Ram

A far superior choice to McCartney's first solo album for inclusion on the list.

Ram is the second album of Paul McCartney after The Beatles. It was poorly received at the time and very good in retrospect. I think the truth is in the middle. At the time it was compared to the excellent work of The Beatles, now it is compared to the extended catalogue of solo McCartney. If you look at it the latter way, it is not that bad. "Too Many People", "Dear Boy" and "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" are good songs and the rest is nothing special.

Now this is what you love to see when you refreesh the page 🙏 I’ve fallen in love with this album this year so this arrived right on time for me to give it a full score. One of my favourite Beatles related efforts really.

Another one in the category of I thought this was on the main list. I think this is my favourite thing that McCartney did post Beatles.

Very enjoyable, and it makes so much sense that "Uncle Albert" comes from this quirky place. Loved it. (Why have I never heard of it???)

Maybe I do like Paul McCartney?

Great album. Standouts: Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey, Another Day (1993 CD Edition) Other Greats: Too Many People, Heart of the Country, Monkberry Moon Delight, Long Haired Lady, The Back Seat of My Car, Ram On, Smile Away. Rating: 4.5 / 5

The 1001 albums book was near-flawless when it comes to classic British rock (or its American equivalent for that matter). Because, let's face it, not every music style was so nicely and properly represented in it. So yeah, the omission of this gorgeous Paul (and Linda) McCartney album was quite surprising in that context. And mixed critical reception at the time of *Ram* can't even explain this slight, given that the artist's first solo eponymous album had been panned as well (probably for better reasons), and that said solo album was yet included in the book. Like, what the hell, Mr. Dimery? To be fair, *Ram* deserved to be retrospectively reevaluated ten times more than *McCartney (I)* (and it has been reevaluated, fortunately, even if not by this particular book and list). Anyone with a set of normally functioning ears (Robert Christgau not being one of such people, apparently) can quickly understand"Too Many People", "Ram On", "Dear Boy", "Uncle Albert / Admiral Halsey" are absolute gems worthy of The Beatles. Ukulele-laced "Ram On" especially shines for me, thanks to its dreamy mood, Beach Boys-like backing vocals, and main melancholic melody -- whose off-kilter harmonies send me over to the moon each time I listen to it. "Dear Boy" also harbors those sorts of killer background vocals à la Beach Boys, by the way. "Smile Away" is another very nice highlight concluding the first side, and together with the other songs mentioned up there, they create a very strong first half. Your mileage on side two might vary a little. I personally find that there are actually as many wonderful moments in it as on the first side. Yet I can also agree that there is some lack of focus on at least a couple of twee tracks, to put it in a nutshell. Famously, McCartney can never resist being twee once in a while. At the time, it drove many people crazy, but you can't change a leopard its spots. And now, decades down the line, an all-too-cute cut such as "Heart Of The Country" is part of the record's retro charms, I guess. Besides, it's because Paul was open-minded and adventurous on a compositional level that all those wonderful, "whitealbumesque" moments also happen in that second side, from the weird psychedelia of "Monkberry Moon Delight" to the hypnotic orchestral flourishes of "Long Haired Lady"'s final section. Sure, "The Back Seat Of My Car" also explores *Let It Be*-adjacent, bloated turf, but the melodically astute elements in the composition still make it worthwhile. Being inventive for McCartney also implied enhancing his kitsch streak once in a while. To use another admittedly tired saying, you can't make an omelette without breaking eggs. McCartney, who was so inspired by the idea of domestic bliss at the time, knew it better than anyone else. 4.5/5 for the purposes of this list of essential albums, rounded up to 5 9.5/10 for more general purposes (5 + 4.5) ---- Number of albums from the original list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 465 Albums from the original list I *might* include in mine later on: 288 Albums from the original list I won't include in mine: 336 ----- Number of albums from the users list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 53 (including this one) Albums from the users list I *might* select for mine later on: 72 Albums from the users list I won't select for mine: 129 --- Émile. Ça y est, j'ai *enfin* répondu (en deux temps). Tu trouveras ça sous les reviews des disques de Blackalicious et Alexisonfire au dessus.

One of my favorite all-time albums

Rating: 9/10 Best songs: Too many people, Uncle Albert, Smile away, Heart of the country, Monkberry moon delight, Eat at home,Long haired lady

This project has made me realize I’m not a huge Paul McCartney fan (I’d have guessed it would have been the opposite before the project). I love the big hit (Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey) - and appreciated the rest although I find the shenanigans a bit tiresome at times.

I got Ram the day after Yoko Ono’s horrible Fly, and you’re telling me we don’t live in a simulation? Ram is not the perfect album some retrospectively make it out to be - but it’s a great look into Paul McCartney, the solo artist, and the direction in which he went post-Beatles. Should have absolutely been on the original list; in such a degree that I actually thought it was.

Lmao the contrast of getting this directly after Fly by Yoko Ono. Ram is at least as experimenting without being shit.

Bunch of granny music and silly love songs

A great early Paul McCartney solo album, very underrated when it came out. I've always loved this one. Not perfect, but very good. 4 stars.

Spun this up expecting it to be less entertaining than it is. Irritatingly good - but also something I'd not expect to find myself listening to again, mainly because some of the tracks are way too over-long. There is absolutely no justification for Monkberry Moon Delight to be nearly 5½ minutes long. And there is even less reason for Long Haired Lady to be over 6 minutes long. Yes - it's enough to ding the album.

These are some well-written songs

I tend to enjoy McCartney's solo work, but never find myself actively seeking it out for a listen. This is my second go-round on this album after listening for the Rolling Stone 500 list, and I found myself really getting into this LP this time around. Paul's songwriting (and even the band arrangements) hew pretty closely to Beatles territory, but there's a clear vein of experimentation that gives the album an injection of energy and a personality of its own. Great mix of tempos with a tendency towards the upbeat, and per usual some exceptional melodies. Appreciate the chance to give this another go-round, definitely worth being added to the list.

Honestly pretty solid, but he's also the Beatle whose post-Beatles career I'm least interested by

Rock, pop, indie pop, psychedelia. Agradable. Un 4, venga.

Was Paul McCartney the only talented member of the Beatles? No. They were all talented, although John's solo work makes me question his contributions sometimes. But, Paul may have been the most talented of the group. Everything I've heard from his 70s post-Beatles career is stellar. Just filled with well-crafted catchy songs. This album is another one of those. I don't love any of these albums the way I love All Things Must Pass, but it's remarkable that Paul had so many great songs in him, and that he managed to be so prolific right off the bat after leaving the biggest band in the world 4/5

One likes the weirder, looser, more Macca – so the whole record works from that perspective. There’s a sense that on these solo records, he didn’t need to seek perfection (perhaps in perceived competition with the three guys he used to play with). So things come off as more approachable and can seem insubstantial (early Landau and Christgau reviews were accurate in that regard, but of course they were looking for majesty and profundity and couldn’t know how pop music was going to evolve and make this seem prescient in retrospect). Yes, it gets sloppy-noodly at times and a case might be made that much sounds unfinished, barely sketched out; but the suite-like structures and lush orchestrations allow for – or practically invite – such missteps (and also cover them up effectively). “Ram On” and “Heart of the Country” are slight-seeming but most pleasant to hear. “Dear Boy” is proto-chamber pop, lush, self-contained and excellent. “Long-Haired Lady” aims to be same, though less effectively. Then there’s “Uncle Albert” (one imagines it’s one of Robert Wyatt fave tracks). “Monkberry Moon Delight” is sharp and edgy and a touch strange (in a mostly good way). In other words this record has many merits other than not including “Silly Love Songs.” One’s always preferred Band on the Run as his strongest post-Fab output and have been pleasantly surprised, in the course of this 1,001 exercise, at the quality of the solo work; this and eponymous record are about on par (Ram is slightly preferred and so could switch out on list proper) and both are well worth-knowing. So thanks recommender for rounding out the broader McCartney picture with this record that’s clearly improved over time.

Paul McCartney never really veers to far from sounding like Paul McCartney and, hey, I get it! If I sounded like Paul McCartney, neither would I. I like the album cover heaps.

I don't really listen to the Beatles members' solo career stuff much. Don't listen to the Beatles all that much anymore. I liked this fine, it didn't blow me away, it felt very much in line with late-stage Beatles' McCartney-forward output.

I don't get what all the retrospective fuss is about. I'm not saying it's as bad as how it was first received, but if it feels fairly middle of the road. First three songs - largely forgettable. It wasn't until the familiar second half of Uncle Albert / Admiral Halsey that things started to turn for the better. Smile Away and Eat at Home were also fun even if the lyrics were a little head scratching. Not sure if or when I'd revisit this. If it wasn't Paul McCartney, I wonder if I would even give it a 3.

I will say this is a lot better than McCartney's first solo album, _McCartney_. Perhaps it's because he used other musicians instead of just trying to do it all himself. Still, I preferred some of the later McCartney, particularly his work with Elvis Costello. This is... okay, although it has the one hit "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey". McCartney seemed to be on a run of taking two or three ideas and stitching them together to make a song (i.e., "Band On the Run", where he really perfected it. Besides the one song, the rest wasn't as memorable to me, but at least you had that. Top tracks: "Uncle Albert / Admiral Halsey"

Fun, but except for Uncle Albert / Admiral Halsey I didn't quite love it.

Rama dama ding dong

This one is 100% Paul McCartney sound. Much more of the rockabilly, muzak sound that is his own unique creation. It’s interesting how it was panned when it first came out and then like 30 years later people were like oh right, Paul’s a genius, this is good. Paul is a genius. This is good but it’s not his best in my opinion. He thrives more with some editing and input from other. Obviously the Beatles but even the wings albums are better as a whole than his solo stuff. However Paul is arguably one of the best musicians ever so even his lesser albums are still so far above other people’s. Of course I’d listen to this again. It’s Paul McCartney. 7.6/10

Enjoyable enough. A bit weird at times, but then so were the Beatles.

It was good a couple of really good songs and some filler.

Pretty bad album, but Heart of the country is goated

This is fine but I don't see a need for it on the list

A really nice safe pleasant album after so many edgy unpleasant recent albums. Very Beatlesque which makes you wonder how much of the later albums was Paul's and not John's?

At the age of 10, I was cursed by an evil witch to never be able to fully enjoy a Beatles solo album, and to forever be trapped in the horrifying loop of only being able to give them a 3/5 at best. It's fine. Way more deserving of a spot on the list over the self-titled from a musical history perspective, but I actually think I prefer that album's more lo-fi sound over this one.

Ok so after finishing the main 1001 albums I started my own project where I’m going through and reviewing every UK number 1 album (which you can check out on insta at @andysalbumproject ) Anyway Ram came up for me as part of that project on the exact same day it was assigned to me here. What are the chances? And as I’ve already written the review I may as well post it here too… Not too long after All Things Must Pass, we get the second of 3 ‘solo’ Beatles albums in 1971 - in truth none of them are really solo albums, as Lennon’s is also credited to the Plastic Ono Band and Harrison’s featured pretty much everyone on the British rock circuit. Ram is the only album credited to Paul and Linda McCartney as a duo, and Linda is credited as a co-writer on half of the songs and provides backing vocals across the record. The opening tracks ‘Too Many People’ and ‘3 Legs’ are inoffensive enough (unless you’re John Lennon and take the lyrics far too personally) and it’s not until ‘Ram On’ that the record really gets started for me. It’s a chilling melody that is relaxing and unnerving at the same time in ways I can’t really explain, but a real highlight of the album. ‘Dear Boy’ is a sweet song with love from Paul to Linda, and the harmonies are very Beach Boys (they’re reminiscent of ‘Surf’s Up’ in particular). And then we get the lead single, the baffling ‘Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey’ - it’s a bloody weird bit of psychedelic pop and, similar to the second half of Abbey Road, is a few unfinished ideas stitched together to form a semi-cohesive song. McCartney tries out a couple of silly voices, it has an obscenely catchy brass riff, and the anthemic ‘hands across the water’ refrain is pure gold. The second half is a bit less memorable except for the wild ‘Monkberry Moon Delight’. It’s a relatively quaint instrumental but Paul’s vocals are ferocious, possibly even heavier than his iconic ‘Helter Skelter’ performance. The album culminates with a brief reprise of ‘Ram On’ and then the solid ‘The Back Seat of My Car’, which switches between ballad and up-tempo rock, and features maybe the best production on the record. Ram is nowhere near as showy as the monumentally ambitious All Things Must Pass or as consistent or revolutionary as most of the latter day Beatles albums, but it’s a nice collection of songs that holds up as a pretty strong album on its own merit. We’ll hear from Paul again relatively soon. We won’t hear any more from Linda, but she makes bloody lovely mozzarella burgers and that’s good enough for me.

Ram takes a while to get going, it's pretty meh early on but it has something to it later on, even if as a body of work it's more a tribute act to better versions of what they're trying to do than something quality and original. Smile Away is nice and bluesy but won't ever be mistaken for good blues, and Monkberry Moon Delight is similar, quirky and weird and a bit vaudevillian but almost a bit of a pastiche of it than anything else. I think it merits a low 3 because it has an annoyingly catchy quality.

The Clash’s lyric “phony Beatlemania has finally bitten the dust” seems to be apt here. I think only McCartney apologists would rank this album as worthy of enshrinement on this list. There were enjoyable moments but nothing so sustained that I’ll revisit this later. It feels a bit entitled too - “I’ve made enough money to suggest that living in the country is my best next move”.