Disco de Paul McCartney: “Liverpool Sound Collage”

I've listened to this album three times now since getting it yesterday (I never like anything the first time I hear it, so the first time is always perfunctory just to get through it) and since I happen to LIKE constructed-tape-loop-pastiche-style songs, I'm pretty impressed. None of this is gonna get 18-year-old ravers out on the dance floor, but it's fun to see McCartney spread his wings (sorry) a bit and try something new.

But is it the Beatles? Technically, yes. Especially Paul and Ringo, as an oft-repeated sound you hear on this disc is Paul playing a kind of funky bass riff and Ringo's trademark hi-hat-dependent beat supporting it.

(I gotta wonder. Paul says he used tracks and sound bites of the Beatles that he had on tapes he's kept in his house all these years. If he's got all this non-related junk on tape, what SONGS have we yet to hear? And it must be nice for Paul to know he's finally making some money again off the Beatles, rather than SONY or Michael Jackson before it.)

Listening to this, I'm reminded of "Lumpy Gravy," Frank Zappa's far-superior work, which wasn't exactly like this but did have tape snippets spliced together between orchestral takes to help make a cohesive whole.

If your music doesn't require solid threes and fours and a recognizable tune to be enjoyable, then you're going to like this. Don't know how many more times I'll listen to it before giving it some air, but right now I like what I hear. Take it for what it is and be happy that in his old age, Sir Paul is still willing to take some chances.

Think of this as Paul's formal response, after all those years, to John's "Revolution #9" mixed with a contemporary (techno, hip-hop) dosing of all that playful Beatles Christmas Records studio fun. It's NOT a case of Sir Paul needing to prove that he is still avant garde and funky while he noodles onward with his Working Classical oeuvre. Maybe he is still a bit insecure about history regarding him as the "safe" Beatle and Saint John being remembered as the gutsy rude boy, but all Fans know that Paul was the London Beatle listening to Stockhausen while John was off doing endless drugs at his estate in the country. John admitted to being stoned and drunk out of his mind - far from creatively adventurous - when he stumbled home and played "Rain" backwards accidentally. And, yes, maybe John, together with Yoko, "composed" various Apple & Zapple "sound collages" back in 68 and 69 but do you listen to these? Is it good? Is it art? It has a good beat and, in places, you can dance to it. Extraordinary late night driving "music", I might add.

Honestly, I didn't like this one quite as much as the prior 'Fireman' releases, but it's still great. It's really cool to hear the old familiar voices of the Beatles when listening to modern ambient music.

I was more than pleasantly surprised to hear this one. Haven't heard The Fireman stuff yet, but from prior reviews, it seems to be in the same realm musically. This is experimental stuff to be sure, and not everyday listening (but then what realy is, eh?) but highlights Paul's much neglected (critically at least) avant-garde side. If you can handle drum samples and a beatbox generated rythym or two, give this a piece of a chance. Your kids will be proud of you, and think that you are cooler. Now if we can just persuade Richard H. Kirk (Cabaret Voltaire)and Bill Nelson (Be Bop Deluxe) to approach Sir Paul (for a one-off supergroup scenario) then we'll be all set as a species. Wishful thinking to the max!!

As you may recall, Paul had a large output for less "commercial" solo fare in the early '90s, where he went under the alias of "The Fireman." It was a "Sgt. Pepper" affair, in that he played a fictitious character to free up his musicality. Now, thankfully, the so-called "Silly Love Songs Balladeer" no longer needs to depend upon facade for more adventurous musical fare. He also released his first classical work under a different psuedonym--but switched over in 1994 with his "Standing Stone," and then again 1999 with "Working Classical," both classical bestsellers. This is an album more of sounds than of music, more of rhythms than refrains. It is an experiment, and I feel a successful one: at one point, he changes a spoken line to a bass riff, then adds drums in, and he has a mix. The refrain (the album's one discernable refrain) "Free now" follows, along with a flurry of flutes and other extraneous noises. The words move in and out of the music as if being carried in a shifting ocean; they are merely another musical instrument for the collage. I can't wait for his next album.