In this era of his career, I picture Paul in his then signature mullet, wearing a vest. He sported both past their stylishness (if it was ever there), a kind of statement that he had given up and was going to cash in by playing sold-out tour dates. Not all artists who enter the wilderness ever leave it, and back in the early to mid 90s when I was blasting punk and grunge on a daily basis I could not imagine music any lamer than what Paul McCartney was putting out. It was the origin of my early devotion to John, something that took me years to overcome.
Give My Regards to Broad Street, 1984
I had never listened to this one until doing the project. Its reputation is so bad that I once bought a used record of it as a gag gift for a friend who was suitably amused. In case you don't know, this is the soundtrack for an unsuccessful film where Paul plays himself, and it includes reworkings of many of his songs from the Beatles. The new versions are not markedly different from the originals in their arrangements, which raises the question of why in the hell this stuff even exists. One exception is an almost Muzak rendering of "The Long And Winding Road," which somehow manages to make the musical accompaniment even worse than the original's. (I think the original is a great song, which I didn't know until I heard the stripped-down versions.)
Now that I've put that out of the way, there are actually some good songs here amidst the dross. I used to dislike "No More Lonely Nights," but in the context of this album it suddenly sounded good to me. It's a well-crafted bit of 80s pop cheese, something I am becoming more accepting of as I age. There's also some up-tempo, jangly songs like "Not Such a Bad Boy." There's a bit of Cavern and Quarry Men spirit in this track, and it irks me that Macca completely stepped away from this vibe.
Rating: Two Pauls
Press to Play, 1986
From the title, you just know this is Lamesville (although the cover photo of Paul and Linda is lovely.) Earlier in the decade Macca had managed to make records with the sound of the time, but without sounding derivative. That's gone here, and this record just sounds like limp overproduced 80s corporate rock. It's not as clumsy as Dylan's similar efforts of the time, but it's just not all that good. What's worse, is there isn't the kind of quirkily bad song that can add a little "so bad it's good" enjoyment that Paul showed with "Cook of the House" and "Wonderful Christmastime." The album was not successful, and should be seen as the moment where Paul passed from being a contemporary artist to being a geezer.
Rating: Two Pauls
CHOBA B CCCP, released in the USSR in 1988 released in the US in 1991
I remember this album getting a lot of attention when it came out in the States. The title is "Back in the USSR" in Russian, a product of the years of Glasnost. It's a covers album of old time rock and roll, the exact opposite of the 80s processed cheese he had been turning out. Much like Bob Dylan, McCartney is using covers to get back to a certain spirit that he has lost. The songs themselves are lively, fun, and not always obvious selections. It may be slight, but it's better than any of his albums in the 80s after Tug of War.
Rating: Four Pauls
Flowers in the Dirt, 1989
Paul goes back to the 80s production here, but it is handled more adroitly than Press to Play. He also collaborated with Elvis Costello, and I think that gives these songs more spark and inventiveness. But my God, the heavy thudding of 80s drums just about drowns everything out. I wish so much that Rick Rubin or Jeff Lynne was at the controls to let these songs breath. It's also frustrating that he could write songs like "This One" and "That Day Is Done" with real heart and power behind them but end the album with the absolutely dreadful "Motor of Love," which may be his worst song ever. A lot of artists of his generation were having "comebacks" in the late 80s, but this ain't it, chief.
Rating: Three Pauls
Tripping the Live Fantastic, 1990
Midway through this massive document of Paul's tour on the heels of Flowers in the Dirt I rued the day I came up with this project. Full of despair, I realized I had to get through over TWO HOURS of the crap on this record. It sounds like a bar mitzvah band running through a bunch of Beatles covers. Paul is in fine voice, but the presence of synthesizer horns lets you know this was produced with maximum laziness. Dreadful.
Rating: One and a half Pauls
Unplugged - The Official Bootleg, 1991
This came out at the same time as the Soviet album release, and showed off a leaner, spunkier McCartney. Unplugged had just started on MTV, with plenty of buzz. By appearing on the show, Paul looked more hip than he had in years. The stripped-down nature of the proceedings allows the songs to breathe instead of being strangled by overproduction. Paul seems to be enjoying himself, and he even throws in some deep cuts like "Every Night" along with the hits and some rock and roll covers. It's frustrating to listen to because he's still the same talented musician and crowd-pleasing entertainer he's always been, but also unable to craft quality new songs.
Rating: Four Pauls
Off the Ground, 1993
On this record the 80s overproduction is thankfully a thing of the past. Unfortunately, it has been replaced by a bland version of the open production style used on MOR rock albums in the 90s. Unplugged and CHOBA B CCCP showed real signs of life, but on his official studio albums, Paul has decided to try to be relevant by aping popular sounds of the time. The problem is that the songs are weak, and the attempt to sound like other people robs the music of verve. A friend who knew I was doing this project specifically warned me about this one. The problem is not that it's bad; it's just mediocre to the point of tediousness. The whole time all I can think is that Paul is so much better than this. The fact that he tries to get political on some of these songs makes it worse, since the music does not come close to matching their high-flown lyrics.
Rating: Two and a half Pauls
Paul is Live, 1993
I will give this album credit for the title, at least. It is not nearly as dreadful as Tripping the Live Fantastic, but the presence of a lot of the mediocrities from his last album and repeats of old standards from other live albums drags it all down. Needless to say, this album is completely unnecessary. Some legacy artists like Bob Dylan will mess around with their old songs and reinterpret them, something Paul never does. He has always been a people-pleaser at heart, and here he's giving the people what they want. Sometimes he does so in more exciting ways. For example, his cover of "Kansas City" played in Kansas City explodes with raucous energy. In this era Paul kept showing signs that he could still rock out like he was playing the Hamburg clubs all night long. Meanwhile, he kept suppressing these impulses while cutting records that blandly and ineptly aped popular styles of the time. Thankfully he was about to give in to the inner rocker who had been waiting to fully come out.
Non-album singles
"Spies Like Us" b/w "My Carnival," 1985
This song is Paul's last top ten hit in America. In the mid-80s soundtrack songs were all the rage and a big pop star recording a song for a Chevy Chase-Dan Ackroyd comedy could not miss. As a kid I liked the song a lot, listening to it now it feels sort of half formed. It's not bad, but forgettable and a strange one to be Paul's last major hit. Not with a bang but with a whimper etc etc.
Rating: Meh
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