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Just as "McCartney" was created during the hazy period he was trying to define himself after the Beatles, and "McCartney II" surfaced after his jail experience in Japan, "Flaming Pie" shows a more vulnerable, less cheeky McCartney, and with good results.
Unlike a lot of Wings albums, or "Tug of War" or "Pipes of Peace", this album doesn't just yield one or two songs for the "It's got a beat AND you can dance to it!" crowd. Instead, the lyrics reign here, introspective, haunting at times.

Not that some of the songs don't rock! How could they not with Jeff Lynne and Steve Miller helping out? Even fellow Two-tle, Ringo, helps out with Beautiful Night. But since it's his voice in addition to drums, that's an element of sentiment, not one of quality.

The unusual production of some cuts, like the Victrola in "Souvenir", reminds one of the days the Beatles were experimenting with all kinds of sound at Abbey Road.

My one disappointment about this CD happened a couple years after its release. "Little Willow" shows up here, dedicated to a friend who'd died of cancer and her children. Only a bit of detective work would reveal that this friend was Maureen Starkey, Ringo's ex-wife, and the kids Lee and Zak. But after Princess Diana was killed and a memorial album put together for her, the song Paul "donated" in her memory was...."Little Willow." This was puzzling, maybe even disturbing.

Seeing beaming Sir Paul stroll in pictures with his new wife Heather and baby Beatrice, one can't help but feel happiness for him. But I must confess, sometimes I wonder if a bit, just a bit, of stress or hardship could come his way to promote that creativity; nothing major, just a stubbed toe or lost set of keys or something. Because he hasn't recorded anything as good as "Pie" since.

Oh, if you're wondering...Beatleoligists will remember that when John Lennon was asked to write in "Mersey Beat" how the Beatles got their name, and wrote, "A man in a flaming pie came and said, 'You shall be Beatles with an 'A'". So the name is a nod to John, and to the Beatles...of whom McCartney just may be the biggest fan.


Sweet and flawed: just the way we like our Paul   August 2, 2005
 12 out of 13 found this review helpful

Not everyone can do this type of thing: surprise an audience with a no-nonsense, back-to-basics album that sounds like something the artist really believed in. True, popular musicians talk about "returning to their roots" all the time, but it's become a horrid cliché. They do it to please the fans. It may keep people happy, but the artistic value takes a nose-dive because it's something they feel they have to do rather than want to do.

That's what makes Flaming Pie just a little bit special. When Paul wrote the songs for Flaming Pie, he did it because it's part of his musical personality. Flaming Pie plays to all of his strengths, as well as some of his weaknesses. But that doesn't matter in the overall picture. Listening to Flaming Pie is like going to a snack table at a party: some of the food is delicious while a few others make you frown. But you're having such a good time at the party that you don't really care.

The upbeat pop songs feel like McCartney is picking up right where he left off with Wings, and could be peers to Beatles songs. The World Tonight, Souvenir, Young Boy, Flaming Pie, and If You Wanna all show that Paul is more than willing to toot his heritage to the world, though it comes across more modest than that. And try as he might, Paul will always be remembered as the soft, balladly Beatle. Songs like Heave on a Sunday, Little Willow, and the stripped-to-the-bone Calico Skies remind us that Paul is still the flowery guy who wrote Maybe I'm Amazed.

But McCartney stumbles here and there, reminding us that he is far from perfect. Case in point is the oh-so-white blues Used To Be Bad where he and Steve Miller "jam" together for what sounds like an eternity while singing the blues in a style that only old, rich, white men can. Really Love You is a jam with Ringo that, again, goes on for too long. From the sound of the recording, Paul and Ringo must have been having a gas while playing it. But listening to it is quite a chore.

Still, these are small complaints compared to what Flaming Pie can do for you overall: give faith. In an age where songs are designed to be money makers, here is an old veteran who does it because it's in his blood. Enjoy.


Paul's Best Work in Years   March 20, 2000
 11 out of 12 found this review helpful

In this album, recorded shortly after Paul finished work on the Beatles' Anthology albums, we see Paul's creative energies reborn. These songs are mostly simple pop/rock songs that tie back to the best stuff he did with John. We also see Paul looking back on a life that is full of many great memories. (Linda's illness may have motivated this). In "The Songs We Were Singing" the lyrics paint a picture of Paul hanging out with friends (John, Rings, George, or maybe later) and just enjoying a good time discussing all those things that seem so frightully important at that time. "Flaming Pie" is a 2 minute rock song that is a great example of Beatles work, and probably would have been included on a Beatles album in the 60's (as would "Calico Skies")The final song "Great Day" is a wonderful little duet between Paul and Linda. All the more poignant is "Little Willow" a song wrote for the children of a family friend who died. It takes on added meaning with Linda's passing.

I loved this album, I enjoyed the work from Steve Miller, Ringo, and Jeff Lynne. If you enjoy Paul McCartney, the Beatles, or just good pop/rock music, this is a must have for your collection


Beautiful Night   July 14, 2005
 9 out of 9 found this review helpful

In the mid-to-late 90s, many things were happening in Paul McCartney's life. One of the most important was his involvement in the massive Beatles Anthology project, both instigated by and contributing to the resurrection of 60s and 70s nostalgia in the 1990s. Another was, his wife of almost thirty years had contracted breast cancer. Both of them knew she would not last but a couple of years. It was primarily these two influences that came together on 1997's Flaming Pie.

It's safe to say that Paul McCartney has never made a record as mature, as poignant, or as personal as Flaming Pie since leaving the Beatles. Driven both by the Anthology and (more importantly) Linda's impending death, it finds Paul at his most intimate and introspective, looking back down the years across his incredible life and career. From the title itself (a reference to John Lennon's story of the Beatles' "origin") and waltzing nostalgia of the very first track (The Song We Were Singing), this record is a celebration of Paul's past. This imbues upbeat songs like Calico Skies and Young Boy with a rainy-day melancholy, and the plaintive ballads (quite possibly Paul's finest) with a sense of inextinguishable hope and rebirth. Two of the latter, Somedays and Little Willow, heartbreaking tributes to Linda in retrospect, stand head and shoulders above almost anything McCartney has ever done - including the Beatles.

Also, Flaming Pie finds Paul combining his personal troubles with his penchant for beneficial collaboration. More than half the album is co-produced and supported by the phenomenal Mr. Jeff Lynne, mastermind behind ELO and producer for the likes of Tom Petty and George Harrison. Longtime friends Ringo Starr and Steve Miller also make appearances (as does Paul's son James on guitar), and Sir George Martin lends his genius to a few songs, making Flaming Pie one of his final projects. And even if a few duds managed to slip through the cracks (the bluesy jams Used to Be Bad and Really Love You with Steve and Ringo/Jeff, respectively), for the most part it's solid, twenty-four-carat gold as only Paul McCartney can mine it.

Flaming Pie closes on two seemingly disparate but perfectly complimentary songs: Beautiful Night and Great Day. The former is an orchestral epic ala Abbey Road, a grand culmination of all Flaming Pie's ingredients; the latter a simple, touching folk song from the days of the original McCartney album in 1970, a last loving duet between Paul and Linda. And that sums it up nicely, I believe. Only Band on the Run can topple it.


His Best Album of the 90s   March 3, 2000
 7 out of 9 found this review helpful

Flaming Pie is the kind of an album I hope for when I buy a Paul McCartney CD. Yes, I'm a big Beatles and McCartney fan. I usually find myself a little disappointed with some of his work. Like everyone else, I expect another masterpiece.

While Flaming Pie is not by any means a masterpiece, it is a brilliant collection of pop/rock & roll songs. He seems looser than previous albums. Unlike "My Brave Face" from Flowers in the dirt (a lush multi-layered, high-energy production) the songs are more raw, less rehearsed. Take "Really Love You" for example. Listen to this song and you can imagine Paul coming in telling Ringo (who plays the drums) and the other musicians, "OK, I got this idea for a song but I haven't really worked it out so let's just start jamming and see how it goes...ah that's a take! "

Like most of McCartney's albums, we get a diverse mix of songs. "Calico Skies" and "Willow" bring out the more melancholy Paul while "Used to Be Bad" and "The World Tonight" are more bluesy rockers. We get the pop "Young Boy", "Song we Were Singing", and "Beautiful Night" (a little light but catchy) and a couple less than memorable tunes.

All in all, this album stands up to his best solo work. It reminds me of his earlier work ("Ram"). Do I recommend this one, why, yes I do.