Press to Play
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| Press to Play | ||||
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| Studio album by Paul McCartney | ||||
| Released | 22 August 1986 | |||
| Recorded | March - May 1985, October - December 1985 | |||
| Genre | Rock | |||
| Length | 58:53 | |||
| Label | Parlophone/EMI (UK) Capitol/EMI (US) |
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| Producer | Paul McCartney, Hugh Padgham (also Phil Ramone on CD reissue bonus tracks) | |||
| Paul McCartney chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |    [1] |
| Chicago Tribune | (Favourable)[2] |
| Los Angeles Times | (Mixed)[3] |
| The New York Times | (Favourable)[4] |
| Rolling Stone | (Favourable)[5] |
| Stylus Magazine | (Mixed)[6] |
Press to Play is the sixth solo studio album by Paul McCartney, released August 1986. It is notable for being his first album of entirely new music since 1983's Pipes of Peace and his first album released internationally by long-time label EMI after a brief alliance with Columbia Records in the US and Canada.
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[edit] History
After the box office flop of the film Give My Regards to Broad Street, McCartney decided that it was time for a change of pace in his career. In an attempt to give his music a more contemporary sound, he joined forces with Hugh Padgham, an in-demand producer famed for having recorded Peter Gabriel, Genesis, Phil Collins, The Police, and XTC. Beginning in March 1985, McCartney began recording Press To Play, having written several new songs, many with current collaborator, former 10cc member Eric Stewart. Guesting on the album would be Pete Townshend, Phil Collins, Eddie Rayner (Split Enz's keyboard maestro) and Stewart himself.
The album would not be finished until the end of the year, by which time only one song would see release from its sessions - the title track to the film Spies Like Us, joined by Phil Ramone in the producer's chair. "Spies Like Us", a non-album single backed by Wings' 1975 recording "My Carnival," proved to be a US top 10 hit (and McCartney's last), setting the stage for Press To Play.
"Press", a slick up-tempo pop song, was released in July 1986 and surprisingly became only a Top 30 hit in the UK and US. Press To Play itself appeared in September to the most positive reviews McCartney had received in years and stunned everyone by being his weakest-selling album of his solo career. Peaking at #8 in the UK, its chart life was brief, while in the US, Press to Play failed to even go gold, cresting at an underwhelming #30 and selling only 250,000 copies.[7] Follow-up singles, "Pretty Little Head" and "Only Love Remains" performed poorly at retail.
In 1993, Press To Play was remastered and reissued on CD as part of "The Paul McCartney Collection" series with his 1985 hit "Spies Like Us" and an alternate mix of impending 1987 UK success "Once Upon a Long Ago" as bonus tracks.
The album's cover photograph was taken by George Hurrell, using the same box camera that he used in Hollywood in the 1930s and 1940s.
[edit] Track listing
| Side one | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length | ||||||
| 1. | "Stranglehold" | Paul McCartney, Eric Stewart | 3:36 | ||||||
| 2. | "Good Times Coming/Feel the Sun" | McCartney | 4:44 | ||||||
| 3. | "Talk More Talk" | McCartney | 5:18 | ||||||
| 4. | "Footprints" | McCartney, Stewart | 4:32 | ||||||
| 5. | "Only Love Remains" | McCartney | 4:13 | ||||||
| Side two | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length | ||||||
| 6. | "Press" | McCartney | 4:43 | ||||||
| 7. | "Pretty Little Head" | McCartney, Stewart | 5:14 | ||||||
| 8. | "Move Over Busker" | McCartney, Stewart | 4:05 | ||||||
| 9. | "Angry" | McCartney, Stewart | 3:36 | ||||||
| 10. | "However Absurd" | McCartney, Stewart | 4:56 | ||||||
| Additional tracks on compact disc | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length | ||||||
| 11. | "Write Away" | McCartney, Stewart | 3:00 | ||||||
| 12. | "It's Not True" | McCartney | 5:53 | ||||||
| 13. | "Tough on a Tightrope" | McCartney, Stewart | 4:42 | ||||||
| Bonus tracks on 1993 reissue | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length | ||||||
| 14. | "Spies Like Us" | McCartney | 4:45 | ||||||
| 15. | "Once Upon a Long Ago" (Long version) | McCartney | 4:37 | ||||||
| iTunes exclusive track | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length | ||||||
| 16. | "Press" (12" Bevans/Forward dub mix) | McCartney | 6:31 | ||||||
[edit] Personnel
- Paul McCartney – bass, acoustic and electric guitars, lead vocals
- Neil Jason – bass
- Eric Stewart – acoustic and electric guitars
- Pete Townshend – electric guitars
- Carlos Alomar – acoustic and electric guitars
- Eddie Rayner – keyboards
- Nick Glennie-Smith – keyboards
- Simon Chamberlain – piano
- Linda McCartney – keyboards, vocals
- Phil Collins – drums, percussion
- Jerry Marotta – drums, percussion
- Graham Ward – drums, percussion
- John Bradbury – drums, percussion
- Ray Cooper – percussion
- Dick Morrissey – tenor saxophone
- Lenny Pickett – alto and tenor saxophone
- Gary Barnacle – saxophone
- Gavin Wright – violin
- Kate Robbins – harmony vocal
- Ruby James – harmony vocal
- James McCartney – spoken word
- Eddie Klein – spoken word
- John Hammel – spoken word
- Matt Howe – spoken word
- Steve Jackson – spoken word
- Anne Dudley – orchestral arrangements
- Tony Visconti – orchestral arrangements
[edit] Production
- Produced by Paul McCartney & Hugh Padgham
- Bonus tracks: "Once Upon A Long Ago" produced by Phil Ramone, "Spies Like Us" produced by McCartney, Ramone & Padgham
- Engineer: Hugh Padgham, assisted by Tony Clark, Matt Howe, Steve Jackson, Jon Kelly, Peter Mew, and Haydn Bendall
- Mixing: Hugh Padgham; except "Press" mixed by Bert Bevans and Steve Forward; and "It's Not True" mixed by Julian Mendelsohn. (And on CD reissue, "Once Upon A Long Ago", mixed by George Martin.)
[edit] Charts
[edit] Chart positions
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[edit] Year-end charts
[edit] Certifications
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Notes
- A^ Until January 1987, Japanese albums chart had been separated into LP, CD, and cassette charts. Press to Play also entered the cassette chart at #21, and peaked at #8 on the CD chart.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. Press to Play at Allmusic. Retrieved 2009-08-30.
- ^ Van Matre, Lynn (1986-09-12). "No Silly Love Songs On `Press To Play`". chicagotribune.com. Chicago Tribune. http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1986-09-12/features/8603080351_1_mccartney-silly-love-songs-album. Retrieved 2011-10-20.
- ^ Atkinson, Terry (1986-08-31). "Paul: Signs Of Hope Before The Letdown". articles.latimes.com. Los Angeles Times. http://articles.latimes.com/1986-08-31/entertainment/ca-14816_1_paul-mccartney. Retrieved 2011-08-31.
- ^ Palmer, Robert (1986-08-29). "PAUL McCARTNEY GOES BACK TO THE HARD SOUND". nytimes.com. The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/1986/08/29/arts/paul-mccartney-goes-back-to-the-hard-sound.html. Retrieved 2011-10-21.
- ^ DeCurtis, Anthony (23 October 1986). "Review of Press to Play". Rolling Stone. http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/paulmccartney/albums/album/212834/review/5945246/press_to_play. Retrieved 2009-08-30. "one of the sturdiest LPs of McCartney's post-Beatles career"
- ^ Soto, Alfred (2005-02-08). "Press to Play - On Second Thought — Stylus Magazine". http://www.stylusmagazine.com/articles/on_second_thought/paul-mccartney-press-to-play.htm. Retrieved 2011-10-21.
- ^ Grein, Paul (1989-05-28). "McCartney: Low-Key With New Album". article.latimes.com. The Los Angeles Times. http://articles.latimes.com/1989-05-28/entertainment/ca-1333_1_paul-mccartney-mccartney-album-mccartney-world-tour. Retrieved 2011-10-21.
- ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970-1992. St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
- ^ "dutchcharts.nl Paul McCartney - Press to Play" (in Dutch). dutchcharts.nl. MegaCharts. http://dutchcharts.nl/showitem.asp?interpret=Paul+McCartney&titel=Press+To+Play&cat=a. Retrieved 2011-10-21.
- ^ a b "Hit Parade Italia - Gli album più venduti del 1986" (in Italian). hitparadeitalia.it. http://www.hitparadeitalia.it/hp_yenda/lpe1986.htm. Retrieved 2011-10-21.
- ^ "Paul McCartney Japanese Album Chart listings". Original Confidence. http://homepage1.nifty.com/tuty/after_beatles_paul_albumchartaction_japan.htm/. Retrieved 2011-08-29.
- ^ a-ビートルズ "- Yamachan Land (Archives of the Japanese record charts) - Albums Chart Daijiten - The Beatles" (in Japanese). 2007-12-30. http://www7a.biglobe.ne.jp/~yamag/album/al_beatles.html a-ビートルズ. Retrieved 2011-10-21.
- ^ "norwegiancharts.com Paul McCartney - Press to Play". VG-lista. http://norwegiancharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Paul+McCartney&titel=Press+To+Play&cat=a. Retrieved 2011-10-21.
- ^ "swedishcharts.com Paul McCartney - Press to Play" (in Swedish). http://swedishcharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Paul+McCartney&titel=Press+To+Play&cat=a. Retrieved 2011-08-31.
- ^ "Paul McCartney - Press to Play - hitparade.ch". http://hitparade.ch/showitem.asp?interpret=Paul+McCartney&titel=Press+To+Play&cat=a. Retrieved 2011-10-21.
- ^ "Chart Stats Paul McCartney - Press to Play". The Official Charts Company. http://www.chartstats.com/albuminfo.php?id=42897. Retrieved 2011-10-21.
- ^ "The Pop Life - The New York Times". nytimes.com. The New York Times. 1989-07-05. http://www.nytimes.com/1989/07/05/arts/the-pop-life-151789.html?pagewanted=2. Retrieved 2011-10-21.
- ^ "Album Search: Paul McCartney - Press to Play" (in German). Media Control. http://www.charts.de/album.asp?artist=Paul+McCartney&title=Press+To+Play&cat=a&country=de. Retrieved 2011-10-21.
- ^ "British album certifications – Paul McCartney – Press to Play". British Phonographic Industry. http://www.bpi.co.uk/certifiedawards/search.aspx. Enter Press to Play in the field Search. Select Title in the field Search by. Select album in the field By Format. Click Go
