Paul is Live (1993) 

 


  1. Drive My Car
  2. Let Me Roll It
  3. Looking for Changes
  4. Peace in the Neighborhood
  5. All My Loving
  6. Robbie's Bit (Thanks Chet)
  7. Good Rockin' Tonight
  8. We Can Work it Out
  9. Hope of Deliverance
  10.Michelle
  11.Biker Like an Icon
  12.Here, There and Everywhere
  13.My Love
  14.Magical Mystery Tour
  15.C'mon People
  16.Lady Madonna
  17.Paperback Writer
  18.Penny Lane
  19.Live and Let Die
  20.Kansas City
  21.Welcome to Soundcheck
  22.Hotel in Benidorm
  23.I Wanna Be Your Man
  24.A Fine Day

 

This one falls under the category of "unnecessary". He had just completed a second humongous stadium tour, so I guess he felt another recording was necessary. It really was not. Fortunately, the entire show is not released, since so many of the songs he featured that were favorites on the tour were obviously also on his last tour and album, so this one has most duplicates whittled out. The good thing, therefore, is that this is only a single album. It's fortunate since it kept the cost down and that no one really wants to pay for songs that they just purchased on the last live album. The unfortunate thing is, ironically, the very same thing. After you've filtered out the great songs, well, what is left?

As this record shows, not much. What we have here are five songs from his new album Off the Ground, that are not really necessary, and then a bunch of Beatles tunes that were swapped out on this tour to keep things fresh. Yes, it's nice to hear The Beatles songs, but as good as they are, they just don't quite resonate the way the selection did on the first album. He then throws in a few of his older solo songs, including the brilliant Let Me Roll It and the equally as welcom Live and Let Die (which has the distinction of being the only song here that's also on Tripping the Live Fantastic).

Once we're done with that, the pickings are still mighty slim. There's even a "guitar solo" by guitarist Robbie McIntosh, which is the last thing anyone really wants to hear at a Paul McCartney show, let alone a live album. There's also a ten minute soundcheck thrown at the end of the album. My guess is it's there just to fill up space.

All of this to say, there's only about fifteen or twenty minutes of stuff that anybody would really want in the first place. Although the technology wasn't available at the time, this is a perfect way one could utilize a service such as I-tunes to save some cash on songs that really aren't wanted.

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