Listen to some music here: podcasts.progrock.com/2024/07/21/sea-of-tranquilitys-ranking-the-albums-paul-mccartney-solo/

Absolutely love this episode! Glad to hear some of these deeper cuts get some love. If anyone here in the comments wants to do a deep dive on these records please go check out the back catalog of Take It Away: The Complete Paul McCartney Archive Podcast.

Thank you great episode, great guest, Rick! Very enjoyable. Thx.

1- Flaming PIE. 🥧 2- RAM 🐏 3- Off the GROUND 4- Tug of WAR 5- Chaos and Creation in the backyard 6- Memory almost FULL 7-Flowers in the DIRT 8- Egypt 🇪🇬 STATION 9- NEW 10- Pipes of PEACE -11- McCartney 111 12- Press to PLAY. 13- McCartney 11 14- Driving RAIN ☔️ 15- McCartney. Thanks Pete. Thanks. Rick L for your time 👍💯

At last it’s here! The ranking of the solo albums of my favourite musician ever! I’ve been waiting for a long time for this one! Thoroughly looking forward to this!

What a great ranking show! Rick's enthusiasm here was so infectious, loved him breaking into a song at times 😎 Tug Of War and Ram are my two perennial favourites, could never decide which one is the top dog. Chaos And Creation... and Flowers In The Dirt are probably also in my top five along with Flaming Pie.

I guess that the "Homework Assignment" segment you guys did a few years back logically led to this. Thanks!

I’m in the McCartney II cult!

I really can't be critical of McCartney. The Beatles were the soundtrack of my childhood and Wings has a huge part if my teenage years. I appreciate your ranking of his catalog. Legend. Great show guys.

Just wanna say, Rick you're awesome! Love your knowledge and input, but your enthusiasm is infectious! You seem to be a very happy dude, and that I find inspiring. Keep rocking, gents! Always a pleasure

Rick gives his review & then his review of Pete's review 😄

I’m sorry guys but anyone who prefers McCartney 3 to McCartney 2 needs to have their ears cleaned out or checked…also McCartney 1 is incredible and top tier Macca…also he’s actually 82

Agree with almost all your assessments. The only album I don't have is OFF THE GROUND. I have NO idea how I missed it, but obviously I'll be picking it up very soon! Thanks to both of you for doing such a great job on PM!

I loved listening to this! I don't have any of Paul's albums except Back in the US Live, but Rick's enthusiasm for the albums and songs is so captivating! Thanks again.

Great overview. Massively productive musician. His appearance at Glastonbury a couple of years ago was outstanding.

Really fun episode guys!

1) Flaming Pie 2) Tug of War 3) Paul & Linda McCartney - Ram 4) Flowers in the Dirt 5) Egypt Station 6) Memory Almost Full 7) New 8) McCartney III 9) Driving Rain 10) Off the Ground 11) Pipes of Peace 12) Chaos and Creation in the Backyard 13) Press to Play 14) McCartney 15) McCartney II

Chaos and Creation in the Backyard is such a gorgeous and poignant album.

Tug Of War is my #1 favorite solo album.

Love this episode. Big Beatles fans big Paul Mccartney fan

Ram is far and away the cream of the crop, Flowers in the dirt is a distance second.

There are certain people who are literally conduits of music that touches the soul. What an insanely productive, varied output of pure genius M was capable of harnessing from the ether. Good job , Fellas!

Love my SOT mug 🍺! Hey guys , Rick seems like a solid dude 👌

George Martin did not produce Band On The Run. Technically, Run Devil Run was the first album Paul released following Linda's death, but Driving Rain was the first one with ALL NEW material on it, so there's that. Ha. Oh, and the song Angry off Press To Play features Phil Collins on drums and Pete Townshend on guitar as well.

Junk from McCartney 1 is a great song that was made when he was in the Beatles. You can listen to the earlier versions on some of the deluxe editions of some Beatles albums.

My top ten: 1. Ram 2. Chaos and Creation in the Backyard 3. McCartney 4. McCartney II 5. Flowers in the Dirt 6. Memory Almost Full 7. Tug of War 8. Driving Rain 9. Egypt Station 10. McCartney III EDIT - I know Ram is technically credited to Paul and Linda, but since it wouldn't be very fun to rank a catalog of 1 album, lol, I'll include it here.

Thanks lads for thr run down of Sir Paul McCartney solo very informative from both of you , very big Paul McCartney fans and rightly so. I didnt relise how many solo albums he as recorded. Thats without albums with the Beatles and Wings a phoninal achievement from a great singer writer and performer. The only person to have a number 1 as a solo artist 🎨 a duo , a trio and as a quartet nobody else as done it . Probably it will never will . Well Done 👏 ✔️.

1. Ram 2. Flaming Pie 3. McCartney 4. Flowers in the Dirt 5. Driving Rain 6. Egypt Station 7. New 8. Chaos & Creation in the Backyard 9. Tug of War 10. Pipes of Peace 11. McCartney II 12. Memory Almost Full 13. Off the Ground 14. Press to Play 15. McCartney III

I have had RAM for ages, used to have “McCartney” and I eventually got Flaming Pie - but never even knew much about these other albums … oddly enough! So this is great info to have, and now I want to explore albums like Tug of War.

McCartney is my pick for THE musical personality of the 20th Century (beating out Elvis, Louis Armstrong/I'm not a jazz guy). The term "musical genius" is often thrown around pretty loosely - he's it...Pete did Wings a while back (Spoiler: Band On the Run was his #1 all time Wings album)...So this is solo McCartney outside of Wings. There's SO MUCH here (Wiki lists 26 studio records & 9 live but that includes Wings), I count something like 22 solo Macca studio records (excluding the classical stuff). My ranking: 1. Oobu Joobu (PMC radio program of demos etc) 2. Flaming Pie 3. Ram 4. Press To Play 5. Egypt Station 6. Flowers In The Dirt 7. Off The Ground, Driving Rain, Memory Almost Full, New 8. Return To Pepperland 9. Give My Regards To Broad Street 10. s/t debut, 11. McCartney II, Tug Of War, The Other Side Of Off The Ground, Chaos And Creation In The Backyard 12. McCartney III 13. Run Devil Run, Pipes Of Peace, Снова в СССР, Kisses on the Bottom For live: Tripping The Live Fantastic, Unplugged, Paul Is Live, Back In The World, Good Evening New York City, Amoeba Gig...There's also the late 90's Elvis Costello teamup The Studio Collaboration

I’ve been waiting for you to do this

Fantastic episode! Love Rick's thoughtful analysis. I love all the albums, but Tug of War has the top place in my heart, a true masterpiece of intelligent pop.

Well done.

That will be interesting. With Paul's solo work I tend to prefer the albums that others dislike. I think Off The Ground is brillant for instance.

I’m a longtime subscriber, but I don’t think I’ve ever commented. Both of these lists have got to be the most interesting of any that I’ve seen on his discography. Much respect for that. Glad to see driving rain is not last like on most people’s lists. Man do people hate that album. I always quite liked it. Glad I got to see Paul in 93 when he started bringing back some wings tunes. Also saw him in 2010 and got real lucky (for me) because he actually played Venus and Mars/rock show. Venus annd Mars is my fave Wings anlbum. Amazing concert that night. Also quite a few deep cuts like Nineteen hundred and eighty five and ms Vandebilt. Cheers. Excellent video.

The first album I ever bought was Venus and Mars so I got into McCartney's music primarily through Wings and that's the stuff I still play most. I do think he brought all his gifts together best on RAM. The vocals alone were just incredible. The best record by an ex-Beatle for me. The Fireman albums, Rushes and Electric Arguments (which could have been McCartney 3) are well worth checking out. Memory Almost Full is my favourite of the "later" albums - probably because the most Wings-like.....

i love Mccartney II. in fact i love the whole trilogy. You can see which Mccartney you guys like, lol. it's totally cool though.

Most successful musician in the history of Earth. In terms of product sales from the 3 bands he was the main musician and writer for.

Great episode guys.

Ram is absolutely #1 for me. It’s so far in front that it’ll never be knocked off my top spot. I had it on 8-track!

McCartney is a genius album

„Tug of war” is my number one album

Flaming Pie is a favorite of mine, I wonder were it will land on Pete and Rick's lists ?

Will be enjoying this. I know he did John Lennon. Don't recall or think George Harrison was done . If not then to do that sometime as well. And to do Ringo as well. Rankings are always great and fun here at SOT.

During lockdown I listened to PM's entire solo catalog. Took me a few days. Great listen. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed his discography from top to bottom. It's not all great (Temporary Secretary is epically bad) but overall I really enjoyed the experience. Flowers in the Dirt is my #1. Thanks, guys.

McCartney II is better than anything he's done since Abbey Road

Here is my Top 10: 1) Ram 2) Flaming Pie 3) Tug of War 4) Chaos and Creation in the Backyard 5) Egypt Station 6) McCartney 7) New 8) Flowers in the Dirt 9) Memory Almost Full 10) Off the Ground

Thanks very entertaining and informative. Don’t worry about the cost you must go see him buy a plane ticket whatever you have to do do it before it’s not possible.

About 10 years ago Paul played in Fargo ND. My co-workers weren't going and I asked them - When the hell is a Beatle coming here ever avgain? Really great show

Will you review the new archival Paul McCartney and Wings album One Hand Clapping?

Pete, have you thought about doing a show based on getting recommended an album by a band you don't like so you could give them another try? Like I think you dislike WASP, so you could put a pole on the community tab asking: considering what bands/albums I like, if I wanted to give WASP another try, what album should I try? It would be a fun concept, plus it would make people comment on the channel which would feed the algorithm. Cheers!

Chaos and Creation in the Backyard is a wonderful album. I was so disappointed when Paul decided not to do another album with Nigel Goodrich. The stuff after that is just bad, imo.

I did a complete solo/Wings album ranking last year. I excluded the same cover albums. I could have taken the Wings albums out, but I chose not to. 22) Press to Play - Very 80’s. The electric drums date this and make it sound very generic. 21) Off the Record 20) McCartney III 19) Pipes of Peace - I was also surprised how low I ranked this. I was expecting it to be higher. 18) Egypt Station - To me, this is where his age really starts to show. 17) McCartney II - Temporary Secretary is such a weird song, but I have grown to love it. Easily, my favorite on this album. 16) London Town 15) Flaming Pie 14) Wild Life 13) Flowers in the Dirt 12) New 11) Driving Rain 10) Red Rose Speedway 9) Back to the Egg 8) Chaos and Creation in the Backyard - I was surprised I ranked this so high. I don’t think there’s any great songs here, but there are few low points on it. 7) McCartney - Oddly, ranked way higher than the two of you and I think Maybe I’m Amazed is one of his most overrated songs. 6) Tug of War 5) Memory Almost Full - The 3 singles are easily his best songs since the early 80’s. 4) Venus and Mars 3) At the Speed of Sound 2) Ram 1) Band on the Run

So you won't find anyone who will seriously say Paul McCarney is underrated. However I still don't think that. he gets enough credit for what he's given to music art and humanity. We are so lucky to be alive during this time to experience his music.

George Martin did not produce Band On the Run…Paul did

My ranking 15. McCartney III (2020) 14. McCartney II (1980) 13. Egypt Station (2018) 12. New (2013) 11. Chaos And Creation In The Backyard (2005) 10. Press To Play (1986) 9. McCartney (1970) 8. Flowers In The Dirt (1989) 7. Memory Almost Full (2007) 6. Driving Rain (2001) 5. Pipes Of Peace (1983) 4. Tug Of War (1982) 3. Off The Ground (1993) 2. Ram (1971) 1. Flaming Pie (1997)

My top 7 as I don't have everything as of yet 1.Flaming PIE. 2 Ram 3. Egypt STATION 4. Memory almost Full 5. New 6. Chaos and Creation in the backyard 7; Driving RAIN & I'm looking to get Off the Ground & Tug of War. So, my ranking may change after some listening to the new to me CDs.

To make a sports comparison,,Paul is the Jim Brown of music in terms of talent comparison and also the Coca Cola in terms of success lol

RAM, Band On The Run, Return Of The Egg, Flaming Pie, Driving Rain. The rest are so so.

Out of the covers albums I love Run Devil Run as it featured David Gilmour on guitar and Ian Paice on drums. Also it did have three new songs which were its title track, Try Not to Cry and What It Is. Russian Album I have not heard and Kisses On the Bottom was Sinatra standards so he has three covers albums. That only had two original songs he recorded for the album. Give My Regards to Broad Street was covers except for No More Lonely Nights. Four covers albums. Of his albums of original material (Ram I don’t count as it was with his wife) 1) Tug of War 2) McCartney 3) Flowers in the Dirt 4) Flaming Pie 5) Egypt Station 6) New 7) Pipes of Peace 8) McCartney 3 9) McCartney 2 10) Chaos 11) Driving Rain 12) Off The Ground 13) Press to Play Did I miss any. Favorite compilations 1) Wingspan 2) All the Best 3) Pure McCartney

1 Ram 2 McCartney II 3 McCartney 4 New 5 McCartney III

Nice video.😃👍

I kind of put both Mccartney and Ram in a different category than his other solo albums. To me thats basically the wings era. Post 1980, his bests are definitely Flaming Pie, Chaos and Creation, and Egypt Station.

Top 10-Macca 1. Ram 2. McCartney 3. Driving Rain 4. Flowers in the Dirt 5. McCartney III 6. Chaos & Creation in the Backyard 7. New 8. McCartney II 9. Tug of War 10. Egypt Station

Memory Almost Full is s great album. Top3 for me!

I thought Ram was a Paul & Linda McCartney album. I would incorporate The Russian Album on my list instead of Ram, although I know it's an oldies cover album. My top three, 3. Flowers in the Dirt, 2. Flaming Pie, 1. Tug of War. Thanks Pedro

Imagine if McCartney had a band with Joe Walsh + Dave Gilmour on guitars,Mick Fleetwood on drums,JP Jones on keys ...Pretty much represents the most successful bands in history.

Nobody loves music more than Rick.

1. Off The Ground 2. Flaming Pie 3. McCartney 4. RAM 5. Chaos & Creation would be my top 5.

1. Flaming Pie 2. Venus and Mars 3. Tug Of War 4. Back to the Egg 5. Ram 6. One Hand Clapping 7. Band on the Run 8. NEW 9. McCartney 10. Flowers in the Dirt 11. Wings Over America 12. Run Devil Run 13. Trippin the Live Fantastic 14. Chaos and Creation in the Backyard 15. Wings Wildlife 16. Press to Play 17. Off the Ground 18. Unplugged: The Official Bootleg 19. The Russian Album 20. McCartney 2 21. Memory Almost Full 22. Red Rose Speedway 23. Paul is Live 24. Pipes of Peace 25. Wings at the Speed of Sound 26. McCartney 3 27. Give My Regards to Broad Street 28. Kisses on the Bottom 29. London Town 30. Egypt Station 31. Back in the World 32. Driving Rain 33. Good Evening New York City (the auto tune album) Compilations 1. McCartney PURE 2. All the Best 3. Wingspan (a very dishonest title for this collection though) 4. Wings Greatest Hits Oddities 1. Amoeba Gig 2. Thrillington 3. Twin Freaks 4. Electric Arguments 5. Rushes 6. Liverpool Sound Collage 7. Strawberries Oceans Ships Forests Classical 1. Liverpool Oratorio 2. The Family Way Soundtrack 3. Ecce Cor Meum 4. Working Classical 5. Standing Stone 6. Ovean’s Kingdom Documentaries 1. Put it There 2. One Hand Clapping 3. Movin On 4. The World Tonight 5. Too many more to bother working through Recorded Concerts (VHS/DVD etc) 1. Rockshow 2. Get Back 3. In Red Square 4. The Bruce McMouse Show 5. Live at the Cavern Club 6. Paul is Live (Great concert - woeful MTV style visuals) 7. Wingspan (very one sided) 8. Too many more Videos: non concert 1. The McCartney Years 2. Once Upon a Video 3. Back to the Egg video film 4. James Paul McCartney 5. That’s Enough There are so many release that have compliments from concerts and videos combined and others with interviews cuts included. Maybe one day I might do best singles not released on albums as With a Little Luck, Girl’s School. Maybe one day best Macca songs on soundtracks and other releases such as In The Blink of an Eye.

1. Chaos & Creation In The Backyard 2. Ram 3. Flaming Pie 4. McCartney II 5. Tug of War 6. McCartney 7. Pipes of Peace 8. Memory Almost Full 9. Flowers In The Dirt 10. New 11. Egypt Station 12. Press To Play 13. Off The Ground 14. Driving Rain Honorable Mentions: Kisses From The Bottom Dishonorable Mentions: Give My Regards To Broadstreet Run Devil Run

10. Memory Almost Full 9. Kisses on the bottom 8. Off the ground 7. Flaming Pie 6. Ram 5. McCartney 2 4. Run Devil Run 3. Tug of war 2. Pipes of peace

You never did the ranking of Paul McCartney albums? Did not know that.

Surprised you both had the same albums in your top 5! And interesting you put Off the ground in the top 5, I know it pretty well and never liked it that much. For me the debut would be much higher in the list, love it, a perfect album to me.

Chaos and creation so low? Crazy.

RAM was my first and remains my fav .. and if I recall .. it was released as Paul and Linda because his $$ was tied up in the Beatles legal issues, so Linda was the only family income ,,,,the reviews were terrible but it has stood the test of time and folks came around after the Beatles break up

1. McCartney 2. Ram 3. Chaos and Creation in the Backyard 4. Flaming Pie 5. Red Rose Speedway 6. Venus and Mars ​ 7. Off The Ground 8. Flowers in the Dirt 9. Back To The Egg 10. Band On The Run 11. Tug of War 12. Egypt Station 13. Electric Arguments 14. Memory Almost Full 15. NEW 16. Wings at the Speed of Sound 17. McCartney III 18. London Town 19. Driving Rain 20. McCartney II 21. Pipes of Peace 22. Wild Life 23. Press To Play

Chaos & Creation is a magnificent album. Top 3 McCartney/Wings for me. But thankful to or grateful of Heather Mills, it is anything BUT. Listen to "Riding to Vanity Fair" again. Pay attention to the lyrics. This is post-breakup anger.

George Martin did not produce ‘Band On The Run’ (26:18).

1. Tug of War 2. Ram 3. Memory Almost Full 4. McCartney 1 5. Flaming Pie

Surprised you guys rated Off the Ground so high. That is probably the album from this list I listen to least. Nothing outright bad on it, but nothing really great on it either; his voice sounds weak and croaky on it and I don't care for the adult contemporary production. I prefer some of the stuff that is on the second disc of the Complete Works set, e.g. Long Leather Coat and Sweet Sweet Memories. I agree with you guys on the low placement of Chaos and Creation - very overrated. Some good quality tunes and production on it, but it doesn't have that McCartney sense of fun.

RAM. Full stop. Shows over.

Hey to fast-forward toward the end of this video went on way too long

Paul is great! Only John was better. Lennon's Plastic Ono Band & Imagine albums out did anything Paul ever did.

They all suck. There, that was easy and saved everyone a bunch of time deciding. You're welcome.

I am from and live in Liverpool so I should love Paul McCartney but I don't. I love most of the Beatles songs he wrote but most of his solo music leaves me cold. I have every John Lennon solo album, 3 George Harrison solo albums, no Ringo albums(of course) and one McCartney solo album, Band On The Run. I know he is a musical genius, a great singer and songwriter but give me John Lennon anyday.

I don't like any of his post Beatles albums.

I've seen Rick in SOT before, but in this show it's a joy to hear him and see him talk about Paul. Great video guys.