Flowers In The Dirt

Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Format: Import
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1
EAN: 4988006713178
ASIN: B00000721F

Release Date: 1996-05-07

Flowers In The Dirt

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Enlivened and challenged by his songwriting collaboration with Elvis Costello, who cowrote three songs here, McCartney made one of his best albums of the 1980s with <I>Flowers in the Dirt</I>. The Costello tracks, "My Brave Face," "You Want Her, Too," and "That Day Is Done," are complex and acerbic, qualities rarely applied to songs penned by McCartney alone. Yet Sir Paul rises to the occasion on "Put It There," a touching remembrance of his father, and some of his best pop-rockers in a while, such as "This One," "Figure of Eight," and "Rough Ride." <I>--Daniel Durchholz</I>

Customer Reviews:

FLowers.......2007-01-29

Sacherine trivia
With the exception of the costello collaberations,this album misses the point by a country mile
I'm amazed at the majority of reviews here-obviously from McCartney fans.

The dedication to Chico Mendes is really a new low in McCartney lyric writing -trite,vacantly sentimental,and so loose in its generalizations
that I found it,frankly,embarassing !
McCartney's best work,Beatles apart,is his McCartney II album
and Band On The Run and Venus aand Mars

Otherwise,listen to to almost any other copyist to get better work than this sentimental slush.

Paul can bring these flowers anytime.......2007-01-24

I finally got tired of listening to the cassette version I bought -- wow, was it almost 18 years ago? Yikes. I know it's a cliche, but like wine, this album just gets better with age. The collaborations Paul made with Elvis Costello and so many other good musicians sound even better through the years.

One thing you'll notice, if you've been buying most of Paul's CDs like I have, is the strength of Paul's voice on this album. He is at his peak here, and still has a great range I don't hear on his latest, "Chaos and Creation in the Backyard." The combo of his voice, Elvis Costello's work and superb instrumentals just knock you out, especially if you haven't heard it in a while.

I'm not saying "Chaos" isn't a good CD, it has to rely more on his musicianship than vocals and I'm not sure yet that "Fine Line" and some of the other songs will stand the test of time. But of course, true Sir Paul fans won't really care, will we?

To sum it all up, this is Paul's best 1980s album and one of the top four in his solo career. Buy it!!!! You won't be sorry.

not happy.......2007-01-12

Sorry i even thought this would be any good, maybe one cut was any good and i gave that 1 star.

Still Beatlesque, but full Sir Paul also... Great album!.......2006-10-26

This is one of my "MUST HAVE 100 albums". A good friend of mine sent me the LP version from Spain a long time ago, as soon as it was put for sale at the record shop shelves in Madrid. Even when Paul McCartney cannot deny being still under the shadows of Beatles' influence, this album has terrific music, and really beautiful songs like "This One" and "Put It There" (a small musical jewel!). "Figures Of Eight", "My Brave Face", "Rough Ride" and even "We Got Married" bring the part of excellent PMcC Rock. Definitely one of McCartney's best!

Rediscovered gem........2006-06-15

I'm a big Macca fan and have just rediscovered this album after hardly playing it for the last 15 years. I loved it when it first came out but then it seemed to date pretty quickly and sound stale to me.
However, on recently revisiting this album my opinion has changed and I was pleasantly surprised at how good it sounded..it's almost like getting a brand new album for free!
When this album was first released in 1989 it heralded a bit of an artistic renaissance for McCartney. He was all of a sudden being treated nicely by the music press after years of scorn and ridicule in some sections of the media. The collaboration with Elvis Costello did no harm in lending this album some credibilty with people who had previously written Paul off.
Whether or not this album signalled some kind of "comeback" really depends upon your own perspective of Paul's career so it is not for me to say really.

The first single from this album was the McCartney/Costello song 'My Brave Face' - an infectious, quirky pop song which really bares more Macca hallmarks than Costello ones. It's a great track and wouldn't sound out of place on 'A Hard Days Night' with it's Beatleesqe harmonies and chiming guitar lines.

The other McCartney/Costello tracks sound more like the songwriting duties were equally shared.

'You Want Her Too' is a wonderful call and answer duet about fighting for the affections of a lady, which has got a definite tinge of the Costello 'Spike' album sound about it (like a less cringeworthy version of 'The Girl Is Mine').

'Don't Be Careless Love' is a gloriously spooky song featuring lyrics such as "saw your body rolled up in a rug, chopped up into little pieces by some thug". A dark macabre tale that you couldn't imagine Paul writing without Mr Costello's input.

'That Day Is Done' is a poignant slightly gospel sounded song and features a soaring arrangement and a great lead vocal from Paul.

The songs that Paul wrote alone are no less impressive in the main.

'Distractions'is a gorgeous trademark McCartney ballad with a beautiful string arrangement.

'We Got Married' is a touching song about the trials and tribulations of marriage which features extended instrumental passages with Pink Floyd's Dave Gilmour cranking out some powerful guitar licks - stunning - possibly my favourite on the album and would love to see this one live again. (although with the current situation it probably won't happen!).

'Put It There' is a cute acoustic track of the kind that Paul excels at. This one is inspired by a phrase that Paul's Dad used. Very nice song with a nice sparse arrangement.

The track on this album which I think should have been a bigger hit single is 'This One' - another very very catchy McCartney pop song - gorgeous melody in the verses. It possibly strays a little close to "cheesy" territory but I still love it and it's sentiments.

The rest of the songs to me are a mixed bag.

The second track 'Rough Ride' is a Horn/Lipson produced groove -a pleasant enough listen but ultimately pedestrian. (I don't skip it though!)

'Figure Of Eight' another catchy pop tune but I think the arrangement lets it down on this album. I much preferred the single version which was a different mix. Not one of Paul's better vocal moments either.

'How Many People' is a reggae flavoured song with a message - "I wanna be happy, I wanna be free" - again very pleasant to listen to but it can get a bit tiresome after awhile.

'Motor Of Love' is a pretty melody which is a bit let down by it's lyrics. I mean 'Motor of Love'!!!???? Nice enough for me not to skip it though.

So to sum it up. I was wrong to abandon this album for the last 15 years. Time has been kind to it. It sounds a lot fresher and the songs stand up a lot better than I was expecting them to.

Welcome back to my McCartney collection 'Flowers In The Dirt'!

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