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'''''Ram''''' is an album by [[Paul McCartney]] and [[Linda McCartney]], released in 1971, the only album credited to the pair. Set against the backdrop of the legal action taking place in Britain's High Court with the dissolution of [[The Beatles]] partnership, following their [[The Beatles' breakup|break-up]] the year before, ''Ram'' was the second of two albums McCartney released between quitting The Beatles and forming [[Wings (band)|Wings]], whose future drummer [[Denny Seiwell]] played on the record, alongside the McCartneys and session musicians.
'''''Ram''''' is an album by [[Paul McCartney]] and [[Linda McCartney]], released in 1971, the only album credited to the pair. Set against the backdrop of the legal action taking place in Britain's High Court with the dissolution of [[The Beatles]] partnership, following their [[The Beatles' breakup|break-up]] the year before, ''Ram'' was the second of two albums McCartney released between quitting The Beatles and forming [[Wings (band)|Wings]], whose future drummer [[Denny Seiwell]] played on the record, alongside the McCartneys and session musicians.


Three singles were released from the album: the American number 1 hit "[[Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey]]", the minor British hit "[[The Back Seat of My Car]]", and "[[Eat at Home]]", which appeared in Europe only. The album is set to be reissued on 21 May.
Three singles were released from the album: the American number 1 hit "[[Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey]]", the minor British hit "[[The Back Seat of My Car]]", and "[[Eat at Home]]", which appeared in Europe only. The album is set to be reissued on 21 May, 2012.


==Recording and structure==
==Recording and structure==

Revision as of 16:36, 29 March 2012

Untitled

Ram is an album by Paul McCartney and Linda McCartney, released in 1971, the only album credited to the pair. Set against the backdrop of the legal action taking place in Britain's High Court with the dissolution of The Beatles partnership, following their break-up the year before, Ram was the second of two albums McCartney released between quitting The Beatles and forming Wings, whose future drummer Denny Seiwell played on the record, alongside the McCartneys and session musicians.

Three singles were released from the album: the American number 1 hit "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey", the minor British hit "The Back Seat of My Car", and "Eat at Home", which appeared in Europe only. The album is set to be reissued on 21 May, 2012.

Recording and structure

After the release of the commercially successful (though, critically, poorly received) debut McCartney, Paul and Linda went on a lengthy holiday and spent much time on their farm on the Mull of Kintyre, Scotland. It was during this period that Paul, often with his wife's input − her self-confessed lack of musical ability notwithstanding − composed the songs that would feature on Ram. The couple flew to New York City in the fall of 1970 to record the new material.

Lacking a working band, they held auditions for musicians, bringing some in under the guise of a session to record a commercial jingle.[1] Denny Seiwell was recruited on drums, David Spinozza was tapped for guitar duties (later replaced by Hugh McCracken when Spinozza became unavailable), and Marvin Stamm was featured on flugelhorn on "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey". Although it was a collaborative project, Linda's vocal duties were mostly limited to backing Paul, who sang almost all of the lead parts. Linda sang co-lead vocals on "Long Haired Lady", however. The sessions also birthed future songs like "Dear Friend", released on the debut Wings album Wild Life later in 1971, as well as "Get on the Right Thing", "Big Barn Bed" (opening lines of which can be heard on "Ram On (Reprise)"), "Little Lamb Dragonfly", all of which would be finished for 1973's Red Rose Speedway and the b-side 1973 single, "I Lie Around".

By early 1971, the project was completed along with the non-album "Another Day"/"Oh Woman, Oh Why" single − McCartney's first after The Beatles − which was released that February and became a worldwide Top 5 hit. In May, Ram was unveiled.

Despite the phasing-out of monaural albums by the late 1960s, Ram was pressed in mono (MAS 3375) with unique mixes that differ from the common stereo version (SMAS 3375). These were only made available to radio stations and are among the most valuable and sought-after of Paul McCartney's solo records.[1][2]

Apart from the songs released on Ram and the first two Wings albums, McCartney also recorded the following tracks during these sessions:

  • A Love for You
  • Rode All Night
  • When the Wind Is Blowing
  • Sunshine Sometime
  • Hey Diddle
  • Blackpool

Feud

The back cover

According to Peter Brown, John Lennon believed that a number of songs on Ram contained jibes aimed at him, particularly "Too Many People" and "Dear Boy".[3] Brown also described the picture of two beetles copulating on the back cover as symbolic of how Paul McCartney felt the other Beatles were treating him.[3] George Harrison and Ringo Starr were said to consider the track "3 Legs" as an attack on them and Lennon[4] ("Three Legs" being McCartney's nickname for his former band-mates).

McCartney later claimed that only two lines in "Too Many People" were directed at Lennon. "In one song, I wrote, 'Too many people preaching practices,' I think is the line. I mean, that was a little dig at John and Yoko. There wasn't anything else on [Ram] that was about them. Oh, there was 'You took your lucky break and broke it in two.'"[5]

As well as conducting a war of words via Britain's musical press,[4] Lennon's response was the scathing "How Do You Sleep?",[3] and it has been considered too that "Crippled Inside", also from his Imagine album, was directed at McCartney.[4][6] Early editions of Imagine included a postcard of Lennon pulling the ears of a pig in a parody of Ram's cover photograph of McCartney holding a ram by the horns.[7]

Release and reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic [8]
Blender (magazine) link
Robert ChristgauC+ [9]
Rolling Stone(negative) [10]
MusicHound[11]

"The Back Seat of My Car" was excerpted as a UK single from Ram that August, only reaching number 39, but the US release of the ambitious "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" proved much more successful, giving McCartney his first number 1 single since leaving The Beatles.

The album reached number 1 in Britain and number 2 in the US, where it spent over five months in the Top 10 and went platinum. The album has sold over two million copies.[12]

At the time of its release, Ram was given a poor critical reception, and Paul was particularly stung by the harsh reviews − especially as he had attempted to address the points raised in criticism of his earlier album, McCartney, by adopting a more professional approach this time around.[13] Jon Landau in Rolling Stone labelled Ram "incredibly inconsequential" and "monumentally irrelevant",[10] while Playboy opined, "you keep wondering why he bothers."[citation needed] Writing some four years later, Roy Carr and Tony Tyler from the New Musical Express explained the situation: "It would be naive to have expected the McCartneys to produce anything other than a mediocre record ... Grisly though this was, McCartney was to sink lower before rescuing his credibility late in 1973."[14]

His fellow ex-Beatles, all of whom were riding high in the critics' favour with their recent releases, were likewise vocal in their negativity. Lennon famously hated the album, dismissing his former songwriting partner's efforts as "muzak to my ears" in his song "How Do You Sleep?". Even the affable Starr told Britain's Melody Maker: "I feel sad about Paul's albums ... I don't think there's one [good] tune on the last one, Ram ... he seems to be going strange."[15]

However, after the passage of several years, critics began dramatically revising their earlier opinions. By the 1980s, for instance, Rolling Stone were hailing the album as one of McCartney's best, and retroactively awarded it four (of five) stars.[citation needed]

In 1977, McCartney supervised the release of an instrumental interpretation of Ram (recorded in June 1971 and arranged by Richard Hewson) with the release of Thrillington under the pseudonym of Percy "Thrills" Thrillington.

Re-release and tributes

Ram was first issued on compact disc in 1987. In 1993, the album was remastered and reissued on CD as part of "The Paul McCartney Collection" series with "Another Day" and "Oh Woman, Oh Why" as bonus tracks. That same year Digital Compact Classics released an audiophile edition prepared by Steve Hoffman. The mono mix has never been issued on compact disc, except by bootleggers.[1]

In 2009, two tribute albums featuring all of the songs from Ram were made available for digital download. Ram On L.A. was compiled by the website Aquarium Drunkard and featured Los Angeles-based acts; Tom was put together by New Jersey radio station WFMU DJ Tom Scharpling and included Aimee Mann and Death Cab for Cutie, among others.[16] On 3 December 2010, Juliens Auctions sold the only known remaining acetate of Ram for $1536.00.[17]

On 21 May 2012 (UK) and 22 May (US), Ram will be re-released by McCartney's current label Hear Music. [18] [19]

Track listing

Side one
No.TitelWriter(s)Length
1."Too Many People"Paul McCartney4:10
2."3 Legs"P. McCartney2:44
3."Ram On"P. McCartney2:26
4."Dear Boy"P. McCartney, Linda McCartney2:12
5."Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey"P. McCartney, L. McCartney4:49
6."Smile Away"P. McCartney3:51
Side two
No.TitelWriter(s)Length
7."Heart of the Country"P. McCartney, L. McCartney2:21
8."Monkberry Moon Delight"P. McCartney, L. McCartney5:21
9."Eat at Home"P. McCartney, L. McCartney3:18
10."Long Haired Lady"P. McCartney, L. McCartney5:54
11."Ram On"P. McCartney0:52
12."The Back Seat of My Car"P. McCartney4:26
Bonus tracks on 1993 reissue
No.TitelWriter(s)Length
13."Another Day"P. McCartney, L. McCartney3:41
14."Oh Woman, Oh Why"P. McCartney, L. McCartney4:36

2012 reissue

Ram is to be reissued in several packages:[20]

  • Standard Edition 1 CD; the original 12-track album
  • Special Edition 2 CD; the original 12-track album on the first disc, plus 8 bonus tracks on a second disc
  • Deluxe Edition Box Set 4 CD/1 DVD; the original 12-track album, the bonus track disc, the original album in mono, Thrillington, DVD of films, 112-page book, 5 prints, 8 facsimiles of lyric sheets, photograph book, and download link to all of the material
  • Remastered vinyl 2-LP version of the Special Edition and a download link to the material
  • Remastered mono vinyl limited edition LP of the mono mixes

Charts

Notes

  1. ^ a b c Madinger & Easter (2000)
  2. ^ Spizer, p. 132.
  3. ^ a b c Brown (2002), p. 351.
  4. ^ a b c Keith Badham, The Beatles Diary Volume 2: After the Break-Up 1970−2001, Omnibus Press (London, 2002), p. 22.
  5. ^ Goodman, Joan (1984). "Playboy Interview: Paul and Linda McCartney". Playboy. Playboy Press. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help) Posted at "Playboy Interview With Paul and Linda McCartney". beatlesinterviews.org. Retrieved 23 August 2008.
  6. ^ The Editors of Rolling Stone, Harrison, Rolling Stone Press/Simon & Schuster (New York, NY, 2002), p. 42.
  7. ^ Norman (2008), p. 672.
  8. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. Ram at AllMusic. Retrieved 14 April 2005.
  9. ^ Christgau, Robert. "Paul and Linda McCartney Ram > Consumer Album Guide". Robert Christgau. Retrieved 1 October 2007.
  10. ^ a b Landau, Jon (8 July 1971). "Paul McCartney Ram > Album Review". Rolling Stone. No. 86. Archived from the original on 1 October 2007. Retrieved 13 June 2006. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  11. ^ Gary Graff & Daniel Durcholz, MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide, Visible Ink Press (Farmington Hills, MI, 1999), p. 730.
  12. ^ Spizer, p. 128.
  13. ^ Nicholas Schaffner, The Beatles Forever, McGraw-Hill (New York, NY, 1978), p. 144.
  14. ^ Roy Carr & Tony Tyler, The Beatles: An Illustrated Record, Trewin Copplestone Publishing (London, 1978), p. 95.
  15. ^ Keith Badham, The Beatles Diary Volume 2: After the Break-Up 1970−2001, Omnibus Press (London, 2002), p. 39.
  16. ^ Bronson, Kevin (18 March 2009). "11 L.A. artists honor Paul McCartney's 'Ram'". Pop & Hiss. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 6 September 2010.
  17. ^ Juliens Auctions site
  18. ^ "Paul and Linda McCartney's Legendary Album RAM Set for Deluxe Reissue". paulmccartney.com. 22 March 2012. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
  19. ^ Marchese, Joe. "Ram On: Paul McCartney Archive Collection's "Ram" Coming This Spring, Previewed on Record store Day". The Second Disc. Retrieved 13 March 2012.
  20. ^ "Paul and Linda McCartney's Legendary Album RAM Set for Deluxe Reissue". paulmccartney.com. 22 March 2012. Retrieved 28 March 2012.
  21. ^ a b Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, NSW: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0646119176. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  22. ^ "Top Albums/CDs - Volume 16, No. 6, September 25 1971". RPM. Retrieved 30 September 2011. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  23. ^ "dutchcharts.nl Paul & Linda McCartney - Ram". Hung Medien, dutchcharts.nl (in Dutch). MegaCharts. Retrieved 12 September 2011.
  24. ^ "InfoDisc : Tous les Albums classés par Artiste > Choisir Un Artiste Dans la Liste" (in French). infodisc.fr. Retrieved 12 September 2011.
  25. ^ a b "Hit Parade Italia - Gli album più venduti del 1971" (in Italian). hitparadeitalia.it. Retrieved 3 October 2011.
  26. ^ a-ビートルズ "- Yamachan Land (Archives of the Japanese record charts) - Albums Chart Daijiten - The Beatles" (in Japanese). 30 December 2007. Retrieved 14 September 2011. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
  27. ^ "norwegiancharts.com Paul & Linda McCartney - Ram". VG-lista. Retrieved 12 September 2011.
  28. ^ "Chart Stats - Paul And Linda McCartney - Ram". UK Albums Chart. Retrieved 3 October 2011. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  29. ^ "allmusic ((( Ram > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums )))". allmusic.com. Retrieved 3 October 2011.
  30. ^ "Album Search: Paul McCartney" (in German). Media Control. Retrieved 3 October 2011.
  31. ^ "Les Albums (CD) de 1971 par InfoDisc" (PHP) (in French). infodisc.fr. Retrieved 29 January 2012.
  32. ^ "The Official UK Charts Company : ALBUM CHART HISTORY". Archived from the original on 3 October 2011. Retrieved 17 December 2007. {{cite web}}: |archive-date= / |archive-url= timestamp mismatch; 17 December 2007 suggested (help)
  33. ^ "1971 Year-end Albums - The Billboard Pop Albums". Retrieved 3 October 2011.
  34. ^ "Canadian album certifications – Paul McCartney – Ram". Music Canada.
  35. ^ "American album certifications – Paul McCartney – Ram". Recording Industry Association of America.

References

  • Brown, Peter; Gaines, Steven (2002). The Love You Make: An Insider's Story of The Beatles. New York: New American Library. ISBN 0-451-20735-1.
  • Madinger, Chip (2000). Eight Arms To Hold You: The Solo Beatles Compendium. Chesterfield, MO: 44.1 Productions. pp. 156–161. ISBN 0-615-11724-4. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  • McGee, Garry (2003). Band on the Run; A History of Paul McCartney and Wings. New York: Taylor Trade Publishing. ISBN 0-87833-304-5.
  • Norman, Philip (2008). John Lennon: The Life. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-075401-3.
  • Spizer, Bruce (2005). The Beatles Solo on Apple Records. New Orleans: 498 Productions. pp. 126–136. ISBN 0-9662649-5-9.
Preceded by
Sticky Fingers by The Rolling Stones
Sticky Fingers by The Rolling Stones
 Norwegian VG-lista number-one album
25-27/1971
29-35/1971 		Succeeded by
Sticky Fingers by The Rolling Stones
Pearl by Janis Joplin
Preceded by
Sticky Fingers by The Rolling Stones
 UK number-one album
5 – 18 June 1971 		Succeeded by
Sticky Fingers by The Rolling Stones
Preceded by Dutch Mega Chart number-one album
19 – 26 June 1971 		Succeeded by
Sticky Fingers by The Rolling Stones
Preceded by Canadian RPM Chart number-one album
11 - 18 September 1971 		Succeeded by
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ram_(album)&oldid=484560876"