Paul McCartney's

Solo Work

Paul McCartney, known now as Sir Paul McCartney, has been named as the greatest songwriter of all time by many in the music business. This is no mistake. Paul's music both solo and for the Beatles has probably been on the charts more than music by any other artist.  He, last I knew, is worth an over $800 million dollars due to his songwriting. His work for the Beatles was phenomenol, probably the best he ever created, but his solo work was also fantastic. Of all the Beatles it is Paul who has had the most success sololy.
   His first album, McCartney, was released just before the Beatles released their last album, Let it Be. On McCartney, Paul had what I believe to be one of his finest songs, which is "Maybe I'm Amazed". The rest of the songs on there are also good, and it is created only by Paul and he plays all the instruments on it. He had a rough time after McCartney, and he failed to have many hit songs in the early seventies as albums like Wings Wild Life and Ram did not make it very big. However, Paul soon found how to make hit records with others besides the Beatles.  With Wings he created a hit album with Red Rose Speedway. On Red Rose Speedway there were such chart toppers and hits like "My Love", "Little Lamb Dragonfly" and during that time he had hit singles with "Hi Hi Hi" and "C Moon". Then he blew everyone away with the fantastic Band on the Run album. Wings wasn't expected to generate a huge following and Paul had disappointed his fans previously. But with Band on the Run, there was no mistake, Paul was back up again. He never had a dry spell again. On Band on the Run there are such songs as the title song, "Jet", and "Helen Wheels". All of which are great songs with a fast beat that gets the listener going.  He closes the album with the smash, "1985". The finest song on there, in my opinion, and one of his finest ever, is "Let Me Roll It". This song has a rocky beat, and Paul wails on it. It has the most fantastic guitar riff through it that grabs the listeners attention as well.

After Band on the Run Paul again stuggled to make a hit  album. In fact many say that Band on the Run was his peak and he never created anything that was that good.  His next album Venus and Mars failed to become the big success that everyone hoped for, although it was not a complete failure. After Venus and Mars, Paul released some compilation albums like "Wings Over America" and  "Wings at the Greatest". In between these albums was "Wings at the Speed of Sound" which was an alright album as it had "Let em in" and "Silly Love Songs".  Paul closed out the seventies on a bad note with two poor albums, London Town and Back to the Egg, but with singles he did make a huge hit in Britain with "Mull Of Kintyre". This song sold as one of Paul's and Britain's all time best singles.
   Paul also struggled a bit in the early 80s with "McCartney II" and "Tug Of War". Both had a few hit songs on them, but generally were weak.  Songs like "Coming Up" and singles like "Goodnight Tonight" and his collaboration with Stevie Wonder "Ebony and Ivory" had great chart impact in the early 80s but they do not have the longevity of some of his previous work.  On his next album, "Pipes of Peace" Paul collaborated with the then superstar Micheal Jackson. They did two songs together, "Say Say Say" and "The Girl Is Mine" with the first beging on Paul's album and the second being on Micheal's best seller and the all time best selling album "Thriller". During this time Paul gave Micheal some great advice that he would regret in the future. The first piece was to make music videos because that was becoming a big thing, secondly he said to hire someone trustworthy to look after all the money he is making, and third, the one he regrets, he told Micheal to get into music publishing. Paul had made a lot of money with MPL his company and he owns many great oldy songs.  Micheal however bought the Beatles catalogue and sold many of the songs to commercials. It is sad that the Beatles do not even own their own songs.
   In 1984 Paul decided to produce and write a movie, Give My Regards to Broadstreet. This movie was far less than blockbuster, but there was a good single of that time, "No More Lonely Nights".  Between 84 and 89 Paul really didn't come out with new material as he released All the Best, a greatest hits compilation and Choba B CCCP a Russian album of oldies.
  In 1989 Paul had a breakthrough with what many consider his greatest work since Band On the Run. Flowers In the Dirt Paul collaborated a bit with Elvis Costello and it really seemed to help him. Many songs on that album are great songs and it seems like Paul regained his knack for songwriting. On Flowers in the Dirt, there are great tracks like, "My Brave Face", "Rough Ride",  and "We Got Married". Even better is "Put it There" a song about fathers and sons (like John's "Beautiful Boy") that has a great acoustic melody although it is very simply constructed.  He also has "This One" on the album which has a great feel to it and also sounds simple in structure.
  Off the Ground, Paul's next album failed to become the great work that Flowers In the Dirt was, but it still had a couple good songs on it. He does lack a bit with lyrics in songs like "Biker  like an Icon" and "Peace in the Neighborhood". But great songs like "Hope Of Deliverance" and one of his best "C'mon People" are also on there. "C'mon People" sounds very much like a Beatles song, and it has a message that is simple but very meaningful and the melody is beautiful.
   Paul started the 90s with Live albums. He released the double album "Tripping the Live Fantastic" which is great, along with a video of his stage performance called "Get Back", which is also great. Then in 93 he did another tour cladded "Paul is Live" (a play  on the old "Paul is Dead idea" of the 60s which is complete with a new picture of Abbey Road).   This album accompanied with a video is also very good.  In 97 Paul released  "Flaming Pie" after the Beatles Anthology which was nominated to be Album of the Year. This is a great album and very simplistic yet very Beatlesque.  It has great pices on it like "The World Tonight", "Somedays" and acoustic masterpiece that also has a string section provided by Sir George Martin, "Young Boy" a Steve Miller collaboration, "Really Love You" (the only McCartney/Starkey song) and the gorgeous song "Beautiful Night" which also features Ringo as drummer. "Beautiful Night" can be argued as one of Paul's greatest love songs  since "Maybe I"m Amazed". Paul also in the mid 90s decided to write songs for a totally different genre, classical music.  He has proven himself to be a great classical composer as well as a great rock songwriter.
 

Paul McCartney's solo work has had it's ups and downs in terms of success, like the solo work of the other Beatles. However, even with the many mistakes he has made musically he has had more hits than any other songwriter ever.  Many criticise his work as lacking in lyrical content, which is true sometimes when compared to that of John Lennon's solo work, but Paul has written some of the most beautiful melodies ever. He writes his songs for the time he is in, which sometimes makes them lack in longevity, but they are hits for their time and they are almost always catchy.  Sir Paul McCartney has been known as the greatest songwriter ever, and is even knighted because of it. His work will forever influence and be a standard for all musicians of the future.

A candid picture of Paul probably taken in the early 80s.  Not much has changed for the "Cute Beatle".

Paul in the late 80s or early 90s still looking as cute as ever, and about 10 years younger than his real age!