Electric Arguments

Background and recording

Unlike the earlier Fireman albums, Electric Arguments features prominent vocals. Each of the songs was recorded in one day, the album itself being completed in only thirteen days, spread over the course of a year. The album includes the hidden track "Road Trip", at the end of "Don't Stop Running". Remixes of "Lifelong Passion" were made, titled "Sawain Ambient Acapella" and "Sawain Instrumental Dub". Instrumental mixes of "Sun Is Shining" and "Traveling Light" were made, titled "Equinox Instrumental" and "Travelling Light Instrumental", respectively. Instrumental dub mixes were made of "Sing the Changes" and "Don't Stop Running", titled "Morning Mist Instrumental Dub" and "Wickerman Ambient Dub", respectively.

The duo borrowed the title "Electric Arguments" from the poem "Kansas City to St. Louis" by Allen Ginsberg. In Wired magazine, McCartney stated this was because "he's been looking at the beauty of word combinations rather than their meaning."

Critical reception

Electric Arguments debuted at number 79 on the UK Album Charts, marking the first appearance for The Fireman in the British charts. The duo also made their inaugural appearance on the Billboard 200, peaking at number 67. Electric Arguments was acclaimed by critics, cited as one of the best albums of 2008.

According to reviews aggregator Metacritic, the album rated 74 out of 100, indicating a "generally favourable" critical reception, based on 23 reviews (18 of which were positive, four mixed, and one negative). AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote that "There are more twists and turns, more textures, than on any other McCartney album in the last 20 years …" Will Hermes of Rolling Stone called the album "the ex-Beatle's headiest music in years". In a four-star review for The Times, Pete Paphides wrote that "Electric Arguments is delivered with a disregard for production values or playlist potential that would make, say, Keane or the Kooks blush at their own conservatism".

Less impressed, Alex Macpherson of The Guardian described the album as "heavily laboured hackwork". He said of the track "Nothing Too Much Just Out of Sight": "This has been pegged by the more excitable tabloids as a hate rant against [McCartney's ex-wife] Heather Mills, but if this is what she has had to put up with, it may just have done the unthinkable and engendered sympathy for the poor woman." Ron Hart of PopMatters rated Electric Arguments 7 out of 10 and considered that the project's appeal "depends on where you stand as a Macca fan", following the singer's run of strong studio albums since Driving Rain in 2001. After opining that these nominal McCartney albums were "much stronger releases on almost every level", Hart concluded: "Electric Arguments does harbor its own unique charm that will certainly appeal to longtime fans moreover than Macca's previous pair of Fireman jaunts."

Track listing

All songs written by Paul McCartney.

1. "Nothing Too Much Just Out of Sight" – 4:55
2. An edited version premiered on BBC Radio 1 on 29 September 2008.
3. "Two Magpies" – 2:12
4. "Sing the Changes" – 3:44
5. "Travelling Light" – 5:06
6. "Highway" – 4:17
7. "Light from Your Lighthouse" – 2:31
8. "Sun Is Shining" – 5:12
9. "Dance 'Til We're High" – 3:37
10. "Lifelong Passion" – 4:49
11. Was available briefly as a charity download for Adopt-A-Minefield.
12. "Is This Love?" – 5:52
13. "Lovers in a Dream" – 5:22
14. "Universal Here, Everlasting Now" – 5:05
15. "Don't Stop Running" – 10:31
16. The song ends at 5:54. A bonus track titled "Road Trip", according to the copyright registrants, begins at 7:57.

Reissues

Electric Arguments has been reissued in several packages:

The original 13-track album.

The 7-track bonus disc.

All tracks written by Paul McCartney.

The music videos and making-of the album.

Multi-track session files.

All tracks written by Paul McCartney.