Week 9, Unit 5
Band on the Run is one of my favorite all-time McCartney solo albums. It has everything from a rip-rockin' tunes like Jet to slow, bluesy beat such as Let Me Roll It. I really enjoy listening to the album every time I play it. In a sense, it reminds me of The Beatles (aka White album). It has the reminiscence of Blackbird, only this time it is a Bluebird. There is also the hint of dichotomous track layout with the fast-paced Helen Wheels being juxtaposed with Picasso's Last Words (Drink To Me). I really liked the way the whole album is one intriguing track after another.
The album is also similar to The Beatles with the blending of one track into the next. Just as Back In the U.S.S.R. blends beautifully into Dear Prudence, so too does Mamunia effortlessly flow into No Words. McCartney definitely had a hand in placing and mixing the segway of the tracks for his 1973 release.
Yet one more similarity to his Beatles-style recording is the medley of all the songs which were previously heard during the album found at the end of Picasso's Last Words. Just as Golden Slumbers/ Carry That Weight recaps the medley of songs preceding it, so too does McCartney utilize the same technique at the same point in Picasso's Last Words. A variational snippet of each song on the album can be found on the tail end of this track. I find it very interesting that Paul revitalizes old mixing techniques. I guess he figures that if he has a good thing going, why not use it once in a while in later recordings. If any other artist had tried rehashing old material on a later recording, it probably would have flopped. Paul, however, has this such things work. The fact that there is a lot of Beatles similarity in this recording is probably why it is such a favorite of mine.
The one thing that departs from the Beatles-style of recording is the last track found on Band On the Run. McCartney engages in a semi-epic jam session at the closure of the album with the song, Nineteen hundred and Eighty-Five. This is a funky, fast beat track with some great piano riffs maintaining an ominous tone throughout the song. I think this is a nice closure to the album because it sets itself apart from the rest of the theme of the album. It also makes the statement that he does not have to rely on old ideas to make a new album sound great. He continually presses for new sounds and ideas in each successive album. This is what makes Paul McCartney such a prolific songwriter and gave him fame in the first place.