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The second death of McCartney,

4

McCartney II
Paul McCartney
Columbia FC36511
By STEVE HOOK
I feel so much contempt for Paul
McCartney right now. I hope he doesn't
drop by my house tonight-if he does, I
could very well punch him in his two-bit
baby face.
A lot 6f decent folks have spent the
seventies enjoying Band on the Run,
Venus and Mars, and Wings at the
Speed of Sound, albums that now look
more and more like pop classics from
that depressed decade, if only for lack.
of competition. McCartney, perhaps
rock and roll's most influential artist,
left the Beatles and consciously went
back "down to earth," where he slowly
assembled Wings-namely his lovely
Linda and Moody Blues lead guitarist
Denny Laine. Sure, the first albums
were terrible-seemingly on purpose,
as Paul "explored his roots and the
roots of rock and roll." The sheer un-
commercialism of McCartney gave it
some class. But the aforementioned trio
of albums followed, and it began to look
like Paul once again had a Supergroup,
and one with some integrity. But Lon-
don Town and Back to the Egg have

since coincided with the demise of
Wings.
BUT THERE I was, with the brand
new disc on the record player, even a
Maxell-UD in the tape recorder. Oh, so
Paul recorded this album all by himself,
the sleeve explains, and he did it right
in his own house! There's even a black
and white photo of Paul trying to
rewind atape while his young child tugs
on his tee shirt from behind. Cute.
Hmmm, I've heard the dance tune
"Coming Up" on the radio already, but
maybe, just maybe, he has come out
with a simple, unpretentious collection
of acoustic love songs-a kind of
snuggle-up-to-the-fire record.
Instead, Paul McCartney has come
out with the most awful record album I
have ever listened to. I am over-
whelmed with contempt-that an artist
could slap the face of his audience like
this, with such blatant disrespect. The
hateful adjectives go galloping through
my brain to describe this record: min-
dless, indulgent, unthinkable,
malicious, insulting. Shameful,
disgusting, crude, decadent,
degenerate, gratuitous, monotonous.
Flithy, horrible, rotten. Unfortunate,
sad.
McCartney II, in objective terms, is a
series of dabblings in disco, funk,

blues; and yes, there is even a hint of
new wave in one song. There are also a
few lazy, idyllic vocal works-Paul's
strength (one of these, entitled "One of
These Days," is indeed a very attrac-

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tive piece, actually; too bad I'll never
listen to it again).
The overall result is between thirty
and forty minutes of passionless
masturbation. Paul must have really
gotten a laugh out of this one. This kind
of meandering across genres is so
haphazard, and so unprofessional, that
any sense of conceptual continuity is
lost. And by insisting on handling the
entire production alone, there are
serious instrumental shortcomings
being aggravated by compromised
fidelity.
THE ALBUM starts with "Coming
Up," a chartbuster that is as playful as
they get on this side. For those that
think this song stinks, it'll be a long 35
minutes. This piece is followed by, one
of the most offensive combination of
sounds my ears have ever been exposed
to, a punkish monster called "Tem-

porary Secretary," in which Paul mer-
cilessly persists in an unending, mind-
numbing refrain:
I need a
Tempo-RA Y-REE Secre-
TA Y-REE, Tempo-
RA Y-REE secre-TA Y-
REE
Tempo-RA Y-REE secre-
TA Y-REE, tempo-RA Y-
REE secre-TA Y-Ree
"Temporary Secretary" is followed
by the blues offering-"On the Way." A
bright spot, the piece seems fairly well
conceived. But again, I'll never listen to
the album again, so that's that for "On
the Way." A heavily synthesized, tur-
tle-paced song called "Waterfalls" is
next, with inspirational verses like:
And I need love, yeah I
need love °
Like a castle needs a tower
Like a raindrop needs a
shower
Yeah I need love every
minute of the day
And it wouldn't be the same
If you ever should decide
to go away
Just when this unconscionable piece
ends, a rock and roller called "Nobody
Knows" fills the air. The structure of
this seems sound, but it is so filled with
inane McCartney wails of "Noo-BODY
Knooooows" that the song rapidly loses
its appeal. A roller-rink instrumental
disco number, called "Front
Parlour,"starts Side 2, with an organ
lead that actually sounds like one of
those one-finger-makes-an-orchestra
organs you hear floating through the
malls. For what it's worth, this, and a
very similar instrumental that appears
two songs later, "Frozen Jap," are
harmless, fun pieces that will be more
than welcome in the desperate disco
halls and roller rinks around the world.
THE SONG between these is another
surpy vocal and synthesizer ballad
called "Summer's Day," which might
have transcended mediocrity if Paul had
used an acoustic guitar, instead of
overdubbing his voice over the syn-
thesizer. You hear a funky piece called
"Bogey Music" next. This masterpiece
is said to be dedicted to fictional
"Bogey men (from a Raymond Briggs
book)" who "live deep within the ear-
th," which is where this half-baked,
alienating effort should have been
buried. I could present a sample verse,
but, well, I'll be compassionate.
The previously mentioned acoustic
song called "One of These Days"
finishes off McCartney II, and with
astounding contrast. For once, there is
Paul with his six-string and lovely Lin-
da in the deep-background, and what
results is a damn pretty piece,'sen-
timental and sincere. Instead of
causing comfort to the beleagured
listener, though, this song only seems to
intensify the disappointment. For-an
artist of McCartney's calibre to totally
abuse his listeners with such self-
serving pap is a disgrace to everyone
involved.

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RICHARD PRYOR IN CONCERT-ALICE'S RESTAURANT
PINK PANTHER STRIKESAGAIN-HAROLD & MAUDE

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IN

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a story of
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Mon, Tue, Thur, Fri 7:30-9:40T
Sat W e100-3:10-5:20-7:30
An American
Dream
Becomes a
Love Story.
S;INSY SIACEK

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