Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Paul got the help of Carl Davis, a composer and conductor, to actually score Liverpool Oratorio because Paul, at least at the time couldn't write or read standard notation. I recall a TV special in which Paul talked about this and that he was using a Mac and music software. In one clip, Paul sings and Carl transcribes.

I've finally give my "Memory almost full" CD a listen all the way through today. I liked the first 6 tracks, but after that it gets a bit hit and miss. I agree with others who've written that he'd have a stronger CD if he'd taken the best of "Memory..." and combined it with the best of the last one.

Oh, but "That Was Me", tk 9, I think, is just splendid, so don't stop after 6. Great groove, great bass, great vocal! I heard it on the radio and it didn't occur to me who it was. I thought, "wow, cool bass", then a bit later I thought "man, that guy can sing"!

WAL 5-String maybe? I still don't know, but I really like that track too.

Me too!. I like House of Wax and I like all the little sounds in Nod Your Head. I think it's a fine album. I wish the "medley" that they describe was more of a Abbey Road/Red Rose Speedway type of medley. Although I like those songs, they aren't a medley. Just a group of songs with no separation.

Bah...the name of this album should have been: "Well Almost Dry"...

By the way guys, I believe the bass in "That Was Me" was played by Brian Ray, not Macca!
Macca has also been saying that this is the first time since "Abbey Road" that he has done a medley.
I wonder why he forgot aall about "Red Rose Speedway". I agree that the medley on MAF was not really a medley. It was closer to the medley on RRS than it was to Abbey Road.

I wish I was dry like that Dane.

Gary, At least the RRS medley was a true medley. Each song in the medley was brought back in other songs. That's what I was hoping for.

It's all relative, Brian...if this album were a first release by an unknown songwriter, I'd be a little less scathing in my appraisal of it. A little...but in the context of the last four decades, it sure seems like something used to be 'there' that isn't 'there' anymore, great singing and bass sounds notwithstanding.

I once worked for a Construction Superintendent (a bit of a blowhard and a lout besides), who told me (in a drunken haze) that he had forgotten more about construction than I would ever know. I thought: wow, that puts the whole crew in really great shape, doesn't it?

On the brighter side, at least I don't have to save up $250 for a ticket to see PM's upcoming "Resting On My Laurels" tour...

It is all relative...the last three CD's I've bought have all been disappointments. Highly touted bands like the Shins, after three songs, the CD begins to sound like variations on a theme.

Macca might not be writing anymore Beatle tunes, but IMO he still beats the whippersnappers 80% of the time.

David,

I think this album stands alone fine, but if I were to combine it with any other album it would be Driving Rain instead of Chaos. I never realized how distinct David Kahne's production style was until listening to his two albums back to back.

Listen to any of the raft of "alternative" bands that the teens are listening to, and then tell me that you can tell them apart. I'm well aware that our parents said the same thing about the Beatles, Stones, Herman's Hermits, Dave Clark Five, Searchers and Freddie and the Dreamers, but of course they were ... wrong. I think Macca's latest stands up well and is better than "Chaos." I think his songs carry more melody and inventiveness than any 10 current bands put together. Sure, he misses now and then. But a song like "See Your Sunshine" counts against quite a few misses.

65 years old is what it is. He's never going to sound like the plucky kid who sang "I'm Down" but he does sound pretty good. And "pretty good" is better than 99% of the other senior citizens who might have a go at this. Townshend and Daltrey, for example, sound real good these days, but they're mostly playing karaoke to their old hits. (Well, okay, that's not entirely fair to Townshend...his chops are still mighty.) But my point is it is very rare for an old man to wow people with new music these days. Dylan would be another notable rare bird.

Not what they used to be, but still pretty good. And though we can take easy potshots at these artists, the fact remains they are still more entertaining than the potshooters.

Dave, I'm with you on See Your Sunshine. Very good song. Which girlfriend does it remind you of?

Mark...I could reel off a list of very entertaining 'potshooters'...but perhaps another time...

"...it is very rare for an old man to wow people with new music these days..."

Agreed, but I would've substituted the phrase "in this culture" for "these days". It was just as rare for people in this youth-worshipping materialistic throwaway scene to pay attention to old persons when The Beatles got started as it is now.

I've spent some time studying music (and life) in a different sort of culture, and you'd be amazed how much older people are respected and listened to in a place where 'cosmetic surgery' isn't the norm.

They will, however, be told in the most polite and reverential way to sit down and let someone else have a chance when they get to a point where they just ain't got it anymore.