I’m one of a small but significant group of people who continues to look forward to the release of McCartney III. I love its’ two predecessors. McCartney I and McCartney II are both, in their own way, evidence of Paul in retreat, introspective, insular but inspired; to write and record music that combines his accessibility and popularity with a much needed adrenaline burst of unpredictability and inscrutability. Paul missed The Beatles but would anyone miss him underlined McCartney I. The need for McCartney II is less obvious: possibly contractual, possibly self-indulgent, possibly rash, possibly confessional.
Some call these albums half-baked (Danny Baker was no fan of McCartney II) but I find their work-in-progress vibe in itself fascinating. It’s the person as much as the music that is in development; regrouping, reorganising and reassessing. By revealing something more of the inner workings of Paul’s song-writing in the self-organisation – evidence often gets lost, either in wonderment or in antipathy, depending on where you stand on fully polished solo/Wings McCartney – these albums seem to reboot, in equal measure, both the artist and the fan.
McCartney II is my personal favourite. I was 13 when it came out. I’d grown up with The Beatles but was now in love with New Wave and Post Punk. My head was turned to Talking Heads, Wire and Magazine even while I continued to exercise my prog inclinations. Wings were very much becoming my dad’s music rather than our music. In fact he bought McCartney II, not me, and was unimpressed by it, despite loving Coming Up (he’d taken a shine to some of the Talking Heads I was playing so that made sense). He gave the cassette to me. I was captivated and confused in equal measure. I still am when I give it a whirl. The idea of all this music being made on a 16 track by one man in isolation on his farm with only his talent, demons and innate musical antenna guiding him still gives me goosebumps. It’s the range of sounds and moods that surprises as much as anything. It’s a patchwork quilt, it’s pieces of several jigsaws not one, it’s a collection of As, Bs and out-takes made in one sitting.
Paul’s musical antenna was obviously vibrating in pleasure at both new technology and new modes of musical expression. Back To The Egg gave no sign of ringing in the changes, if anything it’s London Town from ’78 that gives more of an inkling that Paul was itching to experiment (see Cuff Link and With A Little Luck) with something other than the standard meat and veg band line-up and studio-based construction of each opus. I don’t buy into the idea that Paul was predicting the future with tracks like Temporary Secretary with its synth-driven melody and rhythm, that he somehow invented 90s dance music in 1980. That’s a load of crap really. No, it’s the B-side of Temporary Secretary, the 10 minute ambient/dance/prog/Screamadelica-esque of Secret Friend, that does that!
I have no clear favourite track on McCartney II but I have from the first time I heard the album loved the fact that Summer’s Day Song indicated that Paul had been listening to Brian Eno at some point. It’s a beautiful companion to Spider and I from Before and After Science. Perhaps on McCartney III we’ll be able to spot his admiration for Mogwai, Boards of Canada or The XX.
And here’s the companion piece
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqZeEG1pnHg
McCartney III is already out aka Chaos and Creation in the Backyard. Plays pretty much all of it. Also one of his top 3 since that first band.
I bought both those albums on their release and have heard those tracks numerous times. I don’t think I’ve ever listened to them properly before. Certainly not in isolation. And, I’ve never linked them together. I have to confess that I thought of Spider And I as a lesser Eno track being similar to much better ones on Another Green World.
Listening now, Paul’s is prettier and more innocent, almost a lullaby. Eno’s is superficially soothing but feels unsettling. Almost a summary of their careers; beautiful, gentle Paul, subtly subversive Brian.
Anyway, if you want McCartney III, look no further than Electric Arguments by The Fireman, which is Paul in the raw in collaboration with Youth. I think you’ll like it. It’s, by far, my favourite McCartney album.
http://youtu.be/SH57b_4fJWA
Travelling Light.
Re your third paragraph: I had almost exactly the same thought, but you expressed it much more cogently.
Well, if we’re going to do some musical archaeology, let’s go back to the original source – Cluster – Zum Wohl.
https://youtu.be/QAMIgrAhELs
I like most of McCartney II but I am particularly fond of Summer’s Day Song and One of These Days. Two of his prettiest songs ever, I think. The very deliberate slooooowness of both of them seems to have the effect of slowing your breathing. They’re great relaxing music.
I don’t agree with Chaos or Electric Arguments being the equivalent of McCartney III. On each of those he may have played all the instruments but he had a producer/collaborator. On McCartney I and II, it was just Paul, all alone.
I forgot! There’s another very pretty, very slooow, relaxing song on
McCartney II.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYstxLoOnYA
It’s funny. Just the other day on another music forum I read, someone (I forget the context) mentioned that, although John admitted that he loved Coming Up, other songs on the album sounded to him like Paul was depressed or sad. These three sloooow songs were considered the prime suspects. They never struck me that way but I guess I can see why they might give that impression.
They sound introspective rather than sad and not much of Paul’s music sounds as introspective and ‘alone’. That’s one of the defining factors I’m looking for for an album to qualify as McCartney III, that and the sole musicianship. Even an apparently conventional blues track like On The Way has an unsettling level of introspection to it, bordering on the Lennon in its self-exposure. It’s also really woozy and ambient which is a theme of many of the songs even if their arrangement and sentiment varies. Perhaps that’s an accident of how the songs were recorded by then Paul has always been happy to embrace accidents and unexpected outcomes in his music.
McCartney struggles to verbalise what makes him tick as a song-writer, maybe even as a person. I’ve spoken to someone who knows him quite well and he concurred with that assessment and went as far as to say that McCartney doesn’t really understand why people fuss over his music as much as they do. He really doesn’t fully grasp the magnitude of his canon and his legacy. McCartney I and II are kind of like alternative routes that loop backwards and forwards in his career, counterpoints to the more linear and conventional routes of his post Beatles career.
but then not by then
That’s interesting about the producer. I had my suspicions, but checked. McCartney II is the last completely self produced and self written album he has made. He has worked with many other producers since , often George Martin but most others for 1 album only.
He did produce all the Wings stuff apart from Back to the Egg. Does suggest a certain lack of confidence in which direction to take since. Band on the Run could almost qualify as he played pretty much everything although Denny Laine and Linda of course also contributed (as she did to McCartney and McCartney II).