Paul McCartney vs. Rod Stewart: the solo records

[davey]

I’d definitely take Every Picture over Ram, and I’m the earliest Ram partisan I know. I discovered it in a stack of records left at our house by a family friend sometime around 1974 and played it over and over again through my entire youth.

But…

Every Picture is a perfect record. That thing Rod had going with his bands at that point. A rock band approach with the acoustic 12 string sitting at the center, pushed forward by aggressive, propulsive drums - there was really nothing like it. Plus, the songs were great and Stewart himself ranging between full rock swagger and vulnerability, was simply a thing of wonder at this moment. Lightning in a bottle. As an album, I still prefer Every Picture to fully half of everything all of you would put on your top 20 all-time records.

Again…I STILL love Ram. But there’s some cringe moments on it. Every Picture is pure honey, from the first note to the last.

[Charlie O.]

There's a lot of different approaches one could take with this, including most-loved Rod album vs. most-loved Paul album, "best of" vs. "best of", "worst of" vs. "worst of"...

I think I'll go with a variation on the old Desert Island scenario. If a supervillian was going to lock me away for an indefinite time, perhaps years, with a stereo system and my choice of Paul McCartney's solo/Wings catalogue OR Rod Stewart's solo catalogue... I think I'd choose Paul's, in part because he's more idiosyncratic and varied. I know that even in this scenario there are records that wouldn't get played more than once, if that much; on the other hand, I suspect I'd end up falling in love with the likes of Red Rose Speedway and McCartney II (albums that, for the record, I don't know at all well), whereas I can't really see that happening with the likes of Smiler or Spanner In The Works.

[DayoRemix]

Nov 3, 2024 4:38:44 GMT fange said:

Nov 3, 2024 4:08:20 GMT DayoRemix said:

I'd rather stab myself in the ears with scissors than research this topic beyond my cursory knowledge of either..

Put the scissors down and step away, dayo. No need to van Gogh too far.


I know they aren't really your thing, but are there any Rod records you like?

I'm mainly familiar with his singles and they don't do much for me, tbh.. Sure, hearing "Maggie May" or "You wear it well" might not lead to actual self harm, but they won't lead to a deeper examination of his catalog either.. 

[fange]

Any love for 'I Was Only Joking'?

["BING E BONG"]

Of course.

I'm on board with Rod for a quite a while after that, actually. 'Baby Jane' is great.