A great interview with Paul McCartney posted at Entertainment Weekly today. McCartney talks about the two albums he has done with producer Martin Glover (who also co-founded the band Killing Joke) under the name The Firemen. Glover is better known as "Youth" and he has also worked on mixes by U2, Dido and a number of 80s bands like Depeche Mode (yowsa).The interview got me kind of stoked to check out the Firemen albums. Just like with the Sgt. Pepper album, recording without the baggage of the McCartney name was probably liberating. Sounds like the music came together fairly organically, which is usually a good thing too. The latest album, Electric Arguments, has received lots of good reviews and is reported to be sort of trancy, but with vocals. Sounds like I ought to check it out.
McCartney talks about a bunch of other stuff. These were other interesting nuggets:
Q. Can you tell me anything about this new Rock Band Beatles thing?
A. Well, I see people playing it and they look...completely funny. But I like the idea that it introduces kids to music. It’s a great thing to be immersed in. And you know, various ideas are always being brought to us [as the Beatles] where we look at it and decide, is it a good thing? And the guys from Rock Band, they said, "We’d like to do just a special Beatles edition, we’d like to do different periods -- you know, you get early days, Liverpool, then psychedelic, and on from there." It’s very cool.
Q. Does this bode well for getting the Beatles on iTunes, finally?
A. It’s a bit of a sticky issue. We want it to happen. The record company was taken over by new people quite recently, so there is a gridlock of sorts. I’d like to make it happen. Though I am not part of the negotiations, thank goodness [laughs].
3 comments:
There are three albums by the Fireman (singular). The second one is probably the only one that's truly 'trancy' through and through (excerpts were woven into the music that accompanied the opening circus-like performance during McCartney's 2002 Driving USA tour). He called that album 'Rushes' - get that 'Penny Lane' play on words there? The first one I personally found unlistenable and never bothered buying a copy (ironically, it's now the one that commands the most cash on the collectors market - there's no accounting for taste I guess). This new one is actually far closer to a traditional McCartney solo album, as opposed to a band album. I'd say it's like a souped up McCartney II.
Hey Harmolodic - thanks for the clarifications and info. That is the danger of me writing a psuedo-review when I know nothing about the topic! I think I'll pick up the latest and see how that tastes.
No problem, it's all good. That's the beauty of blogs -- we can give feedback in real time!
Here's something else to consider: the double 200 gram vinyl edition of 'Electric Arguments' comes with a CD copy slipped inside one of the sleeves. That's the edition I would recommend picking up, if you're comfortable with the price tag.
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