Customer Reviews

Wide Prairie

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

I've always been a Beatle fan who's honestly loved Linda's singing. The songs that already had been released like Cook of the House, I am your Singer and Seaside Woman were always among my favorites. I bought bootleg albums just to hear Wild Prairie and Oriental Nightfish. I Love everything Paul Mccartney has ever released and a part of the fun and pleasure was being able to always hear lovely linda in the background. I have always thought she was the most coolest lady! I am so glad we have this great collection of her songs. She wrote some fantastic music and this CD is a GEM!

I wasn't quite sure what to expect from this album-but it's not bad--on some songs, particularly "Cow" and "The White Coated Man"-Linda reminds me very much of Kate Bush both in style and substance. "Mister Sandman" and "Sugartime" are both fun versions of older songs-and "Poison Ivy" while not quite as good-is the same. "The Light Comes from Within" is probably the highlight of the album. All in all-a fun cd from an artist who wasn't appreciated in her lifetime.

Linda was a good backup singer, And a loving wife , but a lead singer She is not. The cd has it's moments but not enough to carry it a must for fans, The rest might not like.

Come on, if anyone other than the wife of a Beatle would have recorded this album, it would have been thrown straight in the bargain bin a week after its release...that is if it wasnt rejected by the record company first. Interesting from the standpoint of hearing some McCartney one man band efforts backing Linda. 2 stars for "Love's Full Glory" & "Apaloosa". The standout track is the dynamtie "Light Comes From Within", its the only track I'm not embarrassed to play loud! Other than that, it is quite painful to the ears. Not the voice, just the material. I mean, anyone with a 2 dollar Casio keyboard could have written "Cow". Linda was a great person, spectacular photographer and an activist for many good casues, but she simply was not a musician.

Yes, Linda was a lovely person. Yes, it is charming that Paul would release this as a tribute to his love for her. Is that enough reason to buy it? I don't think so. Her voice is poor. The music is third rate. If Paul was not connected to this one, it would never have seen the light of day. Buy it only if you need a complete collection of all the music even remotely connected to the Beatles. Otherwise, save your money.

Okay, now listen. We've all heard the jokes. Hell, even Paul and Linda heard 'em. Linda was NOT a vocal diva...but folks, she KNEW that! What she was, was (at first) the "girl who married Beatle Paul". Then, as we all do with that special one that we love, slowly entered his professional life, and she BECAME an important component of the "Wings" & "McCartney" sound. Those fun vocal arrangements that we all know and love enable us to hear her whenever we want to. And now, cutting through his sadness and loss, Paul has the courage to release so soon this marvelously fun album from his "girl". Linda McCartney's "Wide Prarie" is an album with more variety than you're likely to see from a recorded collection for a long time. Every song is different from the last. And what about the beautiful surprises like "Love's Full Glory" and "Endless Days". The fun of "Mr. Sandman" and "Seaside Woman" and the "in your face" of "The Light Comes From Within" and "I Got Up". The closing track "Appaloosa" is the soundtrack of how I pictured her leaving us....riding off on her beloved horse. Thanks Paul, for making her part of the band, thanks Linda for all you gave us in music with Paul and your beliefs, and thanks for this really cool little gold nugget of an album, a really generous little parting gift as a kiss goodbye from you. We're diggin' it down here!

... I am a big music fan and, while I am also a big Beatles fan, I am not one of those "the Beatles never did/do wrong" types. So, while I did indeed pick up the Linda album because Paul was to some degree attached to it (didn't everyone?), I didn't listen to it with a built-in "everything-a-Beatle-touches-is-gold" attitude. I listened to it like I would any album, and I was truly blown away by it. It needs to be said upfront that the people who pan this album do so for predictable reasons: Linda's voice is shaky; she was not an emminent musician in terms of her playing, or maybe even her compositional, ability. I imagine that it's people who are particularly big solo-Paul fans who will be most disappointed; i.e., people who tend to go in for traditional pop with all that that implies: stuff ready for the radio. People with ears more open to experimental, or underground, stuff will take to Linda's album much better. If you are open to vocalists being true rather than simply pretty-voiced, you've got a head-start (some non-traditional vocalists who are nonethelss brilliant that come to mind are Lou Reed, Tom Verlaine and Siouxsie Sioux). Also, if you are willing to let go of the classic rock pretension that players must be virtuosos to be considered musicians, you will have a much easier time loving Linda. ... So many great bands have been lacking in "traditional" playing skills and still made amazing, potent music: ... The point I'm trying to make here is that what matters in music is only ONE thing: sincerity, which you can also call honesty, or communicating from the heart.

And now that I've said that, I can get on with this review: Linda McCartney was an unyielding, strong woman, a woman of integrity who stood behind her opinions, no matter how unpopular. She was also an original. And she shines on this disc: the real Linda--unrefined, unapologetic--comes through loud and clear. She has FUN on a lot of these songs, singing what she wants to sing, how she wants to sing it, not [caring]how it will be judged by the traditonal arbiters of "what is good". And her joy at letting loose is infectious; so many of these songs are instantly catchy; if you open yourself up to it, you will find them getting stuck in your head for days afterward. Then there are the more serious songs, where Linda makes sure to get her primary beliefs across: that the world is headed in the wrong direction in the way it celebrates waste and thinks only of the bottom line; that life is precious and priceless; that the most important thing a person can do is stay true to her/his principles. From joy to pain, Linda covers the whole spectrum, and she does it with an unfeigned innocence that is all too rare these days, in music or anything else. I value the simplicity of most of these songs, the way Linda makes clear that you don't have to be "perfect," you don't have to doll everything up in an [imitation] plastic sheen, to speak your mind and share your heart. As far as I'm concerned, "Wide Prairie" is a work of genius.

Linda is a great person, but we cannot let this mist our eyes and ears. She cant sing,and I am sure she only recorded because she is Linda. I love Paul and Linda, she has great cook books and I do have them, she is a fantastic photographer but sing.... PS: I like " Cook of the House"

A friend of mine takes more musical "risks" than I do, so when he pulled out this CD I had no idea what to think. With the first few notes and words in "Wide Prairie" (the first song) I honestly didn't know what I thought of it. It sounded like some young child's mom singing with all her heart to her beloved baby. Every song captured a beautiful woman in some way. Until that day, I didn't even know Linda McCartney sang anything. I've read a couple bad reviews on this album and I am stunned by them. So sad that, like physical beauty, one must have a perfect, refined voice to be considered talented in this society. Not to me, though. This album is FUN and powerful and brings up emotional responses. I love Linda's voice and this music makes me wish I'd had the opportunity to meet her. After listening to it for a couple of weeks, (My friend gave me the album after I played it for the fifth time.) I now sing along to some of the songs at the top of my lungs in my car. (Yes, that was me. <g>) My favorite songs (at the moment) are "Wide Prairie" and "I Got Up". I think I'll pass on some of this music to my children if I'm lucky enough to become a parent. Sure, my voice isn't like Celine Dion or Modonna, but that doesn't mean I can't sing. Thanks, Linda. You won't be forgotten.

It might not be the best album of the century but this CD is a fantastic tribute to the life of Linda McCartney. People often forget she was a true artist, a very talented photographer and she will remain admired for her fight for animal rights. This CD shows her the way she was, she does not really care about having a perfect voice, she might be out of tune, from time to time, but she is sincere, sings from her heart and communicates a lot of emotion. The CD package is great with a selection of photos and Paul's texts. As for the songs, after a couple of times, you really get to like them. Her reggae cersion of Mister Sandman is so cool ! Songs about animals are surprisingly good like cow for example. Personnal favourites : Loves full glory (very moving when you come to think of how much of a perfect couple she and Paul were), Endless days, Poison Ivy and New Orleans. Ok, the light comes from within is embrassaing but wasn't she so ill when she came to regard it ? Thanks to the CD, she is still with us ! Thanks Paul.