Red Rose Speedway (1973)
1. Big Barn Bed
2. My Love
3. Get on the Right Thing
4. One More Kiss
5. Little Lamb Dragonfly
6. Single Pigeon
7. When the Night
8. Loup (First Indian on the Moon)
9. (Medley)Hold Me Tight/Lazy Dynamite/
Hands of Love/Power Cut
10.I Lie Around
12.Country Dreamer
13.The Mess (Live) *
* CD Bonus Track
 
Paul McCartney's first serious solo
album. Now, when I say serious, I'm not talking about an album
that addresses world hunger, human rights violations and/or the
environment. No, what I mean is that he actually seems to be taking
some time to craft some real songs. This is something he seemed to
avoid, or not pay too much attention to prior to this. The ironic thing
is that his experiments worked more often that not on some of those
earlier albums, and surprisingly
some of that work is considered among his best.
It should also be added that when observing the early work of this
artist, in many cases the term "Paul McCartney" isn't really much
different than the monicker "Paul McCartney and Wings". This album fits
under the former category, but immediately follows an album of the latter
category. Ironic because some of the musicians he uses are exactly the
same as members of Wings. There would be a (very) brief time period
in a few short years where some members of Wings would actually get a
turn at the microphone, so the differences were slightly more apparent. None
of that was true during the earliest times, and frankly, when judging the
quality of McCartney's work, the Wings monicker never really mattered one
way or another.
Although he does take the recording and production seriously here, the
subject matter is definitely light. Not that it should matter. It's
actually quite funny to listen to McCartney's early flippant work and
compare it, say, to John Lennon's persistent anger towards
everything. As much as we were saddened when The Beatles broke up,
it's really kind of hard to see how the two frontmen ever got along at
all when one was always protesting and complaining and the other was in
a state of perpetual bliss writing about lambs, pigeons and indians on
the moon. If sappiness doesn't bother you, this is easily a well
digestible cup of tea.
Mostly known for the sweet ballad My Love, the whole album is
quite schmaltzy. That's not to say this is chocked full of love songs -
there just all sweet, harmless fun. The opener Big Barn Bed is,
well, sort of a rocker, but its not even offensive for the mildest
church group, and things only get tamer from that point. Again, a
bit too much Linda McCartney. Her spotlight here is on the track
When the Night. Her singing is just too flat to be enjoyable.
Lyrically, I still can't figure out what he's talking about most of the
time. Just read the titles on the album will begin the confusion.
Nothing is clarified when listening to titles such as Little Lamb
Dragonfly or Loup (1st Indian on the Moon). It all succeeds
in its apparent effort to please all around. Even grandma will like
this one.
Go back to the main page
Go To Next Review