I think "Off The Ground " is a forgotten gem in Paul's solo career ?
" Golden Earth Girl " even with it's dodgy lyrics as to be one of his most beatiful songs ,  " Biker Like An Icon" really rocks and  " Wine Dark Open Sea " as a stunning vocal from Paul .
I really like this album , what do other poeple think of this record ?

Lets say my copy is in mint condiction .  

I must admit I don't even got it.

Quoted from mr kite

Lets say my copy is in mint condiction .  

Well give it another whirl Mr. Kite , the two McCartney/Costello songs  " Mistress And Maid " and  " The Lovers That Never Were " are great songs and the anti - vivisection song " Looking For Changes " is a real passonate statement about how we treat our fellow creatures (Better go check that leg of lamb )

I will do that , i know its not a classic album , but as much a Macca fan i am [honest] i don`t think he made any great albums , except Band On The Run  

There are some good songs here- "Wine Dark Open Sea" and "Get Out Of My Way," especially- and recording it with his touring band (who amounted to the latest incarnation of Wings) helped, too. It's patchy, but rather good on the whole, I think.

Agree Geoff it is patchy in places , it reminds me of  " London Town " which is also patchy but it as that nice mellow feel like London Town .
I to like the playing of his then band, for me there a better band on record than the one he as now ? . And "Wine Dark Open Sea " really is one of his most heartfelt love songs to Linda , his lilting vocal i find really moving.

Quoted from DaveRam

I to like the playing of his then band, for me there a better band on record than the one he as now ?

I'm going to have to pick up Paul's more recent albums one of these days; I've heard little since Run Devil Run from 1999. London Town, too, I think, is overlooked: apart from Robert Christgau, I think it was mostly panned  by the rock press when it came out. My impression is that Denny Laine had a lot more input than usual in that one.

You should get " Chaos And Creation In The Backyard " ( 2005 ) Geoff it's one of the his best albums . Nigel Godrich the producer made Paul focus in a way which he had'nt done since his Beatles days and it shows  .

Jenny Wren
How Kind Of You
Riding To Vanity Fair
To Much Rain
This Never Happend Before

Are among Paul's best post Beatle songs , and he plays most of the instruments himself . I think  " Ram " - " Band On The Run "  and  " Chaos And Creation In The Backyard " will be the albums Paul is rememberd for ?

Quoted from DaveRam

You should get " Chaos And Creation In The Backyard " ( 2005 ) Geoff it's one of the his best albums . Nigel Godrich the producer made Paul focus in a way which he had'nt done since his Beatles days and it shows

Thanks for the tip; it's on my next Amazon.com list. But I wonder if twenty years from now we're even going to be talking about albums: I have the sense we're headed back towards individual songs.

You might be right there Geoff , i remember listening to a Kate Bush interview when she released her last album a few years back and she said listening to albums was a dying art form . So maybe we will all become pick and mix listeners .
Mind you i do like to feel an LP in my hands every now and then

'Off The Ground' is fantastic in my opinion. There's not a bad song on the record.

I will disagree with DaveRam about the band though. I like his current lineup much better. I cant stand Hamish Stuarts voice and Blair Cunningham cant hold Abe Laborials jock when it comes to drumming. Although Robbie Macintosh is great, I also like Rusty's tone on the guitar and Brain Ray plays a great bass along with guitar too. Its all opinion I suppose.

i think that Off the Ground is a brilliant album & maybe macca's most underated album ever. the songs are so good
& the the genral atmosphere of the album is just excellant. great songs like Peace in the Neighbouhood, Widedark
Open Sea. one of macca's greatest love songs, Golden Earth Girl. excellant rocker, get outta my way. and it ends with
the very beatle-ly C'mon People. its a true macca claaisc in my own opinion!  

Quoted from tkitna

'Off The Ground' is fantastic in my opinion. There's not a bad song on the record.

I will disagree with DaveRam about the band though. I like his current lineup much better. I cant stand Hamish Stuarts voice and Blair Cunningham cant hold Abe Laborials jock when it comes to drumming. Although Robbie Macintosh is great, I also like Rusty's tone on the guitar and Brain Ray plays a great bass along with guitar too. Its all opinion I suppose.

I really like his current band tkitna , the point i was making was the old band were better on the album , because Paul used them throughout . The new band as yet to make it's full stamp on a McCartney album , as Paul in recent times as played a lot of the instruments himself .
I hope he makes fuller use of them on the new album , Memory Almost Full showed that when he uses them there excellent in the studio .
Live i think they are the best band he's had .

Quoted from Andy Smith

i think that Off the Ground is a brilliant album & maybe macca's most underated album ever. the songs are so good
& the the genral atmosphere of the album is just excellant. great songs like Peace in the Neighbouhood, Widedark
Open Sea. one of macca's greatest love songs, Golden Earth Girl. excellant rocker, get outta my way. and it ends with
the very beatle-ly C'mon People. its a true macca claaisc in my own opinion!  

I agree Andy it's a excellent album and very underated , i think it's got lost a bit ,  " The Anthology Project " and  " Flaming Pie " seemed to overshadow it .
I always thought  " C'mon People " should have been a top 3 record .

I started to listen to Paul when Chaos and Creation in the Backyard came out, and because of this thread I want to find Off the ground, but the only place I can find it is on Amazon.com. I have been having issues finding it anywhere else. So I would have to agree on my limited knowledge that it is a forgotten album, but I can't give my opinion as to whether it is a gem or not. maybe I can post again when this thread is like a year and  a half old and let you know!!

i've never heard it

I  think  " Peace In The Neighbourhood " as a  " Steely Dan " feel to it ?

Quoted from DaveRam

I really like his current band tkitna , the point i was making was the old band were better on the album , because Paul used them throughout . The new band as yet to make it's full stamp on a McCartney album , as Paul in recent times as played a lot of the instruments himself .

Ahhhh, I gotcha. Yeah, I agree. I wonder why he just downst do an entire album with them? I've never really thought about it. Strange indeed.

I guess he wants to be in control, like he's used to. I think his albums would improve if he should give his band some creative space on his albums tho. Remember the guitar solo on My Love? The guys are creative and good enough to fill in some arrangements on their own.

Agree he really should use the band to it's full potential on the next album , it's a waste if he does'nt .

Good post, Dave. I think "Off The Ground" is great. I consider it the last Paul album as a "young" artist. Because with "Flaming Pie" he began to look seriously as a "middle-aged" (I'm not saying old) artist. OTG sounds very polished and relatively modern. FP was the opposite - very homemade, charming, and old-fashioned. I love both styles.

I give OTG 3.5 stars. It's not a masterpiece, but every song is really enjoyable. "Golden Earth Girl" is one of Paul's best ballads. "Hope Of Deliverance" is one of my favourite Paul songs.

I'm surprised a lot of people on this board haven't heard it.  I have it and have heard it numerous times and think it's a very good album.  I am a huge fan of Mistress and Maid, Off the Ground, and Looking for Changes.

In someways it's his last truely happy album , eveything is still hunky dory in McCartney world ? the spectre of illness ,death and divorce however is waiting on the horizon , which also makes it a sad album , it's a watershed for him personally .
I really like the polished production wingsman it sounds really classy , which i think gives it , it's very Beatley sound . I also think his vocal is at the hight of it's maturity on this album , and although he can still sing he does'nt sing like this anymore sadly .

That's one of my faves by Paul!!  

I bought it the day it came out, in february 1993, along with mick jaggers's solo album wandering spirit.
they both were very good and i listened to them non stop.
my favorites from off the ground were, hope of deliverance, c'mon people, wine dark open sea, get out of my way,
and off the ground.
I  really was looking forward to paul coming to dallas, but he went to san antonio instead.
I  still have my original cd, with all the artwork, even though played many times, it's in great shape.
although off the ground is great, it can't compare with flaming pie, which came out 4 years later.
off the ground came out, right before the beatles anthology and it ended a chapter for the beatles, because everything after the anthology seemed to have a different feel to it, but in a good way.
In my opinion, out of 10 stars, i give off the ground 6 stars.