McCartney II

Background

After the release of what turned out to be Wings' final album, Back to the Egg, McCartney went north to his farm in Scotland to begin some private recordings in July 1979. "Check My Machine" samples dialogue from the 1957 Tweety and Sylvester cartoon Tweet Zoo. By sessions' end, he had recorded over 20 songs. With no immediate use for the recordings, he put them aside for the time being and returned to work with Wings to prepare for a UK tour that November and December. Simultaneously with the performances (which included the new "Coming Up"), McCartney released his first solo single since 1971, the Christmas-themed "Wonderful Christmastime", backed with "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reggae", which charted at No. 6 in the UK, but only No. 83 in the U.S. The A-side was recorded during the McCartney II sessions, while its flip side had been cut in 1975. However, upcoming events were about to change McCartney's plans with Wings.

After years of visa refusals due to his past arrests for marijuana possession, Japan had finally allowed McCartney, and thus Wings, to perform. It would be McCartney's first time playing there since 1966 with the Beatles, and anticipation was running high with Wings' tour completely sold out. However, upon his arrival in Tokyo on 16 January 1980, a search of McCartney's luggage revealed a bag containing 219 grams of marijuana, prompting his immediate arrest and eventually cancelling the tour. After a nine-day jail stay, McCartney was released and returned home to his Scottish farm. Deciding to put Wings on hold while he contemplated his future, he now decided to issue his solo recordings from the previous summer.

Music and lyrics

McCartney II was named in follow-up to his debut album McCartney (1970) because McCartney plays all instruments on both albums. Featuring arrangements that are heavy on synthesisers, McCartney II has been said to represent McCartney's "acceptance of new wave," and has been described as "airless proto-electronica." The album is often experimental, with most of its songs having been described as strange "eccentric synthpop". Talking Heads were a great influence on the album, with McCartney admiring David Byrne's "eccentricity" and "not-mainstream attitude." McCartney also took influence from experimental composers John Cage, Cornelius Cardew and Luciano Berio; McCartney explained: "I went to their concerts in London because I had plenty of time on my hands so it was the kind of thing I would go and see. Again, just to see what it was about, not necessarily because I was a massive fan. It was more like: what is a prepared piano? Oh, that's what it is. You know, funky stuff like that."

According to Stephen Dalton of The Quietus, parts of the album are reminiscent of krautrock and "the whole post-punk disco boom", and described most of the album as "an alluringly weird mash-up of trip-hop, Krautrock and synth-pop." McCartney said that, "rather than me emulating anyone, it was more a question of me seeing what I could do with it. And again, not necessarily thinking I was making an album, just to have some time to experiment. These days I would day that with The Fireman project. So I've always been into that – if you go from 'Tomorrow Never Knows' through McCartney I, McCartney II, The Fireman…" Many of most synthesised tracks are instrumentals which have been described as ambient; journalist Stephen Thomas Erlewine compared them "to a sprightly variation" of the instrumentals from the second side of Low (1977) by David Bowie, albeit with a warmer, less menacing sound.

"Coming Up"

"Coming Up" – an uplifting dance number – appeared that April with a video (Paul playing all the bandmates, dubbed 'The Plastic Macs', except for the backing singers (played by Linda)) and with two B-sides by Wings: "Coming Up (Live at Glasgow)", recorded during Wings' December 1979 show there, and the piano laden instrumental "Lunch Box/Odd Sox" (a Venus and Mars outtake). An immediate UK No. 2 hit, "Coming Up" was flipped over for the live Wings version in the US where it became another No. 1 for McCartney, greatly raising hopes for his first solo album proper in years. The live Wings version of "Coming Up" was also included as a one-sided 7-inch single in copies of McCartney II within the US and Canada.

"Temporary Secretary"

"Temporary Secretary" features frantic synthesizer lines and lyrics about requiring a secretary of any skill level for a short period of time. McCartney dubbed the song an "experiment," saying that he found the concept of a temporary secretary humorous. "Temporary Secretary" was released as a 12" single in Britain, backed with the experimental non-album track "Secret Friend." The single was only released in a quantity of 25,000 copies, failing to make an impact on the charts. The single artwork was created by Jeff Cummins of Hipgnosis.

The song was performed live for the first time at the London O2 Arena on 23 May 2015.

Critical reception

McCartney II was released in mid-May to mostly negative reviews; many critics found the album, with its experimental, synth-based compositions and its handful of instrumentals, slight. Record World magazine described the album as "arguably the least well-received solo work of any Beatle."

In the UK the album debuted at number one in the UK album chart, McCartney's first number-one since Venus and Mars in 1975 and EMI reported the album was on track to equal the sales of Band on the Run. The second single from the album, "Waterfalls", was also successful in the UK, reaching number nine in the singles chart. In the US, initial sales were strong based on the strength of the hit single "Coming Up" and the album reached number three in its second week on the Billboard album chart where it remained for five weeks. "Waterfalls" went virtually unnoticed in the US, only "bubbling under" the Billboard Hot 100 at number 106 for one week. Without a second hit single, the album quickly dropped down the charts and was off the Billboard chart after 19 weeks, McCartney's shortest run since Wild Life and it was one of McCartney's lowest-selling albums in the US to date.

The initial issue of this album on compact disc featured "Check My Machine" and "Secret Friend" as bonus tracks. The two songs were originally released as the B-sides of "Waterfalls" and "Temporary Secretary", respectively. In 1993, McCartney II was remastered and reissued on CD as part of "The Paul McCartney Collection" series with Wings' 1979 hit "Goodnight Tonight" added as a third bonus track.

When the new remastered version was released on 13 June 2011 as part of the Paul McCartney Archive Collection, the album re-entered the UK charts at number 108.

Accolades

In 2003, Mojo placed the album at number 26 on their list of the "Top 50 Eccentric Albums". In 2011, NME included the album on their list of "101 Albums to Hear Before You Die," whose list entries were selected by different musicians; McCartney II was picked by Austin Williams of Swim Deep.

Influence

McCartney II was described as an influence on Hot Chip's album Made in the Dark (2008), especially with songs like "Wrestlers", "Bendable Poseable", "Whistle for Will" and "We're Looking for a Lot of Love". "Now There Is Nothing" from the band's later album In Our Heads (2012) has been described as a homage to McCartney II, with their guitarist Al Doyle explaining the song has "quite deliberately quirky time signature changes and key changes and these sort of very wandering harmonies — very typical of that period and McCartney productions." Alexis Taylor of the group has described McCartney II as one of his favourite albums of all time. The album has also been championed by multiple other musicians such as disc jockey Erol Alkan, Chris Carter of Throbbing Gristle, Gruff Rhys of Super Furry Animals and Ty Bulmer of New Young Pony Club.

The "crystalline keyboard motif" in the intro of "Frozen Jap" was described as predicting Kraftwerk's 1981 song "Computer Love". "Temporary Secretary", meanwhile, although dismissed or ignored by critics at the time of release, has more recently acquired a cult following "as a futuristic milestone in early British electronica" and is considered a "cult techno-pop classic."

Track listing

All songs written by Paul McCartney.

2011 remaster

In 2011 the album was re-issued by Hear Music/Concord Music Group as part of the second set of releases, alongside McCartney, in the Paul McCartney Archive Collection. It was released in various formats:

The original 11-track album.

1. "Blue Sway" (with Richard Niles Orchestration) – 4:35
2. "Coming Up" (Live at the Apollo Theatre, Glasgow – 17 December 1979) – 4:08
3. "Check My Machine" (Regular Single B-side Edited Version) – 5:50
4. "Bogey Wobble" – 2:59
5. "Secret Friend (Full Length Version)" – 10:31
6. "Mr H Atom" / "You Know I'll Get You Baby" – 5:55
7. "Wonderful Christmastime" (Regular A-side Version) – 3:47
8. "All You Horse Riders" / "Blue Sway" – 10:15

1. "Coming Up" [Full Length Version] – 5:34
2. "Front Parlour" [Full Length Version] – 5:15
3. "Frozen Jap" [Full Length Version] – 5:43
4. "Darkroom" [Full Length Version] – 3:45
5. "Check My Machine" [Full Length Version] – 8:58
6. "Wonderful Christmastime" [Full Length Version] – 4:15
7. "Summer's Day Song" [Original without vocals] – 3:25
8. "Waterfalls" (DJ edit) – 3:20

1. "Meet Paul McCartney"
2. "Coming Up"
3. "Waterfalls"
4. "Wonderful Christmastime"
5. "Coming Up"
6. "Coming Up"
7. "Making the Coming Up Music Video"
8. "Blue Sway"

Personnel

Weekly charts

Notes