Ram (album)

Ram
Studio album by Paul McCartney and Linda McCartney
Released	17 May 1971
Recorded	Columbia Recording Studio, New York, November−December 1970; A&R Recording Studios, New York, January 1971; Sound Recording Studios, Los Angeles, February−March 1971
Genre	Rock
Length	43:15
Label	Apple, EMI
Producer	Paul and Linda McCartney
Paul McCartney chronology
McCartney (1970) Ram (1971) Thrillington (1977)
Singles from Ram
"Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" Released: 2 August 1971 "The Back Seat of My Car" Released: 13 August 1971 "Eat at Home" Released: 2 September 1971

Ram is an album by Paul McCartney and Linda McCartney, released in 1971, the only album credited to the pair. Set against the backdrop of the legal action taking place in Britain's High Court with the dissolution of the Beatles partnership, following their break-up the year before, Ram was the second of two albums McCartney released between quitting that band and forming Wings. Future Wings drummer Denny Seiwell plays on the record, alongside the McCartneys and session musicians.

Three singles were released from the album: the American number 1 hit "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey", the minor British hit "The Back Seat of My Car". and "Eat at Home", which appeared in Europe only.

Recording and structure

After the release of the successful (though, by and large, poorly received) debut McCartney, Paul and Linda went on a lengthy holiday and spent much time on their farm on the Mull of Kintyre, Scotland. It was during this period that Paul, often with his wife's input − her self-confessed lack of musical ability notwithstanding − composed the songs that would feature on Ram. The couple flew to New York City in the fall of 1970 to record the new material.

Lacking a working band, they held auditions for musicians, bringing some in under the guise of a session to record a commercial jingle. Denny Seiwell was recruited on drums, David Spinozza was tapped for guitar duties (later replaced by Hugh McCracken when Spinozza became unavailable), and Marvin Stamm was featured on flugelhorn on "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey". Although it was a collaborative project, Linda's vocal duties were mostly limited to backing Paul, who sang almost all of the lead parts. Linda sang co-lead vocals on "Long Haired Lady", however. The sessions also birthed future songs like "Dear Friend", released on the debut Wings album Wild Life later in 1971, as well as "Get on the Right Thing", "Big Barn Bed" (opening lines of which can be heard on "Ram On (Reprise)") and "Little Lamb Dragonfly", all of which would be finished for 1973's Red Rose Speedway.

By early 1971, the project was completed along with the non-album "Another Day"/"Oh Woman, Oh Why" single − McCartney's first after The Beatles − which was released that February and became a worldwide Top 5 hit. In May, Ram was unveiled.

Despite the phasing-out of monaural albums by the late 1960s, Ram was pressed in mono (MAS 3375) with unique mixes that differ from the common stereo version (SMAS 3375). These were only made available to radio stations and are among the most valuable and sought-after of Paul McCartney's solo records.

Apart from the songs released on Ram and the first two Wings albums, McCartney also recorded the following tracks during these sessions:

• A Love for You
• Rode All Night
• When the Wind Is Blowing
• Sunshine Sometime
• Hey Diddle
• Blackpool

Feud

The back cover

According to Peter Brown, John Lennon believed that a number of songs on Ram contained jibes aimed at him, particularly "Too Many People" and "Dear Boy". Brown also described the picture of two beetles copulating on the back cover as symbolic of how Paul McCartney felt the other Beatles were treating him. George Harrison and Ringo Starr were said to consider the track "3 Legs" as an attack on them and Lennon ("Three Legs" being McCartney's nickname for his former band-mates).

McCartney later claimed that only two lines in "Too Many People" were directed at Lennon. "In one song, I wrote, 'Too many people preaching practices,' I think is the line. I mean, that was a little dig at John and Yoko. There wasn't anything else on [Ram] that was about them. Oh, there was 'You took your lucky break and broke it in two.'"

Lennon's response was the scathing "How Do You Sleep?" on his Imagine album, and it has also been considered that "Crippled Inside" from the same album was directed at McCartney. Early editions of Imagine included a postcard of Lennon pulling the ears of a pig in a parody of Ram's cover photograph of McCartney holding a ram by the horns.

Release and reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic
Blender (magazine)	link
Robert Christgau	C+
Rolling Stone	(negative)
MusicHound
This table needs to be expanded using prose. See the guideline for more information.

"The Back Seat of My Car" was excerpted as a UK single from Ram that August, only reaching number 39, but the US release of the ambitious "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" proved much more successful, giving McCartney his first number 1 single since leaving The Beatles.

The album reached number 1 in Britain and number 2 in the US, where it spent over five months in the Top 10 and went platinum. The album has sold over two million copies.

At the time of its release, Ram was given a poor critical reception, and Paul was particularly stung by some of the harsh reviews − especially as he had attempted to address the points raised in criticism of his earlier album, McCartney, by adopting a more professional approach this time around. Jon Landau in Rolling Stone labelled Ram "incredibly inconsequential" and "monumentally irrelevant", while Playboy opined, "you keep wondering why he bothers."^{[citation needed]} Writing some four years later, Roy Carr and Tony Tyler from the New Musical Express explained the situation: "It would be naive to have expected the McCartneys to produce anything other than a mediocre record ... Grisly though this was, McCartney was to sink lower before rescuing his credibility late in 1973."

His fellow ex-Beatles, all of whom were riding high in the critics' favour with their recent releases, were likewise vocal in their negativity. Lennon famously hated the album, dismissing his former songwriting partner's efforts as "muzak to my ears" in his song "How Do You Sleep?". Even the affable Starr told Britain's Melody Maker: "I feel sad about Paul's albums ... I don't think there's one [good] tune on the last one, Ram ... he seems to be going strange."

However, after the passage of several years, critics began dramatically revising their earlier opinions. By the 1980s, for instance, Rolling Stone were hailing the album as one of McCartney's best, and retroactively awarded it four (of five) stars.^{[citation needed]}

In 1977, McCartney supervised the release of an instrumental interpretation of Ram (recorded in June 1971 and arranged by Richard Hewson) with the release of Thrillington under the pseudonym of Percy "Thrills" Thrillington.

Ram was first issued on compact disc in 1987. In 1993, the album was remastered and reissued on CD as part of "The Paul McCartney Collection" series with "Another Day" and "Oh Woman, Oh Why" as bonus tracks. That same year Digital Compact Classics released an audiophile edition prepared by Steve Hoffman. The mono mix has never been issued on compact disc, except by bootleggers.

In 2009, two tribute albums featuring all of the songs from Ram were made available for digital download. Ram On L.A. was compiled by the website Aquarium Drunkard and featured Los Angeles-based acts; Tom was put together by New Jersey radio station WFMU DJ Tom Scharpling and included Aimee Mann and Death Cab for Cutie, among others. On 3 December 2010, Juliens Auctions sold the only known remaining acetate of Ram for $1536.00.

Track listing

Side one
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Too Many People"	Paul McCartney	4:10
2.	"3 Legs"	P. McCartney	2:44
3.	"Ram On"	P. McCartney	2:26
4.	"Dear Boy"	P. McCartney, Linda McCartney	2:12
5.	"Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey"	P. McCartney, L. McCartney	4:49
6.	"Smile Away"	P. McCartney	3:51

Side two
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
7.	"Heart of the Country"	P. McCartney, L. McCartney	2:21
8.	"Monkberry Moon Delight"	P. McCartney, L. McCartney	5:21
9.	"Eat at Home"	P. McCartney, L. McCartney	3:18
10.	"Long Haired Lady"	P. McCartney, L. McCartney	5:54
11.	"Ram On"	P. McCartney	0:52
12.	"The Back Seat of My Car"	P. McCartney	4:26

Bonus tracks on 1993 reissue
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
13.	"Another Day"	P. McCartney, L. McCartney	3:41
14.	"Oh Woman, Oh Why"	P. McCartney, L. McCartney	4:36

Charts

Chart positions

Chart (1971)	Position
Australian Kent Music Report Chart	3
Canadian RPM Albums Chart	1
Dutch Mega Albums Chart	1
French SNEP Albums Chart	8
Italian Albums Chart	2
Japanese Oricon LP Chart	8
Norwegian VG-lista Albums Chart	1
UK Albums Chart	1
U.S. Billboard 200	2
West German Media Control Albums Chart	22

Year-end charts

Chart (1971)	Position
Australian Albums Chart	6
French Albums Chart	10
Italian Albums Chart	17
UK Albums Chart	6
U.S. Billboard Year-End	38

Certifications

Region	Certification
Canada (Music Canada)	Platinum
United States (RIAA)	Platinum

References

• Brown, Peter; Gaines, Steven (2002). The Love You Make: An Insider's Story of The Beatles. New York: New American Library. ISBN 0-451-20735-1. 
• Madinger, Chip; Mark Easter (2000). Eight Arms To Hold You: The Solo Beatles Compendium. Chesterfield, MO: 44.1 Productions. pp. 156–161. ISBN 0-615-11724-4. 
• McGee, Garry (2003). Band on the Run; A History of Paul McCartney and Wings. New York: Taylor Trade Publishing. ISBN 0-87833-304-5. 
• Norman, Philip (2008). John Lennon: The Life. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-075401-3. 
• Spizer, Bruce (2005). The Beatles Solo on Apple Records. New Orleans: 498 Productions. pp. 126–136. ISBN 0-9662649-5-9. 

External links

• JPGR's Beatles site: Paul McCartney's Ram

Preceded by Sticky Fingers by The Rolling Stones Sticky Fingers by The Rolling Stones	Norwegian VG-lista number-one album 25-27/1971 29-35/1971	Succeeded by Sticky Fingers by The Rolling Stones Pearl by Janis Joplin
Preceded by Sticky Fingers by The Rolling Stones	UK number-one album 5 – 18 June 1971	Succeeded by Sticky Fingers by The Rolling Stones
Preceded by Greatest Hits Volume II by The Byrds	Dutch Mega Chart number-one album 19 – 26 June 1971	Succeeded by Sticky Fingers by The Rolling Stones
Preceded by Tapestry by Carole King	Canadian RPM Chart number-one album 11 - 18 September 1971	Succeeded by Every Picture Tells a Story by Rod Stewart