Off the Ground (1993)
1. Off the Ground
2. Looking for Changes
3. Hope of Deliverance
4. Mistress and Maid
5. I Owe it All to You
6. Biker Like an Icon
7. Peace in the Neighborhood
8. Golden Earth Girl
9. The Lovers That Never Were
10.Get Out of My Way
11.Winedark Open Sea
12.C'mon People
One of the most quietly satisfying entries in McCartney’s post-Beatles catalogue, Off the Ground arrived in 1993 to almost deafening indifference. Which is a shame, because it’s one of his most consistent, well-structured albums—free of the excessive gimmickry and studio detours that had characterized many of his solo efforts up to that point. But timing, as always, is everything. By the early ’90s, the appetite for “new” material from artists of McCartney’s generation had largely waned. The real excitement lay in the tour. The album? Merely the excuse.
And that, really, was the problem. Coming off the back of his hugely successful Flowers in the Dirt tour and buried under a mountain of live releases, greatest hits packages, and retro-themed covers projects, Off the Ground was quietly released and quickly forgotten. Which is unfortunate, because it’s a proper studio album—and a very good one at that.
What’s striking is the album’s coherence. McCartney, known for his restless musical adventurism, often veers from brilliance to bafflement in the space of a few tracks. But here, the tone is steady, the songwriting focused, and the production clean. If there’s a criticism to be made, it’s that the album plays things a little safe. There are no wild experiments or stylistic curveballs—but in this case, that restraint works entirely in its favor.
The album leans more acoustic than electric, and while it’s not a rock-out affair by any stretch, McCartney’s melodic instincts remain razor-sharp. The opening title track is breezy and assured, while Hope of Deliverance, the lead single, offers one of the album’s most infectious choruses—both musically engaging and thematically hopeful. McCartney doesn’t always succeed when trying to “rock,” but Get Out of My Way delivers just enough bite to show he hasn’t gone entirely soft around the edges.
As ever, there are moments of whimsy and the occasional misstep. Biker Like an Icon is a toe-tapping story-song that doesn’t leave much of a lasting impression beyond the pun in its title. Mistress and Maid, however, is a surprising highlight—a pointed reflection on relational imbalance that’s unusually forthright and lyrically sharp for McCartney. Less successful is the politically charged Looking for Changes, an animal rights anthem that, while musically solid, comes across lyrically as heavy-handed and more than a little uncomfortable. McCartney has rarely waded into overt politics, and after hearing this, one sees why.
The real gems come at the end. Winedark Open Sea and C’mon People are as close as McCartney has come to recapturing the emotional sweep of Hey Jude. Both are stately, slow-building ballads that serve as a quietly majestic coda to the album. C’mon People in particular feels like a spiritual sequel to his Beatles-era anthems—melodically rich, emotionally direct, and entirely unforced.
Off the Ground is not flashy, nor did it make much of a commercial dent. But in its own understated way, it marked a turning point. The creative drift of the ’80s was over. From this point forward, McCartney would release fewer albums, but with far more consistency. It wasn’t a comeback so much as a course correction—and a welcome one at that.
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