[.ca] Red Rose Speedway

From Amazon.co.uk:
You could trawl the rock & roll archives all the way back and never find an album quite like Red Rose Speedway. Which is not to say that it's great. Just that it's weird. Though it's a Wings album, it's entirely irradiated with Paul McCartney's personality--to the extent that virtually the entire band left him while attempting to rehearse for the supporting tour, claiming they couldn't operate in his huge, overbearing shadow. You can see where they were coming from. Red Rose Speedway, right down to the cover shot of Macca with a rose in his mouth, is about Paul McCartney, specifically his unique Seventies ability to pump up slight, pretty songs to the scale of "Hey Jude", seemingly unaware or unworried that that didn't necessarily make them as good as "Hey Jude". The high spot is the saccharine sauciness of "My Love", a lurching soft-focus ballad about his wife's sexual excellence. The rest of it--lazy, lushly produced rock, sometimes sweet, sometimes just cloying, but always unmistakably Macca--is worth hearing if just to ponder: "what the hell did he think he was doing?" --Taylor Parkes

wonderful feel:
This albun has a shocking great feel to it. one song after the other is full of ghoose bump melody lines, and Paul's vocals are simply outstanding. This album is one of my personal favorites do to the vibe it creates. Like many albums it's not perfect, do to a few songs which don't fit with the albums feel. But then again, i'm not Paul McCartney.

one of the most underappreciated albums ever made:
I'm glad to see there are some other reviewers on this site who really enjoy this album. Personally I really like every track, but especially "One More Kiss," "Get on the Right Thing," "Single Pigeon," and the medley. Two brief observations: (1) I noticed someone else here commented that "Little Lamb Dragonfly" was about a sheep (or lamb) on Paul's farm that died. I don't dispute that was the inspiration, but I have always found the song to have a very poignant subtext, related to the death of Paul's mother when he was 12 or 13. A number of Paul's Beatles songs have this theme as well, including "Things We Said Today," "Yesterday," "Let It Be," and "The Long and Winding Road." In "Little Lamb Dragonfly," I always imagined the "Little Lamb" part was Paul's mother singing to Paul about her death ("I have no answers for you little lamb/I can help you out/But we may never meet again"). The "Dragonfly" part continues the theme even more strongly ("Don't know why you hang around my door/I don't live here anymore/Since you've gone, I never know/I go on, but I miss you so"). It's really heartbreaking, if you ask me. A beautiful song, and the above is just one man's interpretation of it. Point (2): I listened to the ending medley many times before it hit me that the guitar solos that end the album are actually playing the melodies of "Hold Me Tight," "Lazy Dynamite," and "Hands of Love," first individually, then at the same time. That realization just blew my mind. What a creative way to tie the medley together! A great, unfairly unappreciated effort -- probably Macca's best.

humm:
I had Band on the Run and Red Rose Speedway bootlegged on 8 track several years ago. For anyone who doesn't really like Red Rose, I would suggest playing both albums together, with Band on the Run first. Then see if your review is something you'd like to change. The 2 albums complement eachother very well, as the transition is seamless. When I first played that tape, I thought it was the same album. Try it.

Weird but lovable...:
One of the "strangest" Mc Cartney albums... Best & Worst (Worst is always a "relative" concept dealing with Paul but you know what I mean...) mixed up... and still quite good in a way... and even with exceptional songs ("SINGLE PIGEON" could have been a smash if fully developed etc.). One of my favourites in a way... probably because you discerned those bass lines, those passages, those middle eight's (when he bothers about them anyway...) and even if "My Love" is a GREAT song it suffers a bit of sacarinosis... INDISPENSABLE FOR PAUL'S FANS.

Possibly McC's Best:
Every time I listen to this gem, I get a woody. Anybody who says otherwise can kiss my alphabet, and the Lennon they rode in on.

• Big Barn Bed
• My Love
• Get on the Right Thing
• One More Kiss
• Little Lamb Dragonfly
• Single Pigeon
• When the Night
• Loup (1st Indian on the Moon)
• Medley: Hold Me Tight/Lazy Dynamite/Hands of Love/Power Cut
• C Moon \o*\c
• Hi, Hi, Hi \o*\c - Paul McCartney, Paul McCartney & Wings
• Mess \oLive\c\o*\c
• I Lie Around \o*\c