McCartney Flaming Pie Album Discussion

[@Gardosunron]

Agree with your point about albums being too long I think the problem is cds allow for greater playing time. My favored length is 48 mins.

[@michaelsutcliffe4661]

Enjoyed the video John - thanks. 'Heaven Is A Sunday' is one of my favourite solo Paul tracks! I'm shocked (SHOCKED!) by the 1 star rating.

[@jeffkaufman8489]

Professor Heaton; I believe that the trend to put out lp’s of 45 minutes-plus in recent years is simply a function of having the ability to do so in the compact disc format without sacrificing fidelity, as was the case years ago with a vinyl lp format...

[@stephaneherringtoniowritin9180]

One of Paul's best solo album's, in my opinion...

[@CupidStunt72]

As a 48 y.o Beatlemaniac can I recommend a KZbin channel called ' breathless 345 ' , they have some amazing Beatles documentaries

[@tyronerodgers]

Ah! One from the garden! Thank you for your critique John. Always.

[@richardnelson6693]

what makes this album distinct is it was made before / during the end of Linda's life so the mood of the album is what it is for that period of time; he was writing from the heart and there's a lot of heartfelt stuff, like it or not, on it but generally most of the songs are great; it's a joke that Ultimate Guide gave Heaven on a Sunday one star; it is actually in the upper half of the albums best songs; the song perfectly encapsulates part of the time McCartney was going through during Linda's sickness and the added twist is McCartney's son did the solo - its a really nice mellow but compelling track

[@L.E.55472]

Been wondering when you were gonna take on Flaming Pie I remember 2 or 3 years ago asking you to do flaming Pie! You told me then when it comes out on vinyl I will😎and here we are.....take care John and thank you, my fav Paul album- Lis

[@PeKe999]

Hi John, Totally agree with you concerning the length of albums. When the cd came in the 80ties artists, almost everyone, started to make longer albums. I think if most of them left some songs out, their albums would be quite more punchy. It is the same with the Paul albums you mentioned. If they were about 40 minutes, the artist has to make a thoughtful choice which songs to leave out of the album and which to include. I would prefer that, a nice punchy album. The same goes for Flaming Pie, a good album, but if it was shorter I think it would be better. But then the question rises which songs to leave out?

[@PeKe999]

@David Robinson hi, it's not only the extended playtime of a song, but also the quantity of the songs. If you want to make an album, let's say 40 minutes length, the artist has to go for the best in a limited time.

[@DeadTalkLive]

Nice video 👍👍👍! As a current KZbinr, I am always looking for fresh ideas! Nice Job!

[@jtmichaelson]

I wholeheartedly agree about London Town and Back To The Egg. Completely disagree with that magazine on every track. Flaming Pie could have done without some songs here and there and cut it down to 40-45 minutes for a perfect album. The crime of the century was not adding the '86 version of "Beautiful Night". But at least "Broomstick" was added, so that's not too bad. Still not a great song but at least I have a copy of it again.

[@paulaidenmusic]

Still waiting for mine here in Australia 🇦🇺 pre-ordered in June 😫. Loved listening to all the extras on Apple Music at home and in my car but looking forward to the standard vinyl.

[@MikeVernonProd]

This to me seems like the least essential Archive re-release. It’s not that I don’t like the album, but i don’t think it needed a remaster, and the bonus tracks are fairly mediocre. I’m right with you. We need London Town / Back To The Egg. I’m willing to buy that boxset because those are two great albums and essential pieces of the Wings discography.

[@edised71]

It was necessary to repress it on vinyl, original copies were reaching really high prices and the remaster kills the original version as far as the original album is concerned

[@RonaldBrown59]

I really liked this record when it came out, probably my favorite McCartney album in the last 25 years. I've listened to the remaster and all the bonus tracks and I agree with you, I don't really notice much difference in any of the tracks. And most of the bonus material is a one listen and done affair. It might have been a bit long, but what do you cut out, the song the critic's hated 'Heaven on a Sunday' was one of my favorites. And I totally agree with you that we need remasters of London Town and Back to the Egg. I used to have a rough mix bootleg of London Town that I really enjoyed. And Waterspout used to be one of my favorite unreleased McCartney tracks, when it still unreleased. Great review John.

[@ivarvregard4873]

Hi John! As always an enjoyable video! My opinion is that "Flaming Pie" is good as it is. Omitting for instance the Steve Miller tracks, would make it a lesser album. However I understand that having to pay for a double album in this case, is annoying. I will take the opportunity to thank you for all the interesting videos that you have made during the last five years. I appreciate your dedication, knowledge and insights. I don't always agree with your views, for instance your slaughter of "English Tea" on "Chaos And Creation", but this is not a question about being right or wrong, but depends on personal tastes. I like that you have included your friend Dave Costello in some of your videos. I also like the videos you have made with your sons. Their rendition of "Paperback Writer" is fantastic. The video where you and your sons picked favourite Dr Who episodes, was also very enjoyable, although I myself have not watched a single episode. My wishes for the future are reviews of albums by Procol Harum ("A Salty Dog" or "Broken Barricades") and Steely Dan. ("The Royal Scam" would be a good starting point). Thanks again! Regards Ivar

[@Mr.-J-2024]

My favourite McCartney LP since Band On The Run. In my opinion, the last Great McCartney Album.

[@RickM01]

John great review. I just downloaded the mp3s because I feel the cd music is best. I appreciate your collection and research backing of your opinions. I was just thinking the other day about how cds are typically too long, where 40-45 minutes would be optimal upper limits. I wish I had kept my albums and kept them in good condition. I appreciate that you take such excellent care of your collection. You should write a book or two because you're an expert on what you talk about. Carry on!!!

[@davidgena2667]

One of the few McCartney solo albums I find worthy enough to purchase. “Somedays” and “Calico Skies” are both stunningly good and there are a number of others as well. I find the album to be quite moving emotionally when one considers how ill Linda was at the time. And the opener is so reflective of the Lennon \ McCartney songwriting duo. It can bring a tear to my eye when I remember those Beatlemania days. Those my age would know what I’m talking about I’m sure. I bought the two disc vinyl version. I don’t need all the extras which seem a bit superfluous to me. In any event, this is one terrific McCartney album......period.

[@robinfereday6562]

Another fantastic review Mr.Heaton love this album thank you for sharing your supreme knowledge with us

[@simonandrewx]

His daughter did the videos with Alastair remember? Paul loved the home made thing about them but I remember The World Tonight tv vhs which came out just before the album and he's discussing essentially being filmed walking round with a boombox like it was an idea level with Pepper. Within the next few years he loses Linda; George, fired Geoff Baker. I have no issue with the length of this, while I love most of it I dont think hearing the demos are as crucial or historic as he might. Nice to hear Linda in the demos and the conversations though isn't it. My Dad said something years ago I haven't ever got my head around fully because I always thought his statement was true of everyone. But my Dad says 'Paul McCartney's problem is he always sounds like Paul McCartney'. In true Beatles fashion John I know you'll appreciate when I say, I don't know what he means but i do know what he means. Always enjoy your videos.

[@MacIain82]

Spot on Johnny.

[@jamesgriffithsmusic]

Thanks John. I haven't picked the reissue up as it's too pricey for me. I must admit I've never been as keen on FP as lots of other people seem to be. As you say, it's too long and I find the Steve Miller tracks quite dull overall. Some definite highlights though, mainly the more acoustic tracks. This album always reminds me of being at a Dr Who convention in Coventry, as I nipped out of the hotel to go to Our Price to buy it on the day of its release. Had to hurry back for the Tom Baker panel. Cheers, James

[@nigelwood699]

Good review. I still have my vinyl from 97 and listened to it again last week. Like Chaos and Creation, I don’t think Its as good as many people suggest. Back to the Egg and the scrapped 87 version of Cold Cuts would be just the ticket 👍

[@jeanpepin6497]

Until I watched the archive reviews, I didn’t think it was long. But now that I think of it, I always skip used to be bad and really love you.

[@sirronnitram8937]

Its a shame Paul and George didnt collaborate on new material post Anthology, but maybe understandable seeing those awkward moments between them during the Anthology filming. Well done on cutting back the jungle in your back garden

[@manolokonosko2868]

George was much more sarcastic than John ever was. Despite all the "Hare Krishna" bullshit, he still bore a grudge against Paul for the years in the band.

[@sigurdnf9121]

could you review ecce cor meum once?

[@TomCwimpRock]

I’m very much in agreement with your point about albums getting too long in recent times... “Flaming Pie” has never been among my favorites of Paul , it’s not bad - some nice moments scattered around here and there, but I’ve never really understood why it seems to be so highly rated among fans, or even why it would warrant a deluxe box set re-release. Take care John..

[@paulhancock1530]

Full agreement with you pretty much. I got the 3LP vinyl box and I think they really messed up with the 3rd disk. By putting all the cassette demos on the 3rd disk instead of all the studio takes and run-throughs, they really crippled the vinyl box. Yes, the home cassette demos are fun for a listen once or twice but after that you’re not really going to be listening to them again. However, if they’d have put the studio takes/run-throughs on the 3rd disk then I’d probably play the 3rd disk quite a lot. Certainly more so the home cassette demos. So I think they shot themselves in the foot there. Yeah, the 3rd disk is a nice “curio” to have in the collection, but it won’t get played much. As and aside, if you see the LP you can tell if it was purchased as part of the box set, or just the regular LP, as the versions that come in the box set have the words “Flaming Pie” in red, instead of black. Fun factoid.

[@MIB_63]

Great review as always, John. To me Flaming Pie was a sort of come back for Paul but IMHO it's s bit overproduced in places. My favorite track (which coincidently is McCartney's too) is Heaven On a Sunday. A track that All Music Guide rated only one star. But then I seldom agree with AMG's ratings.

[@TomCwimpRock]

That is my favorite too!

[@davecostello560]

Mine too! Closely followed by Beautiful Night.

[@goranalnestrand8205]

Great video👍🏼 thanx

[@honder1866]

This album didn’t need archive release, IMO. The original CD’s (yes, I have all of them) are just fine. I am literally growing old waiting for archive releases of “London Town,” “Back to the Egg” and “Press to Play.”

[@Beatgeneration2010]

Here is an audio hint......please don't eat food before hand, that way you can avoid suppressed burps!

[@alexconway4950]

In agreement about the length of some of these albums John. Sure, 1 hr + can work but cutting back can really change an album from medicore to a classic. I'm not bowled over by Flaming Pie (the length puts me off revisiting) but will give another listen.. thanks for the content! Also - Deep Purple you mentioned... are you a fan John?

[@sortehuse]

I love all the songs on Flaming Pie.

[@tubergetrude333]

One star for Little Willow? It's a beautiful ballad. There are great songs on the LP. But in music as in poetry, you can kick it up a notch by subtraction. Who is going to tell Paul a song doesn't belong on an LP?

[@reliablebow]

Great album. Thanks John🕊

[@franco426]

Long albums by artists from the Nineties onward due to the Cd becoming mainstream and thus with cd's holding up to 80 minutes of music the artists got quite indulgent.

[@lolly9080]

Didn’t realise Paul had such high cheek bones 🤔

[@1nelsondj]

A reactor who just reviewed "Press to Play" said it's hard to find CD copies of that album now, it must be out of print so I expect box sets will keep coming as long as people keep buying them. "London Town" is an especially worthy album, I'm not so enamored with "Back to the Egg" though, too much filler. I can't believe this album is over 20 years old, what have I been doing? 'The World Tonight' is the last CD single I ever bought. These days it's easier to track down those orphaned b-sides on the internet, put them together with the album on a CDR to make them complete. As for the length of albums having grown I'm seeing a reverse of that trend with some artists now. I like longer albums so long as the material is interesting. Honestly Paul's bonus tracks are not of the same quality as Dylan's Bootleg Series. I feel if an album isn't at least 45 min. then I'm being ripped off. CDs have room for 2 35 min. albums on a single disc.

[@xtstevie]

£520 the super deluxe version is going for & wow that's just not great value at all..... Great album yes but the prices are going way way off the scales now John!!! Well balanced video again.

[@fwnfaa]

Great video again.

[@keriford54]

I agree about albums are good at about 40 to 45 minutes, 60 minutes it demands to be an epic. For me if Paul had left off "used to be bad" and "really love you" it would be an excellent album.

[@andrewbowman4611]

Arguably this fourth phase of McCartney's solo career, after the post-Beatles McCartney, the post-Wings McCartney II & the post-grief over Lennon Press to Play. It's a superb album, frankly. Off-topic, but would you consider sharing your thoughts on the Traveling Wilburys solo albums of that period? I know you've done Cloud Nine, and possibly Mystery Girl, but I don't recall reviews of Armchair Theatre, Under the Red Moon and Full Moon Fever. You could even, as a nod to the rumour, look at Del Shannon's posthumous release Rock On!, which featured contributions from the majority of the Wilburys. Maybe that's why Volume 3 was so-called; volume 2 was the solo stuff. Anyway, just a thought.

[@deusdedithkojiuchino9349]

I bought the same thing of you,because the price yet was inside of my head.Ready the box set I found absurd the price and stayed out for me,in this time.

[@renaud_c_h]

A mixed bag indeed. First I'm not at all keen on Jeff Lynne's involvement then I thought having Ringo and Steve Miller was surplus to requirement as they both appear on the album's mediocre songs (ie. Young Boy, If You Wanna, Used to Be Bad, Really Love You) adding to that the title track which I find absolutely lame... the kind of uninspired semi uptempo piano songs McCartney churns out in his sleep! And to finish the list of the bad stuff I'll also add the coda to Beautiful Night with Ringo singing and spoiling a rather fine song. Now the good stuff: Someday, Souvenir, The Song We Were Singing, Heaven on a Sunday and Great Day (+ Beautiful Night). Then the decent songs although not quite as good... somehow something's missing from those but it could be worse: The World Tonight, Little Willow and Calico Sky, the latter featuring a rather bad vocal performance, either too high for McCartney to sing but most probably showing early signs of his voice failing and which, sadly, has been on a downward spiral ever since.

[@kjeldpedersen666]

Hi John Macca has made pretty decent albums since but this is his last really great offering in my opinion. An album mostly consisting of ballads from the master of ballads himself... I don’t especially find this album too long, but agree with you when it comes to the common trend after the CD was invented. And it has surely been the case, also with most of McCartneys albums after this one, that the artists tend to not omit the weaker stuff. Do they find all their music equally fantastic - or do they leave everything on the album, hoping that there’s a better chance of having success that way? Don’t know, but the last opportunity seems a little cowardly in my eyes. An artist should stand by his/her choices, not beg us to like their products but tell us what we should like in their opinion. Off cause, that’s an artistic demand - and we’re in the pop business here... Nevertheless, “Flaming Pie” is indeed a great album. Should it have been shortened I would have omitted the uptempo tracks. Not because of poor quality but because it would have been an even more bold attitude from Paul to make an album consisting solely of ballads. I really like the hard rocking Macca too, but it would have been just so cool...👍

[@jamesboyce4000]

I think if you take out Used To Be Bad and Really Love You the album is pretty consistent. The songs I love are Young Boy, Little Willow, Calico Skies, and the rest I like but don't love except of course Used To Be Bad and Really Love You which are crap.

[@bbatchelor1860]

I guess I’m the odd one here. I love Flaming Pie. I rank it as his 3rd best solo album behind Ram and Band on the Run. Chaos and Creation would be in the top 5.

[@shadshowadradna]

It's a solid album but it _is_ too long, with the best stuff suffering by being diluted. It's certainly too long for a single LP - the original vinyl release can't have much bass weight. I'm guessing this re-release was originally intended to accompany his Glastonbury appearance, which obviously didn't happen. I suspect that's why a recent-ish, well-received solo album was chosen over the two Wings albums.

[@yotamhavkin1459]

Great video again. This is probably my favourite Paul solo album, I got nothing from the archive because the prices was just ridiculous, The Song We Were Singing is my favourite I'd say. If You Wanna and Used To Be Bad are both pretty annoying and too long. Apart from that it's great.

[@pawelpap9]

Flaming Pie is easily one of the best Paul’s albums and I am not sure he subsequently recorded anything that would match it. Personally, I am not all that curious how some music journalist I never heard about ranks individual songs. Similarly, I do not like people voicing their complaints: thus album is too short, or too long, I don’t like song number five and I would replace it Penny Lane. If you are really so discriminating you can by all tracks in FLAC format, delete those you cannot stand and arrange the rest anyway you want. Or, conversely, you can relax and enjoy the album the way Paul put it together.

[@Ft.Gagiano]

I got it. Cause round the mid 90's. I became a mccartney fan post beatles. So flaming pie was a essential purchase for me. The archive could have done without all the pointless Oobo Jubu parts.

[@dennisosborne4368]

This is unquestionably one of his best albums. Somedays , Heaven on a Sunday , Calico Skies and Little Willow are absolutely superb. I think James played guitar on Heaven? I am not so keen on a few tracks like Really Love You , but overall this is a really good album. Song we were singing is a nice tribute to John with references to smoking tea in a pipe which is what they used to do when songwriting in Pauls old Forthlin Road house.

[@paulayers1111]

2 stars for Beautiful Night doesn’t make any sense

[@underdog1117]

Sorry to say ..I am sour on this album. I find it dull .at best. I have it in my car .and I try to listen to it .on the way to work. I can't get through it. ..And your right most box sets are a ripoff .

[@manolokonosko2868]

Here's one thing the album, or rather, Paul, could have done well without: Allowing the song "Young Boy" to be prominently featured on that 1997 box office stinker "Father's Day". My wife dragged me to see that piece of shit, and you can imagine my hopes when I heard the song at the beginning credits and Paul's name came up on the screen. I figured that "if Paul's music was going to be on this movie, with Robin Williams, Nastasja Kinski, and Billy Crystal, then this is going to be a good movie". WRONG!! I left that theater angry, cheated, and pissed at the song, causing it to be tainted for the next 22 years. It's a good song, but I just can't stand it because I associate it with that horrible movie. I've seen bad movies before, but it's the plot and the ending that got me pissed off. Did Paul need the money that bad that he would prostitute his music to the first Hollywood chance he gets? Hasn't he learned his lesson from the multiple failures that maybe he's just not cut out for the silver screen? The only times he's successful in a film is when it's a concert film. On everything else he has failed. Jealous of Ringo, George and John's bit on "How I won The War?" Really? Let it go, Paul. Only now I can hear the song off the album without needing a strong drink beforehand. Movies are not for you.

Bought it because of Young Boy single back in the day, but the most time lasting and brilliant songs for me are Calico Skies and Little Willow. Nice to know the back story to that song, I always wondered who it was made for. Those are my 5 star songs in the album still. Young Boy has lost a little bit its magic during the years, but the album got good songs on it.

[@jldraw]

For my money this is Paul McCartney's best album bottom line.

[@graniterhythm53]

I don't think so - McCartney, Ram & Wild Life are superior!

[@nielsbie8922]

In My top 5 Paul McCartney ranking.. 1. Band On the Run 2. Ram 3. Memory Almost Full 4. Flaming Pie 5. Flowers in the Dirt ...After that it gets harder

[@andygaines9686]

There is an unfortunate habit among older artists esp making very long lps to the detriment of the music. Often the 40 minute album sounds excellent or at least very good whilst the 60 minute version sounds flabby and bloated. Often less is more.

[@RalphPugliese-eh7ph]

U Are not serious u know nothing bout Paul McCartney bye

[@invisibleray6987]

I heard it for 1st time bout month ago, Today it sounds like he was cashing in on Anthology with this faux Beatles balled vibe, IT FAILS!

[@gregmills6292]

Flaming Pie is a really good album. Maybe a couple of weak songs