McCartney

12/10 for album artwork. I’d buy a canvas tote with those juicy cherries printed on it like every other basic b!tch. Otherwise, this was kinda boring. Sorry Sir Paul‼️

I enjoyed listening to this album. It's harmless and in fact as it progresses gets better and better, with one or two standout songs (Momma Miss America, Singalong Junk, Maybe I'm Amazed). It's also slightly inconsequential (Oo You, Man We Was Lonely), very much the sound of McCartney playing around and jamming without the Beatles. Some of the more twee numbers (Junk, for example) could be early Beatles numbers. At times, there is the feeling that having a Lennon to reign in the saccharineness or give the album a bit more bite would be advantageous. All said, though, it's worth listening to and enjoyable at that, if unlikely to make an indelible impression. I prefer the following year's 'Ram'. It's got more character.

One good song, the rest is filler

I love Paul McCartney and the circumstances surrounding this album make me sad on many levels. The tracks are mostly forgettable to my ears, with a few exceptions, especially 'Maybe I'm Amazed'.

Sort of how I feel about The Beatles. I respect the artist and artistry but it doesn't do anything for me. It's also just not as good as anything The Beatles did.

I didn't know that he'd written Maybe I'm Amazed. Other than that, found this album pretty uninspiring tbh, felt like a recording of a jam session rather than a properly finished album. Not unpleasant, but not good either. 2/5.

Seems like a peaceful muse on music by someone jaded by the industry. Apart from Maybe I’m Amazed, it does seem disappointing coming from a recent-Beatle. I understand its importance in the growth of the lo-fi movement, but it ain’t too pretty on it own.

At least it was over quick. Maybe I’m Amazed was the standout track, in fact the only track for me!

Uff, Paul McCartney.

This is album isn't bad but isn't great. It seems like he was recording ideas for songs that he never really finished. I'd rather listen to the Beatles. Tracks I liked: Momma Miss America Maybe I'm Amazed

Forgetable debut solo album of Paul. The songs do sould like demo's and are not of high quality.

What a strange debut solo album from a former Beatle. Reading the history about this album confirms my suspicions that this album is, indeed, strange. The few songs that are actually songs are nice enough but very forgettable.

Having the added context of the album such has this being one of the factors that brought about the end of the Beatles has a band and it being written during a confused and depressed state, it explains a lot of the complaints that I have of this album. To be honest, as an album written and produced with equipment from his home, it is pretty good but it has its faults. The latter half of the album is a lot better than the beginning, which I found kind of boring. Nothing stood out and was forgettable. I still found it enjoyable.

McCartney is the debut solo album by English musician Paul McCartney. He recorded it in secret from in his home with basic recording equipment as a result of the controversy of rumors that the Beatles were breaking up. John Lennon had already departed the Beatles in 1969, and with the release of this solo album by Paul McCartney in 1970 the break up was all but confirmed. Paul McCartney was blamed for the band's breakup - even though John Lennon had quit a year before - because the former explained the band's situation during an interview about this album while the latter stayed quiet. Because of the publicity of the Beatles break up, this McCartney album performed well commercially, but was seen as average in the ears of critics. This album can be categorized as one of the first lo-fi indie pop rock albums for its production and musical style. It was a modest album with minimal production that listeners either hate or respect. It's certified double platinum in the US. I didn't care much for this solo McCartney album as a result of the low-key music production and similar sounding tracks. However, points were given for recording a solo album by yourself that can still pass as decent and performed well commercially.

This does not actually feel like a full fledged album, more like something you’d put together quickly so you could work on it later

This feels kind unfinished. Some interesting ideas but not a lot of fully realized songs, really just ok.

Not what I expected at all. Seems like a collection of mostly boring but inoffensive singles; also, weirdly country.

I listened to this the first time knowing nothing about its history or background, ready to be placed in Paul McCartney’s talented hands, poised to click on a 4 or a 5 rating. Much to my surprise I hated it from the start. The insipid lyrics made me cringe (“Look like a woman, dress like a lady, talk like a baby, love like a woman”?! BLAH!). I was utterly perplexed at what this dreck was doing on this list and ready to click the 2-stars rating (and seriously wondering if 1 star is more appropriate) until the second-to-the-last song, Maybe I’m Amazed, which I am well familiar with and is one of my favorite Paul McCartney songs. What is happening here? Just in case I was having a bad morning, I decided I needed to try to listen again and see what I was missing. This time, I opened up Wikipedia and learned that this album broke up the Beatles. I had the WTF reaction of critics 53 years ago when I read that. I think I hate this album even more. I was going to give it a 3 based pretty much solely on Maybe I’m Amazed, but I’m more than a little irritated at this - it’s back to 2. It might be best if I forget I ever listened to this stinker as it just might ruin Maybe I’m Amazed for me.

Half baked ideas. Only one real song.

It is not that I think it is bad, but I find it all very forgettable. The way I see the Beatles, and McCartney by extension, is that theyve written some of the most beautiful pop music ever, but it is surrounded by some of the most boring schlock. Sadly, this album was mostly the latter. (As a side note, I'm happy this site does not have a comment section, because I'm sure these are fighting words for some)

On tainnut tehdä solonakin parempaa musaa, ehkä? En syttynyt.

Positiivista lyhyys, mut ei tehny mitään vaikutusta

Found myself trying to convince myself I was enjoying this more than I really was simply as it was McCartney. If I was to rate it purely on the music not who made it it would be a middle of the road 2 - so that's what it gets.

Predictably, I was not impressed. What was there to like on this album? Signed: a Philistine.

Meh

Boring. Wings and Beatles are better.

Давно не упоминал: а не слишком кинематографичные песни? может это саундтрек какой-то? А так песни норм, в фильм бы вставил. Для прослушивания слишком мимо

Ну у МакКартни всё стабильно: лодка плывёт дальше, пусть уже и без участников великой ливерпульской четвёрки. Однако... я вот слушаю альбом, а он как будто сырой. Прям совсем. И по качеству записи как-то не очень, и где-то как будто специально черновые композиции песен вставлены. Хм... непорядок. Отмечу попытку в американское кантри: это смело, это сильно, это странно. Блин, ну как-то я уже наслушался сложной музыки, что теперь эта кажется ужасной простой и обычной...

One genius track does not an essential record make. A poor showing in my opinion.

Momma Miss America // Maybe I’m Amazed // 2/5

A slightly blander beatles

I'm not sure why this is on the list. Macca has been involved in quite a few fairly important records through the years, I don't feel this is one of them.

Sketches, noodles, drafts, demos - if you were being kind you'd say it was charmingly unspun. If you were not being charitable you'd say this would have been long consigned to the dumper but for the Macca brand. Utterly inconsequential, though Maybe I'm Amazed is a tune - one which clearly signposted the MOR direction he'd take in the seventies.

Me: Mom can we have The Beatles Mom: we have The Beatles at home The Beatles at home:

It's pretty basic listening for most of it, but it also is impressive with the knowledge that it's almost literally all him for every track. At the end of the day, there's really only track that matters here and we all know which one it is

2/5

Being an all time legend in music don't make all your ideas good. Apart from "Maybe I'm amazed", this albums is just boring.

This album does very little by someone so clearly talented

Pretty much just meandering and boring. I'm good.

I think we know who did the heavy lifting in the Lennon/McCartney songwriting duo...

Did nothing for me.

Just too little overall, 2-3 proper songs, rest is filled with half(-assed) or instrumental tracks. If we left out the name McCartney, I don't know how this would have even been released

Maybe I'm amazed is a 5 star song on a 1 star album. The rest of the album was rather boring and not much substance. Because of Maybe, I'll give a 2 2 Happy Birthday Prince Rogers Nelson. June 7, 1958 Fun fact of the day - I used so many lines from Prince songs to pick up girls when I was young. I married a woman with the last name Rogers. Coincidence or fate? A couple lyrics in memory of Prince I don't care where we go I don't care what we do I don't care pretty baby Just take me with you Now, where I come from We don't let society, tell us how it's suppose to be Our clothes, our hair, we don't care It's all about being there

I’ve never particularly cared for this particular PMC solo album. I find it annoying and boring. I didn’t realized this album was directly involved in the Beatle’s breakup so that’s interesting. Anyway I’m gonna go listen to Band on the Run for a palate cleanser. ‘Maybe I’m Amazed’ still slaps. 2

This was really frustrating. Many ideas for good Beatles songs. Just one completed one. Everything but Maybe I’m Amazed and Kreen Akrore is fine; just not finished.

I’ll start with the good - and it won’t take long. Maybe I’m Amazed is a really good song. Apparently Paul plays all the instruments so he lays down the solo which is really good. Every Night is a cute little meaningless love song and Paul typically knows how to do those since he has the voice for it and can write simple melodies for ballads. This one is a good example; the music is written in a key that works perfectly with his voice. The problem: he didn’t finish writing the song so the chorus is just some: woo woo woo woo’s. Really? I would think a professional song writer could come up with a chorus for a ballad especially when he specializes is weenie songs. The rest of the album is drivel.

When I first heard “Maybe I’m Amazed” at the age of 11, I thought, wow what a stinker. Maybe it was the first time I realized there was such a thing as songs for girls. So, I didn’t have high hopes for this album, and it delivered. Things got off to a bad start (due to human error): I accidently had Shuffle turned on, so after listening to the “The Lovely Linda” which sounds like it was composed on the spot and whose greatest attribute is its 47 second running time, Spotify sent me to the last song on the album “Kreen Acrore” which sounds like they grabbed someone off the street and had them play drums in a song that showcases drumming. As a side note the drumming on the album is banal, especially on songs like “Oo you” where a drum set is featured. I would not include this instrument among the many that PC can play well. I like some of the songs. “Everynight” is okay, as is “Junk” (both versions) but they sound like songs that didn’t make the cut on The White Album, and “Momma Miss America” laid the foundations for future songs like 1984. Overall the album sounds like a bunch of ideas, not fully developed songs. I would give this an extra point if it was from someone I had never heard of, but it isn't.

McCartney is definitely talented, but without the synergy of his three other band-members it just doesn't have the same magic of a Beatles record. Even a latter day Beatles album marred by their dysfunctional in-fighting is way superior to this. Maybe I'm amazed is the best song on this album and it's quite good, but the rest just simply isn't very remarkable.

Not for me. Classic Paul.

Meh already enough Beatles and McCartney on the list, think we could of given this one a miss.

No lo acabe de escuchar

Oh, McCartney made a solo album before Wings? At home with a four-track? Home recordings are fun, and good to share with friends, but why was this released as an album? We can see that songs kept burbling out of McCartney, and he wasn't wedded to studio mega-productions, and the record company presumably thought anything by a Beatle would sell. I respect the Beatles' oeuvre, but I am not a Beatles tragic, I didn't need to hear this before I die. I don't detect any surprising musical or lyrical ideas, they're unobtrusive little ditties or tolerable-amongst-friends experiments (Kreen-Akrore). The existence of this as an 'album', with negligible replayability, is a bit of an insult. No-one should release every song they home record! It's Bad, 1/10.

Realized i don’t like rock however the best song was maybe im amazed

This type of country songs are very hard to listen to very dull no soul 1.9/10

Not everything the Beatles family shits out is gold Anyone can see that this is mostly a record comprised of demos. But what makes it worse are the bad lyrics (eg "talks like a baby, goo goo/loves like a woman") and the repetition when he is singing. One ok boomer rock song ("maybe I'm amazed") does not mean this is a good album. It's quite bad. 1/5

Dull and boring. 1/5 stars.

Ugh

1. linda - 1 2. zomething - 2 3. valentine - 2 4. night - 1 5. zun - 1 6. junk - 2 7. lonely - 1 8. you - 2 9. momma - 1 10. teddy - 1 11. zing - 2 12. maybe - 2 13. kreen - 1

It had one good track that he made last through his solo career which was placed next-to-last on the album (Maybe I’m amazed). But the rest is just watered down Macca playing around with a 4 track on his bedroom while figuring out if he still had a band to play with. Overall the songwriting just isn’t there. Most notably there’s no bridge anywhere in his songs. They’re all missing the counterpoint that John would have written which would have taken some tracks to another level. Without that they’re just flat, repetitive and uninspired. It’s worth a listen for the vague curiosity of what was going on for him during the Beatles maybe breakup period. But none of these tracks would have made the final cut for a Beatles album, except perhaps the back end of side 2 of the white album.

Some albums don't age well

Junk Maybe I'm Amazed

Awful. 2 decent songs doesn't save this chucked together bunch of demos and half finished ideas. I don't understand why it's on this list.

Disappointing debut of McCartney after his Beatles run. 6/10 [DROP]

A lot of annoying vocals and lyrics.

Bleh. 1 song that was okay.

Après 7 albums des Beatles (que je n'apprécie pas trop) je pensais en avoir fini ... Et non ! Après un album inintéressant de Lenon, maintenant j'ai droit à un album de McCartney. Celui ci ne présente absolument aucun intérêt, les morceaux ne semblent pas terminés. Par contre ils génèrent chez moi un ennui profond ... Je ne suis pas allé au bout. =>1/5

typical 60s/70s singer/songwriter. just not into it.

STINKER

Overrated

Not good

McCartney can suck my dick

If you have trouble sleeping put this on and you'll nod off in no time. More soporific crap from the most overrated person in the music business. Track 6 says it all "Junk"

nah

I liked a couple more songs than I expected to but I really did not like the other ones. This man’s career is unfathomable.

Il y a des jours, dans ce projet "1001 Albums", où l'on se sent comme un archéologue découvrant un trésor oublié. Et il y a des jours où l'on se sent comme un éboueur devant vider une poubelle historique. Devinez dans quelle catégorie tombe ce premier album solo de Paul McCartney. Je savais, en voyant son nom sur la liste, que ce ne serait pas une partie de plaisir. On parle de l'après-Beatles, une période de décomposition et de règlements de comptes. Mais je ne m'attendais pas à une telle purge. Ce disque n'est pas seulement un album, c'est un acte de sabotage. Un doigt d'honneur non pas à l'establishment, mais à la musique elle-même. Remettons les choses dans leur contexte sordide. Avril 1970, le plus grand groupe du monde se vautre dans sa propre agonie. C'est la fin. Et pendant que John Lennon, dans une catharsis psychanalytique et douloureuse, s'apprête à hurler ses démons sur "Plastic Ono Band", un disque d'une honnêteté à vous glacer le sang, Paul, lui, fait... ça. "Ça", c'est le son d'un homme qui s'emmerde, profondément. Réfugié dans sa ferme en Écosse avec femme, enfants et moutons, il a pris son magnéto 4 pistes et a enregistré... du vent, des bribes, des pets de cerveau musicaux. Des instrumentaux qui n'auraient même pas servi de jingle pour une pub de purée en flocons ("Valentine Day", "Momma Miss America"). Des chansons qui ne commencent jamais et qui, par pitié, finissent très vite ("The Lovely Linda", 42 secondes de vacuité absolue). On nous a vendu ça comme un geste "lo-fi", un retour à la simplicité. Quelle vaste blague, j'ai passé une partie de mon adolescence à vénérer des groupes qui ont fait du lo-fi une profession de foi. J'aime le son brut, l'urgence, l'idée qu'on peut faire de la magie avec trois bouts de ficelle. Mais ici, ce n'est pas du lo-fi, c'est du "j'm'en-foutisme". Il y a une différence fondamentale entre l'esthétique du dénuement et la simple paresse. C'est l'album d'un type multi-millionaire qui a décidé de sonner comme un ado qui découvre pour la première fois un instrument dans le garage de ses parents. Sauf que l'ado en question a écrit "Yesterday" et "Hey Jude", et ça rend le tout encore plus inexcusable. On n'est pas face à un punk qui crache sa rage avec les moyens du bord. On est face à un génie en vacances, et ses cartes postales sonores sont d'une laideur affligeante. L'écoute de ce disque est une épreuve physique et on passe son temps à attendre qu'il se passe quelque chose. Une mélodie, une émotion, une idée, n'importe quoi. Mais non, le néant. "Oo You", "Teddy Boy"... c'est de la bouillie, des esquisses qui auraient dû finir au fond d'un tiroir, sous une pile de factures. Et le pire, le plus rageant dans cette histoire, c'est qu'au milieu de ce marasme, de ce champ de ruines musical, il y a "Maybe I'm Amazed". Cette chanson n'est pas une lueur dans la nuit, c'est une insulte. C'est la preuve irréfutable que Paul McCartney avait encore toute sa tête et tout son talent. Elle vous hurle à la gueule le disque de génie qu'on aurait pu avoir s'il avait daigné allumer son cerveau plus de cinq minutes. C'est une pièce maîtresse, un chef-d'œuvre absolu d'écriture et d'interprétation. Et elle est là, perdue au milieu des borborygmes et des démos moisies, comme un Rembrandt accroché dans des toilettes publiques. Sa présence ne sauve pas l'album, elle l'enterre. Elle souligne par contraste l'indigence du reste. On écoute "Maybe I'm Amazed" et on se dit "Pourquoi, Paul, POURQUOI ? Pourquoi nous avoir infligé le reste ?". C'est simple : cet album n'a aucune autre raison d'être dans la liste des "1001" à part pour son contexte historique et cette unique chanson. Pour tout le reste, c'est une perte de temps. C'est un caprice d'artiste trop riche et trop célèbre, une sorte de journal intime sonore dont on n'aurait jamais dû tourner les pages. C'est le son de la décompression, de la fuite, mais sans le moindre intérêt artistique. Je ne peux décemment pas lui mettre plus d'un point. Et ce point, c'est par pure charité, par respect pour le miracle qu'est "Maybe I'm Amazed". Il ne sauve rien, mais il existe, et on ne peut l'ignorer. Pour le reste, c'est à jeter. C'est l'anti-musique, l'album-vacances d'un type qui n'avait plus rien à foutre de rien, et surtout pas de nos oreilles. Fuyez ou n'écoutez que la piste 8 et prétendez avoir fait le job.

This just didn’t do anything for me.

jeg har en fornemmelse af, at Beatles soloprojekter bliver en kæphest for mig på den her liste. What is this Maybe I'm Amazed tappede en lille smule ind i den der McCarney popsang-magi, men den var også det eneste der var værd at komme efter her

What's worse than a Beatles album? A sole Beatles album. Insipid and trite.

Not even Maybe I'm Amazed can polish this absolute turd of an album.

headaches

Couldn't listen. Tracks were not displayed

Paul is missing John and George here. Hell, he's even missing Ringo. This is utter tripe. Hard pass.

When it comes to McCartney's solo debut, the cover artwork is as wonderful and precise as the music is unfocused and irrelevant. Compare this to John Lennon's own solo debut *Plastic Ono Band* and weep, Beatles fans! Heck, you can even compare this to *McCartney II*, released ten years later, and weep all the same. *II*--not selected by Dimery--was filled with all sorts of amazing ideas between off-kilter tracks and more naive ditties. In comparison, *90%* of *McCartney I* is just made out of naive ditties, and all of them sound *unfinished* to boot! The former Beatles famously confused "simplicity" with hollowness and self-indulgence with this one. Worse, the promotion of this thing--and its timing just as the Fab Four were breaking up--was just awful. And even today, that ridiculous retrospective assessment claiming that it was the first "lo-fi LP"--just because it was supposedly a "homemade recording"--is one of the most grating statements ever pronounced about an album. *McCartney* has a sound way too clear and pristine (one of its rare merits, actually) to be considered as such. You really feel like Dimery hasn't thought it through when he used a slot for this debut--a slot that could have been put for far better use! Should I list the names of all the slighted artists here? The only thing contradicting this overall assessment is obviously the stellar composition "Maybe I'm Amazed", whose careful build-up and emotional soaring vocal parts pay off right away. But one sole good song a good album doesn't make. Especially when it's the penultimate track on an otherwise particularly dull and boring record. Objectively, I could give a 1.5/5 grade to this thing, translating to a 6.5/10 mark for purposes that would be more general than the ones used of this list (5 + 1.5). Because the music's too f*cking bland to even be considered as "offensive", which is what most 1/5 records on this list are to be blamed for. But for once, I'm gonna round up my final grade *negatively*. Call that a protest of sorts against this particularly useless selection in the 1001 Albums book. Number of albums left to review: 273 Number of albums from the list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 321 Albums from the list I *might* include in mine later on: 178. Albums from the list I won't include in mine (many other records are more important to me): 234 (including this one)

This should be called ‘maybe I’m amazed plus 12 other songs’ Lo-fi, listless and lack of effort combined

Boring

One song record. Waste of time

Shallow and superficial 1.5

Should probably not have been released. One man in his bedroom enjoying lo-fi tech and dumping song ideas (not even fully-formed songs) out of his brain after what must have been a tumultuous few years. So whilst I don't begrudge him taking the time, it's not interesting enough to be on this list in my view. The one actual song is Maybe I'm Amazed, which I do like.

Not a huge fan of Fab Wacky Macca Thumbs Aloft, and if this is the album that put the final nail in the Beatles coffin then I think that’s terribly sad. It’s got vanity project written all over it and no hint of things to come (Wings: yay, frogs: boo) IMO.

I wish I could choose the Did Not Listen button. I wish I could wait and listen to it after I’ve died. Appalling. Less than zero stars.

Awful. Nice cover tho

-post Beatles practice run -feel like finalized thoughts or demos -not worth listening to again

Junk

Sleeping pill music

A demo tape full of outtakes and drafts, that wouldn't even sniff this list had it been released under any other name.

Something from the Beatlesverse, how unlikely! ahahaha even the wiki article says the album was panned, yet here it fucking is. Thank you Dimery, you worthless piece of shit. It all just seems like interludes or something - no real songs. And the bad production criticism is pretty bang on. I didn't recognise anything, even the song with 120 million plays. One of the supposedly best songwriters of all time has no business putting out this crap. 1/5.

Hateful, boring, tedious