Paul is Dead

Every couple years I face the same dilemma. It's something that keeps coming up, and I still haven't found satisfying solution. I really worry that if I don't figure out a good answer soon, this problem could follow me to the grave.

Here's the situation. This past Tuesday, Paul McCartney released yet another album, and I have to decide whether to buy it or not.

Sound trivial? Well, it's not. Let me give a little background. I went through a bit of a Beatles phase as a kid (which I haven't completely grown out of). One condition of being a Beatles fan is that you have to pick one Beatle in particular as your favorite. I chose Paul. He wrote almost all of my favorite Beatle songs ("I'm Looking Through You," "Got To Get You Into My Life," and "Here, There and Everywhere"), and I appreciated his optimistic view of life and love.

Well, my appreciation of his Beatles work - along with my employee discount at Best Buy - led me to try out some his solo and Wings work. I started off with Wings Greatest, then Band on the Run, then McCartney, and then Ram. I was blown away. Ram, in particular, knocked my socks off. It was, and continues to be, one of those rare albums that are fun and accessible while also being quirky and complex. It's an album you can listen to in a car full of people or late at night with your headphones on. If I had to recommend just one post-Beatles album, by any of the Beatles, it would be Ram. Plus, it has a sweet album cover.

Anyway, at that point I was hooked. If McCartney had produced an album even half a good as Ram, I had to find it. Every couple of weeks, when I'd get my Best Buy paycheck, I'd ante-up and buy the next album on the list. Unfortunately, none of them measured up to Ram or any of the post-Beatle albums I had bought. In fact, they seemed to get progressively worse and worse. Sure, there were some okay albums mixed in there, like Venus and Mars or Tug of War, but on the whole the albums were all pretty mediocre, if not sub-par. I mean, I've bought some pretty crappy CDs in my day, but very few of them can hold a candle to Give My Regards to Broad Street or Press to Play (well, maybe any post-"(What's the Story)Morning Glory" Oasis album, but that discussion is for a different time - hat tip to Christian). Still, I kept buying and buying, hoping that one would measure up. And you know what? They never did. Recently, some in the press have called each of Paul McCartney's most recent albums "a return to form" or "a great comeback," but in reality they haven't warranted any more than a few listens.

So here I am again, 13 years since my original purchase of Wings Greatest, faced with the same dilemma all over again. Even if I buy the new album, I know that I probably wouldn't listen to the whole thing any more than once or twice. In any other circumstance, I wouldn't even consider buying the thing.

But this is Paul McCartney. Macca. The man who wrote "Yesterday" and "Maybe I'm Amazed."

On the other hand, he did also write "Wonderful Christmastime" and "Why Don't We Do it in the Road."

Maybe I should just save my money.

Update: Amanda wants me to mention that she gave me a framed LP of "Ram" for Christmas a few years back. She really is the best wife ever.