Please consider registering
Guest
sp_LogInOut Log Insp_Registration Register
Register | Lost password?
Advanced Search
Forum Scope


Match



Forum Options



Minimum search word length is 3 characters - maximum search word length is 84 characters
18 July 2013
2.14am
Avatar
Ron Nasty
Apple rooftop
Members

Reviewers
Forum Posts: 12534
Member Since:
17 December 2012
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline
101sp_Permalink sp_Print

Von Bontee said:

I always liked Greil Marcus, though!

I wasn’t slamming Greil though. I love his writing too. Just pointing out that his damning review of Self Portrait, an album that has latterly been reassessed, became legend with its first four words. There must have been a feeling among Rolling Stone‘s writers at the time that they hoped to outdo Greil’s evisceration of Bob.

"I only said we were bigger than Rod... and now there's all this!" Ron Nasty

To @ Ron Nasty it's @ mja6758
The Beatles Bible 2020 non-Canon Poll Part One: 1958-1963 and Part Two: 1964-August 1966

18 July 2013
3.04am
Avatar
parlance
Slaggers
Apple rooftop
Members
Forum Posts: 7111
Member Since:
8 November 2012
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline
102sp_Permalink sp_Print

Even if some of the songs were thought of as frivolous, I’m amazed that anyone could listen to “Long Haired Lady” and coming away thinking of the entire album as “emotionally vacuous.” I suppose Linda’s bratty delivery could lend itself to that interpretation. But personally, the song gives me chills every time.

Considering how damning the review was, the 3 1/2 star rating seems pretty generous. :-/

parlance

Beware of sadness. It can hit you. It can hurt you. Make you sore and what is more, that is not what you are here for. - George

Check out my fan video for Paul's song "Appreciate" at Vimeo or YouTube.

18 July 2013
9.58am
Ben Ramon
Carnegie Hall
Members
Forum Posts: 613
Member Since:
26 March 2012
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

^ it seems that Paul felt the same way.

“I tried so very hard and I really hoped people would like it,” Paul told Melody Maker’s Chris Charlesworth after the critics’ verdict was in. “I thought I had done a great album… I don’t see how someone can play it and take in all that stuff and say ‘I don’t like it.'”

The bum notices came as a particular shock to Paul because he had recorded Ram with the critics somewhat in mind. “I thought McCartney was quite good,” he would recall two years later. “But then it didn’t quite do it in every way… it was very down-home, funky, just me… After it got knocked I thought… do just the opposite next time. So Ram was with the top people in the top studio. I thought, this is what they want. But again, it was critically panned.”

It must have been pretty galling to pour your heart and soul into a record like that and receive such a hostile reception. I don’t think John’s brutal criticism helped matters either; although he later confessed to loving Eat At Home , and Monkberry Moon Delight (which he said he wanted to play during his stint as a guest DJ on a New York radio station in 1974, but it was too long so he opted for Jet instead). In fact, coming back to Rolling Stone and Landau’s review, it’s no secret that Jan Wenner was a good friend and ardent fan of John and Yoko and the magazine has never really been in Paul’s corner. Although they did give Tug Of War five stars, as I recall.

SHUT UP - Paulie's talkin'

19 July 2013
9.06pm
Avatar
Von Bontee
496 km NW of the '69 Toronto Rock n Roll Revival
Apple rooftop
Members
Forum Posts: 5599
Member Since:
14 December 2009
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

mja6758 said

Von Bontee said:

I always liked Greil Marcus, though!

I wasn’t slamming Greil though. I love his writing too. Just pointing out that his damning review of Self Portrait, an album that has latterly been reassessed, became legend with its first four words. There must have been a feeling among Rolling Stone‘s writers at the time that they hoped to outdo Greil’s evisceration of Bob.

I see your point. And if Landau had some of Marcus’ pithiness and humour, I’d probably give his Ram takedown some grudging appreciation.

(I didn’t know that Self Portrait had been critically reassessed lately! I figured that was just one or two bloggers/contrarians. But I understand that those sessions are the subject of Bob’s next Bootleg Series entry, so I guess they’re more popular than I realized.)

Paul: Yeah well… first of all, we’re bringing out a ‘Stamp Out Detroit’ campaign.

         

20 July 2013
12.26am
Avatar
Funny Paper
America
Candlestick Park
Members
Forum Posts: 2080
Member Since:
1 November 2012
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline
105sp_Permalink sp_Print

I agree, WhereArtEsteban — “Too Many People ” is a superb rock song, it easily stands in the pantheon not only of McCartney’s best rock songs, but I’d say of rock songs of all time.  I don’t know why it remains so obscure.

The following people thank Funny Paper for this post:

Bongo

Faded flowers, wait in a jar, till the evening is complete... complete... complete... complete...

20 July 2013
1.09am
Avatar
Ron Nasty
Apple rooftop
Members

Reviewers
Forum Posts: 12534
Member Since:
17 December 2012
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

Von Bontee said
I see your point. And if Landau had some of Marcus’ pithiness and humour, I’d probably give his Ram takedown some grudging appreciation.

(I didn’t know that Self Portrait had been critically reassessed lately! I figured that was just one or two bloggers/contrarians. But I understand that those sessions are the subject of Bob’s next Bootleg Series entry, so I guess they’re more popular than I realized.)

I could have been clearer in my original comment just what I meant rereading it. And I agree, Landau’s pen never had the wit or intelligence to do what Greil did.

(As to Self Portrait, it has been gaining a different response since the mid-90s and the emergence of alternative country/Americana, of which it is now considered to be an early example of. Interesting looking at the Amazon reviews earlier, it’s given a 3.7 overall, but they range from 2 to 5. Shows it divisive rather than hated as it was at the time. You’re right about the new Bootleg Series release – covers Nashville Skyline, Self Portrait and New Morning – out on August 27 [and includes two tracks with George, an alternate Time Passes Slowly and the co-written Working on a Guru, both recorded 1 May 1970]. The irony, the notes for The Bootleg Series Vol. 10 – Another Self Portrait (1969-1970), are written by one Greil Marcus!)

The following people thank Ron Nasty for this post:

Von Bontee

"I only said we were bigger than Rod... and now there's all this!" Ron Nasty

To @ Ron Nasty it's @ mja6758
The Beatles Bible 2020 non-Canon Poll Part One: 1958-1963 and Part Two: 1964-August 1966

21 July 2013
10.33pm
Avatar
Von Bontee
496 km NW of the '69 Toronto Rock n Roll Revival
Apple rooftop
Members
Forum Posts: 5599
Member Since:
14 December 2009
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline
107sp_Permalink sp_Print

Yeah, Greil did a re-evaluation (of sorts) of Self Portrait that was published in Mojo awhile back. Seems as though he’s made his peace with the album. To an extent. Maybe…I’m not sure, he can be hard for me to understand at times, lol.

Paul: Yeah well… first of all, we’re bringing out a ‘Stamp Out Detroit’ campaign.

         

9 February 2014
6.43pm
tulane
Decca
Members
Forum Posts: 86
Member Since:
7 February 2014
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline
108sp_Permalink sp_Print

Jann Wenner, Rolling Stone Editor, was mad at Paul because Paul didn’t invite him to a party.

A lot of it is childish.

I’ll bet in the music press you will get bribes, blackmail and backhanders (or lack thereof) also determining what kind of reviews records get.

Critical reception can influence sales and massive amounts of money are at stake, so is it plausible that there is not some corruption involved.

Also, I think fashions are involved.

When you first come out you are trendy and revered as such.  Stick around a bit and you are dismissed as being the old guard and past it.  Stick around a bit longer and you are a living legend who can do no wrong.

As for Landau, he later became Springsteen’s manager.  I like Bruce.  He’s a likeable guy and I like some of his music but Paul is a much better musician than Bruce and yet Landau seemed to think the sun shined out of Bruce’s backside whilst really laying into Paul.  I don’t know.

9 February 2014
7.47pm
Avatar
Funny Paper
America
Candlestick Park
Members
Forum Posts: 2080
Member Since:
1 November 2012
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline
109sp_Permalink sp_Print

I can see how a Springsteen fan would be the type of person who would find Ram mediocre — i.e., a type who thinks all good music has to be serious and “relevant” and be charged with uninspired energy fit for charging the batteries of a car, but leaving the Muses… unamused.

Faded flowers, wait in a jar, till the evening is complete... complete... complete... complete...

9 February 2014
7.55pm
Avatar
PeterWeatherby
A Park in the Dark
Ed Sullivan Show
Members
Forum Posts: 418
Member Since:
5 February 2010
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline
110sp_Permalink sp_Print

How funny, I was just reading this review of Ram earlier today! Yeah, Rolling Stone was rarely very kind to Paul in those earlier days. To be fair, though, they weren’t exactly fawning all over John either. Plastic Ono Band got a decent review, but they ripped Imagine , Mind Games , and Walls And Bridges pretty hard.

This review of Ram is an example of exactly why I don’t pay much attention to music critics in general, though. Music is so very incredibly subjective … the two songs that Landau likes off this album aren’t exactly the crowd favorites, are they? If I’d listened to Landau, I probably would have missed one of Paul’s better solo albums.

Not a bit like Cagney.

21 February 2014
2.15pm
Avatar
meanmistermustard
Thankfully not where I am.
Moderator
Members

Reviewers


Moderators
Forum Posts: 25158
Member Since:
1 May 2011
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline
111sp_Permalink sp_Print

Apoligies if posted elsewhere or earlier here: Ramming – The Making of Ram documentary

The following people thank meanmistermustard for this post:

Martha, Von Bontee

"I told you everything I could about me, Told you everything I could" ('Before Believing' - Emmylou Harris)

21 February 2014
2.56pm
Avatar
Billy Rhythm
Shea Stadium
Members
Forum Posts: 953
Member Since:
22 December 2013
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline
112sp_Permalink sp_Print

I haven’t listened to this album since the mid-1980s, and hearing the clips during this video reminded me of why.  Unlike what Paul says at the end where it sounded better to him now in retrospect, it sounds just as uninspiring to me now as it did when I first heard it.  If this album had of been made by anybody else and sounded exactly as it does, it would be long forgotten and probably stump most rock trivia experts if they were grilled with questions about it.  Someone said in one of the posts how a remastered album is like restoring a gem to its original beauty or something like that, and while that may be its intention, for this album it’d be more like dusting off the frosting and revealing an old turd of some ram…:-)

21 February 2014
3.07pm
Avatar
meanmistermustard
Thankfully not where I am.
Moderator
Members

Reviewers


Moderators
Forum Posts: 25158
Member Since:
1 May 2011
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline
113sp_Permalink sp_Print

Billy Rhythm said
I haven’t listened to this album since the mid-1980s, and hearing the clips during this video reminded me of why.  Unlike what Paul says at the end where it sounded better to him now in retrospect, it sounds just as uninspiring to me now as it did when I first heard it.  If this album had of been made by anybody else and sounded exactly as it does, it would be long forgotten and probably stump most rock trivia experts if they were grilled with questions about it.  Someone said in one of the posts how a remastered album is like restoring a gem to its original beauty or something like that, and while that may be its intention, for this album it’d be more like dusting off the frosting and revealing an old turd of some ram…:-)

LOL. heart

I like the album the more i hear it but i love that. 

 

"I told you everything I could about me, Told you everything I could" ('Before Believing' - Emmylou Harris)

21 February 2014
3.09pm
Avatar
Billy Rhythm
Shea Stadium
Members
Forum Posts: 953
Member Since:
22 December 2013
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline
114sp_Permalink sp_Print

meanmistermustard said

Billy Rhythm said
I haven’t listened to this album since the mid-1980s, and hearing the clips during this video reminded me of why.  Unlike what Paul says at the end where it sounded better to him now in retrospect, it sounds just as uninspiring to me now as it did when I first heard it.  If this album had of been made by anybody else and sounded exactly as it does, it would be long forgotten and probably stump most rock trivia experts if they were grilled with questions about it.  Someone said in one of the posts how a remastered album is like restoring a gem to its original beauty or something like that, and while that may be its intention, for this album it’d be more like dusting off the frosting and revealing an old turd of some ram…:-)

LOL. heart

I like the album the more i hear it but i love that. 

 

 

Smell Away, Smell Away, Smell Away…:-)

23 February 2014
8.18pm
Avatar
AppleScruffJunior
Sitting here doing nothing but procrastinating...
Apple rooftop
Reviewers

Members
Forum Posts: 7585
Member Since:
18 March 2013
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline
115sp_Permalink sp_Print

Billy Rhythm said

meanmistermustard said

Billy Rhythm said
I haven’t listened to this album since the mid-1980s, and hearing the clips during this video reminded me of why.  Unlike what Paul says at the end where it sounded better to him now in retrospect, it sounds just as uninspiring to me now as it did when I first heard it.  If this album had of been made by anybody else and sounded exactly as it does, it would be long forgotten and probably stump most rock trivia experts if they were grilled with questions about it.  Someone said in one of the posts how a remastered album is like restoring a gem to its original beauty or something like that, and while that may be its intention, for this album it’d be more like dusting off the frosting and revealing an old turd of some ram…:-)

LOL. heart

I like the album the more i hear it but i love that. 

 

 

Smell Away, Smell Away, Smell Away…:-)

All I’ve Got To Do is to, to smell you. All I’ve got to take is- a whiiiff. All it’s got to take is a nose to smell it. Smell away, smell away, smell away

 

INTROVERTS UNITE! Separately....in your own homes!

                 ***

Make Love, Not Wardrobes!

                ***

"Stop throwing jelly beans at me"- George Harrison

27 February 2014
10.53pm
Avatar
Billy Rhythm
Shea Stadium
Members
Forum Posts: 953
Member Since:
22 December 2013
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

Now Now, we’ve had our fun, so as we Smile Away I have to say that that’s the first time that I’ve heard Paul personally claim ownership (pun intended) and admitting that ‘Too Many People ‘ was in fact directed towards John during the video that meanmistermustard posted above, but I feel that it was perhaps to redirect attention away from his comments about ‘Dear Boy ‘ which I don’t find his explanation all that convincing.  It’s about Linda’s Ex-Husband?!  If the song is indeed an extension of a hand reaching out to him (Mel I think he said his name was) as Paul wants you to believe here, why the use of the word “Boy”?  I mean, what red-blooded male wants to be addressed as a “Boy”?!  An Ex-Husband by his “replacement”?!  Sorry, but I have a hard time swallowing that story, the lyrics sound as though they’re being preached (“Too Many People Preaching Practises”) from a High Horse (or, RAM?) towards somebody who’s made Paul feel rather small, and I hardly think that this man who was supposedly out of touch with them at the time fits this criteria.  I believe that, like ‘Too Many People ‘, ‘Dear Boy ‘ was indeed directed towards John and Paul regrets the tone he used, “Mel” sounds like the perfect out here to me…:-)     

28 February 2014
1.41am
Avatar
robert
Ed Sullivan Show
Members
Forum Posts: 415
Member Since:
19 April 2010
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline
117sp_Permalink sp_Print

When RAM first came out I can remember everyone was looking for all the meanings in the songs. It was clear to everyone at that time that Too Many People was about John and Yoko.That 3 Legs was about John, George and Ringo. And Smile Away was about anyone who had picked sides in the Beatles inner circle. We had no word from Paul, but it’s what we all thought at the time.

It was also pretty to everyone I hung out with that Dear Boy was about Linda’s ex.

However it’s hard to imagine that song was any type of olive branch to Mel (no one knew his name at the time – this is the way pre-internet info age). In fact it sounded then as it sounds like know, that Linda’s ex really blew it by letting her go.

It’s hard to imagine that song being about John at all.

 

"She looks more like him than I do."

28 February 2014
2.02am
Avatar
meanmistermustard
Thankfully not where I am.
Moderator
Members

Reviewers


Moderators
Forum Posts: 25158
Member Since:
1 May 2011
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

From what i’ve read Dear Boy is more Paul saying Mel was an idiot for letting Linda go or losing her and how Linda since saved Paul; it doesn’t appear to me thru the lyrics to be an offer of peace, more a-hard-days-night-paul-11 for being a prat.

The following people thank meanmistermustard for this post:

robert

"I told you everything I could about me, Told you everything I could" ('Before Believing' - Emmylou Harris)

28 February 2014
3.31am
Avatar
Billy Rhythm
Shea Stadium
Members
Forum Posts: 953
Member Since:
22 December 2013
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline
119sp_Permalink sp_Print

Be interested in what you all think about the picture on the sleeve of the beetle mounting the other beetle, a “shot across the bow” if I ever saw one.  I remember Yoko commenting on how John wasn’t happy with some of the songs on ‘RAM’ as his inspiration behind ‘How Do You Sleep?’, so it appears that it wasn’t just ‘Too Many People ‘ that John himself took exception to…:-)

28 February 2014
11.07pm
Avatar
robert
Ed Sullivan Show
Members
Forum Posts: 415
Member Since:
19 April 2010
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

Billy Rhythm said
Be interested in what you all think about the picture on the sleeve of the beetle mounting the other beetle, a “shot across the bow” if I ever saw one.  I remember Yoko commenting on how John wasn’t happy with some of the songs on ‘RAM’ as his inspiration behind ‘How Do You Sleep?’, so it appears that it wasn’t just ‘Too Many People ‘ that John himself took exception to…:-)

Oh for sure – as I mentioned above – there were at least three songs that were aimed at John and/or the Beatles – all of which no doubt John took personal exception to. In terms of the shot of the beetles on the album – everyone noticed that when it first came out – to us it meant one of two things – either “f*ck the Beatles” or that “one Beatle was f*cking another”.

In either case it was pretty intense stuff. And then John had the shot of him holding the pig as an insert to the Imagine album – that was a jaw dropper.

 

"She looks more like him than I do."

Forum Timezone: Europe/London
Most Users Ever Online: 2057
Currently Online:
Guest(s) 358
Currently Browsing this Page:
1 Guest(s)
Top Posters:
Starr Shine?: 16105
Ron Nasty: 12534
Zig: 9827
50yearslate: 8759
Necko: 8050
AppleScruffJunior: 7585
parlance: 7111
mr. Sun king coming together: 6394
Mr. Kite: 6147
trcanberra: 6064
Member Stats:
Guest Posters: 88
Members: 2921
Moderators: 5
Admins: 1
Forum Stats:
Groups: 3
Forums: 44
Topics: 5557
Posts: 383979
Newest Members:
AbbeyRoad25, daena, mickeylovesthebeatles, theelevan, karlieflood
Moderators: Joe: 5713, meanmistermustard: 25158, Ahhh Girl: 22659, Beatlebug: 18229, The Hole Got Fixed: 8410
Administrators: Joe: 5713