Kisses on the Bottom

Paul McCartney | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 7, 2012)
• Original Release Date: 2012
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Hear Music
• ASIN: B006OAB3ME
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (113 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #8 in Music > Rock
  • #10 in Music > Pop

Editorial Reviews

Kisses On The Bottom is a collection of standards Paul grew up listening to in his childhood as well as the two new McCartney compositions "My Valentine" and "Only Our Hearts." With the help of Grammy Award-winning producer Tommy LiPuma and Diana Krall and her band--as well as guest appearances from Eric Clapton and Stevie Wonder, McCartney's new album is a deeply personal journey through classic American compositions that, in some cases, a young Paul first heard his father perform on piano at home. The full track listing reveals that Paul has been both reverent and adventurous in his song choices.

The phrase `Kisses On The Bottom,' comes from the album's opener `I'm Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter'. Originally made a big hit by Fats Waller in 1935, the song opens with the lines "I'm gonna sit right down and write myself a letter and make believe it came from you. I'm gonna write words oh so sweet. They're gonna knock me off of my feet. A lot of kisses on the bottom, I'll be glad I got `em."

As authentic and daring a musical statement as he could make, this is the album Paul has been thinking about making for more than 20 years - and probably the last thing his fans are expecting. "In the end it was 'Look, if I don't do it now, I'll never do it'," he says. In short, Paul believes it is about time "the songs me and John based quite a few of our things on" received the recognition they deserve. Moreover, the record also features a couple of new original McCartney compositions in the spirit of those classics.

"When I kind of got into songwriting, I realized how well structured these songs were and I think I took a lot of my lessons from them," Paul explains. "I always thought artists like Fred Astaire were very cool. Writers like Harold Arlen, Cole Porter, all of those guys - I just thought the songs were magical. And then, as I got to be a songwriter I thought it's beautiful, the way they made those songs."

Determined to approach the record in a new and unique manner, Paul enlisted the help of LiPuma and Krall and her band-who delivered ultra-high quality musicianship and were completely in tune with Paul's restraint and feel for the music. In the studio, the recording of this album was also a new challenge for Paul who, for the first time ever, performed exclusively in the vocal booth without an instrument - no guitar, no bass, no piano - which led to a vocal performance like no other in his career.

He adds, "It was very spontaneous, kind of organic, which then reminded me of the way we'd work with The Beatles. We'd bring a song in, kick it around, when we found a way to do it we'd say 'Okay, let's do a take now' and by the time everyone kind of had an idea of what they were doing, we'd learnt the song. So that's what we did, we did the take live in the studio."

"It was important for me to keep away from the more obvious song choices so, many of the classic standards will be unfamiliar to some people. I hope they are in for a pleasant surprise."

The album was recorded at the legendary Capitol Studios in Los Angeles, New York and London throughout 2011.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

79 of 88 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Macca Plays the Cocktail Lounge, February 7, 2012

By 

Rudy Palma "The Writing Fiend" (NJ) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Kisses on the Bottom (Audio CD)

Let's face it - these cover albums from veteran, heavily-moneyed legends of rock and pop are often pretty mundane, or at the very least inconsequential. In spite of this, Paul McCartney delivers quite well on "Kisses on the Bottom," with his iconic, velvety voice singing an eclectic, elaborate array of some of the best tunes ever written - as well as two extremely impressive new ones.

The gorgeous, lilting "My Valentine" recalls a fond romantic memory without a trace of sap or sickly-sweetness. It is a damn solid McCartney original that, save for his now-huskier vocal range, would fit in well on one of the classic Beatles albums. "Only Our Hearts" is similar in its theme and melancholic edge, but better showcases McCartney's expressive, stirring lower register. Eric Clapton plays guitar on the latter while Stevie Wonder contributes harmonica on the former. It helps to have friends.

This is not a Valentine's Day album, but it is very fortunately released in the days leading up to the holiday, for its ambiance is certainly warm, balmy and lush - that is to say, romantic. Whether he's singing the nuances of the evocative "Bye Bye Blackbird" or the timeless, drippy "Always," McCartney's delivery is consistently restrained, contemplative and sentimental, yet, importantly, he never sounds insincere or premeditated. Each selection is well-rendered and straightforward.

Much of the reason for this cohesion is owed to Diana Krall's backing band, hired specifically for this project. Backing McCartney with a fervent glow on the likes of the brilliant "The Glory of Love" and the relatively funky "Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive," they earn their keep here.

McCartney has set many records in his long and varied career, and "Kisses on the Bottom" won't break any of them, yet it is also a highly listenable set of mellow, lovely tunes that goes perfect with a bottle of wine, whether or not the evening skews romantic.

(Certain retailers carry different editions, some featuring bonus tracks, so do your homework.)

55 of 62 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars DEAR MUSIC APPRECIATORS, February 7, 2012

By 

Andrew H. Lee "Constant Listener" (Snohomish, WA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Kisses on the Bottom (Audio CD)

Dear Music Appreciators,

If you've always wanted to get all up close and personal with "The Cute Beatle" then this may be the album for you. Notice Paul with his arms full of flowers on the cover of his new album - an album loaded with his close-mic vocals on old-fashioned romantic standards...released just a week before Valentines' Day...he might as well be saying "will you be my valentine?"

Whether it's a calculated marketing ploy or just a coincidence of timing, this is certainly a good album. But it will probably divide some of McCartney's fans and may not win him many new ones outside of those who enjoy "the standards."

If you're looking for an album full of Beatlesque singer-songwriter brilliance then you'd best look elsewhere. This is mostly jazzy, old-timey stuff from the 1920's and 30's that a young McCartney first heard from his father's piano. In the same way that many actors just want to direct, there are many singers who just want to sing the standards, and thanks in part to Willie Nelson's 1978 blockbuster STARDUST many of them eventually do. Rod Stewart is another prime example of a star who cashed in big on this same concept, though he drew a fair amount of criticism as well. And then of course there's fellow Beatle Ringo Starr's 1970 effort SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY.

After initially thinking "oh brother" (before hearing the album) I changed my tune pretty quickly about 25 seconds into the opening track - a 1935 tune that has been covered by a host of singers including Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Nat "King" Cole, and Dean Martin - McCartney gives it just the right amount of jazzy snazz and I found myself thinking "maybe he can do this after all - maybe he's just the right singer for the job."

For many music fans, their personal reaction to an album of cover songs can depend largely on their familiarity with the songs and the various previously released cover versions of those songs. I'm guessing your average fan will know about half of these by title alone. A personal high point of this record for me was the Irving Berlin classic "Always." McCartney gives a respectful and subtly nuanced performance, and I was unfamiliar enough with the song and all its versions so as to make this tune virtually new to me. A low point was probably "Get Yourself Another Fool" but only because I was already familiar with a beautiful rendition by Patty Griffin on her LIVE FROM THE ARTISTS DEN album, and then after I heard McCartney sing it I decided to pull up an old Sam Cooke version, and...well let's just say Sam Cooke can sing. Man can he sing. I also discovered that "Home (When Shadows Fall)" is another tune that both McCartney and Sam Cooke have now covered, and again I was hooked on Sam Cooke's version.

So thanks Paul for helping me realize how amazing Sam Cooke is (there are still some legends I just haven't gotten around to yet) and for delivering a stellar collection of standards just in time for V-Day. McCartney's version of any of these songs could probably play in the background of some big budget romantic comedy while the leading characters canoodle each other all over New York City.

There are in fact two McCartney originals on this album. "My Valentine" is probably the most intriguing of the two because it seems to fit right in with the other songs, as if it was written 70 or 80 years ago - and if it was I'm betting it would have been heavily covered and perhaps even have found its own slot in "The Great American Songbook."

If you only want pop-rock music from pop-rock legends then you should turn around and walk away, but if you're open-minded and feel like you could use some old school atmospheric romance in your life, then this album will give you a nice little injection of exactly what you're looking for.

Sincerely,

Constant Listener

37 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Intimate and understated, February 7, 2012

By 

Chicago Bookworm (Chicago) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Kisses on the Bottom (Audio CD)

"Kisses on the Bottom" is personal, restrained, and moving. Many albums of standards are virtually interchangeable, as the singer "sells" each one through vocal gymnastics and splashy instrumentation. "Kisses on the Bottom" is, in contrast, an intimate and unpretentious affair. [The title is taken from a line in "I'm Going to Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter" and refers to putting XXXXXs on the bottom of a letter.]

McCartney is turning 70 this year, and this album feels like a reckoning with both his past and future. These are (with the exception of the two originals, "My Valentine" and "Only Our Hearts"), the songs he grew up listening to, but he's singing them from a perspective that comes with age. He doesn't try to hide his voice's aging, and has said he was trying for a "small" voice effect, similar to Fred Astaire's. The spare arrangements by Diana Krall and her band complement his voice instead of overwhelming it, and the overall effect is spacious and unforced.

In "Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate The Positive," you can hear the roots of McCartney's upbeat, say-hello-not-goodbye musical persona, and in "My Very Good Friend the Milkman" the kind of whimsy that characterizes "Lovely Rita" or "Martha My Dear." But many songs offer windows into deeper emotions. "More I Cannot Wish You," expressing a parent's hopes for his children, and the slowed down "Bye Bye Blackbird" are particular standouts. The combination of longing and acceptance of limitation that infuse these two songs is hard to put into words, but I can't hear them without thinking that McCartney is looking at the end of life and thinking about what can still make it worthwhile. The two original songs on the album, "Only Our Hearts" and "My Valentine," seamlessly match the tone of the standards that surround them. No mean feat, this.

In one way, this album isn't surprising at all - McCartney is the guy who wrote "When I'm 64" and "Your Mother Should Know" in his twenties and crafted "You Gave Me The Answer," which could be a missing song from one of Astaire's musicals. But the combination of restraint and sincerity that McCartney summons on what might have been a rote recitation is a surprise - and a very pleasant one. I wish there were one or two more originals, since "My Valentine" and "Only Our Hearts" are lovely, and that he'd lowered the key on a couple of songs, but these are quibbles.

"Kisses on the Bottom" shows again (after 2008's "Electric Arguments," a collaboration with Martin Glover released under their moniker "The Fireman) in these later years McCartney is doing what he wants to, musically, and isn't focusing on what will go over commercially. I suspect that the double entendre title is a nod to the reception many will give this album, and an indication that he's not fussed about it.