Released: 17 April 1970
My pressing: Original Apple UK LP
The promotional film for "Something" by The Beatles, filmed in October 1969, is rather an anomaly in their nest. All Beatles are filmed separately from each other and instead with their wives (this being shot shortly after Lennon's private announcement he was leaving the group), however it's the Paul McCartney segments that are the most fascinating. Symbolizing the division between him and the other three Beatles, McCartney is shown self-filmed on lower resolution film than Lennon, Harrison and Starr, and looks extremely unkempt and shabby.
McCartney is shown on his farm in Cambeltown in Scotland. Finding himself ostracized from his Beatle bandmates due to business and bossiness issues, he had entered a self-imposed exile here with his wife Linda, step daughter Heather and newborn baby Mary. Not even becoming a father for the first time could halten McCartney's depression, and during his time in Scotland he increasingly became reliant on alcohol to cope with the break up of the band he loved being a part of. During an interview with Life magazine during this time, he sadly admitted "the Beatle thing is over".
Whether or not it was boredom or the desire to prove himself to the other three Beatles, upon his return to London McCartney immediately started to gather compositions for a solo album. He initially recorded the material at home, playing all instruments himself using a primitive setup, before taking the tapes to be polished up and mixed at Morgan Studios and the familiar environment of Studio 2 at EMI Studios on Abbey Road under the pseudonym of Billy Martin.
McCartney defiantly opens the album with three pieces of unbaked music. "The Lovely Linda", a 45 minute fragment that was recorded at home just to test the equipment, "That Would Be Something", composed in Scotland that consists of the same two lines of lyric repeated over and over, and "Valentine Day", an instrumental ad-libbed on the spot. It isn't until we get to track four that we get our first fully realised song in the shape of "Every Night". Although composed in 1968 and tried out during the Beatles' Get Back sessions, the lyrics could be seen to reflect McCartney's state of mind in the aftermath of the band's breakup and his need of Linda. In fact this theme of love routing out loneliness can be seen in two other songs recorded at Abbey Road on the same day: "Man We Was Lonely", symbolically featuring Linda on backing vocals and an arrangement that foreshadows the next album Ram; and the album's centerpiece "Maybe I'm Amazed". Most reviews of the album single out "Amazed" as the standout track, and they're correct. It is an extremely powerful love song, with a raw and honest vocal from McCartney.
Other songs of note include "Junk" and "Teddy Boy". The former in its final form is a beautiful, delicate track that sounds as if it's fallen off The White Album (and in fact demoed prior to that album being recorded). Like "Every Night", several attempts of "Teddy Boy" were tried out during the Beatles Get Back sessions of January 1969, the most famous of which appears on Anthology 3 and features "humorous" interjections by John Lennon.
A release date for the completed album was pencilled in for April 1970, however there was a snag. As Paul had withdrawn himself from the other three Beatles and in turn Apple Corps, he was unaware that they were planning to release Let It Be, the new Phil Spector-produced version of the Get Back sessions (more on that album in a future post), at the same time, as well as a solo album by Ringo Starr. Ringo himself opted to notify Paul of this by delivering a letter to his house, only to be thrown out by him on hearing the news. The other Beatles acquiesced, Let It Be was put back a month, and Paul's album was released on the 17th April 1970.
Christening the album McCartney couldn't be more perfect. Due to the primitive nature of the recording, it has a lo-fi, homemade quality to it which, rather like Paul's own public personna, makes it charming and accessible. At the time that concept albums were on the rise, its easy to see McCartney as one about family: songs recorded at home and about the wife. This is reflected in the packaging too: the inner gatefold sleeve of the record looks like a McCartney holiday snaps photo album, and the back cover features Paul with a terrified baby Mary looking out from inside his fleece lined leather jacket (incidentally, the same one he's seen wearing in the "Something" promo). True, Paul would maybe take this family idea a little too far with his 1972 single "Mary Had A Little Lamb" but with McCartney at least he found a happy medium.
No comments:
Post a Comment