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Paul McCartney: Venus & Mars

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s


Label: MPL Communications Inc.
Released: 1975.05.27
Time:
 53:01
Category: Pop/Rock
Producer(s): Paul McCartney
Rating: *******... (7/10)
Media type: CD
Web address: www.paulmccartney.com
Appears with: The Beatles
Purchase date: 2001.12.31
Price in €: 7,99



 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


[1] Venus and Mars (P.McCartney) - 1:20
[2] Rock Show (P.McCartney) - 5:30
[3] Love in Song (P.McCartney) - 3:03
[4] You Gave Me the Answer (P.McCartney) - 2:14
[5] Magneto and Titanium Man (P.McCartney) - 3:16
[6] Letting Go (P.McCartney) - 4:33
[7] Venus and Mars (Reprise) (P.McCartney) - 2:05
[8] Spirits of Ancient Egypt (P.McCartney) - 3:04
[9] Medicine Jar (C.Allen/J.McCulloch) - 3:37
[10] Call Me Back Again (P.McCartney) - 4:58
[11] Listen to What the Man Said (P.McCartney) - 4:01
[12] Treat Her Gently [Lonely Old People] (P.McCartney) - 4:23
[13] Crossroads Theme (t.Hatch) - 1:00

Additional tracks only on CD:
[14] Zoo Gang (P.McCartney) - 2:01
[15] Lunch Box / Odd Sox (P.McCartney) - 3:50
[16] My Carnival (P.McCartney) - 3:57

Please note there will be a 10 second break between original and bonus tracks.

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


PAUL MCCARTNEY - Bass, Guitar, Arranger, Keyboards, Vocals
DAVE MASON - Guitar
TOM SCOTT - Saxophone
DENNY LAINE - Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals
JOE ENGLISH - Drums
GEOFF BRITTON - Drums
LINDA MCCARTNEY - Keyboards, Vocals, Photography
JIMMY MCCULLOCH - Guitar
ALLEN TOUSSAINT - Piano, Keyboards
KENNETH "Afro" WILLIAMS - Percussion, Conga

GEOFF EMERICK - Engineer
ALAN O'DUFFY - Engineer
TONY DORSEY - Arranger
KEVIN GRAY - CD Preparation
ROBERTA BALLARD - Production Manager
STEVE HOFFMAN - Remastering

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


1975 LP Capitol 11419
1988 CD Capitol C2-46984
1988 CS Capitol C4-46984
1991 CS Alliance 46984
1994 CD DCC 1067
1996 CD Alliance 46984
1999 CD EMI 65505



Band on the Run was a commercial success, but even if it was billed as a Wings effort, it was primarily recorded by Paul, Linda, and Denny Laine. So, it was time to once again turn Wings into a genuine band, adding Joe English and Jimmy McCulloch to the lineup and even letting the latter contribute a song. This faux-democracy isn't what signals that this is a band effort — it's the attitude, construction, and pacing, which McCartney acknowledges as much, opening with an acoustic title track that's a salute to arena rock, leading to a genuine arena rock anthem, "Rock Show." From that, it's pretty much rocking pop tunes, paced with a couple of ballads and a little whimsy, all graced with a little of the production flair that distinguished Band on the Run. But where that record was clearly a studio creation and consciously elaborate, this is a straightforward affair where the sonic details are simply window dressing. McCartney doesn't really try anything new, but the songs are a little more varied than the uniform, glossy production would suggest; he dips into soft-shoe music hall shuffle on "You Gave Me the Answer," gets a little psychedelic with "Spirits of Ancient Egypt," kicks out a '50s rock & roll groove with "Magento and Titanium Man," and unveils a typically sweet and lovely melody on "Listen to What the Man Said." These are a slight shifts on an album that certainly feels like the overture for the arena rock tour that it was, which makes it one of McCartney's more consistent listens, even though it's possible to scan the song listing after several listens and not recognize any song outside of "Listen to What the Man Said" and the opening medley by title.

Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All-Music Guide, © 1992 - 2001 AEC One Stop Group, Inc.



Released in the glow of Wings' biggest and best album, Band on the Run, Venus & Mars found Paul McCartney in his element--a working rock star, being screamed at again, cheerfully riding the last rays of his youth. Adulation always brought the best out of him, and Venus & Mars is nearly the equal of its more lauded predecessor. McCartney never strays from his favorite themes (sex, drugs, rock & roll, and marriage), but his confidence is high as he mixes gorgeous, airy production numbers like "Listen to What the Man Said" and "Letting Go" with the ribald and hilarious. "Rock Show" matches the Who's "Long Live Rock" as the finest and funniest of those self-celebratory '70s stomps. McCartney's effortless marshalling of melody and arrangement hoists the blander material out of trouble, and the best stuff's powered by genuine, rediscovered verve. Facile and frivolous, but not at all bad. And their version of the "Crossroads" theme is wicked.

Taylor Parkes, Amazon.com



As time goes by, John Lennon's importance to the Beatles becomes more and more self-evident. The same old story we've been hearing for years—that Lennon's wit and abrasive probing were needed to balance Paul McCartney's melodic charm and sweetness—is obvious but true; Lennon's career has certainly had fewer ups and downs (the first Plastic Ono Band LP being his only real success), but his strivings, if at times embarrassing, have never seemed to be the product of assembly-line manufacture. None of the ex-Beatles has survived the first half of the Seventies heroically—George Harrison has become a musical Kahlil Gibran, Ringo Starr, a likably mediocre Everyman, Lennon, the confused method actor unsure of what role to play, and McCartney, a latter-day Burt Bacharach trying to invent his Angie Dickinson—but, of the four, only Lennon's plight still reaches the rock & roll part of the heart. Lennon probably had nothing whatsoever to do with Venus and Mars, the new Wings album, but somehow the ghost of his sincerity not only haunts but also accentuates the cool calculation of the McCartney project, and a jarring primal scream or two might make me feel less enraged by Paul and Linda's chic, unconvincing and blatant bid to be enshrined as pop music's Romeo and Juliet. One can point out that John and Yoko were no better, perhaps even worse, in their similar public insistence—or Bob Dylan on Planet Waves, for that matter—but what makes such a comparison appalling is that John and Yoko and Dylan believed what they were saying, or at least desperately tried to, while the McCartneys serve it all up with the offhand air of two uncaring jet-setters presenting us with the very latest in prefabricated TV dinners.

Venus and Mars begins with Paul and Linda's casual and false assumption that the whole world is tremendously interested in the state of their union (whereas John and Yoko and Dylan were driven, I think, more by individual inner needs to say what they did), so they concoct a slick, Broadway / Hollywood exterior romance that is an insult to the very "lovers everywhere" to whom they dedicate the LP. For all I know, the McCartneys may love each other passionately, but it is self-aggrandizement, not private ardor, that shines through the computerized smoothness of their insubstantial songs; no blood on the tracks here, and no connection with reality either. Perhaps this is too harsh; perhaps Paul and Linda's image of themselves as rock & roll's mythical couple is real in their minds but, as this album proves, an extended trip across that arid area is apt to make even the night thoughts of Johnny Carson appear positively Dostoevskian.

"Venus and Mars are all right tonight," the lovers keep telling us, persistently answering a by-and-large unasked question with a press-release concept, generally uninspired melodies and some of the dumbest lyrics on record. As a card-carrying romantic, I bow to no one caught in the occasionally moony state of yearning, but I can't imagine ever telling anyone I liked, let alone loved, something like, "My, you're so fine/When love is mine/I can't go wrong"; or, "Ah, she looks like snow/I want to put her in a Broadway show" or, "You're my baby and I love you/You can take a pound of love/And cook it in the stew...." The last song on the LP carries the galactic couple all the way to the old people's home, where we are asked to pity the doddering old McCartneys because "nobody asked [them] to play." "Here we sit," they cry, "Two lonely old people/Eking our lives away." Pretty damned unlikely. If the musical career doesn't pan out, guys, you can always get a job writing soap operas or the verses for Hallmark cards.
So much for the banal ballads — "Venus and Mars," "Love in Song," "You Gave Me the Answer" (done Rudy Vallee style), "Letting Go," "Spirits of Ancient Egypt," "Treat Her Gently — Lonely Old People"—all treacle so far from the mainstream of amorousness that, if one were to make a joke, only a drip or two could sneak through. Unfortunately, some of the nonlove songs ("Magneto and Titanium Man" especially) on Venus and Mars are more galling and impudently silly than that pun, or just rather ordinary ("Rock Show," "Medicine Jar"). The only two real exceptions are the well-sung, urban-blues-and-Sixties-soul-influenced "Call Me Back Again" and the LP's certain hit single, the deliciously catchy and creamily produced "Listen to What the Man Said," the latter as fine an example of slick, professional entertainment and carefully crafted "product" as has ever hit the airwaves.

Although I have always had doubts about McCartney, before this album was released I would have offered an opening argument that he, not Lennon, was the only one of the ex-Beatles whose career seemed to be going somewhere. Band on the Run wasn't great, but it was good and did suggest that its creator wasn't all vacuum-packed smugness and unmatched ego. Now, I don't know. Were his talent behind him, McCartney's current disaster wouldn't matter much, but what is really worrisome here is the almost gleeful enthusiasm with which he makes trivial anything meaningful. It is symbolic that Venus and Mars comes with more extraneous junk (not all of it in the grooves) than it can sustain: two posters, two gummed decals, a flashy inner cover, etc. Perhaps this is the ephemera of fame, but it's really not as cosmic as Paul and Linda think it is; indeed, it seems more an inadvertent definition of artistic emptiness. These are two geese who have laid a golden egg in a land where Michelangelo Antonioni and Norman Rockwell have somehow become soulmates, and all of us are going to be expected to pay the price.

PAUL NELSON - RS 192
© Copyright 2001 RollingStone.com
 

 L y r i c s


VENUS AND MARS

Sitting In The Stand Of The Sports Arena
Waiting For The Show To Begin
Red Lights, Green Lights, Strawberry Wine,
A Good Friend Of Mine, Follows The Stars,
Venus And Mars
Are Alright Tonight.


ROCK SHOW

What's That Man Holding In His Hand?
He Looks A Lot Like A Guy I Knew Way Back When
Its Silly Willy With Philly Band
Could Be . . . . . Oo-Ee . . . . . .
What's That Man Movin' Cross The Stage?
It Looks A Lot Like The One Used By Jimmy Page
Its Like A Relic From A Different Age
Could Be . . . . . Oo-Ee . . . . . .

If There's Rock Show
At The Concertgebow
They're Got Long Hair
At The Madison Square
You've Got Rock And Roll
At The Hollywood Bowl,
We'll Be There . . . . . . Oo Yeah . . . . . . .

The Lights Go Down - They're Back In Town O.K.
Behind The Stacks You Glimpse An Axe
The Tension Mounts You Score An Ounce Ole!
Temperatures Rise As You See The White Of Their Eyes

If There's Rock Show
At The Concertgebow
You're Got Long Hair
At The Madison Square
They've Got Rock And Roll
At The Hollywood Bowl,
We'll Be There . . . . . . Oo Yeah . . . . . . .

In My Green Metal Suit I'm Preparing To Shoot Up The City
And The Ring At The End Of My Nose Makes Me Look Rather Pretty
Its A Pity There's Nobody Here To Witness The End
Save For My Dear Old Friend And Confidante - Madamoiselle Kitty

What's That Man Movin' To And Fro?
That Decibel Meter Doesn't Seem To Be Reading Low.
But They Was Louder At The Rainbow
Could Be . . . . . Oo-Ee . . . . . .

If There's Rock Show
At The Concertgebow
They're Got Long Hair
At The Madison Square
You Got Rock And Roll
At The Hollywood Bowl,
We'll Be There . . . . . . Oo Yeah . . . . . . .

If There's Rock Show . . . . . . .

If There's Rock Show . . . . . . .

If There's Rock Show . . . . . . .


LOVE IN SONG

My Heart Cries Out For Love
And All That Goes With Loving
Love In Song - Love In Song
My, You're So Fine
When Love Is Mine
I Can't Go Wrong,
Love In Song - Love In Song

I Can See The Places That
We Used To Go To Now
Happiness In The Homeland

Happiness In The Homeland

My Eye Cries Out
A Tear Still Born
Misunderstanding
Love In Song - Love In Song

I Can See The Places That
We Used To Go To Now
Happiness In The Homeland

Happiness In The Homeland

My, You're So Fine
When Love Is Mine
I Can't Go Wrong,
Love In Song - Love In Song - Love In Song.


YOU GAVE ME THE ANSWER

You Gave Me The Answer
To Love Eternally.
I Love You And - You,
You Seem To Like Me.
Wherever We Wander
The Local Folk Agree,
I Love You And - You,
You Seem To Like Me.

Heading Back To Old Familiar Places,
Places Where The Cobwebs Blow Away
I Can Forget The Airs And Graces

Terpsichory . . . . . . .

You'll Never Be Crowned By
The Aristocracy,
To Their Delight, You'd Merely Invite
Them In For A Cup Of Tea . . . . And
I Love You And - You
You Seem To Like
You Seem To Like
You Seem To Like
Me.

MAGNETO AND TITANIUM MAN

Well I Was Talking Last Night
Magneto And Titanium Man . . .
We Were Talking About You, Babe,
Oo --- They Said ---
You Were Involved In A Robbery
That Was Due To Happen
At A Quarter To Three
In The Main Street.

I Didn't Believe Them
Magneto And Titanium Man . . .
But When The Crimson Dynamo
Finally Assured Me, Well, I Knew

You Were Involved In A Robbery
That Was Due To Happen
At A Quarter To Three
In The Main Street.

So We Went Out
Magneto And Titanium Man . . .
And The Crimson Dynamo
Came Along For The Ride

We Went To Town With The Library
And We Swung All Over That
Long Tall Bank In The Main Street

Well There She Were And To My Despair
She's A Five-Star Criminal
Breaking The Code

Magneto Said "Now The Time Come
To Gather Our Forces And Run!!!"
Oh No . . . . . .
This Can't Be So . . . . . .

And Then It Occurred To Me!

You Couldn't Be Bad
Magneto Was Mad!
Titanium Too!
And The Crimson Dynamo
Just Couldn't Cut It No More
You Were The Law . . . . . .


LETTING GO

Ah, She Tastes Like Wine
Such A Human Being So Divine
Oh She Feels Like Sun
Mother Nature Look At What You're Done
Oh I Feel Like Letting Go
Oh I Feel Like Letting Go.

Ah, She Looks Like Snow
I Want To Put Her In A Broadway Show
Ah She'll Dance And Dine
Like A Lucifer She'll Always Shine

Oh I Feel Like Letting Go
Oh I Feel Like Letting Go.

Oh I Feel Like Letting Go.

Ah, She Sings It So
I Want To Put Her On The Radio
One Day And There You Are
Ladies And Gentleman -
A Brand New Star.

Oh I Feel Like Letting Go
Oh I Feel Like Letting Go.


VENUS AND MARS - REPRISE

Standing In The Hall
Of The Great Cathedral
Waiting For The Transport To Come
Starship 21zna9
A Good Friend Of Mine
Studies The Stars
Venus And Mars
Are Alright Tonight.

Come Away On A Strange Vacation
Holiday Hardly Begun
Run Into A Good Friend Of Mine

Sold Me Her Sign
Reach For The Stars
Venus And Mars
Are Alright Tonight


SPIRITS OF ANCIENT EGYPT

You're My Baby And I Love You
You Can Take A Pound Of Love
And Cook It In The Stew . . . . .
When You've Finished Doing That
I Know What You'll Want To Do
'Cos You're My Baby And I Love You

I'm Your Baby -- Do You Love Me?
I Can Drive A Cadillac
Across The Irish Sea
But When I've Finished Doing That
I Know Where I'll Want To Be
'Cos I'm Your Baby, And You Love Me.

Spirits Of Ancient Egypt
Shadows Of Ancient Rome
Spirits Of Ancient Egypt
Hung On The Telly
Hung On The Telly
Hung On The Telephone . . . .

You're My Baby, I Know You Know
You Could Sell An Elevator
To Geronimo
And When You've Finished Doing That
I Know Where You'll Want To Go
'Cos You're My Baby, I Know You Know

Spirits Of Ancient Egypt
Echoes Of Sunken Spain
Spirits Of Ancient Egypt
Hung On The 'Phone
A-Hung On The 'Phone
A-Hung On The 'Phone
. . . . . Again . . . . .


MEDICINE JAR

What's Wrong With You?
I Wish I Knew
You Say Time And Tell
I Hope That's True
There's More To Life Than Blues And Reds
I Say, I Know How You Feel,
Now Your Friends Are Dead.
Dead On Your Feet, You Won't Get Far
If You Keep On Sticking Your Hand
In The Medicine Jar.

Now Don't Give Up
Whatever You Do
You Say Time Will Tell
I Hope That's True
If You Go Down And Lose Your Head
I Say, I Know How You Feel
Now Your Friends Are Dead.

Dead On Your Feet, You Won't Get Far
If You Keep On Sticking Your Hand
In The Medicine Jar.

Dead On Your Feet . . . . .

What Can I Do?
I Can't Let Go
You Say Time Will Heal
But Very Slow
So Don't Forget The Things You Said
I Say I Know How You Feel
Now Your Friends Are Dead.

Dead On Your Feet, You Won't Get Far
If You Keep On Sticking Your Hand
In The Medicine Jar.


CALL ME BACK AGAIN

Well When I, When I Was
Just A Little Baby Boy
Every Night I Would Call
Your Number Brought Me Joy.
I Called Your House, Every Night Since Then
But I Ain't Never, No No Never
Heard You Calling Me
Come On And Call Me Back Again . . . . .

Call Me Back Again.

I've Heard Your Name Every Night Since Then
But I Ain't Never, No No Never . . . . .

Well When I, When I Was
Just A Little Baby Boy
Every Night, Every Night
I Would Call Because Your Number
Brought Me Joy

Oh -- I've Called Your Name
Every Night Since Then,
But I Ain't Never, No No No No Never
Heard You Calling Me
Come On And Call Me Back Again.

Call Me Back Again.


LISTEN TO WHAT THE MAN SAID

Any Time, Any Day
You Can Hear The People Say,
But He Wont Mind, Well, I Don't Know
But I Say Love Is Kind
Soldier Boy Kisses Girl
Leaves Behind A Tragic World
But He Wont Mind, He's In Love
And He Says Love Is Fine

Oh -- Yes, Indeed We Know
That People Will Find A Way To Go
No Matter What The Man Said
And Love Is Fine For All We Know
For All We Know, Our Love Will Grow
-- That's What The Man Said
So Won't You Listen To What The Man Said

He Said . . . . .

Oh -- Yes, Indeed We Know
That People Will Find A Way To Go . . .

Oh -- Yes, Indeed We Know
That People Will Find A Way To Go . . .
Etc. Etc.

The Wonder Of It All Baby . . . . .
The Wonder Of It All Baby . . . . .
The Wonder Of It All Baby . . . . .


TREAT HER GENTLY - LONELY OLD PEOPLE

Treat Her Gently
Treat Her Kind
She Doesn't Even Know Her Own Mind
Treat Her Simply
Take It Slow
Make It Easy
And Let Her Know
You'll Never Find Another Way

Here We Sit
Two Lonely Old People
Eaking Our Lives Away

Bit By Bit
Two Lonely Old People
Keeping The Time Of Day

Here We Sit
Out Of Breath
And Nobody Asked Us To Play

-- Old People's Home For The Play --
Nobody Asked Us To Play

Treat Her Gently
Treat Her Kind
She Doesn't Even Know Her Own Mind

Treat Her Simply
Make It Slow
Take It Easy
And Let Her Know
You'll Never Find Another Way

Here We Sit
Two Lonely Old People Etc. Etc . . . . .
. . . . . . . Nobody Asked Us To Play.


CROSSROADS THEME

Instrumental


ZOO GANG

Instrumental


LUNCH BOX/ODD SOX

Instrumental


MY CARNIVAL

Its my carnival, it's a lovely day
Well its my carnival, it's a lovely day
Well all you people, getting ready to play
I want to hear you say, come on down
This is my carnival, it's a lovely day

 M P 3   S a m p l e s


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