Red Rose Speedway (1973) 


 


  1. Big Barn Bed
  2. My Love
  3. Get on the Right Thing
  4. One More Kiss
  5. Little Lamb Dragonfly
  6. Single Pigeon
  7. When the Night
  8. Loup (First Indian on the Moon)
  9. (Medley)Hold Me Tight/Lazy Dynamite/
      Hands of Love/Power Cut
  10.I Lie Around
  12.Country Dreamer
  13.The Mess (Live) *
  
  * CD Bonus Track

 

Paul McCartney's first serious solo album. Now, when I say serious, I'm not talking about an album that addresses world hunger, human rights violations and/or the environment. No, what I mean is that he actually seems to be taking some time to craft some real songs. This is something he seemed to avoid, or not pay too much attention to prior to this. The ironic thing is that his experiments worked more often that not on some of those earlier albums, and surprisingly some of that work is considered among his best.

It should also be added that when observing the early work of this artist, in many cases the term "Paul McCartney" isn't really much different than the monicker "Paul McCartney and Wings". This album fits under the former category, but immediately follows an album of the latter category. Ironic because some of the musicians he uses are exactly the same as members of Wings. There would be a (very) brief time period in a few short years where some members of Wings would actually get a turn at the microphone, so the differences were slightly more apparent. None of that was true during the earliest times, and frankly, when judging the quality of McCartney's work, the Wings monicker never really mattered one way or another.

Although he does take the recording and production seriously here, the subject matter is definitely light. Not that it should matter. It's actually quite funny to listen to McCartney's early flippant work and compare it, say, to John Lennon's persistent anger towards everything. As much as we were saddened when The Beatles broke up, it's really kind of hard to see how the two frontmen ever got along at all when one was always protesting and complaining and the other was in a state of perpetual bliss writing about lambs, pigeons and indians on the moon. If sappiness doesn't bother you, this is easily a well digestible cup of tea.

Mostly known for the sweet ballad My Love, the whole album is quite schmaltzy. That's not to say this is chocked full of love songs - there just all sweet, harmless fun. The opener Big Barn Bed is, well, sort of a rocker, but its not even offensive for the mildest church group, and things only get tamer from that point. Again, a bit too much Linda McCartney. Her spotlight here is on the track When the Night. Her singing is just too flat to be enjoyable.

Lyrically, I still can't figure out what he's talking about most of the time. Just read the titles on the album will begin the confusion. Nothing is clarified when listening to titles such as Little Lamb Dragonfly or Loup (1st Indian on the Moon). It all succeeds in its apparent effort to please all around. Even grandma will like this one.

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