The Yin Yang Interview with VH1

 May 14, 1997

I am not sure about the rest of you, but I was not aware of this interview/performance on VH1 until after George passed away.   Suddenly Vh1 was showing this program nonstop.   It is really good and I do recommend finding it if you have never seen it.  George seems very relaxed and happy. 

Walking into Abbey Road

 

Ringo back on tour in '97

 April 10, 1997

The soon to be Sir Paul

 March 11, 1997 

Racing Day with George in Melbourne

 March 8, 1997 - Melbourne 

Flaming Pie photo Shoot

Photos taken by Linda McCartney 

 

March 1997 - These promo photos were taken by Linda to support the Flaming Pie album.   They are some of my favorite Paul photos from this time period. 

Wish James a great birthday!

 

Paul's first time in Cyberspace

 

Back in 1997, while Paul was promoting the Flaming Pie album, he participated in his first-ever interview that took place online.   Well -- sort of.   It was part online and part on TV through VH-1.  A lot of people (including yours truly) tried to log onto the site for the chat but got kicked out due to the crappy dial-up we all had back then.     I was actually trying to get onto the chat through my college Internet at the computer lab.  Oh, the olden days!  

I found a newspaper article about the chat.  Here is what it is said:

Sir Paul Fields queries from cyberspace peanut gallery

By Clare Longreigg (The Guardian)

His favorite guitarist of all time is Jimi Hendrix, he listens to his children's records, and John Lennon lives in his headphones. 

Sir Paul McCartney took to the Internet for the first time last weekend to provide these and many more insights into his life and times in answer to some of an astonishing three million questions fired at him from the world's home computers. 

The 90-minute question and answer session was set up by cable music channel VH1, which broadcast the mass interview live last Saturday night. 

The response far exceeded the organizers' expectations.  A spokesman for the former Beatle said, "We did not imagine there would be so many questions; we thought there would be only around 300,000.

"No one has been questioned on this scale before.  Sir Paul will be the most questioned man in history."

Although he answered as many as he could of the 3 million questions from fans all over the world, one of the crew calculated that if he had answered them all it would have taken him six years. 

While the McCartney camp congratulated themselves on the number of calls, the quality of questioning fell somewhat short of expectations.  One woman asked him what sort of underwear he preferred.  He declined to answer, saying only, "You would not believe the answer, so I will stay enigmatic about that."

Asked what he thought of Oasis, he said he liked them, adding, "If they are going to be derivative, they might as well be something I am connected with."

Many questioners wanted to know about his knighthood (he keeps his gong on the bedroom wall, it has made a lady of Linda at last).  But he considers his greatest achievement to be his children.  "It's not easy to bring up kids when you are in show business.  Me and Linda consider we have good kids."

Another questioner wanted to know whether the Beatles Anthology albums would have inspired them to regroup had John Lennon still been alive. "It's highly likely before the anthologies," he replied.  "We have had lots of offers, but without John, there is no Beatles.  Recording Free As a Bird was as if John was there.  He was in my headphones."

The broadcast went out live to the UK, the United States, and Germany from Bishopsgate Hall in the City of London, and later Sir Paul typed some of his replies in himself.  He declared himself a fan of the Internet. 

Ravi and Friends

 

All Starr Band 1997

 

In car park of Abbey Road Studios

 

Paul does Oprea

 

October 27, 1997

Sharing a drink with Macca

Standing on a Flaming Pie Stone

Getting some exercise

Flaming Pie - A 20th anniversary review

It has been 20 years since Paul McCartney released his album, Flaming Pie.    This has always been one of my favorite McCartney solo albums.    However I was not sure if it would still be a great album 20 years later.   Would it seem dated and little too 1990's for today?     I figured it was time to give this album another listen.


The first thing I did was re-read over the liner notes, which were written by Mark Lewishon.   I discovered that Ringo played on two songs, Linda sang back up on two songs,  son James played guitar on one, George Martin arranged a song and Jeff Lynne did some producing.    Hmmmm....that alone sounds like an outstanding album.


I was pleseantly pleased to hear Paul's clear and classic voice coming through my headphones.    The melodies of songs such as Calico Skies, Little Willow, and Heaven on a Sunday were enough to bring about emotions.      And that is overall the feel of this album --   one full of deep emotions.     Knowing what was going on in Paul's life between 1995-1997 (when the album would have been released), it makes sense.    Paul was dealing with the diagnoses of his wife, Linda having breast cancer, the very thing that took Paul's mother from him.     It had to have been very difficult for him and I think some of that emotion comes out on Flaming Pie.   

Paul also had just came off the tails of the Beatles Anthology and admits that he had the Beatles in his mind when he made this album.    It has a Beatles feel about it, and not just in the title song. 


The album at times seems 'unplugged' but in no way does it have a strong 1990's feel about it.   There aren't any grunge songs or anything that stands out that it is from the mid 1990's.   

The one song I didn't care for was his duet with Steve Miller called "I used to be bad."   This song obviously started out as two musicians jamming and maybe it should have stayed that way.    Not that it is a bad song, but it seems to go on a little long and just feels out of place on this album.

The song that surprised me was "Somedays."    I was surprised by how lovely the orchestration on this song was (it was done by George Martin which I dont' remember).    Everything about this song was just really nice and it was never one that stood out for me in the past.

My favorite song is still "Beautiful Night."    It is actually my all time favorite Paul solo song.  I know that some of the lyrics are goofy, but to me it is just the perfect Paul McCartney song.    Ringo drums on it and Linda sings background.      I picture Paul singing this song to Linda and it just seems (for a lack of a better word )  beautiful.   


Is Flaming Pie a Paul album that you enjoy?    Have you given it a good listen in the past 20 years?   If you have never given it a chance, I really recommend it.   I don't think you will disappointed.


The link below is the affiliate link to Amazon where you can purchase this CD..   I get a small percentage of anything purchased through this link.  Money made from the Amazon Afflication is used to pay the annual fee to keep this site online.  Thank you for your support.  Sara

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Ringo signage

You know, I was all excited last year when Paul read my sign during a concert.  I can't even begin to imagine how excited this fan must have been when Ringo took the sign she had from her and held it up for everyone to see!   Wow!