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Rating:
Hello. This is the best review you have ever read. And it is mine.
Rustic, homemade, unfinished, handcrafted - the existential crisis, the insecurity that seized McCartney following the breakup of the Beatles and his sense of loneliness, of loss, tends to surface, despite the various lively and energetic tracks, from the grooves of a humble album recorded at home with a rudimentary four-track, playing all the instruments alone - sketching often unfinished, raw musical fragments - in contrast to the refined and perfectionist McCartney who had crafted the complex medley of "Abbey Road".
The result is a small, cohesive gem, which quietly starts off modestly and, surprisingly, reveals some raw and hidden pearls, of humble splendor ("Maybe I'm Amazed", "Junk"). The album's underlying theme, latent, is solitude, the loss - palpable in the melancholy that exudes from certain pieces - and the refuge from it in the warmth of the domestic world, of family, in feelings and music: the opening is entrusted to a concise, explicit dedication, "The Lovely Linda", and the last lyrics of the record are the passionate, amazed - almost fearful - confession of someone saved from their loneliness by the love of their partner ("And Maybe I'm Afraid Of The Way I Need You"). Some of the main themes that will traverse Paul's solo songs are outlined.
The atmosphere of the album has something intimate, secluded, convalescent - it feels like observing a skilled carpenter intent on building a small birdhouse solely for his own pleasure, for his own consolation - allowing himself distractions, imperfections, eccentric creative indulgences - self-relieved from the burden of producing professionally, for work, for someone. It's a small work that smells of wood, of small handcrafted work - almost without regard for the audience that is listening - but as if what mattered was only the pleasure of playing freely.
Tracklist and Lyrics
01 The Lovely Linda (00:45)
La la la la la the lovely linda
with the lovely flowers in her hair
La la la la la the lovely linda
with the lovely flowers in her hair
06 Junk (01:57)
Motor Cars, Handle Bars
Bicycles for Two
Broken Hearted Jubilee
Parachutes, Army Boots
Sleeping Bags for Two
Sentimental Jamboree
Buy Buy
Says the Sign in the Shop Window
Why Why
Says the Junk in the Yard
Candlesticks, Building Bricks
Something Old and New
Memories for You and Me
Buy Buy
Says the Sign in the Shop Window
Why Why
Says the Junk in the Yard
08 Oo You (02:50)
Look like a woman
Dress like a lady
Talk like a baby
Love like a woman
Oo you
Oo you
Walk like a woman
Sing like a blackbird
Eat like a hunger
Cook like a woman
Oo you
Oo you
Look like a woman
Dress like a lady
Talk like a baby
Love like a woman
Oo you
Oo you
12 Maybe I'm Amazed (03:55)
Maybe I'm amazed at the way you love me all the time.
Maybe I'm afraid of the way I love you
Maybe I'm amazed at the way you pull me out of time
You hung me on the line
Maybe I'm amazed at the way I really need you
Maybe I'm a man
Maybe I'm a lonely man who's in the middle of something
That he doesn't really understand.
Maybe I'm a man
And maybe you're the only woman who could ever help me.
Baby, won't you help me to understand?
Maybe I'm a man
Maybe I'm a lonely man who's in the middle of something
That he doesn't really understand.
Maybe I'm a man
And maybe you're the only woman who could ever help me.
Baby, won't you help me to understand?
Maybe I'm amazed at the way you're with me all the time
Maybe I'm afraid of the way I leave you
Maybe I'm amazed at the way you help me sing my song
Right me when I'm wrong
Maybe I'm amazed at the way I really need you
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Other reviews
By London
The album feels as if Paul is playing it right in front of you, together with you and just for you.
'Maybe I’m Amazed' is a poignant declaration of love for Linda that would have become a Beatles classic.
By nessuno
Many people are just discovering it now, certainly Paul’s most refined and personal album.
A record to listen to exclusively with headphones after a day’s work.
By Miki Page
Return to the beginnings, to simplicity, to the pleasure of playing just for the sake of it.
Unplugged - The Official Bootleg turns out to be a fresh, brilliant, fun, but also relaxed and pleasant record.
