Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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39 of 43 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Some People Never Know..., August 24, 2004
I have read the reviews of this album here and find them nauseating, I mean LITERALLY nauseating - don't read these on a full stomach, to paraphrase one of them. I am convinced that a person who is unable to see the inherent good qualities of these songs is so blinded by the rock press' jaded concepts of "art" and "music" that they shouldn't have ears. Rather, they should allow the critics to tell them what to think of this music without having to listen to it - it would certainly save their closed minds wear and tear. As for the rest of us, this collection (though unavailable from Amazon.com itself) represents the best of Paul McCartney's 70s career - not a bad thing.
Silly Love Songs seems to receive a lot of flack, a lot of totally undeserved flack. It is as though its critics cannot sense the irony of Paul writing an effortlessly melodic, polished, multi-layered song that in essence silences their complaints in spite of their determination. Often persistence is a good thing; but in cases like this it is defiance in the face of overwhelming evidence. The song's message, like the Beatles' best, is not only uplifting but completely true, set to an instantly memorable tune. An example:
Love doesn't come in a minute
Sometimes it doesn't come at all
I only know that when I'm in it
It isn't silly
Love isn't silly
Love isn't silly at all!
Quite right, Paul. Only one verse there, along with all the rest expressed in one glorious pop opus. Just listen to the splendid three-part polyphonies, string flourishes, and tremendous bass-line of this great song - mindless indeed. One of McCartney's better goes, I'd say, in the Beatles or out.
That sums up Wings work in a nutshell. With pieces like the afore-mentioned Silly Love Songs, Band on the Run, Jet, and others McCartney approaches the grandeur of the Beatles at their very best. Rockers like Hi, Hi, Hi and Junior's Farm demonstrate that he hadn't lost his ability to belt out a pumping rock song now and again, and while My Love, With a Little Luck, and their ilk are admittedly syrupy, there's nothing wrong with a little romantic emotion in music now and again. Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey is a great, tuneful mini-suite of a song, Mull of Kintyre a folksy delight for fans of Celtic music that became one of the biggest singles of all time in the U.K., Another Day a splendid McCartney character-sketch piece ala She's Leaving Home, Live and Let Die a great pop-rocker combined with a quasi-sinister James Bond instrumental. Even Let 'Em In defies in part its criticisms as it builds around a single chord (E major) subtly manipulated throughout as only a master like Paul can.
Admittedly, the lyrics were sometimes lightweight, but words are not the only thing that make a song - there exist too the melody (always Macca's strongest point), the arrangement (Paul is a notoriously meticulous songsmith), and the overall mood or "feel" which can sometimes exist wholly independently of the lyric or tune. And Paul has, for the most part, always been able to craft a catchy, melodic, polished pop song that all-too-often contains messages and insights that completely escape the mundane minds of critics professional and amateur alike. I don't necessarily recommend this collection - the double-disc set Wingspan is both more comprehensive and affordable - but just to set the record straight, Paul McCartney was and remains an immensely talented musician, for the most part undeserving of the criticisms heaped upon him. In this review I often compare Paul's solo work to his work with the Beatles. Do not get me wrong - I feel that the Beatles were the most brilliant musicians in the history of popular music and that brilliance is not easily replicated by one element of a four-part whole. However, Paul's post-Beatles stuff is still very worthy of recognition and not just mindless pop-fluff. If you disagree, you are entitled to your opinion - your loss!
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The best collection!, February 20, 2000
"Wings Greatest" highilghts some of the greatest music from Paul MCcartney's post-beatles career. The only song missing is "Listen to what the Man Said." The critics througout Paul Mccartney's post-beatles career lambasted him for producing "silly pop songs". Well, the songs featured on this are not "silly pop songs". They are simply Paul being Paul. If you look at the bulk of the Beatles' number one singles starting with "Penny Lane" through "The Long and Winding Road" you will see that they are in a sense the same as his post beatles 70's material. The only difference is, that The Beatles broke new ground with these recordings. Paul MCcartney simply kept writing the same style quality songs, like he did in the beatles, only they were nothing that new, so the crtics pounced. This album is the essential mccartney. The period represented here is his most prolfic and qaulity. There are songs on this album that are not on other albums, for instance "live and let die". The very first solo single is included also, and find it like much of his songs on the "White Album". There is even a song he wrote that broke a beatles' record "Mull of Kintyre" it is interesting yet a little out of place however. The album "all the best" is for those who want all the huge hits from the 80's also. but this collection is a good overview and just as good as "all the best" in fact better.
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16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not complete, get Wingspan!, May 7, 2001
This is the original greatest hits album of Wings released in 1978. These are all great songs and the best Wings collection up until the recent double disc set, Wingspan: Hits & History. The biggest complaint I have about Wings Greatest is that it is far too incomplete. For example, some songs that are missing are "Listen to what the man said", "Coming Up", "No more lonely nights", "Maybe I'm amazed", "Let me roll it", I could go on but you get the point. I highly recommend Wingspan for a few reasons. First, its a 41 track set for about the same price as Greatest. Secondly, it has all 12 tracks from Greatest and 29 more. Unless you have every Wings album then Wingspan is for you!
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