Sunday, September 26, 2010

Paul McCartney: "Ram"

I realize that Paul McCartney's 2nd post-Beatles album, "Ram," doesn't have the best reputation in the world.  John Lennon of course was famously derisive of it.  But I'm listening to it today for the first time in ages, and am really enjoying it.  It's not a major statement, nor is it trying to be.  Yeah many of the songs sound like throwaways, but so were many of the tracks like "Honey Pie" and "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" that populated many of the Beatles' later albums.  "Ram" has a fresh vibe to it, and is pleasingly lacking in pretension.   It's a collection of melodic, well-produced pop songs by one of the great pop songwriters in rock.   Nothing on here ranks among his best work, true.  But does it have to in order to be enjoyable?

I actually made my own custom version, adding the "Another Day" single and its bside, "Oh Woman Oh Why."    Fills out the album and makes it seem a bit more complete.

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