This Review Along With 240 Others Is Available In My
SOUNDS GOOD E-Book on all Amazon sites
THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT 1971... - Exceptional CD Remasters
Over 1530 E-Pages
Over 1530 E-Pages
Just Click Below To Purchase for £3.95
Thousands of E-Pages - All Details and In-Depth Reviews From Discs
(No Cut and Paste Crap)
(No Cut and Paste Crap)
"...Hands Across The Water..."
Part of the on-going 'Paul
McCartney Archive Collection' of CD Reissues - 1971's "Ram" was
always going to be a tug on the old purse strings for Macca fans. And while I
can't and won't buy any of the extortionate 'Super Deluxe' sets - I can live
with this 2CD 'Deluxe Edition' because it gives me all I need. Here are the
sheepish details...
UK released 21 May 2012 -
"Ram: Special Edition - Paul McCartney Archive Collection" by PAUL
and LINDA McCARTNEY on MPL Communications/Hear Music/Concord Music Group
888072334496 (Barcode 888072334496) is a 2CD Reissue and Remaster that plays
out as follows:
Disc 1 - Special Edition
Remastered Album (43:17 minutes):
1. Too Many People [Side 1]
2. 3 Legs
3. Ram On
4. Dear Boy
5. Uncle Albert/Admiral
Halsey
6. Smile Away
7. Heart Of The Country
[Side 2]
8. Monkberry Moon Delight
9. Eat At Home
10. Long Haired Lady
11. Ram On
12. The Back Seat Of My Car
Tracks 1 to 12 are his
second solo album "Ram" (credited to Paul and Linda McCartney) -
released 21 May 1971 in the UK on Apple PAS 10003 and 17 May 1971 in the USA on
Capitol SMAS-3375. Produced by Paul
McCartney - it peaked at No. 1 in the UK and No. 2 on the US LP charts.
Disc 2 - Special Edition
Bonus Audio (33:08 minutes):
1. Another Day
2. Oh Woman, Oh Why
Tracks 1 and 2 are his debut
UK 7" single released February 1971 on Apple R 5889 - both Tracks were
non-album
3. Little Woman Love
Track 3 is the non-album
B-side to "Mary Had A Little Lamb" - his 4th solo UK 7" single
on Apple R 5949 released 12 May 1972
4. A Love For You (Jon Kelly
Mix)
5. Hey Diddle (Dixon Van
Winkle Mix)
6. Great Cock And Seagull
Race (Dixon Van Winkle Mix)
7. Rode All Night
8. Sunshine Sometime
(Earliest Mix)
Tracks 1 to 3 were featured
as Bonus Tracks on the September 1998 Remasters
Track 5 featured as part of
a song "Bip Bop/Hey Diddle" on the 2001 Greatest Hits 2CD set
"Wingspan"
Tracks 6 and 8 are
Instrumentals - Track 7 is 8:33 minutes long
Tracks 4 to 8 are Previously
Unreleased Versions
Both as a looker and tactile
thing - "Ram: Special Edition" certainly looks the part - but once
you get past the lyrics in the attached 24-page booklet and the nice photos
from his own personal archives - there's nothing else - no liner notes - not
even the release dates of the LP or the 7" single on the Bonus Audio CD.
There are no liner notes of any kind - no history and no illumination. And
apart from the three single sides on Disc 2 (which we've had before many times
on Remasters) - the rest are dismissible instrumentals that test the word 'Bonus'
to its limits. Sure the Jon Kelly Mix of "A Love For You" and the
Dixon Van Winkle Mix of "Hey Diddle" could actually constitute songs
and even feel lovely at times in a small time way – but mostly this stuff just
feels like he's taking the proper Michael. The near nine-minute guitar jam that
is “Rode All Night” is particularly useless.
The Remaster was done at
Abbey Road by the team that handled The Beatles - GUY MASSEY, STEVE ROOKE and
SIMON GIBSON - and it's excellent. I've had the 1998 version for years and
those idea changes in "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" feel more alive
than ever before.
I've never understood why
people rave about "Ram" as an album - as if it was some kind of
folksy masterpiece – it isn't. "Too Many People" and "Uncle
Albert/Admiral Halsey" have that songwriting magic for sure - but the rest
of Side 1 feels like ditties trying to be songs. Also I'm hard-pressed in my
later years to put up with his lyrical twaddle like "...a dog is here...a
dog is there...my dog has three legs...". There's the shadow of The Beach
Boys "Pet Sounds" in the Ukulele-led "Ram On" - the
remaster making those chunky keyboard notes and plucked strings count. The
swirl of the voices in "Dear Boy" come out of your speakers from all
angles - while the unlikely but beautifully produced American single
"Uncle Albert/Albert Halsey" and the out-and-out rocker "Smile
Away" end Side 1 with rain, strings and Paul singing about smelly feet
(we're so sorry). The cleverly constructed "Uncle Albert/Admiral
Halsey" is the nearest he gets to the best parts of "Abbey Road"
on Side 2 and was a deserved American No. 1.
"...I look high...I
look low...looking for a home in the heart of the country..." he sings on
the Side 2 opener "Heart Of The Country" - those acoustic guitar
flourishes and accompanied vocals as he plays are extremely clear - sounding
better than they ever have. I can't really get on with the ketchup and soup
puree lyrics of "Monkberry Moon Delight" - even if Linda's vocals are
better. "Eat At Home" is a sort of semi rocker about eating in bed
while the domestic bliss continues with "Long Haired Lady" - a song
that just seems to amble and go nowhere - even with its best-ever sound quality
here. "Back Seat Of My Car" would become his second UK 7" single
on Apple R 5914 in August 1971 - a really pretty melody with string
arrangements that deserved better than its No. 39 placing on the British single
charts. "Another Day" and "Oh Woman, Oh Why" make for a
cool stand alone single too.
The remaster is superb - but
that half-hearted packaging and equally dodgy set of extras - lose a star in my
book. He would of course go onto the huge "Band On The Run" in 1973
and "Venus And Mars" in 1975...
No comments:
Post a Comment