Paul McCartney, Wings - Venus and Mars

Great music

Great music from Sir Paul and his band. Brings back memories from the early 70's. August 1, 2008

Great Album

This is an excellent record. It starts out with "Venus and Mars" which is a slow song that edits directly into "Rockshow" which does rock (although the lyrics are mighty silly). In my opinion, this was the last great studio album from Wings. July 8, 2008

memorable mid 1970's rock

I really like this album, but, as with all McCartney albums, I find it a little patchy. There is a nice rock 'n' roll feel to many of the tunes. As for the bad songs first. 'Spirits of ancient Egypt'. Denny sings very out of tune and I really don't care for the melody at all. 'Letting go' is plodding and boring. 'Call me back again' sounds like 'oh darling', with beefy brass added. Don't like the melody here either.
Then there are the mediocre songs. 'Love in song' should really attract me, as I love ballads, but there is something about it, that stops me from liking it that much. I also can't see the huge rave reviews for 'medicine jar'. It's merely ok. 'Magneto and Titanium man' is also tacky to the extreme.
The other songs are very very good. 'Venus and Mars' is a beautiful acoustic piece that is reprised later in the album. By far my favourite thing here. 'Rock song' is an excellent song that seems to be in many parts from fast to slow, with a nice ending. 'Listen to what the man said' is very mellow and jazzy and Macca is in best voice here. I like 'You gave me the answer' and always liked Paul's attempts at this style, all the way up to 'English tea'. 'Treat her gently' and 'crossroads' are nice also.
I really don't care for the bonus tracks, they are nonsense really, but, ignoring these, the album is fairly solid, and gets between 3.5 and just about 4 stars. March 17, 2008

Venus and Mars

Paul McCartney's follow up to Band on the Run isn't quite as entertaining as its predecessor. It's still a good album but, like most of Sir Paul's albums, it can be maddeningly inconsistent. Most of this album was recorded in New Orleans & that particular city's music influenced him a bit. Venus and Mars was a #1 album, nothing unusual for McCartney at this point in his career. Three singles were released from the album, "Letting Go" which barely made the Top 40 at #39, "Listen to What the Man Said" topping the charts at #1 & "Venus and Mars/Rock Show" which went to #12.

The album opens with the acoustic song "Venus and Mars" which, like many of his albums, becomes a sort of recurring theme. Then comes the arena-ready song "Rock Show". Everyone knew this was going to be the opening number for his new tour. "Love in Song" follows & is a good album track. "You Gave Me the Answer" is a typical go-back-to-yesteryear song that John Lennon would issue forth the comment, "Grannies dig those kind of songs." Paul then gives us "Magneto and Titanium Man" which, since it's based on comic book heroes, is a lame song. It's these kind of lyrics that have given McCartney a bad name. "Letting Go" is a good song, certainly not a typical singles release for McCartney. The next two songs "Spirits of Ancient Egypt" (verses vocalized by Laine) & "Medicine Jar" written & sung by the lead player Jimmy McCullough. These two songs are two of the best album tracks ever recorded by Wings. "Call Me Back Again" is good & then comes pure schtick, "Listen to What the Man Said". The next song is McCartney once again piecing together two song fragments "Treat Her Gently/Lonely Old People" which isn't bad. The closer is the instrumental "Crossroads", which was a British tv show; Paul had written this to be used as the opening theme for the show by the same name.

McCartney has added three bonus tracks to the original album. The first two are instrumentals, one of which was another British tv theme song; "Zoo Gang" & "Lunch Box/Odd Sox", neither one is anything special. The last one, "My Carnival", was later released as a B-side single, & is Paul simply telling us about Mardi Gras. This is one of McCartney's better albums.


February 20, 2008

Trying to take flight on broken Wings

Paul always did have a problem with editing and it shows strong on "Venus and Mars." Roughly half of the songs here are solid, some even quintessential post-Beatles Mac material. The other half is just sad. What gave him the idea to write a song like "Magneto and Titanium Man"? It was released as a B-side to one of the album's singles, but it should have remained a B-side instead of showing up mid-way through the album. And what about the silly New Orleans brass of "You Gave Me the Answer?" Or the immediate throwaway, "Love in Song?" The unbearably plodding "Letting Go?" The downgraded Abbey Road rip-off, "Treat Her Gently/Lonely Old People?"

There's half a really good album in here (notably on fun rockers like "Rock Show" and "Call Me Back Again"), mixed in with half an album of filler and worse. There are few things more frustrating than an album of polarizing quality: fans feel the need to buy it for the good stuff and are stuck with junk in between; non-fans will skip it and miss out on several quality tracks. And it can't help Paul's credibility when one of the best songs here is "Medicine Jar," one he had no hand in writing (and didn't even sing lead vocals).

Best cuts: "Venus and Mars/Rockshow," "Medicine Jar," "Call Me Back Again," "Listen to What the Man Said," "Spirits of Ancient Egypt," "Crossroads" February 13, 2008

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