Off the Ground

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Off the Ground
File:Off the Ground.jpg
Studio album by Paul McCartney
Released 2 February 1993 (UK)
9 February 1993 (US)
Recorded November 1991 – July 1992
Genre Rock
Length 50:25
Label Parlophone (UK)
Capitol (US)
Producer Paul McCartney, Julian Mendelsohn
Paul McCartney chronology
Paul McCartney's Liverpool Oratorio
(1991)Paul McCartney's Liverpool Oratorio1991		 Off the Ground
(1993)		 Paul Is Live
(1993)
Singles from Off the Ground
  1. "Hope of Deliverance"
    Released: 28 December 1992
  2. "C'Mon People"
    Released: 22 February 1993 (UK only)
  3. "Off the Ground"
    Released: 19 April 1993
  4. "Biker Like an Icon"
    Released: 8 November 1993

Paul Is Live1993

Off the Ground is the ninth solo studio album by Paul McCartney, released in 1993. As his first studio album of the 1990s, it is also the follow-up to the well-received Flowers in the Dirt (1989).

Recording and structure

After planning another world tour simply entitled The New World Tour in 1993 to promote the album, McCartney opted to record Off the Ground with his touring band. Blair Cunningham joined on drums to replace Chris Whitten, who departed to join Dire Straits. McCartney decided to record the album "live in the studio", meaning that the band would rehearse an entire song then record it in one take, instead of recording each vocal track and instrumental track separately. This approach gave a new, raw and direct feel to the work, but was not overly liked by critics. The compositions also seemed less complex than on Flowers in the Dirt, with some of them having been out-takes from the earlier album. "Mistress and Maid" and "The Lovers That Never Were", which emerged from McCartney's songwriting collaboration with Elvis Costello, made their appearance on this album. Unlike Flowers in the Dirt, however, Costello did not appear on Off the Ground. The first two song taped were Biker Like an Icon and Peace in the Neighbourhood, both derived from some album rehearsals in November 1991.[1] McCartney's increased interest in social issues came to prominence on this album, with the anti-animal cruelty rocker "Looking for Changes" (McCartney and his wife Linda, both being long-time vegetarians by this time) or paeans for a better world ("Hope of Deliverance" and "C'Mon People"). The B-side "Big Boys Bickering" lambasted politicians, with the phrase "Big boys bickering, fucking it up for everyone" showing a more aggressive side to McCartney.

Release and reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
AllMusic 2/5 stars[2]
Chicago Tribune (favourable)[3]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music 2/5 stars[4]
Entertainment Weekly C–[5]
The Essential Rock Discography 4/10[6]
Houston Chronicle 3.5/5 stars[7]
Los Angeles Times 2.5/4 stars[8]
MusicHound 2.5/5 stars[9]
The New York Times (favourable)[10]
Q 2/5 stars[11]
Rolling Stone 3.5/5 stars[12]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide 3/5 stars[13]

The lead single, "Hope of Deliverance", was released in the last week of December 1992 and the album followed on 2 February 1993.[14] Off the Ground was the first Paul McCartney album to not contain a sizeable US hit single since Wings' Wild Life in 1971. The album's first single barely reached number 18 in the UK, where "C'Mon People" became a minor hit as well. In the US, the album's title track also entered Adult Contemporary chart at number 27. Singles from Off the Ground floundered on the US and the UK charts. However, "Hope of Deliverance" achieved commercial success elsewhere. It became McCartney's first international hit single since "Say, Say, Say" with Michael Jackson in 1983, cracking the top 5 on the charts in over five European territories except his homeland and selling over 250,000 copies just in Germany.

In the United Kingdom, the album itself debuted at number 5 and quickly fell off the chart, spending only 6 weeks inside the top 100.[15] In the United States, it peaked at the number 17 on the Billboard 200 with the first-week sales of only 53,000 copies, managing to receive Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America.[16] Although it met with mixed reviews from critics and suffered from lackluster sales in the UK and North America, the album fared better in other key markets such as Spain. In some countries like France and Japan, it was able to surpass its predecessor Flowers in the Dirt in cumulative sales.[17][18] In Germany, Off the Ground has been McCartney's best-selling album there, spending 20 weeks on the top-ten and eventually achieving Platinum for shipments of over half a million copies.[19]

Some weeks after its release, McCartney launched "The New World Tour", taking in many successful shows across the globe during the summer months. These gigs were documented on the album Paul Is Live, which followed at the end of 1993.

The feet on the album cover are of McCartney, his wife Linda and his touring band.

Track listing

All songs composed and written by Paul McCartney, except "Mistress and Maid" and "The Lovers That Never Were" co-written by Declan MacManus.

  1. "Off the Ground" – 3:40
  2. "Looking for Changes" – 2:47
  3. "Hope of Deliverance" – 3:22
  4. "Mistress and Maid" – 3:00
  5. "I Owe It All to You" – 4:51
  6. "Biker Like an Icon" – 3:26
  7. "Peace in the Neighbourhood" – 5:06
  8. "Golden Earth Girl" – 3:45
  9. "The Lovers That Never Were" – 3:43
  10. "Get Out of My Way" – 3:32
  11. "Winedark Open Sea" – 5:27
  12. "C'Mon People" – 7:42
    • Followed by a hidden excerpt of an unlisted song called "Cosmically Conscious", originally written by McCartney in 1968 during The Beatles' stay in Rishikesh.
Off the Ground: The Complete Works

Off the Ground: The Complete Works is a two-disc set released in Germany and the Netherlands. This edition included McCartney's rare use of swear words in the song "Big Boys Bickering", a protest song. Other notable songs on this edition are "Long Leather Coat" (a Lady McCartney composed protest song) and "I Can't Imagine". Even though the album is called the "complete works", it is missing two B-sides and three promo remixes. Those tracks are "Deliverance" and "Deliverance (Dub Mix)", dance-oriented reworkings of the song "Hope of Deliverance", released as B-sides of the "C'mon People" CD single #1, and the three promo remixes of "Off the Ground" released to American radio, namely the Bob Clearmountain remix, the Keith Cohen remix, and the Keith Cohen AC remix. Also, when the iTunes Store added his catalogue of music in 2007, they included "I Can't Imagine" as an exclusive bonus track on the album.

  1. "Long Leather Coat" (McCartney/McCartney) – 3:35
  2. "Keep Coming Back to Love" (McCartney/Stuart) – 5:01
  3. "Sweet Sweet Memories" – 4:03
  4. "Things We Said Today" (Lennon–McCartney) – 3:38
  5. "Midnight Special" (Arranged by "Lead Belly" Ledbetter/Alan Lomax) – 4:57
  6. "Style Style" – 6:01
  7. "I Can't Imagine" – 4:40
  8. "Cosmically Conscious" – 4:39
  9. "Kicked Around No More" – 5:29
  10. "Big Boys Bickering" – 3:22
  11. "Down to the River" – 3:32
  12. "Soggy Noodle" – 0:28

Charts

Certifications

Region Certification Sales/shipments
Australia (ARIA)[38] Gold 35,000
Austria (IFPI Austria)[39] Gold 25,000
Canada (Music Canada)[40] Gold 50,000
France (SNEP)[41] Gold 167,400[17]
Germany (BVMI)[42] Platinum 500,000
Japan (RIAJ)[43] Gold 92,000[18]
Spain (PROMUSICAE)[44] Platinum 100,000
Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[45] Gold 25,000
United Kingdom (BPI)[46] Silver 60,000
United States (RIAA)[47] Gold 500,000

^shipments figures based on certification alone
xunspecified figures based on certification alone

References

  1. ↑ Luca Perasi, Paul McCartney: Recording Sessions (1969–2013), L.I.L.Y. Publishing, 2013, ISBN 978-88-909122-1-4.
  2. ↑ Off the Ground at AllMusic
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  9. ↑ Graff, Gary; Durchholz, Daniel (eds) (1999). MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Farmington Hills, MI: Visible Ink Press. p. 730. ISBN 1-57859-061-2.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  39. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Enter Paul McCartney in the field Interpret. Enter Off the Ground in the field Titel. Select album in the field Format. Click Suchen
  40. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  41. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Select PAUL MCCARTNEY and click OK
  42. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  43. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Select 1993年4月 on the drop-down menu
  44. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  45. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  46. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Enter Off the Ground in the field Keywords. Select Title in the field Search by. Select album in the field By Format. Select Silver in the field By Award. Click Search
  47. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH

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