Chaos and Creation in the Backyard

Paul McCartney

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 13, 2005)
• Original Release Date: September 13, 2005
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Capitol
• ASIN: B000AL730O
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (449 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #30,694 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

From Amazon.co.uk
Sir Paul is an elder statesman now, but Chaos and Creation in the Backyard finds him in considered and tastefully restrained form, penning songs worthy of his finest hour. McCartney crafts this collection of songs with exquisite balance, lining up haunting chimes and heartfelt lyrics ("Riding to Vanity Fair") alongside pounding "Hey Bulldog"-esque chords and eerily Beatles-ish multitracked vocals ("Promise to You Girl," "Fine Line") and, most impressively, distinctively new yet timeless gems of songcraft ("Anyway," "Jenny Wren"). Emotionally, Chaos and Creation manages to avoid being mired in oversentimentality, while retaining a powerful, understated sincerity. Poignant though it is, however, the record is essentially positive and hopeful: Sir Paul's playfulness beams through in his intonation, which picks up a line such as "It's not right/In your life/Too much rain" and breathes life and optimism into its words. "English Tea" completes the package, an unrepentantly twee serving of Anglo-nostalgia with recorder. Chaos and Creation in the Backyard displays the full range of McCartney's inimitable talent, presenting listeners with one of his finest solo albums. --Jonti Davies

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Product Description
UK 13-track vinyl LP vinyl co-produced with Nigel Godrich (Radiohead, Travis and Beck) and featuring the single 'Fine Line', presented in gatefold picture sleeve and includes 4 limited edition art prints! Chaos And Creation In The Back Yard, Paul McCartney's 20th studio recording since The Beatles, marks an end to a nearly four-year hiatus since his last studio recording, 2001's platinum certified 'Driving Rain'. The new 13-track album is co-produced by Nigel Godrich (Radiohead, Travis and Beck) and McCartney, and was recorded in London and Los Angeles over the course of the past two years. Parlophone. 2005. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

144 of 168 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Feel Free to Make Yourself at Home, September 13, 2005

By	Tom Emanuel (Deadwood, SD USA) - See all my reviews

Sir Paul McCartney's previous album, 2001's Driving Rain, was awarded almost unanimous critical approval. Interestingly enough, I loved it at first but slowly grew out of it, instead of the other way around. Pundits across the board are now giving their even more fervent blessings to Paul's newest effort. But will Chaos & Creation in the Backyard (2005) prove a repeat performance?

Well, let's see. At the recommendation of legendary Beatles maestro Sir George Martin, Chaos & Creation in the Backyard is produced by Nigel Godrich of Radiohead fame. Not surprisingly, he was an excellent choice. Godrich had a much greater hand in the creative process than most of Paul's former producers - it was at his behest Macca's touring band was dismissed, forcing the ex-Beatle to provide almost all the instrumentation himself ala his homemade solo debut. But Chaos & Creation is anything but homemade; with tasteful, layered arrangements and a crisp, glossy sound, there's a sense of craftsmanship and professionalism here that was lacking in the 1970 record. And if it wasn't directly his doing - Paul's own age and resultant maturity probably had some effect - Godrich's quality control was more than likely a factor in Chaos & Creation's moody, introspective tone.

Indeed, this record often finds Paul in or striving for a darker humour than his wont. To mixed results: Riding to Vanity Fair sags beneath its self-conscious malaise, but the rainy-day Jenny Wren is evidence Macca can still do damn fine melancholy. Which is not to say C&C is a gloomy album: this is Paul McCartney after all, a lover and an optimist at heart. So the LP has its share of romantic ballads and feel-good "uppers", even if there IS a conspicuous dearth of Sir Paul's trademark stylistic diversions. Both lyrically and tunefully Chaos is a marked improvement on Driving Rain. It's still hit-and-miss - witness the simplistic rhymes of Follow Me and This Never Happened Before, or How Kind of You's melodic meandering. But they're none of them BAD, and the pastoral tableaux of English Tea, pensive melancholia of At the Mercy, and Top 20 (!) single A Fine Line, among others, atone amply.

Because even when the material doesn't entirely work, the McCartney/Godrich partnership manages to salvage whatever charms a tune may possess and bring them to the fore. Whether it will ultimately turn out to be an encore of Driving Rain, I can't say; but as far as I can see Chaos & Creation in the Backyard is a respectable addition to a legendary oeuvre.

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This never happened to me anymore..., September 24, 2005

By	Marcel van Valen (Almere, Netherlands) - See all my reviews

As a boy, I grew up with The Beatles. I felt the little hairs on my arms stand up when their first hit aired on the radio, went to see all their movies (yes, I believed The Beatles lived together in that big house with four doors), got stoned with Sergeant Pepper and even more with the second side of Abbey Road, worried when I saw how they grew apart in Let it Be, was heartbroken when the Fab Four finally split up.

I followed McCartney on his adventures as a solo artist and with Wings. Even though he wrote some of his best work during that period, his albums always lacked something, and often a lot - even Band on the Run had parts that I wanted to skip. Too many albums followed. I kinda lost interest after a while.

And then came Chaos and Creation. After playing it for the second time, I found that I was humming some of the melodies and riffs in my mind. I just had to play the album over and over. Then something weird happened. Tears started running down my face. Huh? This never happened to me anymore... not since A Long and Winding Road, anyway. But it did. And the album just keeps getting better.

History will have to prove if this is Paul's best album, as I suspect it is. It shows all he has to offer: great melodies, a voice that still lends itself to every mood and genre, lyrics that go from poetic to weird and from silly to corny. But hey, that is Paul. Honest and sincere, sometimes with a hint of irony, but never cynical. And the combination of those ingredients creates music that goes straight to the heart.

Much of the quality of Chaos and Creation is due to the excellent production. So, thanks to everyone who helped McCartney create this album. But above all, thanks to Paul for touching me again with his music now, just as he did when I was a boy.

39 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars McCartney's Best In A While, September 18, 2005

By	Juan Mobili (Valley Cottage, NY USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

I considered calling this review "McCartney's Most Honest and Restrained Album In A While" but was concerned that it may be interpreted as some sort of criticism rather than describing the two elements that make it his best in a long while.

Several songs in this album, which offer more breadth and depth that I've listened from Paul in recent albums, showed a more introspective and unsentimental view of life. I would not call this set solemn as much as restrained, avoiding a certain indulging of his cheerful side that, in my opinion, has accounted for uneven albums in the past.

Tunes like "Riding To Vanity Fair," "Jenny Wren," and "Anyway" are great examples of McCartney's extraordinary gift for tender melodies, yet manage to stop short from "precious Pop."

To this point, in addition to these songs being a very inspired batch, Nigel Godrich's production is a key factor. It seems, from what I read, that he was able to push back on Paul enough to reveal the best and most sincere these songs have to offer, the ones mentioned before -as well as "Too Much Rain" and "A Certain Softness, for the sake of additional examples.

That's, I think, a great producer's gift, to reveal -not to create- the inner beauty of music and words, to provide the sound and mood that makes them stand out -think Rubin with Cash, or Lanois with Emmylou Harris. He did not make this album better, perhaps, but as great as it should be.

So, for me, there is enough natural beauty and thoughtful craft in "Chaos And Creation In The Backyard," to give it album five stars.