What are you listening to RIGHT NOW?

[Dagwan]

Music? What song? By whom?

Podcasts? Which ones? Who's on it?

The whir of your hard drive while you defrag?

Whatever you're listening to, share it with the Legion of Superfluous Heroes!

[Jeff of Earth-J]

McCARTNEY III:

Today I am listening to McCartney III. Yesterday I listened to McCartney and McCartney II. What sets these eponymous albums apart from his other "solo" (i.e., non-Beatle) work is that he writes, produces and performs all of the music, playing all the instruments. 

McCartney (1970) sounds unfinished, unpolished in comparison to his Beatles work. The songs are... okay... but they have the sound of demos rushed to production. As a matter of record (no pun intended), demos of many of the song's from Paul's first solo work eventually surfaced on the mid-90s Beatles Anthology. McCartney has negative associations for many, released mere weeks before the Beatles' final album, Let It Be. McCartney was accompanied by a press release announcing he was leaving the Beatles, which is how the other three learned of it (1970's version of telling them via tweet). the one truely outstanding song from the album is "Maybe I'm Amazed."

When Elwood Blues said, "So much of the music we hear today is reprogrammed electronic disco," it was the kind of music found on McCartney II (1980) he was talking about. I'm trying to decide whether or not McCartney II is my least favorite of all McCartney's solo work. Yes, I believe it is. 

Stylistically, McCartney III is somewhere between the two, yet better than both (with the caveat that not a single song on it even comes close to "Maybe I'm Amazed"). We listened to the first six songs this morning on the way to Tracy's work, and I listened to the other five on the way home. I think it's comparable to his other more recent work, but Tracy feels his works are creative collaborations with other artists.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

CRAZY WAY TO SPEND A YEAR

[Jeff of Earth-J]

MY DAYS ARE NUMBERED

[Jeff of Earth-J]

GEORGIA ON MY MIND

[Jeff of Earth-J]

THE BALLOT OR THE BULLET

[Jeff of Earth-J]

THE END

(This is NOT the song I had intended to play today.)

[Jeff of Earth-J]

IS THIS THE LIFE WE REALLY WANT?

[Jeff of Earth-J]

"This is a song Charles Manson stole from the Beatles..."

HELTER SKELTER

[The Baron]

What the Cybermen sing on karaoke night

[Jeff of Earth-J]

A song for the seditionists: HATE

[Jeff of Earth-J]

...and one for the victims: FIVE MEN WERE KILLED TODAY

[Travis Herrick (Modular Mod)]

"Muffin Man" by Frank Zappa