Paul McCartney Off The Ground Album Review

[@briangilroy6294]

Good Review. Very Underrated Album. I think it’s slightly better than Flowers in the Dirt. His next album Flaming Pie is my favorite post Beatles album by Paul with Band on the Run. All of Paul’s albums from this point on are all good albums.

[@benmeltzer]

In 1999, I saw Elvis Costello perform "Mistress And Maid" (just Elvis and pianist Steve Nieve) and it was incredible.

[@TomCwimpRock]

Your review very much mirrors my own thoughts on “Off The Ground” - “glorious” was a good term to describe “Golden Earth Girl” - I think it’s one of Paul’s most overlooked ballads - such a sublime melody, with a warm, glowing feeling to it...It’s too bad that Paul didn’t work a little bit harder on some of his lyrics sometimes, especially on this album in particular, which has a lot of nice music scattered around “Peace In The Neighborhood” is another nice one - I think “C’mon people” could have been more effective if he could have written better words than the lazy platitudes he came up with - nice melody and arrangement though..Nice video John.

[@eddieteddie5559]

I'm glad you gave this album a full review, John. I've been torn on this one for a while; lots of tracks, like the Costello collaborations, Golden Earth Girl, and Get Out of My Way, I fully enjoy. But like you said, there's still a handful of weaker ones and I'm still not 100% sure what I think of it! But I still enjoy listening to it every now and then. Thanks for the great review!

[@knockedoutloaded279]

Slightly below McCartney is higher than most songwriters could achieve..

[@danny1959]

I heard "Biker Like an Icon" on the radio, and it put me off the entire album, so I never heard it. I'll check it out now.

[@tyronewhitehead3123]

I allways enjoy your reviews open and honest

[@kevinlylemartin1503]

Thanks for the review John. I happen to have the program from this tour as well. Pretty cool. I've been meaning to give this album another chance. It usually gets overshadowed by his best 70's and more recent albums for me but I'll check it out!

[@harrydance1969]

Never rated Hope of Deliverance but then I heard it blasting out on the beach front on Corfu and it sounded amazing. Lovers that never were is a stand out track on this LP - good tune, sound lyrics, great vocal. Don’t ask me why but I Owe it all to you I find quite emotional - the melody from the verses. Biker like an icon is a car (bike) crash. Golden Earth Girl is beautiful. Some fun moments on this largely forgotten album.

[@jldraw]

Perhaps somewhat of an underrated outing from McCartney. Now I do think it suffers from being slightly more MOR than it's predecessor and a fair bit too long but there are some quality tunes on the record. Truth be told and not to outright contradict your opinion, one of the prevailing thoughts on "Off The Ground" seems to be the songs that didn't end up making the cut would've greatly enhanced the record if they were included in favor of some of the material that did. I will say this that the tracks that ended up as b-sides had a great deal more variation to them in terms of approach when compared to the record itself, which isn't necessarily surprising. Artists usually try to give their records some type of cohesive identity and eliminate tracks which do not yield to that identity. Unfortunately what sometimes happens is through this process, a creeping sameness is allowed to permeate through the record, which I feel is that case here. I think "Off The Ground" is honestly one of those records where it's a paradox as it's both a bit too long and also has you at the same time searching for something more.

[@lanceoftheloc]

McCartney pinched "wine-dark sea" from Homer: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wine_dark_sea_(Homer). As for Biker Like an Icon, I thought it was Macca being too clever again, but the music saves it -- good tune, thoughtful lyrics.

[@tommilievemaa498]

John, have you ever thought about making a review of Liverpool Oratorio? It came out around the same time than these albums, Off the ground and Flowers in the dirt. Although it is in a classical form, it has some nice "pop songs" in it in my opinion. You don´t see too much discussion about it, so it might be worth it.

[@walkerandwilliam]

A very fair review John. Pretty much mirrors my thoughts.

[@johnlindsay3820]

This is one McCartney album that I keep coming back to - I think it has aged well with some great tracks. I actually like looking for changes, mistress and maid is woefully underrated, wine dark open sea, lovers that never were, I owe it all to you, peace in the neighbourhood, golden earth girl that’s seven brilliant tracks - so many post Beatles albums I’m searching for one or two!

[@andygaines9686]

Every few years I get this out and try to like this album. . . and then put it back again. I don't actually think it is "bad as such but it just seems to start and then ends with nothing standing out. Interestingly, like a few others here, I do think that the production lets it down a lot.

[@jamesfair4315]

The Vibe I had when this came out was sadness. I felt something wasn't right. My first song from this album that I liked was Winedark Open Sea. Maybe Linda found out about her illness during this? I don't know. I like your review and I'll give this a listen to again.

[@spinynorman8217]

Hahaha love Biker... that's life!

[@harrydance1969]

Watched a lot of your videos recently - very enjoyable - thanks for all the hard work.

[@jamesboyce4000]

I wonder if we were at any of the same shows, John? I was at Wembley Arena on the 21st Jan 1990 and Earls Court September 11th and 14th 1993.
I dug out Off The Ground last week and the original tracklisting hasn't improved with age at all, nearly all the B-sides and other songs from the sessions trounce most of the songs on the original album. One of the other comments from someone saying Egypt Station was as poor as Off The Ground is really so wide of the mark it's laughable, ES has much better production and the song quality towers way above the Off The Ground material.
Funny coincidence John, I went off to see Dire Straits bassist John Illsley at a local gig last night and Robbie McIntosh was on lead guitar which was great. I also had a chance to talk about the Off The Ground sessions with him after which was fun, but as usual at these things I didn't get a chance to talk for as long as I would've liked, not his fault by the way, but he was great.

[@fittobetiedyed5315]

This one is from my McCartney blackout period. That was the time after Pressed To Play where I had stopped listening. Never heard it until years later. Like the jury, I'm still out on it. I do wish the vinyl would re-appear, though.

[@jamesgriffithsmusic]

Not a bad album, not a great one. I'm not too fond of Mistress and Maid, I wish he'd done his own version of So Like Candy instead. I always assumed Biker Like An Icon closed side 1. I always liked the B-side I Can't Imagine. Nice informative review John.

[@matthewmedley8532]

Good review. I’ll add it to my list.

[@pauljackson8354]

MY FAVOURITE TRACK IS CMON PEOPLE

[@Vincent-bs5mf]

I like it to! 🤗

[@pauljackson8354]

The whole album is great as are all of Sir Pauls.One of the greatest musicians from the UK and of course was in The Beatles.

[@kopptue9622]

"Kicked around no more" is such a beautiful song. Actually I'd rather listen to the Hope of deliverance cd single than the album itself.

[@Andrew-ud7nu]

Cheers for this review. Liked the tour info which gives the live background. I really like Peace in the Neighborhood. Think it's got a great grove. I do like this album and title track.

[@frommetoyou1981]

I think i prefer it to flowers in the dirt though i agree it isnt clear cut.....hope of deliverance is superb, i owe it all to you, i really like looking for changes, peace in the neighbourhood. Robbie McIntosh is a fine guirarist and his playing throughout is excellent. Very good album!

[@Robutube1]

I've always thought that Paul could do a great version of his co-penned (with Declan McManus) song "Veronica" from this period; it has a drive and a hook that is pure Paul, although I know that Elvis Costello, in his autobiography, laid claim to the lion's share of the songwriting.

[@PeKe999]

Hi.
An average Paul album. Not in my top 10 Paul albums.
The tour in 1989-1990, as recorded on Tripping The Life Fantastic, was a great one. I saw Paul in Rotterdam.
The Paul Is Live tour, again Rotterdam, in my opinion was too polished. The sound was too clean.

[@nowhereman6496]

I was just playing this album for the first time in years. I then came across your review. Nice review as always. It's certainly like a bookend to FITD. Same feel, same band. Not great, Not bad. I think song for song this is slightly better than FITD but it just doesn't have the outstanding tracks that FITD has like "This One", "My Brave Face", "Put It There", etc . Overall, I do feel alot of the tracks on this album as well as the b-side tracks all have a middle of the road feel or sound. They're all ok, but, nothing really special. He had alot of material here, probably too much. In speaking of the Costello/McCartney collaboration, I always felt many of the songs they wrote tended to sound overly Costello-like both in lyrical content as well as their structure. The lyrics usually have a sort of dark and very wordy nature. Whereas, musically alot of them seem to have a sort of waltz type feel.

[@ste-fitzgerald]

Aw I was there at NEC Birmingham for that tour. I went to Glasgow and heard him do Mull of Kintrye with the bagpipes., which was good.

[@randywoodsman2999]

I've had the complete works disk for some time. I think the out takes Long leather coat, Style style, Kicked around no more and Down to the river are excellent. If he would have taken the dogs off the album and added these it would be one of his best.

[@1nelsondj]

I also like 'Winedark Open Sea' mostly for Paul's impassioned singing. He's usually not that emotional on records. The music for 'Biker Like an Icon' was good, it's the lame chorus with the rhyming of biker+like+icon that kills it. 'Hope of Deliverance' is very good.

[@kevinmost2719]

My favourite tracks are Mistress and maid,Wine Dark Open Sea,Lovers That Never Were and C'mon Peaple

[@didierbion8056]

Both programs were free.

[@andrewbowman4611]

While I agree with you about The Lovers That Never Were, I find Mistress and Maid a bit lacking. That said, I think Off the Ground is a good, but not great, McCartney album. It sits alongside Driving Rain and Egypt Station for me.

[@Robutube1]

Good to see 'Driving Rain' get a mention; one of Paul's that seems to have vanished without trace. I'll get sideways glances for saying this, but 'Rinse The Raindrops' is a top ten post mop-top Paul song of mine.

[@ricardo9574]

Great review! Maybe some of the songs would've worked better if it wasn't for the production. The live album doesn't really work for me, the setlist is interesting but the band lacks something. I've been wondering how many times have you seen him live?

[@johnheaton5667]

rteixeiraf I think 19 is the latest count:- )

[@david_verti_calman]

This album gets a big no from me, enjoyed the various Costello collaborations though. I too saw Paul live Jan 90 at the Nec in Birmingham and no problems there, nice touch with the free programme.

[@edvanakkeren6481]

Hi John, "Wine Dark Open Sea" (the lyrics, that is) was borrowed from Homer.

[@strathman7501]

The lyrics' debt to Homer is only the phrase "wine-dark sea" which Homer uses a few times in the Iliad.

[@bronzesnake7004]

Hey John. You're probably familiar with "The Fab Four" Beatles tribute band, and one of the best line ups I've seen.
The very best Beatles cover/tribute band "Beatlemania" I saw that band, and they had two full bands, naming them "Bunk 1" and "bunk 2"
I saw them 9 times!! Those guys were band on with the music, and they resembled the actual Beatles much better than any other tribute I've seen.
Rain is the best right now and they're pretty close but you can pick out weaknesses in vocals when higher notes are required.
Over all I'd give Rain 8 out of 10
The "Paul" character also has a Wings tribute which I thought you might like to hear, so here's a link John
ruclips.net/video/MW1rHMkP1j0/видео.html
You've very quickly become the critic I go to first, with your vast knowledge of historical events, and just about anything else anyone could ever want to know!
Thanks for the effort John! GREAT CHANNEL!'
Jack - Canada

[@davidgena2667]

I bought it, I played it....once. That was enough for me.

[@MeanMrMayo]

Bah.

[@davidgena2667]

MeanMrMayo Humbug. 😉

[@elifonkonsolakis2521]

"Wine dark open sea" is a good translation of the omeric clause "επι οινοπα ποντο" (epi: on, oinopa: looking like dark wine, ponto: dark sea); so thanks Paul for making room for this worthy quote, but let's also thank Homer a little bit, shall we?!

[@strathman7501]

Oh, come on. Yes, we know it's from the Iliad, but the phrase "wine-dark sea" has been quoted, requoted, celebrated, interpreted and analysed to death by classicists for centuries. I don't know what the spirit of Homer has made of that, but at this stage I don't think he'd worry about a songwriting credit from Paul McCartney!

[@nielsbie8922]

Blair Cunningham was not as good Chris. Of the Ground is a good try to Be a band album, it doesn`t succed though. Come On People is a Way of rewriting Hey Jude..

[@regaltip8A]

Any pro drummer would easily see what an average and uninspiring drummer Blair was. He has now vanished from the world of music.

[@stephenwalsh2242]

When I saw Paul in concert last year the programme cost £25...

[@rainblaze.]

Stephen Walsh
yeah, i guess doverce, the veritable "arse" falling out the pound, and a crash in the worlds economy will do that to yah..... Even if your a billionaire...... aparently 🤔🤔🤔

[@ginigang]

An album I gave away but not before uploading Lovers that Never Were.

[@lionheartroar3104]

Two good songs on that album and the rest is rather forgettable.

[@davidjackson5449]

Whilst I like the 3 Paul,Elvis you mention John I would have to also include Veronica and So Like Candy as 2 other great collaborations. With Off the ground I think it's certainly better than Pipes of Peace in my view his worst album.

[@rainblaze.]

David Jackson
i agree, i think "so like candy" is the pinnacle of good taste and maturity, seldom seen in mccartneys work sans "fab",and was, i think, a sign of where the partnership could have led if it had persisted. But that same maturity and word play was, i feel more down to costellos influnce on macca than the other way round. Christ! even pauls version manages to dragg it into the twee, an sweet ,to what is a bitter, resentful and pongnant song .... should have stuck to biker lika icon.... i guess

[@regaltip8A]

Fair album. A little lightweight for my liking.

[@rjun67]

I got it.... but I never heard it....but Hope of Deliverance was the last GOOD song he ever did

[@ccpbass2032]

The worst McCartney solo album? Has to be up there, a massive dip in quality after Flowers In The Dirt.

[@didierbion8056]

Still got that program :)

[@BruceColon-BSides]

Was very disappointed by how weak this was at the time. Expected a much better follow-up to Flowers in the Dirt. Some of his worst lyrics ever too. Crap cover also.

[@beatlejames5745]

Hi John. Did you go to the Albert Docks gig in the summer of '91?

[@johnheaton5667]

Beatle James nope!

[@jamesgriffithsmusic]

@@johnheaton5667 Great gig. It was the last time I saw him.

[@jimcullen2211]

C'mon People has a pleasant melody and some good musicianship. It lacks proper lyrics. The subject is too vague and doesn't connect. It was a missed opportunity to write a hit.

[@underdog1117]

I have to say. I feel this is the last good Paul McCartney album .it's very weak. But good. All the albums after it I can't Listen to. They are so bad..I have them all .

[@manolokonosko2868]

It's mostly a good album. The songs are likable although it could well do without the preachy crap trap that he foolishly and routinely falls into - it cheapens his image and legacy, bordering on mockery of what he is or was. Collaborations with Elvis Costello tend to yield songs on 3/4 time, like a waltz, sometimes with a circus or carnival feel. I hate that. Having said that, the album is still a keeper, and fortunately it kind of served like an Elvis Costello purger as we never get to hear another one of those putrid collaborations again. To be fair, the biggest and best song that came from this unclean association was a hit for Elvis Costello, whereas none of the others were fit for even a B side. The song was "Veronica". I think Paul's been cheated.

[@mikel4797]

Have to agree with you on Biker Like An Icon. I find it an excruciatingly annoying song...

[@MikeVernonProd]

One of my least favourite McCartney albums along with Press To Play and Driving Rain.

[@markbowen6623]

My least favourite McCartney solo album. Some good numbers such as Mistress and Maid and Golden Earth Girl are overshadowed by too much weak material. A stronger album would have built on the momentum of Flowers in the Dirt.

[@regaltip8A]

How anyone can rate any Macca album above McCartney II is beyond my comprehension.

[@markbowen6623]

@@regaltip8A That's because Off The Ground doesn't have songs as strong as Waterfalls, One of These Days or Coming Up on it. I also prefer the lo-fi production on McCartney 2.