Sir Paul's 'Kisses On The Bottom'
Paul McCartney fans would no doubt rather get a Valentine's Day gift of hearing the left-handed bassist rock out as he did in that raging testosterone guitar fest that closed the Grammy awards, than sit around in a tux snapping his fingers with a full orchestra as he did on "My Valentine" earlier in the show.
Sir Paul's 'Kisses On The Bottom'
Dan DeLuca, Inquirer Music Critic
Paul McCartney fans would no doubt rather get a Valentine's Day gift of hearing the left-handed bassist rock out as he did in that raging testosterone guitar fest that closed the Grammy awards, than sit around in a tux snapping his fingers with a full orchestra as he did on "My Valentine" earlier in the show. But give the soft-hearted still-cute Beatle a break: his new 14 song Kisses On The Bottom (Concord ** 1/2) set of mostly pre-rock swing tunes - plus two originals - that Macca learned in his Liverpool living room growing up is a warm-hearted trifle.
The title makes it sound like something pervy, but it's just a lyric from Fats Waller's "I'm Going To Sit Right Down and Write Myself A Letter," and the album is a music box of chocolate truffles proferred to Macca's new wife, Nancy Shevell. With Diana Krall and a team of studio pros backing him, McCartney lounges his way though pleasant if hardly thrilling love songs of “It’s Only A Paper Moon” and "The Glory of Love.” Not what he does best perhaps, but look on the bright side: The lyrics, by Irving Berlin, E.Y. Yarburg and Frank Loesser, are much better than they’d be if he wrote them himself.
Below, that big side two of Abbey Road blowout, with Joe Walsh, Dave Grohl and Bruce Springsteen.
Previously: Whitney Houston, Live in Atlanitc City, 1998 Follow In The Mix on Twitter here
It is so apparent that Mr. Deluca always has an agenda when he writes about Sir Paul. I remember his review of Paul's last live concert at the Wells Fargo Center (2010) where he begrudgingly admitted Paul "delivered the goods". As an avid concert goer, it was one of the greatest live shows I had ever seen. Mr. Deluca's review of the show was so understated but not surprising because of his dislike for the artist. He had to thwow his darts over the lyrics of 2 songs (out of 38!). In my opinion, only Bruce gives as much value and "quality" over a 3 hour concert. When you see Paul live, you can see his obvious "genius" at play as an overall musician, composer, performer and singer. Even George Martin admitted that Paul was the best overall musician in the Beatles and that John was intimidated by Paul's ability to write those gorgeous melodies. As far as Mr. Deluca's current "kisses" review, I didn't mind his 2.5* Rating (although many other critics "love" the CD and are giving it 3.5 and even 4 stars). It was his usual "biting and sarcastic" comments at the end of the review that bothered me. Nothing Mr. Deluca writes about Mr. McCartney will ever be objective. By the way, Paul's 2 originals on "Kisses" are absolutely beautiful and fit the genre perfectly. It again shows his unbelievable versatility as a songwriter. The thing about Paul is that you can't measure him over 1 or 2 songs, any particular album or two or any particular genre. His output and variety of music over 50 years is that prodigious. At the end of his career, critics that disrespected and underrated his genius will not make any difference. In another 10 to 15 years he will be recognized as one of the top 5 songwriters/performers over the last 60 years.— Bernard Conlee
