Flowers In The Dirt (studio album) by Paul McCartney

From indieshins 07/03/2023 23:56

Yeah - sadly this is my least favourite period of Paul's work. This isn't my least favourite album of his, though. This has a few songs I really like - My Brave Face, We Got Married, That Day is Done, and even the modest little ditties Put It There and This One. Two of those songs I just mentioned were collaborations with Elvis Costello, perhaps my all-time favourite songwriter. But some of the songs they wrote together are not very good - see Pads, Paws and Claws from Costello's Spike album, released this same year, or Playboy to a Man, released on the follow up to that album, Mighty Like A Rose. On the whole, though, they produced a great batch of songs, some of which you can hear on this album and Off The Ground, and some on Costello's albums from around this time.

I just wish that Paul had taken Elvis's advice and produced this in a rawer fashion, rather than insisting on in-vogue '80s production. It doesn't sound *as* of its time as Press to Play, but I think some of the production choices here really do the songs a disservice. It's also not as weird as I usually like my Paul. I don't necessarily need a whole album of weird, but some songs here and there would be nice - like Pretty Little Head and Footprints on Press to Play, for example, or Arrow Through Me off Back to the Egg. This doesn't really have any of those, so for me, it's one of my least favourite Macca albums despite the presence of those Costello cowrites. I understand why it was seen as a return to form for him, though.

Resurgir de McCartney tral el que, posiblemente, fue su periodo más bajo.

We need a separate entry for the deluxe edition with the Elvis Costello demos. If those demos had been released as a separate album accredited to the two artists as a joint effort, it really would have been something, maybe one of the best albums of the 80s.

From arturguerra 04/11/2020 23:34

It does have some good songs, but the production is cheesy.

I regard flowers in the dirt as one of Paul McCartney's best solo albums. About a third of the songs are written with Elvis Costello, and they are amongst some of the best tracks here. My brave face, is superb, and, that day is done, is also very good. There are other excellent cuts on the record too, with, let's get married, put it there, and the utterly beautiful, distractions, all great. There's also, rough ride, the lovely acoustic track, put it there, and, this one, a great song obviously dedicated to Linda. How many people, a kind of pop/reggae song, is probably the weakest track on the album, but there's nothing bad here. The album ends with, motor of love, which features some beach boys-esque vocals from McCartney. In my opinion, this is in the top six or seven McCartney albums. Very good LP.

A very good album. The first eight songs are solid gold.

Some nice songs but not near his best work.

From Captain_Dude 09/29/2011 00:26

Great offering from McCartney!