Happy 50th Birthday to McCartney’s “Ram”

By |2021-05-17T09:07:42-07:00May 17, 2021|1971, anniversaries, Linda McCartney, Paul McCartney, Ram, Uncategorized|

It was 50 years ago today that Paul and Linda McCartney released Ram, an album that's become more popular over the decades. I've talked at length about my love for the album here, and have often recommended this Jayson Greene Pitchfork review of the album's 2012 reissue. Perhaps because Ram was created at a time in Paul McCartney's life when he had to figure out how to pick up and keep going when everything was falling apart, my affection for the album has increased over the past year and a half. In this second decade of the 21st century, we're all trying to "ram [...]

Review: RAM (Paul McCartney Archive Collection)

By |2016-12-04T18:27:45-08:00July 31, 2012|1970s, 1971, Paul McCartney, solo|

DEVIN McKINNEY  •  Can anyone think of another pop record whose qualities have been so vindicated, and whose reputation has been so rehabilitated, by time? Though I’ve fought bravely on this site against massed resistance (well, one or two people) to call it something just less than a masterpiece—can’t get past a certain emotional vacuity at the core of things—RAM is so bountifully queer and cleanly, gracefully executed, the beautiful song crowded by the gargoyle-ugly, that finally masterpiece doesn’t matter. I’ve loved RAM since I first heard it. It is Paul’s best solo record by a distance, and one of my favorites [...]

Ram On!

By |2015-01-19T20:36:27-08:00August 28, 2009|1971, Beatles tributes, McCartney, Paul McCartney, RAM uber alles, solo|

Get a room DEVIN McKINNEY  •  Speaking of which, did anyone else listen to this? Here's the tracklist: Earlimart :: Too Many People Frankel :: 3 Legs The Parson Redheads :: Ram On Bodies of Water :: Dear Boy Radar Bros. :: Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey Naptunes :: Smile Away Los Baby Fools :: Heart Of The Country Le Switch :: Monkberry Moon Delight The Broken West :: Eat At Home Amnion :: Long Haired Lady The Parson Redheads :: Ram On (reprise) Travel by Sea :: The Back Seat Of My Car It's the expected farrago of good, bad and [...]

Boo, Jon Landau!

By |2014-07-05T20:45:35-07:00August 27, 2009|1971, McCartney, RAM uber alles|

Sometimes I transport myself I've been listening to RAM, one of the handful of solo Beatles discs I can listen to (others: All Things Must Pass, POB when I want to reaffirm the value of therapy). For kicks I unearthed this Rolling Stone review from 1971. Justly infamous, Jon Landau's review of RAM starts off as a pure hatchet-job in the standard "how dare Paul McCartney not be John Lennon" RS style, then ascends to a discussion of how The Beatles were better as a group, an observation that had to be tired even in 1971. If you sense a [...]

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