Paul McCartney Album: “Flowers in the Dirt [Remaster]”

In the middle of my Beatlemania back in the 80's, I instantly honed in on Paul McCartney, whose videos were on constant rotation on MTV. 1989 saw him releasing his followup to Press To Play, Flowers In The Dirt, a title mentioned in the song "That Day Is Done" but also borrowed from a line in the Sex Pistols' "God Save The Queen", altering "flowers in the dustbin."

The catchy opening song and first single, "My Brave Face" is one of my favourite songs by him, telling of a man living alone after his loved one has gone, died probably. When I hear some lyrics, "As I pull the sheet back on the bed, I want to go bury my head in your pillow", and "Now that I'm all alone again/I can't stop breaking down again/The simplest things set me off again", I eerily think of Linda McCartney's death died 9 years after this song.

The trials of life in a marriage are recounted in "We Got Married" whose sound is a distant cousin to "Things We Said Today." Dave Gilmour's trademark guitar crunches along as if to affirm the gladness of being together despite hardships. A lyrical triumph, especially this: "I love the things that happen/When we start to discover who we are/And what we're living for/Just because love was all we ever wanted/It was all we ever had." Marriage, says Macca at the end, "It's not just a loving machine/It doesn't work out/If you don't work at it."

One of the standout cuts is the bouncy, sweet acoustic "Put It There" of a tender assurance from a father to son that he's there to help him: "If there's a fight, I'd like to fix it/I hate to see things go so wrong" It's reminiscent of "Blackbird", except sweeter, with string orchestration by George Martin.

"Don't Be Careless Love" is a poignant portrait of a worried man waiting the late hours for his girl, worried she got killed by some mugger, until he goes to bed. In the end, he finds her back in bed, and it's all right

"Figure Of Eight" is something to avoid ending up in. It's an affirmation of loving instead of hating and taking care of one another. An 8 is the infinity symbol on end, but infinity could mean an endless loop one can't get out of.

The upbeat electric guitar number "This One" reveals the downside of waiting for the perfect moment such as being open or affectionate. It's an explanation, an apology, that I found convincing.

The elegiac ballad "That Day Is Done" is of someone who's died and is sung from that person's point of view, with references to a woman in higher circles who's spurned him. I've felt this way during my dark moments: "That day is done, that day is done/You know where I've gone/I won't be coming back/That day is done."

The relaxing reggae-ish beat of "How Many People" is dedicated to environmentalist and Brazilian rain forest advocate Chico Mendes, who was murdered in 1988. This song answers questions philosophers and poets have asked for many ages. "How many people have died?" "How many people never make it through to the other side", "How many people have cried?" It's like his own "Blowin' In The Wind."

"Motor Of Love" is a very languid cousin of "My Love". It's ironic that given his closing remarks in "We Got Married", he sings here "I don't anything from you/Turn on your motor of love." Uh, what about the loving machine?

"Ou Est Le Soleil" is French for "where is the sun?" Accompanied by a backbeat of a programmed drum machine and various instruments, the lyrics go "Ou est le soleil/dans la tete/Travaillez", meaning "Where is the sun/In your head/Go work"

While McCartney writes most of the songs solo, he gets co-writing help from a certain DeClan McManus, a.k.a. Elvis Costello, who does harmony vocals on "You Want Her Too". The sound, while spright, is more mid-paced, far from the rock theatrics of "Band On The Run" or "Jet". Flowers In The Dirt is a sign of a legendary artist growing finer with age.

I'm about to make a big statement. This is Paul's best solo album ever!! I always felt "Band On The Run" was the best until this gem came out in 1989. Not a bad song on the CD. Personal favorites "MY Brave Face," "Figure Of Eight," "This One" and the simply great "We Got Married."

As for most other classic artists, the 80s were a tough time for Paul McCartney. Starting with McCartney II in 1980 things had only gone downhill for him both artistically and commercially, with the exception of Tug of War and a few hit singles in the early part of the decade. Add to that the fact that he hadn't toured in ten years and you can see why, by the time 1989 rolled around, Paul needed to reassert himself in the public consciousness. He needed a comeback. And a comeback he had indeed, releasing his best album in years and embarking on a record-breaking world tour. The album was 1989's Flowers in the Dirt.

As I've observed elsewhere, Paul has a disposition to benefit from collaboration. Over the past decade he had tried on a number of collaborators - Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, and Eric Stewart to name a few - but they pale in comparison to his partnership with Elvis Costello which debuted on Flowers in the Dirt. Playing a role similar to John's in Lennon-McCartney, Elvis provided a pessimism and edge to Paul's innate upbeat tunefulness. This is nowhere more apparent than on You Want Her Too, a Getting Better-esque duet that sees a romantic Paul go it head-to-head with a bitter, sneering Costello. And the instantaneous, hook-laden My Brave Face may be THE highlight.

But don't think for a moment that Paul wasn't competent on his own. His collaboration with Elvis not only produced some great tunes but fuelled his individual songwriting fire, inviting him to square with the results of this synergy. Whether in communion or on his own, Flowers in the Dirt features both some of Paul's most accessible and most mature song-craft, particularly in the lyrical department. Supported by the band that would accompany him on his world tour the record is meticulously arranged, with dense layering of guitars and keyboards. So saying, it's admittedly tied to its time - there are a few places where a, well, less "80s" take would have benefited the material favourably. In addition, it also runs out of steam toward the end, closing UNfavourably on the experimental Ou Est le Soleil.

In spite of all complaints however Flowers in the Dirt remains polished, professional, and one of Paul's very best. And quite apart from objective quality, it is very special to me for personal reasons I won't elaborate on here. So Flowers in the Dirt may not be the best or most significant album in Paul's catalogue (though it's definitely up there); but for me it may be his most important.

NOTES FOR THE REMASTERED PAUL MCCARTNEY COLLECTION:

Flowers in the Dirt has the best bonus tracks of any PMcC edition I've yet seen. The McCartney-MacManus Back on My Feet, soaring (pun intended) Flying to My Home, and romantic Loveliest Thing are every bit as good as, even better than, anything on the album proper.

I was thinking back on albums that, as a whole, had me listening to them over and over when they came out. It just doesn't happen much anymore with popular music.

Paul McCartney's FLOWERS IN THE DIRT came out in 1989 and I really liked the first single, "My Brace Face." After I saw him in concert the following year, I bought the cassette and ended up listening to it through a very difficult year--and it really stuck with me.

I don't know if it was McCartney's collaboration with Elvis Costello or what, but this album was a long way from the "Silly Love Songs" of the 70s (don't take that as a slight: I appreciate "Silly Love Songs" as part of my life's 70s soundtrack). There were dark, mature moments ("That Day is Done") as well as quiet appreciation for things long gone ("Put It There").

"Flowers in the Dirt" is a decent album in which McCartney obviously invested great care. While it rarely reaches the lofty heights of McCartney's best work, it rarely hits the lows of some of his other songs. McCartney collaborated with Elvis Costello on four songs. The McCartney-Costello songwriting team was a good one, and it is a shame that it didn't last long. Costello (like Lennon) provided some tartness and irony to balance McCartney's sentimentality and earnestness. The main problem with the album is that too many songs drag. They're not low in energy, but some are uninspired.

"My Brave Face" (cowritten with Costello) is a nice rock number with a twist. It's fast and uptempo, like a love song, but its theme is about being left by a lover. It's like the lyrics of a sad ballad put to an upbeat rock song.

"Rough Ride" is fine but nothing exceptional.

"I Know That You Want Her Too" (cowritten with Costello) continues a peculiar McCartney fantasy that also appeared in "The Girl Is Mine." In both songs McCartney is competing for some woman's affection against the other singer, and both singers are equally confident of victory. This song is much more satisfying than the Jackson number, in part because McCartney's sweetness is balanced by Costello's cutting remarks. Indeed, McCartney ends up playing the role of the straight man against Costello's acid humor as McCartney tries to convince Costello of his honorable intentions toward the other woman. Example: McCartney: "My intentions are clear and strong!" Costello: "Yeah, that's not what you said the other night." McCartney: "She makes me go so wrong!" Costello: "So why don't you sit back and enjoy it, stupid?"

Many McCartney albums from the 1980s have at least one beautiful, mostly acoustic number (think "Somebody who Cares" from "Tug of War" and "Footprints" from "Press to Play"), and "Distractions" is that song on this album. This is the sort of exquisite ballad at which McCartney excels, and it is given a tasteful arrangement of strings and woodwinds in the background.

"We Got Married" starts slowly but has a good ending jam in which the normally sentimental-about-love McCartney does a reality check and acknowledges in a repeated refrain, "It's not just a loving machine. Nothing works out if you don't work at it." It's a nice bit of realism from a singer and a musical form that normally promotes the more juvenile fantasies of love-at-first-sight that ends happily ever after.

"Put it There" got some radio play. It's an inoffensive, sweet (perhaps too sweet for some tastes) trifle McCartney wrote for his father that is so lite it practically blows away after hearing it.

"Figure of Eight" is a straight ahead rock number that harkens to some of his work in the 1970s, such as "Junior's Farm" and "Jet."

"This One" is a sincere love song -- nice lyrics, OK music, but stretched out for too long.

"Don't Be Careless Love" (penned with Costello) is a sly number that is one of the best on the album, alternating between a low-key gospel vocal background and rock instrumentation, in which McCartney gives voice to his worst fears about what horrible things could happen to Linda. The only disappointment is that the music keeps building to a climax, but the climax is so short that it seems a bit anti-climactic.

"That Day is Done" (also cowritten with Costello) has a grand musical sound. To me the disappointment is that he used it only for a melodramatic love song when it would have been the perfect vehicle for some type of musical statement about the death of the idealism of the '60s (that day is done, you know). The grandeur of the music demand something more than sentimental, pretend lyrics about being dumped by some lover.

"How Many People" has a reggae accent but is too repetitive for my taste. Its wistful lyrics pining for a better world anticipate those of "Peace in the Neighborhood" on his next studio album, "Off the Ground."

If you think from its title that "Motor of Love" is going to be bawdy, think again -- McCartney doesn't even seem aware of the double entendree. (The "Motor of Love" is definitely not the "clean machine" of "Penny Lane.") The cheesy synthesizer and harmonies as well as a Neanderthal snare-drum almost sink "Motor of Love," but the song's main problem is how it stretches out the thin melody at the end. This song should not have gone on for six-plus minutes. It's too bad, because the song has a strong opening melody (underneath the overproduction) and a brief but neat gospel-tinged middle section.

"Ou Est le Soleil" is like Paul meets Frankie and goes to Hollywood. It's reminiscent of the some of the strange and weak songs from "Press to Play." Like many songs from "Press to Play," it is a musical doodle endlessly repeated and dressed up in fancy techno-clothing. The less said about it, the better.