10 Albums That You Need To Listen To More Than Once
4. McCartney II - Paul McCartney
At the start of the ‘80s, Paul McCartney wasn’t entirely sure what he wanted his next move to be. He had already picked himself up from the critical bashing that he got at the start of his solo career, and now he was riding high off the success of Wings. Even playing the stadium rock gets boring after a while, so Paul stripped everything back and went into the studio with a tape machine and a handful of ideas.
For all of the experimental sides of Paul, you can really see why people need to let the songs on McCartney II for a little longer than usual. From the first few offerings on songs like Temporary Secretary, fans were either confused or annoyed by what they heard, wondering why Paul decided to leave the sound of Wings behind. When you dive a little deeper, this was Paul starting to get in touch with his own experimental side, using synthesizers as the main instrument throughout most of the songs and actually making some nice ambient music as well on songs like Front Parlour.
This also became the one album that managed to get his fellow Beatle off his ass, with John Lennon absolutely loving the sounds that his former bandmate was making and eventually made Double Fantasy later in the year before his death in an attempt to make something equally as good. Just like his rough around the edges debut solo album did back in the early ‘70s, McCartney II feels like the purest form of Paul McCartney as a musician: a bit zany, a little rough around the edges, but always a good time if you stick around long enough.