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2.18pm
14 December 2009
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I can’t even remember if I’ve heard this one in full myself. Probably should (will) investigate someday – the presence of those little pre-“McCartney II ” electronic experiments is intriguing – but I don’t have high hopes. WALL, I’ve basically hated for 40 years now – if Paul is gonna record something that’s completely toothless and airy, why can’t he expend the extra effort to make it something truly beautiful, instead of innocuously bland and merely pleasant? He’s got the latest polyphonic synths at his command, and makes them sound…polite.
My favourite thing about that song is how it reminds me of “For No One ” (the way both modulate to a minor key going into the middle eight).
Paul: Yeah well… first of all, we’re bringing out a ‘Stamp Out Detroit’ campaign.
2.34pm
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1 May 2011
Offline Von Bontee said
I can’t even remember if I’ve heard this one in full myself. Probably should (will) investigate someday – the presence of those little pre-“McCartney II ” electronic experiments is intriguing – but I don’t have high hopes. WALL, I’ve basically hated for 40 years now – if Paul is gonna record something that’s completely toothless and airy, why can’t he expend the extra effort to make it something truly beautiful, instead of innocuously bland and merely pleasant? He’s got the latest polyphonic synths at his command, and makes them sound…polite.My favourite thing about that song is how it reminds me of “For No One ” (the way both modulate to a minor key going into the middle eight).
If you mean things like ‘Cuff Link’ and ‘Morse Moose and the Grey Goose’ then don’t go hoping for too long. The former is a total waste of time (like the fillers on ‘Wild Life ‘) whilst the latter is interesting at the start as it’s lively and in your face, something missing from most of the album, yet goes on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and, well, you get the drift.
Of the more lively numbers, ‘Cafe On the Left Back’ is dire and ‘I’ve Had Enough’ is similar to ‘Angry’ where you know there is meant to be energy yet hardly a shrug of ‘meh’ is raised. Both are more mildly amusing for being so weak sounding.
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2.40pm
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15 February 2015
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I really dig ‘Cuff Link’ and ‘Morse Moose…’ 
and while I would agree that Paul makes synths sound ‘polite’ on WALL, I rather like it. The fact that he had fancy synths and made them sound polite is just such a Macca move and so funny — ‘granddad music, but with synths…’ when you expect synths ought to be all weird and stuff.
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2.59pm
22 December 2013
Offline Beatlebug said
The fact that he had fancy synths and made them sound polite is just such a Macca move and so funny — ‘granddad music, but with synths…’ when you expect synths ought to be all weird and stuff.
The Moog Synthesizer played on ‘Abbey Road ‘ (mighta ‘bin George), for ‘Maxwell’s Silver Hammer ‘ & ‘Here Comes The Sun ‘ in particular, also sounds “polite” and to great effect… it’s just that with songs like ‘With A Little Luck’ it’s the entire focus of the song… it even effectively kills the very good vocal performance where he rips it up towards the end… “can’t you feel the town explodin’?”… no Paul… I can’t… I only feel the TeleTubbie’s bellies squishin’ my lobes…:-)
3.39pm
Members
18 March 2013
Offline Morse Moose is a jam, I would love if he did it just once live (although I’m not sure if his voice could carry it now 🙁 ).
I keep saying it, it’d be a good club song!
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3.46pm
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1 May 2011
Offline AppleScruffJunior said
Morse Moose is a jam, I would love if he did it just once live (although I’m not sure if his voice could carry it now 🙁 ).I keep saying it, it’d be a good club song!
Almost.
Probably the highlight of ‘Twin Freaks ‘.
Most of Paul’s jams that make it onto albums are disappointing (‘What’s That You’re Doing’, ‘Used To Be Bad’, ‘Really Love You’) and go on far too long.
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3.53pm
Members
18 March 2013
Offline ^So, so close.
That’s a major complaint of mine about Paul’s remixes, (here’s looking at his DJ setlist for his live tours as well), they are so overly self-indulgent, and never seem to end.
Like, I love Coming Up but there’s only so many times I can listen to Linda squeak “Coming Up ” in succession.
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4.17pm
15 November 2018
Offline Ugh, Coming Up . I want to like it, but it’s so incredibly repetitive and such an earworm…
but that’s not on topic! The beginning of With A Little Luck low-key reminds me of the original MacGyver theme song.
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1.35am
22 December 2013
Offline 50yearslate said
Ugh, Coming Up . I want to like it, but it’s so incredibly repetitive and such an earworm…but that’s not on topic! The beginning of With A Little Luck low-key reminds me of the original MacGyver theme song.
It kinda illustrates the big difference between what John & Paul delivered to us in their solo works… Paul always seemed to follow the current trends of the day instead of simply going with being Paul McCartney … John, on the other hand, appeared to not pay as much attention to what others were doing and continued to go his own way while staying true to his roots, usually at the dispense of commercial success… not saying that either one was better, for that’s a matter of opinion, but they really had grown far apart artistically in their respective approaches…
Should one review Billboard’s Number Ones for the year 1980, Paul’s ‘Coming Up ‘ doesn’t seem all that out of place amongst the others, such as Diana Ross’ ‘Upside Down’ with its funky guitar driven groove and mindlessly fun lyrics… yet then there’s John’s ‘(Just Like) Starting Over’ and his self-dubbed “Elvis-Orbison” emotional vocal delivery overtop a late-night retro feel sticking out like a sore thumb… John just being John and seemingly oblivious to what else was going on at the time…
If I could get back to the “awful artwork”… The only thing remotely Beatley about the ‘London Town ‘ album, in my opinion, was the multi-coloured fonts used on the front cover which were somewhat reminiscent of the ‘Beatlemania’ posters used for the musical that was happening around the same time… I hate to say it, but sometimes I wonder if Paul really was Dead…:-)
2.53am
Reviewers
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1 May 2011
Offline John talking about ‘Coming Up ‘ during the ‘Double Fantasy ‘ sessions taken from this thread over at Steve Hoffman’s forum (ignore the joke from the video creator, a longer video of the John part exists but it’s been taken off Youtube).
Also quoted there is this from John from the Playboy interview
We’re neither. I haven’t seen any of the Beatles for I don’t know how much time. Somebody asked me what I thought of Paul’s last album and I made some remark like, I thought he was depressed and sad. But then I realized I hadn’t listened to the whole damn thing. I heard one track — the hit “Coming Up ,” which I thought was a good piece of work. Then I heard something else that sounded like he was depressed. But I don’t follow their work. I don’t follow Wings, you know. I don’t give a **** what Wings is doing, or what George’s new album is doing, or what Ringo is doing. I’m not interested, no more than I am in what Elton John or Bob Dylan is doing. It’s not callousness, it’s just that I’m too busy living my own life to be following what other people are doing, whether they’re the Beatles or guys I went to college with or people I had intense relationships with before I met the Beatles.
but I’m sure I’ve read that John had the radio playing when he was at home baking bread etc whilst raising Sean and we all know what John said in interviews and what actually was the case didn’t always match.
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3.01pm
26 January 2017
Offline John is right. The album version from McCartney II is much better than the Glasgow version. I think at this point it has surely aged better and is more well known today. I love newer live versions with Paul Wickens on keys, laying down some seriously funky clav.
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6.09pm
22 December 2013
Offline John is right. The album version from McCartney II is much better than the Glasgow version. sir walter raleigh said
I agree with this as well… in the live version he sings “it’s coming up” but it always sounded like he was saying “scumming up” to these ears… the studio version has a much tighter groove as well…:-)
7.59am
25 August 2012
Offline Well, this thread blew up all of a sudden. 
No love for “Deliver Your Children” (which I consider probably the best song on the album)?
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15 February 2015
Offline @Duke_of_Kirkcaldy I quite like Deliver Your Children.
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4.04am
28 January 2020
Offline Duke_of_Kirkcaldy said
I will say, though, that “With a Little Luck” is probably his most overrated ‘smash hit’ (along with “My Love” and “Say, Say, Say”).
Each to their own but I love this song. The harmonies are superb.
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14 June 2016
Offline Edmund Earl of Gloucester said
Duke_of_Kirkcaldy said
I will say, though, that “With a Little Luck” is probably his most overrated ‘smash hit’ (along with “My Love” and “Say, Say, Say”).
Each to their own but I love this song. The harmonies are superb.
I love “With A Little Luck”. It’s probably in my top 10 wings songs. Really this whole album is a bit of an underrated gem.
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11.10pm
11 June 2015
Offline Lately I’ve been listening to the “specialty reissue” albums on the Internet Archive site as opposed to YouTube. It’s a little tidier and makes it easy to quickly review and compare the different versions of a song. Also the album covers, inserts, and LP/CD reproductions are available in the JPEG section under Download Options.
[Mod note: link led to pages where some officially released material can be downloaded and has therefore been removed.]
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