This record sounds amazing coming out of my system (Grado Reference cartridge, Linn LP12, Rogue Sphinx 2, KEF Q700’s) … but honestly, it would sound good on almost any system. Macca has released some 25+ solo records since The Beatles broke up, and this was number eight. It's also one of the really good ones! He’s teamed up with Elvis Costello here and their two styles merge nicely across both sides of this record. Great sleeve, too.
I remember a friend of mine who managed a record store back when this was released holding up a copy of it as I walked into his shop one day. "You won't believe it," he said. "A great McCartney record for a change."
Released in 1989 Flowers In The Dirt was considered a return to form for the kid-faced ex-Beatle and resulted in some of the best reviews he'd received in years. It produced a few hits, too, the first being My Brave Face, which leads off side one with a cheery kick.
My copy is an original pressing. The album was later reissued as an expanded vinyl edition (and CD also) under the Paul McCartney Archive Collection (PMAC) in 2017, and included the original demos recorded by McCartney and Costello. I've got several of the PMAC editions Macca has released and I really wanted this one, too. But I honestly couldn't find fault with the original and decided I didn't really need to own the demos in addition to it.
Costello described the track That Day Is Done, which was co-authored by McCartney and Costello, as "the unhappy sequel to Veronica," which was a Costello track from his Spike LP that they had also co-written together. Their partnership would not last beyond this record. McCartney's then manager, Richard Ogden, later told Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn that the relationship between the two men was "not entirely harmonious".
Another guest on the record was David Gilmour, who plays guitar on We Got Married, which is, IMO, one of the weaker spots on this record.
McCartney put together a band to take out on the road to promote this record. Hamish Stuart, best known for his time in Average White Band; Robbie McIntosh, formerly of the Pretenders; Chris Whitten on drums, and Paul 'Wix' Wickens on keyboards, along with Linda McCartney (of course). The Paul McCartney World Tour - the largest since his last Wings outing - began in September, 1989 and touched down in the U.S., Canada, Europe, Japan and Brazil. It lasted until July, 1990, and was a massive success.
My Brave Face gave McCartney an instant U.S. hit, probably somewhat due to its Beatle-esque sound. The album's cover was photographed by Linda McCartney, and the background canvas was painted by the British artist, Brian Clark.
Critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote of the album: "Paul McCartney must not only have been conscious of his slipping commercial fortunes, he must have realized that his records hadn't been treated seriously for years, so he decided to make a full-fledged comeback effort with Flowers in the Dirt." That's what the guy said, but I don't think McCartney gave a shit one way or the other. He liked his music, and that's all that mattered. And even a lesser McCartney song is leaps ahead of what a lot of other artists can do on a good day!
Echoing Erlewine's sentiment, Chicago Tribune writer David Silverman said the album was "a welcome, if not wholly fantastic, return from the fabbest of the Fab Four". And I can live with that assessment.
This record sounds amazing coming out of my system (Grado Reference cartridge, Linn LP12, Rogue Sphinx 2, KEF Q700’s) … but honestly, it would sound good on almost any system. Macca has released some 25+ solo records since The Beatles broke up, and this was number eight. It's also one of the really good ones! He’s teamed up with Elvis Costello here and their two styles merge nicely across both sides of this record. Great sleeve, too.
I remember a friend of mine who managed a record store back when this was released holding up a copy of it as I walked into his shop one day. "You won't believe it," he said. "A great McCartney record for a change."
Released in 1989 Flowers In The Dirt was considered a return to form for the kid-faced ex-Beatle and resulted in some of the best reviews he'd received in years. It produced a few hits, too, the first being My Brave Face, which leads off side one with a cheery kick.
My copy is an original pressing. The album was later reissued as an expanded vinyl edition (and CD also) under the Paul McCartney Archive Collection (PMAC) in 2017, and included the original demos recorded by McCartney and Costello. I've got several of the PMAC editions Macca has released and I really wanted this one, too. But I honestly couldn't find fault with the original and decided I didn't really need to own the demos in addition to it.
Costello described the track That Day Is Done, which was co-authored by McCartney and Costello, as "the unhappy sequel to Veronica," which was a Costello track from his Spike LP that they had also co-written together. Their partnership would not last beyond this record. McCartney's then manager, Richard Ogden, later told Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn that the relationship between the two men was "not entirely harmonious".
Another guest on the record was David Gilmour, who plays guitar on We Got Married, which is, IMO, one of the weaker spots on this record.
McCartney put together a band to take out on the road to promote this record. Hamish Stuart, best known for his time in Average White Band; Robbie McIntosh, formerly of the Pretenders; Chris Whitten on drums, and Paul 'Wix' Wickens on keyboards, along with Linda McCartney (of course). The Paul McCartney World Tour - the largest since his last Wings outing - began in September, 1989 and touched down in the U.S., Canada, Europe, Japan and Brazil. It lasted until July, 1990, and was a massive success.
My Brave Face gave McCartney an instant U.S. hit, probably somewhat due to its Beatle-esque sound. The album's cover was photographed by Linda McCartney, and the background canvas was painted by the British artist, Brian Clark.
Critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote of the album: "Paul McCartney must not only have been conscious of his slipping commercial fortunes, he must have realized that his records hadn't been treated seriously for years, so he decided to make a full-fledged comeback effort with Flowers in the Dirt." That's what the guy said, but I don't think McCartney gave a shit one way or the other. He liked his music, and that's all that mattered. And even a lesser McCartney song is leaps ahead of what a lot of other artists can do on a good day!
Echoing Erlewine's sentiment, Chicago Tribune writer David Silverman said the album was "a welcome, if not wholly fantastic, return from the fabbest of the Fab Four". And I can live with that assessment.
BONUS TRACK
Elvis Costello reunited Paul McCartney with his iconic violin-shaped Hofner bass. The instrument had last seen action during the band’s final live performance on the roof of their London offices almost two decades before, and a faded setlist from their last tour remained affixed to its side with yellowed scotch tape.
“He was a big Beatles fan and said, ‘Hey, do you still use your Hofner?’” McCartney told People magazine in 2017. “I had semi-retired it. But he said I should get it out, and I rediscovered it.” In doing so, he also rediscovered his voice. After several years of being lost in the synth-pop trends that were all the rage in the mid-1980s McCartney got back to himself with Flowers in the Dirt. He wrote four tracks with Costello, sitting across from each other, guitars in hand, pushing each other on. He'd collaborated with a handful of writers since the long ago Lennon-McCartney days, but this was the most substantial and successful working relationship since.
McCartney said the two of them would go upstairs with a couple acoustic guitars, sit down, get a cup of tea, grab a pad and say, "Well, what’s an idea, boy?’ ‘I don’t know, what about this?’ ‘That’s good.’ It just flowed, the whole thing,” he said.
McCartney fondly remembers writing This Day Is Done with Costello. “Elvis was talking about a relative one day," he explained. "We’d have some great conversations: ‘My god, this crazy old uncle of mine…' 'Well, there’s this crazy old uncle I’ve got who did this …’ I think this song originally came from Elvis telling the story of the funeral of his aunt and the effect it had on him. He had the idea on that one—so it was my pleasure to just go along and help write the song with him.”
Elvis Costello reunited Paul McCartney with his iconic violin-shaped Hofner bass. The instrument had last seen action during the band’s final live performance on the roof of their London offices almost two decades before, and a faded setlist from their last tour remained affixed to its side with yellowed scotch tape.
“He was a big Beatles fan and said, ‘Hey, do you still use your Hofner?’” McCartney told People magazine in 2017. “I had semi-retired it. But he said I should get it out, and I rediscovered it.” In doing so, he also rediscovered his voice. After several years of being lost in the synth-pop trends that were all the rage in the mid-1980s McCartney got back to himself with Flowers in the Dirt. He wrote four tracks with Costello, sitting across from each other, guitars in hand, pushing each other on. He'd collaborated with a handful of writers since the long ago Lennon-McCartney days, but this was the most substantial and successful working relationship since.
McCartney said the two of them would go upstairs with a couple acoustic guitars, sit down, get a cup of tea, grab a pad and say, "Well, what’s an idea, boy?’ ‘I don’t know, what about this?’ ‘That’s good.’ It just flowed, the whole thing,” he said.
McCartney fondly remembers writing This Day Is Done with Costello. “Elvis was talking about a relative one day," he explained. "We’d have some great conversations: ‘My god, this crazy old uncle of mine…' 'Well, there’s this crazy old uncle I’ve got who did this …’ I think this song originally came from Elvis telling the story of the funeral of his aunt and the effect it had on him. He had the idea on that one—so it was my pleasure to just go along and help write the song with him.”
