How a new album should be

[mr h atom]

no 'chorus line' here; i've stated since their release that both e.a. and m.a.f. are better than chaos.

[mr h atom]

allow me to be so bold (and, possibly snarky) as to post yet again another thought :

how a new album should be ?

it should be solidly mixed, perfectly played, extensively engineered, impeccably transfered, with a back up disc of all the b-sides & outtakes....everything inclusive

so that, 30 years later...i won't be asked to pay $60 (pre-inflation, of course) for the sparkling remaster like we are now

in other words, do it right the first time.

editorial rant over...sorry for the inconvenience

[Corvair]

Good idea, Mr. H. In fact, it would have been nice this time around if Paul had decided to do a vault-clearing the way Elvis Costello did for his Rhino reissues: each album reissued with a bonus disc with three times as much material as the original album. We'll be lucky to get a few oddities and scraps. But just think what Macca has lurking in those vaults...

...there is definitely an emperor has no clothes feel to Chaos...

That is the best way to sum it up, yes. I pulled out Ram last weekend for the first time in a while and enjoyed it so much. It reminded me of what a meager little record Chaos is by comparison.

[james1985]

I'm all for experimentation and a slight change in direction. He's done it plenty of times in the past with mixed results. But Chaos has very little creative empathy with Paul's own personality.

So you think Chaos isn't really him being true to what he is as an artist. Interesting. I'm a little torn between two sides, but lean towards one more than the other. The first is that Chaos sounds like a 65 year old should sound -- it doesn't sound like most McCartney albums because it's the first time he's let himself show his age. It's great that he still tries to sing new rockers like Only Mama Knows, but he's not kidding anyone. The other side is that he's just ageless and his musical personality is just to try and sound young and peppy and optimistic his whole career.

I lean more towards the first one. He was going through some serious stuff with his marriage, you can hear the age in his voice, there's real skill in his playing.

Also, there are loads of stereotypically McCartney moments on Chaos. The 'Little Woman Love' piano of Promise..., English Tea, the 'secret' track could be an instrumental off the McCartney album, This Never Happened Before is a cousin of Through our Love.

Even something like At The Mercy, where atmospherically it's quite a departure, the playing reminds you it's him. The way he plays guitar, bass, keys and drums hasn't really changed since 1970 -- the personality of Chaos is in the playing. That was what he wanted to do artistically at that point, no question.

[chris]

james, thats an interesting way of looking at it. i've always enjoyed chaos. it was clearly an album he worked on quite a bit. but i always sort of held it against chaos for being an album of quiet sameness...but you put an interesting spin on it that at the very least makes me think about it.

my favorite tracks from chaos have always been a departure from what is the norm for him. everyone knows the happy, optimistic paul. well, that guy didn't make it to the studio sessions for this collection. this album, at times...is angry. its sad. its uncertain. and truth be told...it is a joy to see this side of paul. the fact that he was going through a divorce while making this album (although that was unkown to us at the time) allows his change of moods...and subject. this album is aging remarkably well. as the meanings of the songs continue to evolve with paul.

at the mercy has this...symphonic explosion (no other words to describe what is happening here) in the middle that may have you reaching for your repeat button. friends to go and riding to vanity fair suggest not is all wine and roses at the mccartney household. and i would offer that the outro to how kind of you is a very grown up mr mccartney.

what the hell was i complaining about this album for? i have to go. time to find my headphones and give this bad-boy another chance. thanks james, i'm glad we had this talk.

[mr h atom]

hmmm, very thoughtful, james and chris.
what an interesting way to way to approach an album: for what it is rather than what one wishes it would be

'chaos' is not always at or near my top five: i've never considered it to be quite that good (but, then again, i rate 'mccartney 2' at #2, just a tad below 'ram', which, of course, is the best, right ? so...what do i know ?)...but, on a good day, it's usually an easy top ten...it is a very good album; a little, as chris put it, a bit a quiet sameness at times...but a top notch effort, nonetheless.

but to call it meager...?
even when stacked next to one of the beloveds, is to miss the forest, the trees, the leaves, the twigs and the great, bright sunshine dappling through the same...

some have mentioned, including i, that macca should work with someone like rick rubin, to get a far more stripped down, and emotional album: so far, this is that album and it is a mighty fine one, too

[chris]

funny thing (half serious... ) i have heard fans call for rick rubin, or even nigel, again, to produce paul's next album before. and they may or may not turn out to be brilliant ideas. but at the end of the day, the end result is still (and always) going to be referred to (at least by the likes of me) as a paul mccartney product. so when it all comes down to it, i am completely indifferent to who produces him. not that some producers aren't better than others. some clearly are. but whatever help he gets from behind the sound board will get lost in history. i couldn't tell you who produced any wings albums off the top of my head. chaos, for instance, will always just be a mccartney album...and never a mccartney album produced by nigel

and there is a certain charm in hearing paul play his own instruments. he may not be a virtuoso with every instrument. but he's been doing it for so long that it has become something to rely on...something that connects his new music with past albums that i find comforting. at this point i'm not really looking for paul to push the envelope. i'm not counting on him to change the world with his next album. whether it is overly produced, or raw live in the studio...a loud rock album or a softer, introspective approach...musically complex or quite simple...give me an album with 10 great songs on it and i will probably be a happy dude. i will let paul (okay, and maybe even his producer) decide the details of how to get it done.

[efghijiloveyou]

I want an album that sounds like Chaos and MAF, with nods to Tug of War and Back to the Egg and shades of Electric Arguments wrapped in a blanket of Flaming Pie dipped in a batter of Venus and Mars and Ram and seasoned with McCartney II and served with a side of Band on the Run.

[Girl4Beats]

As I have said many a time on this forum, I am a product of the 1960's. I am your rock and roll girl from long past. I want a rocker of an album. MAF and Chaos were not my cup of tea although it seems to be the faves of lots of folks writing here. I would love to see something in the vein of The Russian Album, Driving Rain, Flaming Pie. I WANT SOME ROCK AND ROLL, PURE AND SIMPLE.

[chris]

yeah, i'd like that too, G4. but how much longer can he belt them out? my own father just turned 69. if he tried to sing helter skelter right now i'd have to call him an ambulance.