31. Paul McCartney--Flaming Pie

#31: Paul McCartney--Flaming Pie (1997)

Top-Notch Tracks: "Flaming Pie," "The Song We Were Singing," "The World Tonight," "Somedays," "Young Boy," "Calico Skies," "Little Willow," "Beautiful Night," "Great Day"

Album Depth: "If You Wanna," "Heaven On a Sunday," "Souvenir," "Used to Be Bad"

Weak Link: "Really Love You"

Stand-Out Lyrics: "I took my brains out and stretched 'em on the rack. Now I'm not so sure I'm ever gonna get 'em back."--"Flaming Pie"

"For a while we could sit, smoke a pipe, and discuss all the vast intricacies of life. We could jaw through the night, talk about a range of subjects. Anything you like."--"The Song We Were Singing"

"I don't care what you wanna be. I got back so far, I'm in front of me."--"The World Tonight"

"It's no good asking me what time of day it is, who won the match, or scored the goal."--"Somedays"

"While you're standing there, get up and grab a chair. It's gonna be a great day."--"Great Day"

"Stick my tongue out and lick my nose. Tuck my shirt in and zip my fly. Go ahead, have a vision. I'm the man on the flaming pie."--"Flaming Pie"

"I saw you hiding from a flock of paparazzi. You were hoping, you were hoping that the ground would swallow you. I saw you hiding there."--"The World Tonight"

"Somedays I look, I look at you with eyes that shine. Somedays I don't, I don't believe that you are mine."--"Somedays"

"Making love underneath the bed. Shooting stars from a purple sky. I don't care how I do it. I'm the man on the flaming pie."--"Flaming Pie"

"But we always came back to the song we were singing at any particular time."--"The Song We Were Singing"

Paul McCartney--Flaming Pie

Album cover: 3 out of 10. And it only gets that high of a rating because of the tiny little drawing of the flaming pie.

Comments: Paul McCartney. Maybe you've heard of him? He's a pretty talented guy. He writes songs. He sings them. He plays musical instruments. He was in a band. He's kind of a big deal.

Jeff Lynne. Maybe you've heard of him? He's a pretty talented guy. (Among other things) he produces albums. What exactly does that mean? I don't know. What I do know is that the albums (or songs) that Jeff Lynne produces turn out pretty good. He produced several of the albums that preceded "Flaming Pie" on this list, and he produced several albums yet to be revealed on this list. 

Do I seek out albums that are produced by Jeff Lynne, or do they just call out to me? Probably a little of both. Whatever the case, it's obvious I like his musical touch.

It's probably (definitely) not a coincidence that my two least favorite songs from this album ("Used to Be Bad," and "Really Love You") were produced by Steve Miller and not Jeff Lynne. (Nothing against Steve Miller, but, despite sometimes being known as a space cowboy, he's no Jeff Lynne.)

But, hey, this isn't a Jeff Lynne album, it's a Paul McCartney album, so let's focus on that for a bit. 

The songs on this album are simple, clever, heartfelt, silly, sad, funny, and wonderful. They're such good songs, and they flow together as an album beautifully. The stories behind some of the songs are fun, too. The website "The Paul McCartney Project" has some insightful backstories for many of the songs. (Go to: https://www.the-paulmccartney-project.com/masteralbum/flaming-pie/, then scroll down to the individual songs for more on each of them.)

For example, the song "Somedays" was written in two hours while Paul's wife Linda was doing a cooking show. Paul had a short amount of time to kill and decided to set himself a deadline to write a song. (He done did good!)

It's amazing to see that some 30 years after the Beatles heyday, Paul could still write so many beautiful, wonderful, great songs. And, as a wise and talented man once said, "we always go back to the song we were singing at any particular time."


Up next: You will be mine, you will be mine. (All mine.)





Comments

  1. darenolsonAugust 29, 2021 at 11:49 AM

    Here's the thing I admire about Paul. After all the incredible songs he wrote on his own and with John Lennon during The Beatles' hey-day, he really didn't need to keep on trying to create awesome music for so many years. But he did anyway. In fact, he release some nifty music just last month, along with some nifty videos. Check it out!

    https://youtu.be/t2Q4hAQ4fEw

    Other famous aging musicians--and yes, I'm talking to you, Billy Joel--could take a page from Paul's book.

    Also, I have to admit that I really enjoyed listening to all of the songs on Flaming Pie, most of which I had heard for only the first time, but I felt a special thrill while watching the video for "Beautiful Night" when I suddenly saw...Ringo Starr playing the drums! I don't know why, but if I'm watching a Ringo Starr video, I'm not all that excited to see him. But when he pops up in the video of some other artist or band, I'm always delighted by his cameo. So, thank you Jeff Lynne for not only producing some great music by former Beatles, but for also giving them a reason to get back together once in a while.

    Nardo

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