Artist.......: Paul McCartney
Album........: Live at the Olympia
Label........: n/a
Genre........: Rock
Catnr........: n/a
Source.......: DVBS
Rip.date.....: Dec-18-2007
Str.date.....: Oct-22-2007
Quality......: VBR/44,1Hz/Joint-Stereo
Url..........: www.paulmccartney.com
track title time
01. Live at the Olympia 124:05
Runtime 124:05 min
Size 158,9 MB
Release Notes:
Recorded : November 2007 (Canal+)
Performed : October 22, 2007 (Paris - France)
Out of all the former Beatles, Paul McCartney by far had
the most successful solo career, maintaining a constant
presence in the British and American charts during the
'70s and '80s. In America alone, he had nine number one
singles and seven number one albums during the first 12
years of his solo career. Although he sold records,
McCartney never attained much critical respect, especially
when compared to his former partner John Lennon. Then
again, he pursued a different path than Lennon, deciding
early on that he wanted to be in a rock band. Little more
than a year after the Beatles' breakup, McCartney had
formed Wings with his wife, Linda, and the group remained
active for the next ten years, racking up a string of hit
albums, singles, and tours in the meantime. By the late
'70s, many critics were taking potshots at McCartney's
effortlessly melodic songcraft, but that didn't stop the
public from buying his records. His sales didn't slow
considerably until the late '80s, and he retaliated with
his first full-scale tour since the '70s, which was a
considerable success. During the '90s, McCartney recorded
less frequently, concentrating on projects like his first
classical recording, a techno album, and the Beatles'
Anthology.
Like Lennon and George Harrison, Paul McCartney began
exploring creative avenues outside the Beatles during the
late '60s, but where his bandmates released their own
experimental records, McCartney confined himself to
writing and production for other artists, with the
exception of his 1966 soundtrack to The Family Way.
Following his marriage to Linda Eastman on March 12, 1969,
McCartney began working at his home studio on his first
solo album. He released the record, McCartney, in April
1970, two weeks before the Beatles' Let It Be was
scheduled to hit the stores. Prior to the album's release,
he announced that the Beatles were breaking up, which was
against the wishes of the other members. As a result, the
tensions between him and the other three members,
particularly Harrison and Lennon, increased and he earned
the ill will of many critics. Nevertheless, McCartney
became a hit, spending three weeks at the top of the
American charts. Early in 1971, he returned with "Another
Day," which became his first hit single as a solo artist.
It was followed several months later by Ram, another
homemade collection, this time featuring the contributions
of his wife, Linda.
By the end of 1971, the McCartneys had formed Wings, which
was intended to be a full-fledged recording and touring
band. Former Moody Blues guitarist Denny Laine and drummer
Denny Seiwell became the group's other members, and Wings
released their first album, Wild Life, in December 1971.
Wild Life was greeted with poor reviews and was a relative
flop. McCartney and Wings, which now featured former
Grease Band guitarist Henry McCullough, spent 1972 as a
working band, releasing three singles -- the protest "Give
Ireland Back to the Irish," the reggae-fied "Mary Had a
Little Lamb," and the rocking "Hi Hi Hi" -- in England.
Red Rose Speedway followed in the spring of 1973, and
while it received weak reviews, it became his second
American number one album. Later in 1973, Wings embarked
on their first British tour, at the conclusion of which
McCullough and Seiwell left the band. Prior to their
departure, McCartney's theme to the James Bond movie Live
and Let Die became a Top Ten hit in the U.S. and U.K..
That summer, the remaining Wings proceeded to record a new
album in Nigeria. Released late in 1973, Band on the Run
was simultaneously McCartney's best-reviewed album and his
most successful, spending four weeks at the top of the
U.S. charts and eventually going triple platinum.
Following the success of Band on the Run, McCartney formed
a new version of Wings with guitarist Jimmy McCulloch and
drummer Geoff Britton. The new lineup was showcased on the
1974 British single "Junior's Farm" and the 1975 hit album
Venus and Mars. At the Speed of Sound followed in 1976,
and it was the first Wings record to feature songwriting
contributions by the other bandmembers. Nevertheless, the
album became a monster success on the basis of two
McCartney songs, "Silly Love Songs" and "Let 'Em In."
Wings supported the album with their first international
tour, which broke many attendance records and was captured
on the live triple album Wings Over America (1976). After
the tour was completed, Wings rested a bit during 1977, as
McCartney released an instrumental version of Ram under
the name Thrillington and produced Denny Laine's solo
album Holly Days. Later that year, Wings released "Mull of
Kintyre," which became the biggest-selling British single
of all time, selling over two million copies. Wings
followed "Mull of Kintyre" with London Town in 1978, which
became another platinum record. After its release,
McCulloch left the band to join the re-formed Small Faces
and Wings released Back to the Egg in 1979. Though the
record went platinum, it failed to produce any big hits.
Early in 1980, McCartney was arrested for marijuana
possession at the beginning of a Japanese tour; he was
imprisoned for ten days and then released, without any
charges being pressed.
Wings embarked on a British tour in the spring of 1980
before McCartney recorded McCartney II, which was a
one-man band effort like his solo debut. The following
year, Denny Laine left Wings because McCartney didn't want
to tour in the wake of John Lennon's assassination; in
doing so, he effectively broke up Wings. McCartney entered
the studio later that year with Beatles producer George
Martin to make Tug of War. Released in the spring of 1982,
Tug of War received the best reviews of any McCartney
record since Band on the Run and spawned the number one
single "Ebony and Ivory," a duet with Stevie Wonder that
became McCartney's biggest American hit. In 1983,
McCartney sang on "The Girl Is Mine," the first single
from Michael Jackson's blockbuster album Thriller. In
return, Jackson dueted with McCartney on "Say Say Say,"
the first single from Paul's 1983 album Pipes of Peace and
the last number one single of his career. The relationship
between Jackson and McCartney soured considerably when
Jackson bought the publishing rights to the Beatles songs
from underneath McCartney in 1985.
McCartney directed his first feature film in 1984 with
Give My Regards to Broad Street. While the soundtrack,
which featured new songs and re-recorded Beatles tunes,
was a hit, generating the hit single "No More Lonely
Nights," the film was a flop, earning terrible reviews.
The following year he had his last American Top Ten with
the theme to the Chevy Chase/Dan Aykroyd comedy Spies Like
Us. Press to Play (1986) received some strong reviews but
the album was a flop. In 1988, he recorded a collection of
rock & roll oldies called Choba B CCCP for release in the
U.S.S.R.; it was given official release in the U.S. and
U.K. in 1991. For 1989's Flowers in the Dirt, McCartney
co-wrote several songs with Elvis Costello; the pair also
wrote songs for Costello's Spike, including the hit
"Veronica." Flowers in the Dirt received the strongest
reviews of any McCartney release since Tug of War and was
supported by an extensive international tour, which was
captured on the live double album Tripping the Live
Fantastic (1990). For the tour, McCartney hired guitarist
Robbie McIntosh and bassist Hamish Stuart, who would form
the core of his band through the remainder of the '90s.
Early in 1991, McCartney released another live album in
the form of Unplugged, which was taken from his appearance
on MTV's acoustic concert program of the same name; it was
the first Unplugged album to be released. Later that year,
he unveiled Liverpool Oratorio, his first classical work.
Another pop album, Off the Ground, followed in 1993, but
the album failed to generate any big hits, despite
McCartney's successful supporting tour. Following the
completion of the New World tour, he released another live
album, Paul Is Live, in December 1993. In 1994, he
released an ambient techno album under the pseudonym the
Fireman. McCartney premiered his second classical piece,
"The Leaf," early in 1995 and then began hosting a
Westwood One radio series called Oobu Joobu. But his
primary activity in 1995, as well as 1996, was the
Beatles' Anthology, which encompassed a lengthy video
documentary of the band and the multi-volume release of
Beatles outtakes and rarities. After Anthology was
completed, he released Flaming Pie in summer 1997. A
low-key, largely acoustic affair that had the some of the
same charm of his debut, Flaming Pie was given the
strongest reviews McCartney had received in years and was
a modest commercial success, debuting at number two on the
U.S. and U.K. charts; it was his highest American chart
placing since he left the Beatles. Flaming Pie certainly
benefited from the success of Anthology, as did McCartney
himself -- only a few months before the release of the
album in 1997, he received a Knightship.
On April 17, 1998, Linda McCartney died after a three-year
struggle with breast cancer. A grieving Paul kept a low
profile in the months to follow, but finally returned in
fall 1999 with Run Devil Run, a collection primarily
including cover songs. The electronica-based Liverpool
Sound Collage followed a year later, and the pop album
Driving Rain -- a successor, of sorts, to Flaming Pie --
came a year after that. The live album Back in the U.S.
appeared in America in 2002 with the slightly different,
international edition Back in the World following soon
after. McCartney's next studio project included sessions
with super-producer Nigel Godrich, the results of which
appeared on the mellow Chaos and Creation in the Back
Yard, released in late 2005. McCartney performed every
instrument (not including the strings) on 2007's David
Kahne-produced Memory Almost Full, a bold but whimsical
collection of new songs, some of which were recorded
before the Chaos and Creation in the Back Yard sessions.