“My Body Needs Attention My Mind Is In A Mess,
Oklahoma Was Never Like This.”
Those Lyrics Say It All!
“Oklahoma was never like this” – OK then! And look at Paul in this studio photo: McCartney almost seems resigned to the disaster that was his album “Press To Play” – and why not? Here is what he said about the album at the time:
“When we started working on the record, Hugh came in one day and said he’d had a dream,” McCartney recalled when he visited New York in 1986. “He dreamed he woke up one morning and had made this really bad, syrupy album with me, an album he hated, and that it had blown his whole career. We took that as a little warning”.
Hugh’s Nightmare!
The “Hugh” that McCartney mentioned was Hugh Padgham, the Music Producer famous for recording with Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, Genesis, The Human League, The Police, and XTC – and he produced Paul McCartney’s solo album “Press To Play”…and as for his other celebrity Musicians, Phil Collins would be joined on “Press To Play” by Pete Townsend, raising the stakes even higher!
What’s Up With “Press To Play?”
So what went wrong? Paul McCartney teams up with a big hit Producer, celebrity Musicians join in…and it results in one of the most neglected of all of Macca’s albums!
Just HOW bad is “Press To Play?” Or is it just another of those McCartney albums that critics had their knives out for? Time for a critical re-examination!
First, let’s set the stage in the world of Macca:
At this point in the mid-1980’s, McCartney was coming off of two BIG hit albums: 1982’s “Tug Of War” and “Pipes Of Peace” in 1983.
In 1984, McCartney made a movie, and released a soundtrack for – the critically panned effort “Give My Regards To Broad Street.” The film co-starred Ringo Starr, and the soundtrack album sold well, but the reviews were harsh…
As Roger Ebert said in his review:
“I think you can safely skip the movie and proceed directly to the sound track.”
Time To “Press” On!
McCartney released music on a regular basis throughout the 70’s and into the 80’s, and so he pressed on from “Broad Street”, and began recording “Press to Play” in early 1985. In a bit of a twist, he co-wrote six of the songs with 10cc guitarist Eric Stewart, and it was in the early part of recording the album that he uttered his prescient comment:
“When we started working on the record, Hugh came in one day and said he’d had a dream,” McCartney recalled when he visited New York in 1986. “He dreamed he woke up one morning and had made this really bad, syrupy album with me, an album he hated, and that it had blown his whole career. We took that as a little warning”.
Did this nightmare come true? Is “Press To Play” a “bad, syrupy album?”
Perhaps the first warning sign came when the recording sessions lasted until the end of the year, with only one song from the recording sessions released – a song not even used on the album:
McCartney “Spies” A Movie!
“Spies Like Us” was recorded during the “Press” sessions, but wasn’t included on the finished album. Instead, it was released as a single, as well as the title track for the limp Chevy Chase / Dan Ackroyd comedy of the same name – but even though the movie bombed, the song was a top 10 hit, setting the stage for the release of “Press to Play” in 1986.
Time To “Play” Some “Press!”
So here is what was finally released – ten songs that form the basis of “Press To Play.”
Like previous McCartney solo albums, it’s a beautifully produced album, with mid-tempo rockers, ballad and some experimental tracks as well, with the cover evoking a classic 40’s Hollywood picture of Paul and Linda.
Let’s begin by listening to the first song on the album:
“Stranglehold”!
Paul comes out rocking, with a tight, joyous song that has energy and rebellion and a catchy hook.
Here is the music video:
First of all, that’s a fairly raucous music video for what is a classic Macca rocker – but it was the type of song he hadn’t been releasing much at the time…his previous big hits were pop-flavored, like “Say Say Say” and “Ebony & Ivory.”
“Good Times Coming / Feel The Sun”
Next up is a calypso bit called “Good Times Coming”, which segues into the catchy pop song “Feel The Sun.” Both songs last just over a minute or two, held together in an “Abbey Road” way. A nice “combo” that led into a song that is much derided:
“Talk More Talk”
“Talk” is a quirky song with spoken word passages and sound effects placed throughout…some fans hate this song, but I love the offbeat lyrics.
“Digital organ, finishing stretch
Instrumentation, analogGretsch
Not quite a thousand, lower than that
Possible bargain for listening at that
Talk, more talk, chat, more chat
Words of a feather are worn in a hat
Talk, more talk, chat, more chat
I’m happy to do it for you”
“Footprints”
“Footprints” is a nice, melodic tune that evokes the story telling of “Eleanor Rigby”:
It’s Beautiful Outside, An Old Hand Gathers Wood,
Can He See Me Sitting Here? His Mind Is Somewhere Else.
His Friend Have Flown Away, He’s Left Out In The Cold.
He Won’t Sit By My Fire, He Says He Likes It In The Snow.
Where Footprints Never Go, He Likes It In The Snow.
“Only Love Remains”
This is a classic McCartney love song, performed here with a simple piano..
Here is the video:
If anything, you can make the case that this is a slightly derivative song for Paul, a minor love song, but he comes right back with the first single from the album:
“Press”
“Press”, a slick up-tempo pop song, was released in July 1986 and went on to become the album’s sole top 30 hit.
Here is the music video:
This song is certainly as catchy as “Silly Love Songs”, a playful song that is easy to sing along to – but it barely registered on the charts, and nothing else from the album charted at all.
And as for the lyrics:
“Right There, That’s It. Yes. When You Feel The Stress
Don’t Just Stand There, Tell Me To Press.
You Can Give Me What I Want I Must Confess,
My Body Needs Attention My Mind Is In A Mess,
Oklahoma Was Never Like This.
Never Like This, It Was Never Like This,
Ever Like This, Say Was It Ever Like This?
Oklahoma Was Never Like This.
It Was Never Like This …”
If anyone has any idea why “Oklahoma was never like this”, please let me know!
The next three songs on the album – “Pretty Little Head”, “Move Over Busker” and “Angry” are album tracks, nothing offensive, but not memorable…
“However Absurd”
The final song on the album is a bit of “Beatles” whimsy circa “Magical Mystery Tour”, a catchy song that finishes in a orchestrated crescendo that evokes “I Am The Walrus!”
Overall, “Press To Play” is an album full of catchy songs, nice production and the usual albums tracks that are fine if not memorable…
The “Press To Play” Reaction!
The album came out and crashed almost immediately, peaking at number 8 in the UK, while in the US, it failed to go gold, peaking at number 30 and selling only 250,000 copies!
The Reviews Were In…
Even with Phil Collins and Pete Townsend sitting in on some songs, the reviews were unkind.
AllMusic editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine admired the track “Press”, but gave the album a star rating of 2.5 out of 5, saying:
“McCartney is dabbling in each of his strengths, just to see what works. It doesn’t wind up as one of his stronger albums, but it’s more interesting than some of his more consistent ones, and those aforementioned cuts demonstrate that he could still cut effective pop records when he put his mind to it.”
However, the Los Angeles Times praised “Press” as:
“a sprightly, sunny delight – one of the most playful, positive pop songs ever written about the joy of sex and its link with love”, but finished by concluding that overall the album was “basically just another in a long line (over 12 years!) of post-‘Band on the Run’ letdowns by a once almost unimaginably creative artist.”
Ouch! Is it really that big a letdown? By the way, as you can see from this re-issue, McCartney added three additional songs: “Write Away”, “It’s Not True” and “Tough On A Tightrope”, which are all nice album tracks. In general, I think “Press To Play” holds up well in the catalogue of Macca’s 80’s albums, certainly better than “Pipes Of Peace”…
More recently, Kit O’Toole of Blogcritics has contended that much of the album belongs among McCartney’s “most ambitious work” and that the adventurousness of the project is unfairly overlooked. O’Toole adds:
“Press to Play, along with McCartney II, arguably laid the foundation for his future musical experiments under the name The Fireman (particularly the first two albums, Strawberries Oceans Ships Forest and Rushes).”
So let’s take a amount to give “Press To Play” another listen, and appreciate that Macca kept releasing a steady stream of music, some terrific, and some just a nice friend to have around…
Here’s a look at another album that was much maligned upon release:
The Cracked “Egg!”
It was Wings final album, and was dismissed at the time, but this is a great collection of songs..read all about it here – and see the live “Rockestra Theme!”:
Some of McCartney’s best songs were never released on his albums…just as “Spies Like Us” was a “Press To Play” recording, here are some of McCartney’s best “non-album” releases:
And here is another terrific McCartney solo album, “Ram 2”:
Yes, some of the songs on “Red Rose Speedway” were recorded during the “RAM” sessions – read all about the double album that never was by clicking here:
http://johnrieber.com/2015/08/21/paul-mccartneys-brilliant-ram-2-wings-soar-with-red-rose-speedway/
And of course, McCartney’s greatest work is “RAM”:
Read all about his greatest solo achievement, recorded in the midst of a heated battle with John Lennon:
Leave a message and let me know what you think of “Press To Play!”
