So why is Paul McCartney & Linda McCartney’s Ram on this best 1,000 albums ever thing?
The Beatles’ documenThe Beatles’ documentary, Get Back – directed by Peter Jackson and released on Disney+ in 2021 – had a profound impact on me.
Some things that I heard that other people don’t like about it – such as that it’s too long (it’s over six hours, split up into three episodes) and spends too much time with the cameras focused on the band while they’re messing around trying to write new songs – are what I absolutely love about it. I’m always interested in the creative process, and in the case of The Beatles’ creative process, I found it to be as close to magic as we mere mortals will ever witness in real life.
But there are so many other things about Get Back that I could talk about endlessly and think about quite often. One is that from our vantage point in the 2020s, we’re looking back in time to a very specific moment in The Beatles’ lives and careers circa 1969.
So even though at that point it’s relatively close to the time when the band broke up, they are still young men in their late twenties or thereabouts. They had already produced some of the most popular and well-regarded songs and albums in the history of music, but here they were essentially starting all over again in a largely vacant studio space trying to conjure up magic one more time.
This for me is riveting stuff.
Then there’s all of the other dynamics going on within the band by that time – John Lennon and Paul, George Harrison versus the rest of the band, Ringo’s deal, and so forth. And then there’s John and Yoko Ono, who is often present (read = she literally sits next to John while he’s playing with the band).
Finally then, for our purposes here, there’s Paul and Linda, who was Linda Eastman at that time – in fact, she became Linda McCartney just a few months after The Beatles’ iconic and final rooftop performance (which becomes the culmination of the Get Back documentary).
Linda, a professional photographer, is seen here and there during Get Back snapping pics and good naturedly taking in the proceedings. More than anything, I was struck by Paul and Linda as a couple who both appeared to be extraordinarily normal given the band’s fame, and very much in love.
Via Wikipedia, Paul taught Linda to play keyboards after The Beatles broke up in 1970, and by 1971 the couple had released the fabulous album, Ram. Post-Ram, the two joined the band Wings (see: Band on the Run, #533 of best 1,000 albums ever) in addition to being two of the most famous people in the world. Linda passed away in 1998 of breast cancer, a tragic fact that I also couldn’t help but think about during the documentary.
You can also see a throughline in terms of where Paul McCartney was musically in early 1969 and the recording of Ram. There’s a lightheartedness and freewheeling spirit that makes the album feel rousing and fun, and then there’s also a sophistication to the songwriting that shows off Paul (and Linda too, as she is co-credited with every song on the album) at the peak of their powers.
“Too Many People” is my favorite song on Ram, though there’s plenty of competition. It’s fantastic acoustic rock that builds into a singalong chorus that you can’t not hum along with, at the least. Also via Wikipedia, there’s all kinds of accusations of post-Beatles acrimony between the lads bundled up in the lyrics. That doesn’t interest me all that much, frankly, except of course for the tinge of sadness that The Beatles’ run had to end at some point.
“Uncle Albert / Admiral Halsey” is a medley that apparently stitches together two “unfinished” songs, but both parts of this end product are just spectacular. The “Uncle Albert” section is beautiful and a little dreamy, while “Admiral Halsey” is a riotously fun jaunt with a sprinkling of psychedelia and phenomenal Beatles-y flourishes.
Hands across the water, water
Heads across the sky
Hands across the water, water
Heads across the sky
“Smile Away” digs back into Paul’s (and The Beatles’) early American rock and roll and blues rock influences, and is a chugging good time.
And “Monkberry Moon Delight” is a piano-fueled, driving rocker. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a song where it sounds like Paul has ever had this much fun, howling out lyrics with obvious glee.
I mean, and check these lyrics on that score!
So I sat in the attic, a piano up my nose
And the wind played a dreadful cantata (cantata, cantata)
Sore was I from a crack of an enemy’s hose
And the horrible sound of tomato (tomato, tomato)
I like to imagine that the good time stems from the young couple enjoying making music together, and no doubt there’s relief on both their parts from putting the difficult final years of The Beatles (even with the brilliant music the band produced during this period!) behind them.
Some stats & info about Paul McCartney & Linda McCartney – Ram
- What kind of musical stylings does this album represent? Rock Music, Album Rock, Soft Rock
- Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking – #450
- All Music’s rating – 5 out of 5 stars
- When was Ram released? 1971
- My ranking, the one you’re reading right now – #282 out of 1,000
Paul McCartney & Linda McCartney’s Ram on Spotify
A lyrical snippet from Paul McCartney & Linda McCartney’s Ram that’s evocative of the album in some way, maybe
Live a little, be a gypsy, get around, get around. Get your feet up off the ground, live a little, get around.
What does the “best 1,000 albums ever” mean and why are you doing this?
Yeah, I know it’s audacious, a little crazy (okay, maybe a lot cray cray), bordering on criminal nerdery.
But here’s what it’s NOT: a definitive list of the Greatest Albums of All-Time. This is 100% my own personal super biased, incredibly subjective review of what my top 1,000 albums are, ranked in painstaking order over the course of doing research for nearly a year, Rob from High Fidelity style. Find out more about why I embarked on a best 1,000 albums ever project.