Since it started me down this path, it’s only natural to
start with Macca’s 1971 album, Ram.
I first heard “Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey” on the “Wings
Greatest” compilation as a teenager. At the time, I considered it a poor man’s
version of Yellow Submarine. It’s not that I disliked it, it’s that I wasn’t in
the market for “novelty” songs that weren’t parodies of the hits of the day.
Later, on the much better compilation Wingspan, I heard that
track along with “Heart of the County”, “Too Many People”, and “The Backseat of
My Car”. Inspired by the fact that four of its eleven tracks made Paul’s
personally-curated anthology, I picked up the original CD edition of Ram and,
after two or three listens, realized that everything I needed to hear from that
album was already represented on Wingspan (and with better sound quality).
If not for Counterbalance’s discussion of Ram, I’d have
never given it another chance…and I’d have been poorer for it. For almost two
weeks now, I’ve been immersed in this album. I’ve replaced my original CD with
the two disc edition that came out a few years back; I also picked up a digital
version of Ram’s sister album (Thrillington). I’ve picked up the mono vinyl
edition and bought a copy of Dave Depper’s tribute album, The Ram Project.
Every iteration of this album has deepened my respect for it and convinced me
that I was wrong to ignore it for the past 20 years. In my defense, I think
most critics have been ignoring it for even longer.
Why, though?
If this album was released by anyone else, the shorthand
review of it would be along the lines of “the missing link between Brian Wilson
and Jeff Mangum”. But Paul McCartney isn’t an obscure singer/songwriter. His songs
have been dissected for 50+ years and that might be the problem…it’s his songs
that are dissected, not his albums.
Outside of Band on the Run, and during later re-evaluations
his self-titled solo debut, Paul’s albums weren’t considered in their entirety.
McCartney, more than any other Beatle, steered the group towards cohesive
albums and the critics took note. It’s a shame that his post-Beatle albums
weren’t given the same courtesy.
The lack of critical respect originally given to McCartney’s
debut album is, in hindsight, understandable. It was a slight album and, if
McCartney couldn’t be bothered to spend any time polishing the album, why
should critics spend any time contemplating it. I’m not saying the critics were
correct to dismiss it and move on, I’m just saying that I can understand why
they would. It was their loss because that debut album featured some fantastic
songs and of McCartney’s finest melodies.
Check out the version of Junk that appears on Anne Sofie von Otter and
Elvis Costello’s collaborative album, For the Stars.
The melodies on Ram were just as strong as on McCartney but
they benefited from better instrumentation/arrangements. The McCartney album’s
biggest weakness, as an album, was the fact that the songs tended to blend. It
was obvious that, while McCartney’s songwriting was still focused on shorter
songs/melodies that could be compiled into mini-medleys, he was taking the time
to flesh out the instrumentation to keep Dear Boy from sounding like Heart of
the Country.
McCartney was so enamored with his Ram melodies that he took
the extra step of developing an instrumental version of the album entitled
Thrillington. It’s definitely worth checking out and it, along with Dave
Depper’s The Ram Project will be the focus on later blog posts.
Ram’s sequencing might have contributed to its lack of
respect. I think that moving Smile Away from the end of Side A and putting it
at the start of the album would have changed the entire tone. Just as a side
note, adding the single Another Day in place of Three Legs might also have
helped the cause.
Smile Away followed the novelty song Uncle Albert/Admiral
Halsey and, as such, it almost acts as a single song defense. “I know you
didn’t like the last song but that’s okay, I’m fine with that.” Moving it to
the front of the album would have made Side A end in a comparable manner to Side
B (which closed with The Back Seat of My Car). More importantly, it would have
begun the album with a declaration that “This is the album I wanted to make
and, even though you didn’t like the last one, I did and I think this entire
album is just as good.” Starting with a declaration like that is better than
ending with a non-apology.
