Paul McCartney Archives - Page 5 of 9 - Hey Dullblog, the Beatles fan blog

McCartney, “New,” and “generic genius”: rebutting Ben Greenman

By Nancy Carr|2013-10-16T15:34:36-07:00October 15, 2013|Paul McCartney, Uncategorized|

The new McCartney album, "MEM." NANCY CARR • The "New" album is the occasion for Ben Greenman of The New Yorker to opine about Paul McCartney's "generic genius." That's very much "generic" as in "bland and undistinguished," not as in "genre-spanning." Greenman asserts that the album's title is "almost comically inaccurate," but appears unaware that his own critique recycles cliches about McCartney that are drastic oversimplifications when they're not flat-out false. Now, I haven't heard the whole album yet, so I'm not going to speak to Greenman's assessment of it. What I want to discuss are his sweeping statements about McCartney's [...]

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Three Ways: Beatles write about landscapes

By Nancy Carr|2013-09-09T08:15:53-07:00September 7, 2013|1967, George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Strawberry Fields|

NANCY CARR * In the late 60s the Beatles had three strong songwriters (and really, was that fair to other bands?), and thus three distinctive ways of treating the subjects they wrote about—landscapes, love, drugs, etc. (That's without getting into the significant variations within each songwriter's work). This time, I want to consider what Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison saw when they looked at landscapes. Lennon: "Strawberry Fields Forever" (released February 1967) The physical Strawberry Field, in Woolton Inspired by the grounds of the Strawberry Field children's home in Woolton, this song proved so powerful that Lennon's memorial in New York City's Central [...]

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Plea to Paul: Let it be when it comes to claiming credit

By Nancy Carr|2013-08-03T03:02:15-07:00July 29, 2013|1967, John Lennon, Paul McCartney|

Last Thursday Rolling Stone online published an interview with Paul McCartney about his current tour. It sounds like a stellar show—I’m sorry I haven’t been able to see it this year—but I groaned when I got to the part of the interview in which McCartney says, of adding “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!” to the setlist, that he was “happy to kind of reclaim it as partially mine.” I just want to say to him: please don’t keep pouring kerosene on those embers. Please step back and let that frustration go, because you’re fueling the dynamic that seems to keep you feeling insecure. Here’s [...]

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Psychedelia in the UK: "A Technicolor Dream"

By Michael Gerber|2013-08-12T18:01:53-07:00July 23, 2013|1965, 1966, 1967, Documentaries, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Sgt. Pepper|

Inside the "Ally Pally," for The 14-Hour Technicolor Dream, 1967 Any of you that have been interested by my burblings on "psychedelia"—by which I mean the whole gestation, birth and decay of the flower-power movement—will be interested in a video I streamed from Netflix last night: "A Technicolor Dream." It documents the UK scene: the Albert Hall poetry reading in 1965; the Indica bookstore; IT; The London Free School; UFO; and finally the Fourteen Hour Technicolor Dream on April 30, 1967. Lots of Beatles-related stuff in here, from McCartney's right-hand Miles, to footage of a very stoned John Lennon. Here's [...]

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I’ve just seen (part of) a face: McCartney on the Colbert Report

By Nancy Carr|2014-10-13T15:28:42-07:00June 24, 2013|Colbert Report, John Lennon, Paul McCartney|

Paul McCartney on The Colbert Report, 6/12/13. NANCY CARR • Paul McCartney's hour-long June 12 appearance on The Colbert Report was great fun -- if you missed it, you can watch it all here. Colbert's introduction was characteristically hilarious and pointed. McCartney plays so many instruments he's "a one-man karoke bar without the weird videos," and Colbert is hosting a "150-person Paul McCartney concert. So Oprah, you and your free cars can suck it." And the interview featured McCartney seeming looser and happier than he's been in many others. Partly this had to be knowing Colbert was a fan who [...]

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Wings Over an Alternate Universe

By Nancy Carr|2014-07-23T11:56:58-07:00June 13, 2013|bootlegs, Paul McCartney, Wings|

The first sign that this bootleg is a bit weirder than usual is the cover—not the straightforward band photo used on many bootlegs of this show, which features Paul in a remarkably hideous pink shirt. That whoever put together this cover thought it would be cool to paste a square-shaped snapshot of Linda's head over that of a painted angel who is facing a different direction is a signal, friends, of more weirdness ahead. The back cover may lull you into a false sense of security. Here, at least, is the standard tracklist for bootlegs of this show. And the bus photo [...]

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Time-Lapse Photography

By Michael Gerber|2013-08-05T04:48:44-07:00May 29, 2013|John and Paul, john and yoko, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Photos|

Eagle-eyed commenter Sonia posted this picture set regarding an earlier post, but I found it so striking, I wanted to give it a full post. David Bailey took the ones on the left. Anybody know who took the second set? John and Paul and John and Yoko

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McCartney’s Musical Aviary

By Nancy Carr|2016-02-11T14:00:18-08:00May 9, 2013|Paul McCartney, Wings|

Late at night when the wind is stillI'll come flying through your door… {Another in what is becoming a series of meditations on themes in McCartney's music. Let me know if I've missed any bird references! --Nancy} Birds and wings show up again and again in Paul McCartney's music–but only in his better music. I'll go out on a critical limb and declare that whenever McCartney writes about birds or flying– even in passing–he’s revealing a great deal about himself. When he writes about birds McCartney is working to transmute his feelings into music, and even his bird-featuring songs that [...]

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Hooray, or uh-oh, I can’t decide

By Michael Gerber|2013-08-07T04:34:55-07:00April 16, 2013|biography, books, John Lennon, Paul McCartney|

Beatle biographer Philip Norman is writing a new McCartney bio. The New York Times reports that Philip Norman has been signed to do a new McCartney bio. One part of me: all right! Other part of me: oh no. Philip Norman is an excellent writer, with a beyond-thorough grounding in the subject. There is nobody who possesses better tools with which to create the definitive biography of Paul McCartney. He's very smart, knows England of that period, knows rock, knows London, knows The Beatles, knows John Lennon. Unlike Miles, he's his own man; unlike Lewisohn, he's a journalist. Shout: The [...]

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Solo Beatles: Good stuff from this millenium?

By Nancy Carr|2013-09-09T08:30:34-07:00January 28, 2013|George Harrison, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, solo|

These CDs don't NEVER EVER sell. NANCY CARR • In the "Blue Sway" thread, Commenter J.R. remarked that he hasn't sought out Paul McCartney's work since 1999's Run Devil Run. Then I came across this blog post by Todd Pack, which reprints the "Do Not Never Ever Buy" list reproduced above. (It's from the Laurie's Planet of Sound music store in Chicago.) The list includes "60s/70s Artists CD's from the 80s/90s/2000s" as a category comprehensively to be avoided when buying CDs to resell. (This isn't a list of music the record store clerks snobbishly hate, a la "High Fidelity," but a list [...]

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