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Editorial Reviews
2012 album album from the singer, songwriter, Rock icon and former Beatle. 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 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.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
145 of 157 people found the following review helpful
By Rudy Palma
Format: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.)
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.)
88 of 98 people found the following review helpful
Format: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
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
56 of 65 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
"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.
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.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars
Better off buying remastered Run Devil Run
At least that album of '50's covers and 3 new originals rocked. It also had Dave Gilmour on guitar. I'd much rather listen to that. To be honest, I'd rather listen to McCartney II.
Published 4 days ago by Archie Bishop
4.0 out of 5 stars
Sir Paul
I love the "Oldies" and Sir Paul does them to perfection. He is so smooth. If you like Rod Stewart's latest cds, this one is right up your alley.
Published 15 days ago by Sheila Berry
4.0 out of 5 stars
love the old songs
Paul's voice isn't what it used to be, but love these old standards. Even my 88 yr old mother likes it.
Published 16 days ago by DJD
5.0 out of 5 stars
love it!
How could anyone not like something from Sir Paul? I can't wait for more music from him. He has a beautiful voice and nice lyrics.
Published 23 days ago by Karen A. Alvarez
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent --
Great songs -- Excellent recording. Sounds fantastic on Vinyl! Paul sounds relaxed, comfortable and wonderful, great romantic album for cocktail hour!
Published 1 month ago by Fan From the Jersey Shore.
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Heartfelt Joy
a delightful pleasure to listen to Mr. McCartney sounds as good as ever, he creates happy memories on this album
Published 1 month ago by Theresa Peters
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great
Would not have purchased this if I didn't love it. Asking someone to rate purchases like this is kind of senseless . . . . 99% of others may not like anything I like . . . . .
Published 1 month ago by Phil Aruffo
4.0 out of 5 stars
Kisses on the Bottom
I have never been considered a Beetles fan but wanted to take a chance on this one by Paul after hearing a cut on XM. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Indy Rose
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Treasure
This CD is a treasure. Paul is singing old songs -- ones that his parents liked -- with innovative arrangements performed by a band made up of musicians who are solo performers in... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Tom Walton
5.0 out of 5 stars
Not what you would expect
Since the 1960s, when in college, I have been a Beatle fan. I have a number of Paul's albums after the Beatles broke up and when this came out I wanted it because I was not the... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Louis E. Zappo
