. 'Chaos' ranks among his best albums in years. An intimate, homemade feel from start to finish.

Knight Ridder Newswire As It Ran In The Houston Chronicle
"A superb 13-song collection. Among his finest solo albums. McCartney has crafted a modern counterpart to his one-man 1970 debut. Gorgeous melodies and lyrcs of love and hopefulness. The same sort of eloquent but muted grandeur managed on parts of Magical Mystery Tour, The White Album and Abbey Road."

FOX News
"A tour de force. 'Chaos' is an original and important piece of work that will last."

Time Magazine
"His glory days aren't all behind him. 'Chaos' is adventurous and melodic."

Bass Player Magazine
"One of his strongest albums in years. 'Chaos' is packed with lush mid-tempo meditations and dark colored, reflective ballads."

The Boston Herald
"A treat. McCartney brings mesmerizingly well-crafted order to this "Chaos." Strong melodies, close harmonies and that unmistakeable feathery falsetto.

Los Angeles Times
"Musically understated and handcrafted, this is the intimate McCartney in the vein of his 1970 solo debut."

New York Times
The Critics Choice: "McCartney gets back. Unabashed echoes of the Beatles all over the album. Intimate and unconventional."

NY Daily News
"'Chaos' is the most interesting, ambitious and revealing solo work from the Beatle in - well, maybe ever."

[Frightwolf]

I bought it, and I'm on Promise to You Girl.  So far, I like the album =)

[Paulsluv]

I just got it but I haven't listened to it yet.

BTW, Frightwolf, how was Vanity Fair?

[Bobber]

When the bass drum (I think) starts during Jenny Wren...great stuff

It sounds somewhat like an acoustic bass with rubber strings and foam.  

[Indica]

haha - indeed.

[Paulsluv]

Just started to listen to it. So far, so good.

Fine Line sort of sound like Lady Madonna.

[Paulsluv]

I'm on Riding Vanity Fair and he sounds p*ssed at Heather or whoever the song is for.

[Bobber]

I'm on Riding Vanity Fair and he sounds p*ssed at Heather or whoever the song is for.

LOL!

[Paulsluv]

What? What did I say, Bobber? The post from In Blue Hawaii on page 2 of New Album: Chaos and Creation in the Backyard said it was angrily directed at Heather.

[Bobber]

Sorry. I just read 'smoldering anger of Riding To Vanity Fair'. Is Heather mentioned? I had to laugh because of your little disliking towards Heather. Nothing personal  

[Paulsluv]

Ok. I was just wondering why you were laughing. I thought I said something funny.

Good album, BTW. Your money will be well spent.