Eletric Arguments (2008) (The Fireman)
1. Nothing Too Much Just Out of Sight
2. Two Magpies
3. Sing the Changes
4. Travelling Light
5. Highway
6. Light From Your Lighthouse
7. Sun is Shining
8. Dance 'Til We're High
9. Lifelong Passion
10.Is This Love?
11.Lovers in a Dream
12.Universal Here, Everlasting Now
13.Don't Stop Running
 
I debated whether or not to include
this release in the the Paul McCartney catalog. "The Fireman" is the name
of Paul's wacky "electronica" band that he formed in 1993 and puts out
an album every seven or eight years or so. Their first album was a
ridiculous embarrassment. It was basically synthesized sounds going on
and on with no rhyme, reason or purpose for 45 minutes. How any one can
listen to it is beyond me. Their second album, I never heard, so I
can't comment. I did read that it was "much better". After listening
to this, the third The Fireman album, I can believe that it was much better,
because this one is actually very very good indeed. In other words it's
absolutely nothing like the first album. I mean that very sincerely.
It's very obvious though, that this album is more about "experiments"
and less about "music". There is such a hodge-podge of instrumentation,
banging and clanging, that the songs don't really seem to have much of a
purpose, and it's easily argued that the album is not very accessible,
but it's obvious that that was never really the intention. Paul
McCartney was not exactly a stranger when it came to songs, or entire
albums, that sort of fit this classification. He had recorded two solo
albums that were almost completely solo, meaning that he
virtually played every instrument on the albums (McCartney and McCartney II). Those albums had a slightly
similar feel to this album in that they contained some plausible "songs"
but also included some very strange arrangements that were hard for some
to digest.
When you listen to this album, certain songs resonate quite well. Songs
such as Sing the Changes, Dance 'Til We're High and
Highway are quite fine for all tastes upon first listen. A lot
of the rest of the album, well, you can find some decent
melodies, you just have to dig quite further into the arrangements
before you can locate them. Considering that Paul always had a
reputation for being kind of "light weight" in his songs, both as a
Beatle and as a solo artist, this record is proof that he did have what
it took to be quite the musical genius.
This album will take several listens, but ultimately it's worth the
patience.
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