Notes from a Vinyl Underground: On towards the conclusion of the conclusion. Whenever one undertakes any criticism of McCartneys recent compositions, whether here or at the gym, school, etc theres always the but he does such a great live show retort. Well, that establishes that Paul 2 is a very successful imitator of the early Beatles, but not so much else. Paul 2 imports enthusiasm from the echoes of Beatlemania, but where are the clouds clamoring for Paul compositions from say, the 80s, 90s, 00s, 10s? Who asks for songs from Wildlife, the Linda McCartney solo albums, Back to the Egg, Liverpool Oratorio or Press to Play? or the score of others? What modern bands feel that they need to try and meet or even exceed the standards set by Memories Almost Full? In a certain way, John and Paul stopped creatively sparring together, at least directly. (an interesting modern battle is between David Byrne and St Catherine, but thats another topic.) Instead of sparring with each other, John and Paul fought by proxy through their wives and associates. George and Ringo werent part of the feud and didnt bring their domesticity into the work place, so to speak, although John and Paul certainly did. Yoko and Linda are both counter Beatles figures, and illustrate John and Pauls methods for refusal for carrying on with the Beatles. Paul goes anti-intellectual with empty-headed Linda, John goes anti-aesthetic with shrill and hideous Yoko. While Johns selection of Yoko has been discussed at length other places, theres little discussion of Linda, other than the infamous leaks of her concert microphone. Id argue that Linda was just as responsible, if not more responsible for the extinction of the Beatles and the creative death of the first Paul. For those who didnt attend the Lehigh Valley presentation on Linda McCartneys photography, Id encourage a glance through the numerous photos. Done in something of a journalistic style, Lindas pictures always focus on the who, but never consider the what, when, why, or where. In that sense, theyre the product of privilege, rather than effort, and surface rather than substance. They demonstrate a means of inhabiting the pop world without effort, labor, thinking. Antithetical to contemporary Warhol, Linda McCartneys work escapes considering its context or economy, and succeeds in making apparent snapshots, cute candids, and domestic tableau out of an economic elite. Linda, for example, didnt shoot the aspiring bands from Cleveland, Ohio or do cute kitchen pictures of people who actually prepared their own meals. And so, here was Paul 2s excuse. Buy into the Linda McCartney take on things and never again have to think about a thing or invest a seconds effort. Put her on stage. Make it a lifestyle. One Paul had put on the donkey ears of Pleasure Island, I think he got more reward for putting one over on the public, and moving into contrary motion to the celebrated intellectual John, than he did from composition. That roller coaster in a downward spiral until Paul arrived at Paul 2. Its almost as if the incredible drive towards money for its own sake is the pride of Paul 2. No longer judging himself on aesthetic or intellectual grounds, Paul 2 seemed to delight only in seeing how big and sneaky of a bite he could take from his fans who fed him... in this cynicism, we see Paul 2 paradoxically drawing bigger audiences, feeding the terrible dark passenger that could imitate the former Beatle in such a crowd-pleasing way....
Posted on: Mon, 18 Nov 2013 12:58:57 +0000
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