Pure McCartney (2016)
(4 CD version)
Disc One
1. Maybe I’m Amazed
2. Heart of the Country
3. Jet
4. Warm and Beautiful
5. Listen to What the Man Said
6. Dear Boy
7. Silly Love Songs
8. The Song We Were Singing
9. Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey
10. Early Days
11. Big Barn Bed
12. Another Day
13. Flaming Pie
14. Jenny Wren
15. Too Many People
16. Let Me Roll It
17. New
Disc Two
1. Live and Let Die
2. English Tea
3. Mull of Kintyre
4. Save Us
5. My Love
6. Bip Bop
7. Let ‘Em In
8. Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five
9. Calico Skies
10. Hi, Hi, Hi
11. Waterfalls
12. Band on the Run
13. Appreciate
14. Sing the Changes
15. Arrow Through Me
16. Every Night
17. Junior’s Farm
18. Mrs. Vandebilt
Disc Three
1. Say, Say, Say
2. My Valentine
3. Pipes of Peace
4. The World Tonight
5. Souvenir
6. Dance Tonight
7. Ebony and Ivory
8. Fine Line
9. Here Today
10. Press
11. Wanderlust
12. Winedark Open Sea
13. Beautiful Night
14. Girlfriend
15. Queenie Eye
16. We All Stand Together
Disc Four
1. Coming Up
2. Too Much Rain
3. Good Times Coming/Feel the Sun
4. Goodnight Tonight
5. Baby’s Request
6. With a Little Luck
7. Little Willow
8. Only Mama Knows
9. Don’t Let It Bring You Down
10. The Back Seat of My Car
11. No More Lonely Nights
12. Great Day
13. Venus and Mars/Rock Show
14. Temporary Secretary
15. Hope for the Future
16. Junk
As good as this set is, and it is very good, I can’t help but feel a bit pissed off. Now, let me explain. I’m a completest. Whenever I write music reviews, for example, I only review artists if I have access to all of their material. You won’t ever convince me, for example, that you’re a “huge” fan of The Rolling Stones if you’ve only heard 10-12 of their songs. Nope. That doesn’t do it for me. If you’re a fan, a real fan, you have to know it all – or at least most of it. I know. I’m weird. I’m different. But that’s how I am.
So what does this OCD-ish tendency have to do with this collection, you ask? Well, this is a mammoth, 67 song collection spanning Paul McCartney’s entire career. You could argue that such a hefty compilation really isn’t necessary. No, it’s not necessary, but it’s welcome. 95% of what is here is great. My problem is not the other 5% (why he includes the awful Temporary Secretary or that stupid song about the frog, I’ll never know), but the fact that he totally ignores two of his better known albums. There is nothing here from 1989’s Flowers in the Dirt or 2001’s Driving Rain. Why??? I ask again, why??? These were very good albums that are completely ignored. For me, this is a huge injustice.
I wouldn’t have cared if this was a 30 song collection, but you release a 67 song collection and you ignore these albums?? This grates on my nerves. It’s not as if he “ran out of room” either. There’s plenty of room on each of these four discs to add a few more songs. Plus, there are a few albums here that have four or five songs represented here. Yes, Flaming Pie and New were very good latter day albums, but the ratio is completely unacceptable to me.
Listening to this collection reminds me of walking into a beautiful house where you see a wall filled with beautiful pictures, yet one of those pictures is obviously crooked. Looking at the wall is incredibly uncomfortable – as you have this huge desire to walk over to the picture and gently straighten the picture. That’s what this collection is like. Well, since it is 2016, nobody is forcing me to buy the actual physical CD collection, and I can very easily make a playlist and add a few songs – effectively straightening the crooked picture.
Otherwise – good collection of great songs.
Thanks for letting me rant.
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