YouTube – Figure of Eight by Paul McCartney – How to play cool songs

My parents and I saw Paul McCartney live at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ, in June 1990. The concert was part of McCartney’s Friends of the Earth tour, to promote his 1989 album Flowers in the Dirt. It was my first concert and I still remember it well. Paul and his band played several new songs I’d never heard before, but he also played a bunch of Beatles songs, Wings songs, and a tribute to John Lennon which – if I remember correctly – consisted of “Help!,” “Strawberry Fields Forever,” and “Give Peace a Chance.”

During “Fool on the Hill,” McCartney played a colorful upright piano that ascended over the audience and rotated mid-song. It was quite a sight! What ever happened to the fun, upbeat Paul McCartney from back then? I miss the silly, happy, youthful Paul.

In October 1990, McCartney released the concert, minus the Lennon tribute, as a double album called Tripping the Live Fantastic. My family and I listened to the cassette tapes in the car on a daily basis and one of my favorite songs was “Figure of Eight,” the album’s opener. When I finally heard Flowers in the Dirt, I remember liking the live version better than the studio recording, but maybe it’s just my memory playing tricks on me after all these years…or maybe it was just because I heard the live version first. I’ll have to track down the live CDs and see which one I prefer now.

I actually bought Flowers in the Dirt from the iTunes store a few nights ago and listened to the album for the first time since the early 1990s. This version of “Figure of Eight” is very good and I’ve been listening to it constantly this week. My other favorites are still here too, just as I remembered them: “This One,” “My Brave Face,” “That Day Is Done,” and “Put It There.”

“Distractions” is a pleasant surprise. I didn’t particularly like that song as a child – too soft and boring, or so I thought – but now I appreciate and enjoy the gentle mood and lush, jazzy orchestral arrangement. I can do without the rest of the songs on the album though. They’re not horrible and I might listen to them occasionally, but if they were somehow deleted from my iPhone and computer, I wouldn’t miss them.

By the way, my voice is back to normal now and I’m still hoping to post more Beatles remastered CD reviews soon. I promise!