• Chaos And Creation Dali
• Band Aid

Just listened to this today for the first time in a couple years. What a great and consistent album this is! I always think of this album as among my top McCartney picks (maybe: number two after Ram?), but there's nothing like actually listening to the thing to have its genius take one by surprise. Probably I like it better than all but a small handful of Beatle albums.The thing that struck me this time was the major-minor inversions that feature so centrally in so many tracks. Quite striking. And a little destabilizing: is this a major song or a minor song?

Usually minor! But not only! Is this a happy song or an unhappy song? Usually unhappy! But not only!

It's like one of the themes of the album, musically and probably lyrically (taken as a whole album) is the confusing co-existence of major and minor, happiness and unhappiness, love and its opposite. That unusual combination - not unusual in actual life, I think, but unusual in how we usually think about life - maybe pushed Paul to stranger and more exploratory musical developments on this album: the major-minor inversions, but also the suspended resolutions that are so common on this album. It's a good album, but I've never understood the love it gets in these parts. It sounds a little self-conscious to me, and the production is somewhat dry and airless. It lacks energy, and some of the songs sound unfinished or not properly thought through (listen to the lyrics of, say, Jenny Wren, At The Mercy or Anyway - there are some good lines in each, but do they actually hang together and tell a cohesive story?).

The lyrics to This Never Happened Before make me cringe - real greetings card stuff.But.on the plus side, the album does have a mood and style unlike any other McCartney record. And there are some fine songs - Riding to Vanity Fair is excellent, as is English Tea and Follow Me. Fine Line is irresistible, and I love the intro to Promise to You Girl.

A Certain Softness is another stand-out, one of his best latter-day ballads. B-side Comfort of Love should've been on the album, too.So there's a lot to enjoy and, if I'm in the right mood, it's a potent listen. I just don't like it as much as many others do.

Memory Almost Full is much more my kind of McCartney. It's a good album, but I've never understood the love it gets in these parts. It sounds a little self-conscious to me, and the production is somewhat dry and airless.

It lacks energy, and some of the songs sound unfinished or not properly thought through (listen to the lyrics of, say, Jenny Wren, At The Mercy or Anyway - there are some good lines in each, but do they actually hang together and tell a cohesive story?). The lyrics to This Never Happened Before make me cringe - real greetings card stuff.But.on the plus side, the album does have a mood and style unlike any other McCartney record. And there are some fine songs - Riding to Vanity Fair is excellent, as is English Tea and Follow Me. Fine Line is irresistible, and I love the intro to Promise to You Girl.

A Certain Softness is another stand-out, one of his best latter-day ballads. B-side Comfort of Love should've been on the album, too.So there's a lot to enjoy and, if I'm in the right mood, it's a potent listen. I just don't like it as much as many others do. Memory Almost Full is much more my kind of McCartney. Click to expand.Sounds like we disgree: if Anyway is my favorite, At the Mercy is a serious contender for my second-favorite on the album.

I also like the lyrics on both, which give some basic shape to the musical mood of weariness and longing. I'm sort of a holistic listener, though - it doesn't really make sense to me to stringently disassociate the parts of a song and consider them in isolation. So, the lyrics, considered apart from the music, may be just as you say, but since I really never attend to them that way, I have a different experience (of course it may also that we have different standards, or different triggers, for introspection and profundity). Click to expand.C&C is certainly (imo) the best place to start, post-1980s, if you want good lyrics in a McCartney album - it's a deep, thoughtful album and (apparently) Nigel Godrich banned any and all 'let's just jam and make up lyrics on the spot' songs. For my money, there are LOTS of great latter-day Paul songs with good or even great lyrics - from Flaming Pie on through Egypt Station. Even the much-maligned Driving Rain has songs with an earthy 'realness' that helps them rise above the worst that album has to offer.

But by all means, dive into Chaos & Creation and give it a few good listens - it's a grower.As for the DR rating, it is certainly louder than a piano-and-acoustic based album needs to be, and a handful of folks here with more sensitive ears have deemed it 'unlistenable' or 'ear-bleeding.' You'll get a different answer from every response to your query. For me, it's perfectly listenable - it just doesn't sound like Ram or Band On The Run. Memory Almost Full is - by a MILE - the worst-sounding CD Paul has ever released. So give C&C a shot, and if you like the songs but not the CD mastering, give the LP a try - it's a bit better (albeit from the same master, I'd guess).

C&C is certainly (imo) the best place to start, post-1980s, if you want good lyrics in a McCartney album - it's a deep, thoughtful album and (apparently) Nigel Godrich banned any and all 'let's just jam and make up lyrics on the spot' songs. For my money, there are LOTS of great latter-day Paul songs with good or even great lyrics - from Flaming Pie on through Egypt Station. Even the much-maligned Driving Rain has songs with an earthy 'realness' that helps them rise above the worst that album has to offer. But by all means, dive into Chaos & Creation and give it a few good listens - it's a grower.As for the DR rating, it is certainly louder than a piano-and-acoustic based album needs to be, and a handful of folks here with more sensitive ears have deemed it 'unlistenable' or 'ear-bleeding.'

You'll get a different answer from every response to your query. For me, it's perfectly listenable - it just doesn't sound like Ram or Band On The Run.

Memory Almost Full is - by a MILE - the worst-sounding CD Paul has ever released. So give C&C a shot, and if you like the songs but not the CD mastering, give the LP a try - it's a bit better (albeit from the same master, I'd guess). IMO his best work since BOTR.

I love NG production. You can feel his touch on almost every track while Paul does not sound constrained at all.

As a matter of fact I always remind of Radiohead’s Daydreaming while listening to How Kind of You. Then, we have Fine Line, with the backing vocals and the tambourine at the end of the song.just fantastic!!As the vinyl turns on. Friends to Go!! Wow, what a wonderful melody, and the final chorus makes me get emotional every time a listen to it! A Certain Softness is one of my personal favorites.

The instrumentation here is magnificent, please do heed the piano in the middle of the song, this is McCartney at his very best!!! I like the album for the high points and great songs, I love every song that we have heard from the sessions but I find it very overrated as an album. It’s been my favorite before, but somewhere I’ve lost the love. The monotonous sadness is just not something I’m in the mood for much. Still clearly one of his best albums though.It is very good McCartney with all of the joy stripped from it, not even the upbeat songs sound like he is having a good time. I don’t know guys, I love it but it could never be my favorite.My personal tracklisting:.

Promise To You Girl. How Kind of You. Jenny Wren.

At the Mercy. Friends to Go. English Tea.

Too Much Rain. A Certain Softness. Riding to Vanity. Follow Me. Growing Up, Falling Down.

This Loving Game. Anyway.

Chaos And Creation Dali

Here's how I am able to believe that Chaos & Creation is a classic work. With Macca, fairly or not, everything gets held to the Beatles standard, and I listen to each solo LP with a mental checklist containing the following items:(1) Song - Is it good? Good hook/haunting melody?(2) Performance - Are the instruments well chosen, well arranged and well played?(3) Vocals - Is Paul singing with anything approaching the sincerity or passion of 1966-70?(4) Lyrics - Is it 'Let It Be' or 'Bip Bop'? If in between, is it passable, or do I cringe?(5) Production - Is it crisp and clear-minded, squishy and overcooked, soft and formless, or simply wrong for these songs/this album/this artist?If you start with the assumption that the Beatles were generally a '5 for 5' band, then the problem with Paul is that he's often been a '2 for 5' solo artist. He may have some good songs, but crappy lyrics and production ( Wild Life). He might have good songs and decent lyrics, but erratic performances and production ( Flowers In The Dirt).

He might have great production, performaces and singing, but bad songs ( Speed Of Sound). You get the idea, and just insert your own examples if you disagree with mine.As I listen to Chaos, more than two years after its release, I hear good-to-great tunes, great performances, strong singing (aided by the earnest and determined production, perhaps), good-to-great lyrics ( never terrible - a true raritiy for an entire album), and clear, sympathetic production. To give specific examples, I think 'Too Much Rain,' 'At The Mercy' and 'A Certain Softness' are 5 for 5s, while 'Follow Me' is a very generic 2 for 5, with the good production and decent singing not quite salvaging a lazy melody, ordinary performance, and trite lyrics.'

How Kind Of You' SHOULD be a 5 for 5, but there's something about the mix - too poorly defined - that prevents me from completely loving it. 'Jenny Wren' and 'Friends To Go' are also outstanding, and 'This Never Happened Before,' despite being a pretty traditional Macca ballad, is never cloying and not undermined by its lyrics as, say, 'Your Loving Flame' is. It also has an odd Bacharach thing going on that makes it unique among Macca's ballads.My only real gripe with Chaos & Creation is that it's a little too tidy, and that it needs a wee bit more variety. If you're going to put 'chaos' in the title, you need to loosen up just a LITTLE - that's why I inserted 'Growing Up, Falling Down' into the prominent #2 slot on my personal comp, and I edited in all the rough endings and beginnings from the DVD.

Still, there's no question it's in my personal Top Three Solo McCartney albums. Still love it, even two years later, even after Memory Almost Full came along and kicked it out of my CD player seven months ago.​Today, over 11 years later, I still feel the same way. To me, C&C isn't just a 'late period' classic, it's a CLASSIC, period. I did make my own 'Complete Chaos' comp, and that's how I tend to listen to it - but the regular album itself (with all the b-sides and bonus tracks) is brilliant as-is. Here's my tracklist for the comp, for anyone who is interested:01.

Band Aid

Fine Line (DVD version with extra studio doodling at start)02. Growing Up, Falling Down03. How Kind of You (originally omitted, but it grew on me)04.

Jenny Wren05. At The Mercy06. Friends To Go (with extra guitar bit from DVD)07. I Want You To Fly08. English Tea09. Too Much Rain10.

A Certain Softness (with extra sound fx at start from DVD)11. Heather (I wanted something else uptempo, and this fit)12. This Never Happened Before13. Promise To You Girl (with extra vamping at start, from DVD)14. Anyway (with unfaded ending, from DVD)BONUS TRACKS:15. Riding To Vanity Fair16.

Comfort of Love17. This Loving Game19.

You Are So Beautiful20. I've Only Got Two Hands ('remix' of CD and DVD versions)HIDDEN TRACK:21. Summer of '59REALLY HIDDEN TRACK:22. I've Only Got Two Hands (excerpt - the 'noisy' bit). Click to expand.Some are. I don't think many of his albums have universal agreement on their quality. He's got some albums generally considered 'classics' that I think are overrated - Tug Of War and Flowers in particular.

But Chaos may not be as 'divisive' as you think it is - if you look at the recent project of polling and rating all his albums (coordinated and results compiled by mrjinks), I think Chaos ranked pretty high on the list, with a LOT of votes. It seems to me that the critics of the album REALLY don't like it, and are pretty vocal about it. But I don't know if an album that (estimating) 70% of his fans love can be considered 'divisive.' I don't think many of his albums have universal agreement on their quality. He's got some albums generally considered 'classics' that I think are overrated - Tug Of War and Flowers in particular.

But Chaos may not be as 'divisive' as you think it is - if you look at the recent project of polling and rating all his albums (coordinated and results compiled by mrjinks), I think Chaos ranked pretty high on the list, with a LOT of votes. It seems to me that the critics of the album REALLY don't like it, and are pretty vocal about it. But I don't know if an album that (estimating) 70% of his fans love can be considered 'divisive.' Click to expand.The bass guitar on the 2 ballads at the end, is very reminiscent of the Abbey Road album. The melodic nature of the parts & the tone.The one thing Chaos could use is one more upbeat rocking track. The ratio of slow & mellow songs versus rock or upbeat songs is pretty high.

10 ballads or mid tempo mellow pop songs, versus just 2 upbeat songs, & Friends to go, which is very light on drums or guitars. Just one more rocking track would be so great.Ironically Growing up falling down is so incredibly cool, but it's almost Pink Floydish slow. I wish there was an alternate Comfort of love.As far as people saying Chaos lacks in good or great melodies, & hooks. I wonder what album they're listening to, or what their taste in music isI couldn't possibly disagree more. It's like saying Mozart stinks or Dylan has too many words. It's like wtf?I think Anyway & This Never Happened Before are great tracks, & really nice tunes. But they both suffer from bad to mediocre song titles, bland, generic, which of course an detract from the hookiness or commercial appeal.If they had hooky cool titles like You never give me your money or Golden Slumbers they'd be right up there with Abbey Road.Even with Godrich exerting excellent quality control on Chaos, with 11 years of hindsight to play Monday morning quarterback, these are the only knocks I have on the album.

One that the album could use one more peppy song, & 2nd the 2 big closing ballads Anyway & This Never Happened Before, would have been better, more commercial, with more impact, if they had better titles, & one more peppy song preceding them. This Never Happened Before is one of McCartney's absolute best ballads, it sounds classic to me!Absolutely nothing wrong with the vocals or the title!I've always said, I think the producers suggestion to get rid of McCartney's band was a huge mistake!As good as the album is, just imagine how good it would've been with his band, musicians who specialize at their instruments.McCartney's one man band sound is cool, but the sound of a real band just can't be replaced.I think it would have elevated the songs even more!

This Never Happened Before is one of McCartney's absolute best ballads, it sounds classic to me!Absolutely nothing wrong with the vocals or the title!I've always said, I think the producers suggestion to get rid of McCartney's band was a huge mistake!As good as the album is, just imagine how good it would've been with his band, musicians who specialize at their instruments.McCartney's one man band sound is cool, but the sound of a real band just can't be replaced.I think it would have elevated the songs even more! Click to expand.I think the band could've been great if they used the released album as the demo to listen to as the guide for arrangements & playing.But that would've been a ton of work. Can you imagine McCartney telling Godrich' Say Nigel I like your'e contributions mate, but I think we'll use this as the demo for the band' redo all the tracks one by one, as the band hears what we've done.In actual fact, to a lesser degree, McCartney does this sort of thing all the time.The MCartney-McManus 88 band demos, the Phil Ramone sessions of 86-87 where McCartney recorded This One, Beautiful Night, We Got Married, only to re-record them entirely for later albums.The entire Band on the run album was recorded with the original Wings lineup of Paul, Denny, Henry, Seiwell & Linda. The tape was stolen in Nigeria during a robbery.

Paul & Denny & Linda cut the whole thing again from memory.The later Wings cut several tracks, later re recorded during the McCartney-George Martin partnership of 80-84. You can go all the way back to a supposed elaborate demo with drums, bass & guitar of 'What Goes On' by McCartney in 1965. Presumably for Ringo & George to learn their parts.So it's not such a stretch to imagine the band using the finished album as demos. Except McCartney & Godrich thought it was too good & to leave it alone.

I too wish I could hear the band doing those tracks, but with McCartneys exact arrangements.