Ram On

 

I don't know when I bought Paul McCartney's Ram album...maybe when it first came out? It's on vinyl, so before I started buying CDs... which means before 1988, at least, because that's when I bought my first CD. Which I only know because when Roy Harper's ...descendants of Smith came out on CD (in 1988), I bought it and then had to buy a CD player so I could listen to it. Using this same methodology, a few years later I bought tickets to a Roy Harper gig, and then had to buy airplane (and etcetera) tickets to Ireland so I could get to the gig. Yes, I do love Roy Harper, as a matter of fact. 

And I love Paul McCartney, too. He's made more than a few missteps along the way, but still...he has a lot of truly classic songs. Let's ponder that thought for a moment. For me, the list would go like this:

"Every Night"

"Maybe I'm Amazed"

"Too Many People"

"Three Legs"

"Ram On"

"Uncle Albert / Admiral Halsey"

"Another Day"

"Bip Bop"

"Tomorrow"

"Big Barn Bed"

"Hi, Hi, Hi"

"Band on the Run"

"Jet"

"Let Me Roll It"

"Helen Wheels"

"Venus and Mars"

"Rockshow"

"You Gave Me the Answer"

"Let 'Em In"

"Junior's Farm"

"Sally G"

"London Town"

"I've Had Enough"

"With a Little Luck"

"Name and Address"

"Mull of Kintyre"

"Rockestra Theme"

"Coming Up"

"Tug of War"

"Pipes of Peace"

"Say Say Say"

"Hope of Deliverance"

"How Kind of You"

"At the Mercy"

"Riding to Vanity Fair"

That's a lot of really good songs...and spread out over five decades. Pretty impressive run. And I'm not all that familiar with many of his albums between Back to the Egg and now. (No pun intended.)

But Ram has always been my favorite Paul McCartney album. Partially because it has four of my favorite McCartney songs (the red ones in the list above)...and partly because of the feel of the album. It's kind of homey. Not in the empty room way that McCartney sometimes evoked...more like a "made in a barn while the cattle were lowing" way. It feels like a McCartney who was finally comfortable in his own skin after shedding his Beatles epidermis. And his love for Linda seems very vibrant and sweet. 

So years later when I found out that McCartney had recorded a different version of this entire album...an instrumental version entitled Thrillington and attributed to Percy "Thrills" Thrillington...well, I just had to have that, didn't I?

I have a vague memory of reading a review of Thrillington in Rolling Stone...and then not being able to find the album. But I kept looking. Many years later McCartney released a huge box set version of Ram...which was well beyond the reach of my budget...and I was very frustrated to see that Thrillington was included in this release. But I held on and kept looking. And finally (on August 30, 2013, to be exact) the album became available for download at a normal price. I downloaded. I listened. I enjoyed. I laughed. It was quite a farce in many ways...McCartney being playful and fun. But it was also good music. A McCartney symphony long before he turned his fingers in that direction for reals. I played that album over and over again. And then, like all good things, I forgot about it.

And then yesterday it popped into my thoughts, so I got it out and gave it a spin. And it made me happy, so I gave it another. And today I gave it another. What a fun little album. And not just as an adjunct to Ram...despite its playfulness, I found the arrangements quite pleasing to my ears. Especially the brassy stuff.

I went on to Wikipedia to see what instruments McCartney had played on this, and was disappointed to see that it didn't look like he had played any. In fact, it gave the impression that PM hadn't done anything other than hand the project to one of his buddies and tell him to have at it.

But I kept on digging, and found some different information, which goes like this:

Thrillington was recorded in June of 1971. A month after the Ram album came out, McCartney went into the studio with some musicians and vintage-sounding backing singers and, serving as producer, assembled an instrumental version of Ram. Shortly thereafter, however, he began to put Wings together, and the Thrillington album was shelved...and was not released until April 1977 (and then pseudonymously).  McCartney didn't confirm the rumors that it was his work until November of 1989. 

from  https://ultimateclassicrock.com/paul-mccartney-ram-thrillington/

I liked that answer (McCartney very hands on) much more than Wikipedia's implications, so I'm going to go for that. 

Along the way to that answer, I also found out that there was a book which gives lots of details reference this album: The Unknown Paul McCartney by Ian Peel. I looked about for it, and found that it was available online...but at a cost of over $100, so that wasn't going to happen. But then I had a look on Amazon, and lo and behold, it's available for Kindle for less than $3. I suppose you know what my next Amazon purchase will be, eh?

ANYway...you can listen to Thrillington in its entirety on YouTube these days.

As for me, I'm thinking about getting it on vinyl. A mere $18.99, man. And a steal at twice that price.

Now...do I need a CD version of Ram to go with that?