Paul & Linda McCartney – Ram

It’s plenty dynamic but the inner groove distortion is terrible on both sides.

Dynamic and airy recording. My favorite post-Beatles album from any player.

From the moment I heard this album, it was an instant favorite. I love how odd and quirky it is, and I think it just really is a perfect display of McCartney’s song writing prowess. I love it dearly.

This is the closest listing on discogs i could find. Mine has the following-
SMAS-1-3375-Z1 • #2 EW/N 2 ✲ ━◁
SMAS-2-3375- RE2-Z-8 #3

Obla Di Obla Da ... life goes on ...

Ram is another album by Paul McCartney that was deeply criticized when it came out, and while still sounding imperfect today, it’s now being praised as being unexpected, bold and even fascinating.

Most notably and most obvious, is the loss of John Lennon’s influence on Paul’s songs, and of course his long time producer George Martin, where Paul found himself again on his own, responsible for all of the decisions, with the absence of his two greatest assists gone from his life and creative process. With that in mind, again, the album seems to be faring much better than it did back in 1971, when expectations for more Beatle-esque material were both hoped for and denied. What McCartney delivered at the time felt small and confined, even perhaps the best and most experimental number on the album “Uncle Albert iral Halsey” seemed a bit incomplete, with many wondering if this piece had been leftover from the Yellow Submarine sessions.

Still others would claim that Paul was releasing nothing but fluff at this stage, capitalizing on his charm as the cute Beatle to carry him through. Then there is the continual infighting, between he and Lennon, played out on tracks such as “Too Many People,” a song laid down in response to fans and critics saying that Linda (Paul’s wife) was now stepping in as Paul’s writing partner, or “Dear Boy,” a song which John thought was directly pointed at him, where these two once daunting friends were now fighting through their music in the most public of fashions, nearly forcing the world to divide into two camps.

What’s obviously missing is that both Lennon and McCartney were lacking that special someone who knew them so well, to bounce off and refine ideas. To this, Rolling Stone said of the album, “Ram is so incredibly inconsequential and so monumentally irrelevant you can’t even hate it, the record is difficult to concentrate on, yet alone dislike or even consider.” One could easily point to the schizoid nature of McCartney’s contributions to the Beatles, where of course he had some rockers, yet for the most part he was mired in his ballads, which John often turned into rockers, though here, when it came time to encapsulate a collection of his own material, he was at a loss to move the record forward with those rockers listeners were craving. Several of the songs are downright unhappy, causing listeners to question the state of affairs with Paul’s decisions and role as a solo artist, where the affair often comes off as a misguided lounge act, channeling the essence of yesterday into a seeming non-existent tomorrow.

Like it or not, the 70’s were very unkind to music in many respects, that sunshine pop thing hadn’t really defined itself, while musicians seemed to be hiding behind acoustic guitars and beards, all designed to keep the hippy dream alive, even though our protagonist (Paul) had died in a car accident some years ago, clearing out the haze of the psychedelic 60’s. Much of this has to do with Paul being so isolated during this time, a self imposed isolation in concert with Linda, meaning that he was out of step with what was going on, leaving his music to feel as if it were the sort of thing he soloed around the hearth after dinner. Oddly enough, Paul is quoted has saying that these songs were never really meant to see the light of day, yet alone a record. Most of the songs come off like a brain dump or stream of consciousness thoughts, with Paul adding to that, “It was all wild and unfettered, and pot may have played an instrumental part in Ram’s compositions.”

On the lighter side, patchy as the record is or isn’t, it is an honest record of those times in Paul’s life, where he felt unburdened happy and perhaps a bit goofy with his fooling around … where in the end, I imagine that Paul didn’t care in the least if anyone didn’t like the record. Anyway, as I said at the beginning, the album seems to be faring much better today than it did in 1971, where again, as with the Paul McCartney album, perhaps some of use were just too close to the fire during those years to allow ourselves to appreciate what Paul was bringing to light.

*** The Fun Facts: “Uncle Albert/iral Halsey” is composed of several unfinished song fragments that McCartney stitched together similar to the medleys from the Beatles' album Abbey Road. The song is notable for its sound effects, including the sounds of a thunderstorm, with rain, heard between the first and second verses, the sound of McCartney's voice with a telephone effect heard after the second verse, and the sound of chirping sea birds and wind by the seashore. Linda's voice is heard in the harmonies as well as the bridge section of the "iral Halsey" portion of the song. McCartney said "Uncle Albert" was based on his uncle, “He’s someone I recall fondly, and when the song was coming it was like a nostalgia thing.” McCartney also said, “As for iral Halsey, he's one of yours, an American iral,” referring to Fleet iral William "Bull" Halsey. McCartney has described the “Uncle Albert” section of the song as an apology from his generation to the older generation, and iral Halsey as an authoritarian figure who ought to be ignored.

Review by Jenell Kesler

I have a 71 pressing as stated above that is stamped as it came from two different pressing
plants. Mine is marked as L.A. pressing on one side and Scranton, PA. on the other. Have NO IDEA
how this one happened.

I have a copy which on Side 2 has smas-2-3375 and the word TEST crossed out...can someone help me find this version??