Off the ground

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Off the ground
Paul McCartney's studio album

Publication
(s)

February 1, 1993 ( UK ) ,
February 9, 1993 ( US )

Label (s)

Format (s)

LP , MC , CD , download

Genre (s)

skirt

Title (number)

12

running time

50 min 25 s

occupation
  • Paul “Wix” Wickens: piano, clavinet , Hammond organ, accordion, synthesizer, percussion, background vocals
  • Blair Cunningham: drums, congas, backing vocals
  • Davide Giovanini, Maurice Ravalico, David Puttman: Percussion at Hope of Deliverance
  • Susan Milan: Flute with Golden Earth Girl
  • Gordon Hunt: oboe with Golden Earth Girl

production

Paul McCartney , Julian Mendelsohn

Studio (s)

Hog Hill Mill Studios, Sussex

chronology
Paul McCartney's Liverpool Oratorio
(1991)
Off the ground Paul Is Live
(1993)

Off the Ground ( English to get underway [accordingly]) is the tenth solo album by Paul McCartney . At the same time, including the Wings albums, the classic albums, the live albums and compilation albums, it is Paul McCartney's 24th album after the Beatles split up . It was released on February 1, 1993 in the UK and on February 9, 1993 in the US.

Emergence

Paul McCartney during an interview in September 1993

During the recording of his solo album Flowers in the Dirt McCartney had put together a backing band with his wife Linda and the musicians Hamish Stuart , Robbie McIntosh , Paul "Wix" Wickens and Chris Whitten, with whom he went on a world tour from September 1989 to July 1990. It followed from May to July 1991 with a new drummer - Chris Whitten was replaced by Blair Cunningham - a small unplugged tour as part of the release of an unplugged album, which had emerged from an appearance by McCartney and band on MTV Unplugged .

McCartney now planned to "capture the band's unique chemistry [...] in the studio". The band went to the studio for test recordings from November 25th to December 6th, 1991, but McCartney had prepared 25 demos at the time. He also selected the songs Mistress and Maid and The Lovers That Never Were for his new album from the recording sessions with Elvis Costello in 1987 and 1988 . In contrast to Flowers in the Dirt, Paul McCartney recorded the tracks with his group directly in the studio, so he did not use any studio musicians or overdubs . Only Paul McCartney and Julian Mendelsohn were responsible for the production, also in contrast to the previous album, where nine producers in seven studios worked on the album. In 1991 only the songs Peace in the Neighborhood and Biker like an Icon were completed. Further recordings for the album took place from January to July 1992. On September 3, 1992, the songs Calico Skies and Great Day were recorded, but they were only used for the album Flaming Pie . The album Off the Ground was completed in October and mastered on December 12, 1992 at Abbey Road Studios .

Another unpublished composition by Paul McCartney and Hamish Stuart is Is it Raining in London? , on December 15, 1992 the orchestral overdub sessions took place in Abbey Road Studios under the direction of Angelo Badalamenti.

A total of 24 songs were created, twelve of which were selected for the album. Other songs were used for B-sides , which were then also included on the album Off the Ground: The Complete Works . McCartney biographer Carlin, who criticized most of the titles as uninspired and “straightforward”, wrote: “Maybe he [McCartney] had just pushed himself too hard, maybe his muse, with his need to bring new products to market, no longer keep up. "for advertising purposes of the album was for the music television station MTV concert in on 10 and 11 December 1992 New York Ed Sullivan Theater produced.

As a pre-coupling of the album, the single Hope of Deliverance was released on December 28, 1992 . Paul McCartney appeared on January 23, 1993 in the German entertainment show Wetten, dass ..? and performed his new single with full playback.

Off the Ground appeared shortly before McCartney's new world tour on February 2 and 9, 1993, and on February 18, 1993 McCartney's The New World Tour began with the first concert in Milan .

Hope of Deliverance and the album Off the Ground were commercially successful in Germany, while Off the Ground was the sixth studio album in a row that did not reach the top ten on the US Billboard 200 .

Cover design

The album cover shows a wide plain with a high blue sky into which the legs of the band members protrude. The photo is from Clive Arrowsmith. The CD comes with a 28-page illustrated booklet that contains information about the album and the lyrics to the song.

Track list

CD

All songs were written by Paul McCartney; Mistress and Maid and The Lovers That Never Were were made with Elvis Costello .

  1. Off the Ground - 3:40
  2. Looking for Changes - 2:47
  3. Hope of Deliverance - 3:22
  4. Mistress and Maid - 3:00 am
  5. I Owe It All to You - 4:51
  6. Biker Like an Icon - 3:26
  7. Peace in the Neighborhood - 5:06
  8. Golden Earth Girl - 3:45
  9. The Lovers That Never Were - 3:43
  10. Get Out of My Way - 3:32
  11. Winedark Open Sea - 5:27
  12. C'Mon People - 7:42
Cosmically Conscious (an excerpt from the song as a so-called hidden track ) - 1:44

iTunes Bonus Track (2007)

I Can't Imagine - 4:37

Off the Ground: The Complete Works

The special edition was released in Great Britain on December 1, 1993. The compilation does not include the remixes of Off the Ground and the two versions of the song Deliverance . The double CD comes with a 16-page illustrated booklet containing information about the album. The cover picture has been redesigned.

CD 1

The commercially available CD (see above )

CD 2

  1. Long Leather Coat (McCartney / McCartney) - 3:35
  2. Keep Coming Back To Love (McCartney / Stuart) - 5:00
  3. Sweet Sweet Memories - 4:03
  4. Things We Said Today (Lennon / McCartney) - 3:45
  5. Midnight Special (Arranged by Led Better / Lomax) - 4:55
  6. Style Style - 6:00
  7. I Can't Imagine - 4:37
  8. Cosmically Conscious - 4:41
  9. Kicked Around No More - 5:24
  10. Big Boys Bickering - 3:20
  11. Down To The River - 3:31
  12. Soggy Noodle - 0:28

Information on individual songs

  • On Golden Earth Girl , Gordon Hunt played the oboe and Susan Milan played the flute.
  • The Midnight Horns played the wind instruments for Get Out of My Way .
  • Sources mention that there are other demo songs, some of which have not yet been released: Magic Lamp , In Liverpool (also included on the video release of Paul McCartney's Liverpool Oratorio ), Wedding Invitation , Hurricane Bob , Wish You Were Mine , If You Say No , Simple Song , On a Pedastal, and Beautiful Night (used on the Flaming Pie album ). But it cannot be proven that these songs exist.

Re-releases

  • In May 2007 the album was released in download format.
  • On January 21, 2014, the album was re-released on the Hear Music / Universal Music Group recording company ; according to the accompanying text on the website, the album was remastered.

Single releases

Hope of Deliverance

On December 28, 1992 the single Hope of Deliverance / Long Leather Coat was released in Great Britain , the B-side was recorded during the sessions for the album Off the Ground . The single was released in the US on January 23, 1993, where it was only available as a music cassette. Furthermore, a 5 "CD single and a 12" vinyl maxi single with the following songs were released: Hope of Deliverance / Big Boy Bickering / Long Leather Coat / Kicked Around No More . Hope of Deliverance is the so far last single under the name Paul McCartney, which reached the top ten in Germany.

In the USA 5 ″ CD promotional singles were produced with the song Hope of Deliverance .

Deliverance

On January 18, 1993 the 12 ″ vinyl maxi single / 5 ″ CD single Deliverance / Deliverance (Dub Mix) / Hope of Deliverance was released in Great Britain and Germany . The song Deliverance contains segments of songs from the album Off the Ground, which were mixed together in December 1992 to a new song by Steve Anderson.

A 12 "vinyl promotional single was released in the UK with the songs Deliverance / Deliverance (Dub Mix) .

C'Mon People

The regular second single C'Mon People / I Can't Imagine was released in Europe on February 22, 1993 , the B-side was recorded during the sessions for the album Off the Ground . The 5 ″ CD single contains the following songs: C'mon People / I Can't Imagine / Keep Coming Back to Love / Down to the River . Another 5 ″ CD single was released in Great Britain: C'Mon People / Deliverance / Deliverance (Dub Mix) .

In the USA, the 5 ″ CD single C'Mon People / I Can't Imagine / Keep Coming Back to Love / Down to the River was released on July 20, 1993 and was the third single that was released in the USA as second single Off the Ground. On July 27, 1993, the 7 "vinyl single C'mon People / Down to the River was released on white vinyl in the USA .

In the USA 5 ″ CD promotional singles with the song C'Mon People were produced.

Off the ground

The third single was the 5 ″ CD single Off the Ground / Cosmically Conscious / Style Style / Sweet Sweet Memories / Soggy Noodle released on September 1, 1993 in continental Europe .

In the USA on April 27, 1993, the 7 "vinyl single Off the Ground / Cosmically Conscious was released as a second single on white and black vinyl, as a music cassette and as a 5" CD single Off the Ground / Cosmically Conscious / Style Style / Sweet Sweet Memories / Soggy Noodle.

In the USA three 5 ″ CD promotion singles with new mixes with the song Off the Ground were produced:

  • Off the Ground (Bob Clearmountain Mix)
  • Off the Ground (Keith Cohen Remix) - with newly recorded overdubs
  • Off the Ground (AC Edit; Keith Cohen Remix)

Biker Like an Icon

In Germany and other countries of continental Europe, the 5 "CD single was the fourth single on 8 November 1993 Biker Like an Icon / Midnight Special (Live) / Things We Said Today (Live) / Biker Like an Icon (Live) published .

In the Netherlands on November 8, 1993, the 5 ″ CD single Biker Like an Icon / Biker Like an Icon (Live) was released.

Originally it was planned to release Biker Like an Icon in Great Britain on April 26, 1993 as the third single; 5 "CD promotional singles with the songs Biker Like an Icon / Things We Said Today (Live) / Mean Woman Blues (Live) / Midnight Special (Live) were distributed to radio stations. The three live recordings are unreleased songs from the album Unplugged (The Official Bootleg) . The single was not realized in Great Britain.

In continental Europe, the single was released for promotional purposes for the live album Paul Is Live , so the live version of Biker Like an Icon comes from this album.

In the United States on April 6, 1993, only one 7 "vinyl single Biker Like an Icon / Things We Said Today (Live) was released on white vinyl.

Music videos

Music videos were turned to the single A sides.

Chart placements

year album Chart placements annotation
DE AT CH UK US
1993 Off the ground 2 4th 5 5 17th The album also reached number 5 in the Dutch charts, number 10 in the Swedish charts, number 2 in the Norwegian charts, number 4 in the New Zealand charts and number 8 in the Australian charts.
year Single release Chart placements annotation
DE AT CH UK US
1992 Hope of Deliverance
Off the Ground
3 4th 5 18th 83 The title also reached number 13 in the French charts, number 9 in the Dutch charts, number 7 in the Belgian (Flemish) charts, number 26 in the Swedish charts, number 4 in the Norwegian charts, number 20 in the New Zealand charts and number 29 on the Australian charts.
1993 C'mon People
Off the Ground
41 - - 41 -
1993 Off the Ground,
Off the Ground
54 - - nv -
1993 Biker Like an Icon
Off the Ground
62 - - nv -

Sales figures and awards

Country / Region Award Sales
Awards for music sales
(country / region, Award, Sales)
Australia (ARIA) Australia (ARIA) Gold record icon.svg gold 35,000
Germany (BVMI) Germany (BVMI) Platinum record icon.svg platinum 500,000
France (SNEP) France (SNEP) Gold record icon.svg gold 100,000
Japan (RIAJ) Japan (RIAJ) Gold record icon.svg gold 100,000
Canada (MC) Canada (MC) Gold record icon.svg gold 50,000
Switzerland (IFPI) Switzerland (IFPI) Gold record icon.svg gold 25,000
Spain (Promusicae) Spain (Promusicae) Platinum record icon.svg platinum 100,000
United States (RIAA) United States (RIAA) Gold record icon.svg gold 500,000
United Kingdom (BPI) United Kingdom (BPI) Silver record icon.svg silver 60,000
All in all Silver record icon.svg1 × silver
Gold record icon.svg7 × gold
Platinum record icon.svg2 × platinum
1,470,000

Video publications

The video documentary Movin 'On was released on September 29, 1993 on VHS cassette. A DVD version has not yet been released. The documentary contains interviews, music videos and their filming of Off the Ground , the video was produced by Audrey Powell. Furthermore, the orchestral recordings on December 15, 1992 at Abbey Road Studios for the previously unreleased song Is it Raining in London? shown under the direction of Angelo Badalamenti. The video was broadcast on British television on April 18, 1993.

criticism

allmusic gave the album two out of five stars and called it “serious” as well as “smooth and straightforward” where previous solo albums were rather diffuse and rambling. Nevertheless, it is less than the sum of its parts, since the seriousness is rehearsed and the album as a whole seems rather boring. The Rolling Stone called the album slow ("slow-moving"), but praised some of the songs and above all the optimistic tone of the album. All in all, Off the Ground is enjoyable, but it looks like a soufflé that doesn't rise as much as the baker imagined.

literature

  • Chip Madinger and Mark Easter: Eight Arms To Hold You - The Solo Compendium . 44.1 Productions 2000, ISBN 0-615-11724-4 , pp. 346-353.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Peter Ames Carlin: Paul McCartney. The biography. Hannibal, Höfen 2010, p. 388.
  2. See Off the Ground on ultimateclassicrock.com.
  3. ^ Paul McCartney . In: Hits , No. 50, July 1993.
  4. Archived copy ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www2.concordmusicgroup.com
  5. Single: Hope of Deliverance
  6. CD single: Hope of Deliverance
  7. ^ Promotion CD single: Hope of Deliverance
  8. 12 ″ -Maxi single: Deliverance
  9. CD single: Deliverance / Hope of Deliverance
  10. Promotion 12 ″ single: Deliverance
  11. Single: C'Mon People
  12. CD single: C'Mon People
  13. Promotion CD single C'Mon People
  14. Both CD singles Off the Ground
  15. Promotion CD single Off the Ground (Bob Clearmountain Mix)
  16. Promotion CD single Off the Ground (Keith Cohen Remix)
  17. Promotion CD single Off the Ground (AC Edit; Keith Cohen Remix)
  18. CD single Biker Like an Icon
  19. 7 ″ vinyl single: Biker like an Icon
  20. Chart sources: hitparade.ch , allmusic.com
  21. Chart sources: allmusic.com
  22. See overview on hitparade.ch
  23. Video: Movin 'On
  24. Stephen Thomas Erlewine: Paul McCartney - Off the Ground. Review . allmusic.com.
  25. "[...] Off the Ground is a tad undercooked - a souffle that doesn't quite rise to the grand heights its creator envisioned." Parke Puterbaugh: Paul McCartney - Off the Ground . February 18, 1993 ( online ).