''McCartney II'' is the second solo studio album by the English musician

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...

, released on 16 May 1980. It was recorded by McCartney at his home studio in the summer of 1979, shortly before the dissolution of his band Wings in 1981. Like his debut solo studio album, '' McCartney'' (1970), he performed all the instruments himself. It yielded three singles: " Coming Up", "

Waterfalls A waterfall is any point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in several ...

", and " Temporary Secretary". The album was a significant departure for McCartney, as much of it relies heavily on

synthesizer A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

s and studio experimentation, while its music style embraces new wave and elements of

electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that came to prominence in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mos ...

. It was initially released to largely unfavourable reviews by critics, though retrospective reception has been more positive''McCartney: Songwriter'' p. 126 and the album has become a cult favourite. In 2011, an expanded edition of ''McCartney II'' was issued with over a dozen bonus tracks. In 2020, the album was succeeded by '' McCartney III''. In 2022, the trilogy was reissued in the '' McCartney I II III'' box set.

Background

After the release of what turned out to be Wings' final album, '' Back to the Egg'', McCartney went north to his farm in

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

to begin some private recordings in July 1979. "Check My Machine" samples dialogue from the 1957 ''

Merrie Melodies ''Merrie Melodies'' is an American animated comedy short film series distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It was part of the ''Looney Tunes'' franchise and featured many of the same characters. Originally running from August 2, 1931, to Septem ...

'' cartoon featuring Tweety and Sylvester entitled '' Tweet Zoo''. By sessions' end, he had recorded over 20 songs. With no immediate use for the recordings, he put them aside for the time being and returned to work with Wings to prepare for a UK tour that November and December. Simultaneously with the performances (which included the new " Coming Up"), McCartney released his first solo single since 1971, the Christmas-themed "

Wonderful Christmastime "Wonderful Christmastime" is a Christmas music, Christmas song by the English musician Paul McCartney. Recorded during the sessions for his solo album ''McCartney II'' (1980), it was released as a single in November 1979 following Paul McCartne ...

", backed with "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reggae", which charted at No. 6 in the UK but initially only at No. 83 in the US. (The song later reached No. 28 in 2020.) The A-side was recorded during the ''McCartney II'' sessions, while its flip side had been cut in 1975. However, upcoming events were about to change McCartney's plans with Wings. After years of visa refusals due to his past arrests for

marijuana Cannabis (), commonly known as marijuana (), weed, pot, and ganja, List of slang names for cannabis, among other names, is a non-chemically uniform psychoactive drug from the ''Cannabis'' plant. Native to Central or South Asia, cannabis has ...

possession, Japan had finally allowed McCartney, and thus Wings, to perform. It would be the first instance McCartney had performed in the country since he had done so with

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

in 1966, and anticipation was running high with Wings' tour completely sold out. However, upon his arrival in Tokyo on 16 January 1980, a search of McCartney's luggage revealed a bag containing 219 grams of marijuana, prompting his immediate arrest and eventually cancelling the tour. After a nine-day jail stay, McCartney was released and returned home to his Scottish farm. Deciding to put Wings on hold while he contemplated his future, he now decided to issue his solo recordings from the previous summer.

Music and lyrics

''McCartney II'' was named in follow-up to his debut album '' McCartney'' (1970) because McCartney plays all instruments on both albums; he has also since stated that he had specifically hired a

16-track Multitrack recording (MTR), also known as multitracking, is a method of sound recording developed in 1955 that allows for the separate recording of multiple sound sources or of sound sources recorded at different times to create a cohesive who ...

machine and "a couple of microphones" with which to record this album, adding that he had himself alternately played the drums used in several recording in either the kitchen or bathroom in order to achieve the echo he sought on particular songs. Featuring arrangements that are heavy on

synthesisers A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

, ''McCartney II'' has been said to represent McCartney's "acceptance of new wave", and has been described as "airless proto-

". The album is often

experimental An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs whe ...

, with most of its songs having been described as strange "eccentric

synthpop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s ...

". Although McCartney denies any direct influences on the album, he admired the "eccentricity" and "not-mainstream attitude" of

Talking Heads Talking Heads were an American Rock music, rock band formed in New York City in 1975.Talking Heads

David Byrne David Byrne (; born May 14, 1952) is an American musician, writer, visual artist, and filmmaker. He was a founding member, principal songwriter, lead singer, and guitarist of the American New wave music, new wave band Talking Heads. Byrne has ...

. McCartney was also inspired by experimental composers

John Cage John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer and music theorist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and Extended technique, non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one ...

Cornelius Cardew Cornelius Cardew (7 May 193613 December 1981) was an English experimental music composer, and founder (with Howard Skempton and Michael Parsons) of the Scratch Orchestra, an experimental performing ensemble. He later rejected experimental mu ...

and

Luciano Berio Luciano Berio (24 October 1925 – 27 May 2003) was an Italian composer noted for his experimental music, experimental work (in particular his 1968 composition ''Sinfonia (Berio), Sinfonia'' and his series of virtuosic solo pieces titled ''Seque ...

; McCartney explained: "I went to their concerts in London because I had plenty of time on my hands so it was the kind of thing I would go and see. Again, just to see what it was about, not necessarily because I was a massive fan. It was more like: what is a

prepared piano A prepared piano is a piano that has had its sounds temporarily altered by placing bolts, screws, mutes, rubber erasers, and/or other objects on or between the strings. Its invention is usually traced to John Cage's dance music for ''Works for pr ...

? Oh, that's what it is. You know, funky stuff like that." According to Stephen Dalton of ''

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'', parts of the album are reminiscent of

krautrock Krautrock (also called , German for ) is a broad genre of experimental rock that developed in Germany in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It originated among artists who blended elements of psychedelic rock, avant-garde composition, and electron ...

and "the whole

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of music that emerged in late 1977 in the wake of punk rock. Post-punk musicians departed from punk's fundamental elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a broader, more experiment ...

disco Disco is a music genre, genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightclub, nightlife, particularly in African Americans, African-American, Italian-Americans, Italian-American, LGBTQ ...

boom", and described most of the album as "an alluringly weird mash-up of

trip-hop Trip hop is a musical genre that has been described as a psychedelic music, psychedelic fusion of hip hop music, hip hop and electronica with slow tempos and an atmospheric sound. The style emerged as a more experimental music, experimental var ...

, Krautrock and synth-pop." McCartney said that, "rather than me emulating anyone, it was more a question of me seeing what I could do with it. And again, not necessarily thinking I was making an album, just to have some time to experiment. These days I would say that with The Fireman project. So I've always been into that – if you go from '

Tomorrow Never Knows "Tomorrow Never Knows" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written primarily by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney. It was released in August 1966 as the final track on their album ''Revolver'', although it was the firs ...

' through ''McCartney I'', ''McCartney II'', The Fireman…" Many of the most synthesised tracks are instrumentals which have been described as ambient; journalist

Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and former senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of multiple artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance ...

compared them "to a sprightly variation" of the instrumentals from the second side of '' Low'' (1977) by

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...

, albeit with a warmer, less menacing sound. The instrumental "Frozen Jap" came about as McCartney was experimenting with synths and stumbled upon, in his words, an "Oriental"-sounding melody. The title was meant to be a placeholder as McCartney found earlier song names like "Crystalline Icicles Overhang the Little Cabin By the Ice-Capped Mount Fuji" and "Snow Scene in the Orient" to sound clumsy. On Japanese copies of the album, the title was changed to "Frozen Japanese" because McCartney was unaware that " jap" was seen as a racial slur. Lead single " Coming Up" – an uplifting dance number – appeared that April with a video (Paul playing all the bandmates, dubbed 'The Plastic Macs', except for the backing singers played by Linda) and with two B-sides by Wings: "Coming Up (Live at Glasgow)", recorded during Wings' December 1979 show there, and the piano laden instrumental "Lunch Box/Odd Sox" (a '' Venus and Mars'' outtake). An immediate UK No. 2 hit, "Coming Up" was flipped over for the live Wings version in the US where it became another No. 1 for McCartney, greatly raising hopes for his first solo album proper in years. The live Wings version of "Coming Up" was also included as a one-sided 7-inch single in copies of ''McCartney II'' within the US and Canada. " Temporary Secretary" features frantic synthesiser lines and lyrics about requiring a secretary of any skill level for a short period of time. McCartney dubbed the song an "experiment", saying that he found the concept of a temporary secretary humorous. "Temporary Secretary" was released as a 12" single in Britain, backed with the experimental non-album track "Secret Friend". Author Howard Sounes thought it a "sexy" track. The single was only released in a quantity of 25,000 copies, failing to make an impact on the charts. The single artwork was created by Jeff Cummins of

Hipgnosis Hipgnosis were an English art design group, based in London, that specialised in creating album cover artwork for rock musicians and bands. Their commissions included work for Pink Floyd, Def Leppard, T. Rex, the Pretty Things, Black S ...

. The song was performed live for the first time at the London O2 Arena on 23 May 2015. It was sampled in the 3D RDN remix of "Deep Deep Feeling" on '' McCartney III Imagined''.

Release and critical reception

''McCartney II'' was released in mid-May. The album debuted in UK at number one on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

, becoming McCartney's first number-one there since '' Venus and Mars'' in 1975.

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reported that the album was on track to equal the sales of '' Band on the Run''. The second single from the album, "Waterfalls", peaked at number nine in the singles chart. In the US, initial sales were strong thanks to the hit single "Coming Up" and the album reached number three in its second week on the ''

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'' album chart where it remained for five weeks. "Waterfalls" went virtually unnoticed in the US, only "

bubbling under Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles (also known as Bubbling Under the Hot 100) is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' magazine in the United States. The chart lists the top songs that have not yet charted on the main Billboar ...

" the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 at number 106 for one week. The album quickly dropped down the charts and was off the ''Billboard'' chart after 19 weeks, McCartney's shortest run since '' Wild Life''. It was one of his lowest-selling albums in the US up to that point. The critical reception to ''McCartney II'' was mostly negative. Many critics found the album slight, with its experimental, synth-based compositions and its handful of instrumentals. ''

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'' magazine described it as "arguably the least well-received solo work of any Beatle".

Retrospective reviews and legacy

Retrospective reviews have rated the album more highly. Some writers credit it as a forerunner to the sound of 1980s pop. In 2003, ''

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'' placed the album at number 26 on their list of the "Top 50 Eccentric Albums". In 2014, ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

'' included the album on their list of "101 Albums to Hear Before You Die", whose list entries were chosen by different musicians; ''McCartney II'' was picked by Austin Williams of

Swim Deep Swim Deep are an English indie pop band formed in 2011 in Birmingham. The band currently consists of Austin Williams (vocals), Cavan McCarthy (bass), James Balmont (keyboards), Robbie Wood (guitar), and Thomas Fiquet (drums). Swim Deep were f ...

. In 2018, ''

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'' ranked it at number 186 in their list of "The 200 Best Albums of the 1980s". They called it a "strange, guileless wisp of a synth-pop record" and wrote that although " iginally derided as a novelty, ''McCartney II'' is now remarkable in its prescience of the

lo-fi Lo-fi (also typeset as lofi or low-fi; short for low fidelity) is a music or production quality in which elements usually regarded as imperfections in the context of a recording or performance are present, sometimes as a deliberate stylistic ch ...

and

bedroom pop Lo-fi (also typeset as lofi or low-fi; short for low fidelity) is a music or music production, production quality in which elements usually regarded as imperfections in the context of a recording or performance are present, sometimes as a delibe ...

movements."

Reissues

The initial issue of ''McCartney'' on compact disc featured "Check My Machine" and "Secret Friend" as bonus tracks. The two songs were originally released as the B-sides of "

" and " Temporary Secretary", respectively. In 1993, ''McCartney II'' was remastered and reissued on CD as part of " The Paul McCartney Collection" series with Wings' 1979 hit " Goodnight Tonight" added as a third bonus track. When the new remastered version was released on 13 June 2011 as part of the '' Paul McCartney Archive Collection'', the album re-entered the UK charts at number 108. The album was reissued on 5 August 2022 in a boxset entitled '' McCartney I II III'', consisting of 3 LPs or 3 CDs, along with the first and

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albums of the trilogy.

Influence

''McCartney II'' was described as an influence on Hot Chip's album '' Made in the Dark'' (2008), especially with songs like "Wrestlers", "Bendable Poseable", "Whistle for Will" and "We're Looking for a Lot of Love". "Now There Is Nothing" from the band's later album '' In Our Heads'' (2012) has been described as a homage to ''McCartney II'', with their guitarist Al Doyle explaining the song has "quite deliberately quirky time signature changes and key changes and these sort of very wandering harmonies—very typical of that period and McCartney productions." Alexis Taylor of the group has described ''McCartney II'' as one of his favourite albums of all time. The album has also been championed by multiple other musicians such as disc jockey

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, Chris Carter of

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, Gruff Rhys of Super Furry Animals and Ty Bulmer of New Young Pony Club.

Track listing

All songs written by

. Side one # " Coming Up" – 3:53 # " Temporary Secretary" – 3:14 # "On the Way" – 3:38 # "

" – 4:43 # "Nobody Knows" – 2:52 Side two # "Front Parlour" – 3:32 # "Summer's Day Song" – 3:25 # "Frozen Jap" – 3:40 # "Bogey Music" – 3:27 # "Darkroom" – 2:20 # "One of These Days" – 3:35 Additional tracks on the 1993 CD reissue #

"Check My Machine" – 5:50 #"Secret Friend" – 10:31 #" Goodnight Tonight" – 4:15

Archive Collection reissue

In 2011, the album was re-issued by

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as part of the second set of releases, alongside '' McCartney'', in the '' Paul McCartney Archive Collection''. It was released in various formats: * Standard edition 1-CD; the original 11-track album * Special edition 2-CD; the original 11-track album on the first disc, plus 8 bonus tracks on a second disc * Deluxe edition 3-CD/1-DVD; the original 11-track album, the bonus tracks disc, a limited and numbered 128-page book containing many previously unpublished images by Linda McCartney. The book features album and single artwork and a full history of the making of the album, complete with a new interview with Paul and expanded track by track information. The DVD features rare and previously unseen footage (including rehearsal footage of "Coming Up" and a new video for the unreleased track "Blue Sway") * Remastered vinyl 2-LP version containing the Special Edition and a download link to the material * High Resolution 24bit 96 kHz limited and unlimited audio versions of all 27 songs on the remastered album and bonus audio discs Disc 1 – The original 11-track album Disc 2 – Bonus Audio 1 # "Blue Sway" (with

Richard Niles Richard Niles is an American composer, arranger, record producer, guitarist, broadcaster, and journalist. Biography Early years Niles was born May 28, 1951, in Hollywood. He is the son of Tony Romano, a composer, singer, and guitarist who writ ...

Orchestration) – 4:35 # "Coming Up" (live at the Apollo Theatre, Glasgow – 17 December 1979) – 4:08 # "Check My Machine" (regular single B-side edited version) – 5:50 # "Bogey Wobble" – 2:59 # "Secret Friend" (full length version) – 10:31 # "Mr H Atom" / "You Know I'll Get You Baby" – 5:55 # "

" (regular A-side version) – 3:47 # "All You Horse Riders" / "Blue Sway" – 10:15 Disc 3 – Bonus Audio 2 # "Coming Up" (full length version) – 5:34 # "Front Parlour" (full length version) – 5:15 # "Frozen Jap" (full length version) – 5:43 # "Darkroom" (full length version) – 3:45 # "Check My Machine" (full length version) – 8:58 # "Wonderful Christmastime" (full length version) – 4:15 # "Summer's Day Song" (original without vocals) – 3:25 # "Waterfalls" (DJ edit) – 3:20 Disc 4 – DVD # "Meet Paul McCartney" # "Coming Up" (music video) # "Waterfalls" (music video) # "Wonderful Christmastime" (music video) # "Coming Up" (live at the Concert for the People of Kampuchea, 29 December 1979) # "Coming Up" (from a rehearsal session at Lower Gate Farm, 1979) # "Making the Coming Up Music Video" # "Blue Sway" (music video) Note signifies previously unreleased material.

Personnel

* Paul McCartney – all vocals and instrumentation, engineer, mixing * Eddie Klein – mixing assistant

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Original release Reissue

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

Notes * A ^ Until January 1987, Japanese albums chart had been separated into LP, CD, and cassette charts. ''McCartney II'' also entered the cassette chart, peaking at number 13.

References

External links

*
JPGR's Beatles site: Paul McCartney's ''McCartney II''

Collector's Music Review of Paul McCartney – The Lost McCartney Album
{{DEFAULTSORT:McCartney II Paul McCartney albums 1980 albums Parlophone albums Albums produced by Paul McCartney Columbia Records albums Capitol Records albums Hear Music albums Hear Music video albums EMI Records albums CBS Records albums Albums recorded in a home studio Sequel albums New wave albums by English artists Synth-pop albums by English artists