I haven't written much about it, but I absolutely revere the Fab Four from Liverpool, aka the Beatles. Ever since I was a big fat 4 years of age, and the double whammy of their appearance on the Sullivan show and my Aunt Lavana letting me listen to Meet the Beatles to my heart's content sealed my fate for the rest of my life. This has, of course, extended to their solo years as well, and if I haven't embraced the resulting albums with the fervor I did Abbey Road or Revolver, I have definitely got a place in my music loving heart for the likes of Mind Games or Dark Horse.
I mention this because I just finished watching the big 2 hour McCartney special on ABC. Such is my Beatle love that nine times out of ten I'll drop what I'm doing to see anything they have deigned to appear in, and I just couldn't see missing this. I've been especially encouraged by Paul's apparent musical reinvigoration-after all but giving up on him ever doing anything remotely interesting (to my ears) again about the time of 1997's Flaming Pie (an album that I think everybody liked but me), he came to terms with his grief over his wife's death by first recording a mostly oldies cover album that rocked like a mother, and the outstanding Driving Rain, which demonstrated a distinct renewed commitment to taking chances and avoiding the predictable and cliched (not exactly Macca's strong point throughtout the 70s and 80s). So I was a bit interested in what his show would be like. I wish I could say I was blown away by the program, but there was far too much documentary crap and not nearly enough concert footage. He has a tight and equally creative group of musicians in his band, pretty much the same group that goaded him to crank it up musically on Driving Rain, and they were just as excellent live. I wanted to hear and see more of that, and less of McCartney playing with apes and being fawned over by hysterical fans. And speaking of fans, dear God, for every shot of Paul and his band we got five of the audience, a mix of young and old and celebrity, all of them acting like they had never attended a musical event in their lives. It just got to be a bit (all too) much, (get it? Beatle joke there) and I have to admit my attention began to flag after a while. So, to sum up, even though there was much to like in Paul's primetime concert special, there was much more to dislike.
Oh hell, guess there's just no pleasing me.
One thing that DID please me was the fourth issue of Paul Pope's magnificent 100% book. I'll be sure to rave more later, but I hope you reading this will consider checking it out, if you're not reading it already. At least look for the trade, probably coming out early next year.
That's all I got for now. Again, Happy Turkey Day tomorrow. If Tom Brady gets off against the Lions, I'll have a happy one indeed.
No comments:
Post a Comment