Paul Mccartney Albums Ranked
Sir James Paul McCartney CH MBE (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter, musician, composer, and record and film producer who gained worldwide fame as co-lead vocalist and bassist for the Beatles. His songwriting partnership with John Lennon remains the most successful in history. After the group disbanded in 1970, he pursued a solo career and formed the band Wings with his first wife, Linda, and Denny Laine. A self-taught musician, McCartney is proficient on bass, guitar, keyboards, and drums. He is known for his melodic approach to bass-playing (mainly playing with a plectrum), his versatile and wide tenor vocal range (spanning over four octaves), and his eclecticism (exploring styles ranging from pre-rock and roll pop to classical and electronica). McCartney began his career as a member of the Quarrymen in 1957, which evolved into the Beatles in 1960. Starting with the 1967 album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, he gradually became the Beatles’ de facto leader, providing the creative impetus for most of their music and film projects. His Beatles songs “And I Love Her” (1964), “Yesterday” (1965), “Eleanor Rigby” (1966), and “Blackbird” (1968) rank among the most covered songs in history. In 1970, McCartney debuted as a solo artist with the album McCartney. Throughout the 1970s, he led Wings, one of the most successful bands of the decade, with more than a dozen international top 10 singles and albums. McCartney resumed his solo career in 1980. Since 1989, he has toured consistently as a solo artist. In 1993, he formed the music duo the Fireman with Youth of Killing Joke. Beyond music, he has taken part in projects to promote international charities related to such subjects as animal rights, seal hunting, land mines, vegetarianism, poverty, and music education.McCartney is one of the most successful composers and performers of all time. He has written or co-written 32 songs that have reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, and as of 2009, had sales of 25.5 million RIAA-certified units in the United States. His honors include two inductions into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (as a member of the Beatles in 1988 and as a solo artist in 1999), 18 Grammy Awards, an appointment as a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1965, and a knighthood in 1997 for services to music. Here are all Paul McCartney albums ranked.
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10. McCartney (1970)
“McCartney II, however, remains my favorite. It’s quirky, varied, and unusual. I only dislike Waterfalls for being too wussy; everything else is good in one way or another. I also like its dark, almost cheap-sounding audio quality.”
9. Egypt Station (2018)
“This album exceeds my wildest expectations. I’m giving it 5 stars not because it’s on the level of The Beatles’ masterpieces or McCartney’s extraordinary albums like Ram and Band on the Run. But boy is it close. I don’t like to judge older artists against their peak years of creativity and popular success, but even if I look at this in terms of the albums he’s made since his creative resurgence in the late ’90s, there’s a good argument that this is the best of the lot, and probably even his best since 1982’s Tug of War.”
8. Memory Almost Full (2007)
“This is the best Paul McCartney album since Ram. Recorded at Abbey Road in 2007, It is full of wistful, nostalgic songs, as Paul looks back at his childhood and early life. The first two tracks, Dance Tonight and Ever Present Past, are two of the best songs Paul has written in his solo career. I prefer this album to New.”
7. Flowers in the Dirt (1989)
“I really liked Pauls vocal work on this album. The songs are all stamped with the McCartney seal of approval. A few are some of his best songs, notably: “you want her too”, “distractions”, “this one”, “don’t be careless love”, and “that day is done”. Icing on the cake for me was his collaboration with Elvis Costello (Declan McManus on some credits), who I thought brought a more sophisticated air to the production. If you like Paul McCartney I don’t see how you can go wrong with this album, Flowers in the Dirt.”
6. Back to the Egg (1979)
“It is true, on this album the rock songs zing with a grittiness of style and miked fuzziness of vocals, as in “Old Siam, Sir,” to this day I’ve never heard anything like the rhythms displayed on “Arrow Through Me,” the fun pretense of hearing someone switching radio dials as one song shifts to another in particular gives every song, even the couple of sweet dreamy “commercial” ones, every right to be there. .”
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5. Tug of War (1982)
“Tug of War was the soundtrack of my youth. I like this album mostly for the nostalgic feeling I get when I listen but overall it is a solid album. The unreleased tracks on disc two are amazing and easily should have made the album over the unfortunate “Get It” and “What’s That You’re Doing?”. Carl Perkins is an amazing legend and his appearance on this album could have been handled better. Get it is just bad. I chalk it up to the early 1980’s. Two “demo” versions of Ebony and Ivory were not needed, the song just doesn’t hold up and three versions of this song were not needed.”
4. Venus and Mars (1975)
“The album is fun, upbeat and bright without being lightweight. The instrumentation by all is excellent. Paul, the consummate musician, offers a colorful palette of song styles, from regulation pop-rock to a 20’s “Honey Pie” clone. The vocals are confident and on target, the tunes are melodic (Paul’s specialty), and the lyrics cover a range of odd and interesting topics. My favorites are the “Venus and Mars” theme and its reprise, “Rock Show”, “Magneto & Titanium Man”, “Letting Go” (practically a deification of Linda – God, how he loved her!), “Spirits Of Ancient Egypt”, “Call Me Back Again”, and of course, the big hit “Listen To What The Man Said”. OK, so, just about every song. I especially like the lyrics to the “Venus And Mars” reprise, and I think they embody the imaginative quirkiness that makes this such a good album: “
3. Flaming Pie (1997)
“Excellent album by McCartney. Includes 2 songs from the movie “Father’s Day” starring Robom Williams and Billy Crystal. Paul’s collaboration sith Steve Miller presents an awesome sound. Used To Be Bad highlights this collaboration. Bend Little Willow shows Paul’s genius at song writing.”
2. Chaos and Creation in the Backyard (2005)
“Without any doubt one of the best albums ever by Sir McCartney. Determined not to chose the easiest road, Nigel Godrich has accomplished a real miracle: to propel on the front of the stage the real adult Paul, not the “old liverpudlian teenager” personna he often hides behind.Here we discover a reflective artist at the sunset of his life, an elderly englishman haunted by his past and some tainted memories.
Surprisingly, this does not give a very sad record. Just a pensive one, full of very good songs. True songs. A masterpiece of sort.”
1. Ram (1971)
“Ram is a great record. It lacks the intensity of Band On The Run in its rockers but makes up for it with inventive, sticky melodies. This is vaudeville, blues and country music spliced together. He had already experimented with this style starting with Magical Mystery Tour, but here the style dominates. All of the songs are well above average. I bought the 1993 remaster and got 2 extra songs; the excellent ANOTHER DAY and OH WOMAN OH WHY.”
