McCartney’s ‘Flaming Pie’ conjures sweet memories
Earlier this month, Paul McCartney reissued two of his 1980s albums as he continues to release solo (and Wings) material that has been hard to find or has been out of print. “Tug of War” is a fantastic record, and “Pipes of Peace” is ... well, it has some good songs.
Let me throw you a curve. Rather than discuss those albums, I’d rather focus on one of my favorite McCartney releases. In fact, I’d like to talk about the first McCartney record that I bought when it was a new release: “Flaming Pie.”
Before the May 1997 release of “Flaming Pie,” I’d already owned McCartney’s first solo album, I had “Band on the Run” and a number of other records. All of them had been released well before I’d ever become a fan. “Flaming Pie” was new — on the shelves, a chart contender (it earned a gold record and was No. 2 on the Billboard 200 charts) — when I bought it.
I picked up “Flaming Pie” that May because I knew I was going to be working as a counselor at a Boy Scouts summer camp for the second straight summer, and I wanted a new album to spend some time with.
As a 16 year old, my music collection wasn’t quite so vast and I didn’t have the money to pick up anything and everything, so I was a bit more judicious about what I bought. But I loved the Beatles, and most of my purchases were Beatles-related.
I wanted a record that could become the soundtrack of that time, music that I would be able to tie to memories made during those months. I hoped Paul would come through for me. I lucked out. The music was fantastic in its own right, but it also became a very special collection of songs that manage to reflect and amplify feelings and reminiscences of that summer.
By: Chris Shields
Source: St. Cloud Times
