Run Devil Run by Paul McCartney
Back To The Roots
Whenever Paul McCartneys storied life has hit personal or prof essional
hard times, hes wisely returned--figuratively and literally--to his musical
foundations. In the Beatles final, troubled days, it was Get Back, the
aborted return-to-roots project salvaged as Let It Be, and during his late-
80s solo doldrums it was the 50s rave-up CHOBA B CCCP (a.k.a. the
Russian Album). In the wake of Lindas passing, McCartney gets back to a
motley dozen 50s hits, B-sides, and obscurities, and pens three surprising
originals that neatly fit their mold. Using a band of seasoned Briti sh vets
(including Pink Floyds Dave Gilmour and Mick Green from Johnny Kidd &
the Pirates on guitars, and Deep Purples Ian Paice on drums) whose own
unbridled affection for this music radiates from every track, McCartney
tackles the familiar (Gene Vincents Blue Jean Bop, Elvis Presleys All
Shook Up) and unfamiliar (the Vipers UK skiffle hit No Other Baby, Carl
Perkinss Movie Magg) alike with enthusiasm, if not slavish devotion, as
witnessed by his nifty zydeco revamp of Chuck Berrys Brown Eyed
Handsome Man. The Mac originals Try Not to Cry and What It Is (and the
choice of Ricky Nelsons Lonesome Town) seem to deal not-so-obliquely
with his love and loss, yet are delivered with an upbeat confidence that
seem to belie his mourning. In the end, Run Devil Run may be as much
personal exorcism as it is loving musical recapitulation, and McCartney is
in peak vocal form throughout. --Jerry McCulley
The proto-rock style is done perfectly well on this album, but as Scotty
Moore was for Elvis Presley, David Gilmour is for this album. David
Gilmour was known for playing guitar with Pink Floyd, known for doing
progressive rock in the seventies.
While Paul McCartney had gone into a very pop-oriented direction, David
Gilmour played with Pink Floyd, the third highest selling band next to Led
Zeppelin and of course, the Beatles. It's great to see them both go back to
their roots.
Because he's Paul McCartney, he's able to hire the best musicians in the
world. All of the musicians that McCartney hired had pretty good resumes,
and this was probably McCartney's best band since the first full line-up of
Wings (McCartney on bass, his wife on keyboard, Denny Lane and Henry
McCullough on guitar, and Denny Seiwell on drums).
David Gilmour and Mick Green both do a great job taking the style of
Scotty Moore, one of the most underrated guitarists, and Chuck Berry, one
of the big originators, and putting their own twist on the styles created by
Moore and Berry.
Pete Wingfield is a wonderful substitute for Jerry Lee Lewis and Little
Richard. Ian Paice is a good solid drummer, who had played drums with
Deep Purple, which brings out some diversity in musical backgrounds for
the full band. The two of them actually didn't play on a couple of tracks, in
which Geraint Watkins played keyboard and Dave Mattacks played drums.
There aren't really that many originals used on the album. It's mainly a
bunch of cover songs from the 1950s. I'm guessing that Paul McCartney
just picked a few of his favorite songs done, and not by popularity. the
arrangements are definitely good at having that style, but they do it in more
of a modern style. Basically, the mixing is better, it's a little bit more guitar
based, there's no saxophone, and the microphone wasn't set up horribly.
This is a great album, and it's always great for musicians to do a back to
the roots album. It's fine to go in a direction as far from where they started,
but doing an album where they go back to their roots is always great, even
if it's the safe thing to do.
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