My 4th nominee in my 2nd Beatles Solo Project is Paul's Flowers in the Dirt album from 1989. Its strange title derives from a line in “That Day is Done,” one of four tracks co-written with Elvis Costello. “My Brave Face” is their best-known collaboration that begins the album, and the biggest hit of their songwriting partnership. The two other songs they wrote are “Don’t Be Careless Love” and “You Want Her Too” (their duet, and the weakest song of the four). Other highlights include “This One,” “Put it There,” “We Got Married” (co-produced by David Foster) and the gospel-influenced “Motor of Love.” Paul worked hard to make Flowers in the Dirt stronger than its predecessor, Press to Play (1986). That album suffered from weak material and an awkward attempt to adapt to ‘80s new wave. Flowers, on the other hand, is musically tighter, and Paul sounds more confident. Paul went on a lengthy and successful tour with this album. (I saw him live at the old Skydome in late 1989. It was the first time I had seen any of the Beatles live.)
Trivia: another song he wrote with Elvis Costello, but left off the album, is “The Lovers That Never Were.” Costello says the original demo has one of Paul’s finest performances. The song was later reworked and included on Paul’s subsequent release, Off the Ground (1993).
No comments:
Post a Comment