Line #87 Music/McCartneyII


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4	''[=McCartney=] II'' is the second solo studio album by British artist Music/PaulMcCartney and his second self-titled album, released in 1980 through MPL in conjunction with Creator/ParlophoneRecords in the UK and Creator/ColumbiaRecords in the US.
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6	After years of touring along with his band Music/{{Wings\|Band}}, Paul came back to his farm in Sussex in order to focus on solo material without necessarily having an album in mind. Working on his own, he recorded 20 songs during that session before going back on tour with Wings (a 1979 live performance of the song "Coming Up" was released as a single and became a top-charter in the US). As the band was about to start their tour in Japan, Paul got arrested (again) for Marijuana possession, a few months before the album's release (ironically, one track on the album references Japanese culture). Following that event and the album's release, Wings was dissolved in 1981 and Paul went on to focus back on his solo career.
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8	Recorded at his home studio, ''[=McCartney II=]'' showcases a departure in sound thanks to the presence of synths and experimentation that leads him closer to NewWaveMusic as opposed to the Pop Rock sound he was accustomed to with Wings. First released to negative reviews, the album has since been praised retrospectively for its lo-fi sound and its D.I.Y. recording.
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10	It's only forty years after this album's release that Paul released a third self-titled album which he recorded at a home studio during the pandemic of 2020.
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12	!!Tracklist
13
14	[[AC: Side One]]
15	# "Coming Up" (3:53)
16	# "Temporary Secretary" (3:14)
17	# "On The Way" (3:38)
18	# "Waterfalls" (4:43)
19	# "Nobody Knows" (2:52)
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21	[[AC: Side Two]]
22	[numlist:6]
23	# "Front Parlour" (3:32)
24	# "Summer's Day Song" (3:25)
25	# "Frozen Jap" (3:40)
26	# "Bogey Music" (3:27)
27	# "Darkroom" (2:20)
28	# "One of These Days" (3:35)
29	[/numlist]
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31	[[AC:Bonus single included with the US release]]
32	# "Coming Up (Live at Glasgow)[[note]]Side two is blank.[[/note]]
33	----
34	The album has been reissued as part of the "Paul [=McCartney=] Archive Collection" with bonus tracks such as "Blue Sway", "Check My machine", "Bogey Wobble", "Secret Friend", "Mr. H Atom / You Know I'll Get You Baby", "Wonderful Christmastime" and "All You Horse Riders".
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36	!!Personnel:
37	* Music/PaulMcCartney - Lead vocals, backing vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, bass guitar, piano, electric piano, keyboards, synthesizer, sequencer, drums, percussion, engineer, mixing
38	* Eddie Klein - Mixing Assistant
39	----
40	!!''Let me show you to my tropes'':
41	* AlliterativeTitle: "'''No'''body '''Kno'''ws".
42	* BearyFriendly: "Waterfalls"
43	-->Don't go chasing polar bears\
44	In the great unknown\
45	Some big friendly polar bear\
46	Might want to take you home
47	* BrokenRecord: "Temporary Secretary" keeps repeating the song's title during its chorus and outro.
48	* CantSeeADamnThing: PlayedForLaughs at the end of the music video for "Waterfalls" where Paul turns off the lights and knocks over things in his house.
49	* CensoredTitle: Due to the use of an anti-japanese slur in its title, "Frozen Jap" has been renamed "Frozen Japanese" when the album was released in Japan.
50	* ChristmasSongs: "Wonderful Christmastime" was originally released as a non-album single before being released on the deluxe edition of this album.
51	* ChromaKey: Shown on the music video for "Waterfalls" where Paul walks in front of a fountain, an arctic setting and a merry-go-round.
52	* ChronologicalAlbumTitle: It is also his second solo album, since ''{{Music/Ram}}'' was a collaborative album between him and Linda Eastman.
53	* FaceOnTheCover: A bewildered Paul photographed by his wife Linda. It can be interpreted as some kind of mugshot and could refer to his arrest back in early 1980. His face is split into two inverted sides on the back cover of the album.
54	* GenreRoulette: The album showcases genres such as New Wave, Electronica, Boogie Rock/Blues Rock and Synth-Pop, making this album stand out from most stuff Paul was known for up to that point.
55	* HeavyMeta: "Bogey Music" references the Boogie {{Rock}} genre.
56	* InTheStyleOf: While Paul may have been vaguely inspired by Oriental music while composing it, "Frozen Jap" has been interpreted as a nod to Japanese Technopop band Music/YellowMagicOrchestra over the decades. On YMO's side, their song "Nice Age" from the ''{{Music/Multiplies}}'' album (which came out a month after ''[=McCartney=] II'') includes the lyrics "It's '''coming up like a flower'''".
57	* {{Instrumentals}}: "Front Parlour" and "Frozen Jap".
58	* IntercourseWithYou: Suggested on "Darkroom":
59	--> '''Paul''': ''Actually, somehow I just heard the word "darkroom" and thought it had lots of connotations. It could be a dark room, a photographic darkroom, or just a room which is dark. You know, a fellow saying to a girl, ‘Come to my dark room,’ is a bit like a ‘Come, let me take you to the Casbah,’ kind of thing.''
60	* LimitedLyricsSong: "Summer's Day Song":
61	--> ''Someone's sleeping'' \
62	''Through a bad dream'' \
63	''Tomorrow it will be over'' \
64	''For the world will soon be waking'' \
65	''To a summer's day''
66	* LocationSong: "Front Parlour" and "Darkroom".
67	* LoopedLyrics: "Bogey Music":
68	--> ''Without bogey music, life is incomplete''
69	* LyricalColdOpen: "On The Way", "Waterfalls" and "One of These Days".
70	* LyricalDissonance: "Waterfalls", basically an ode to ThePowerOfLove (with a side of PleaseDontLeaveMe), is very melancholy-sounding, even described as "mournful".
71	* MeaningfulName: Named as a successor to Paul's debut solo album which was also recorded by him.
72	* MinimalistCast: Paul took part in the album's entire recording with only Eddie Klein serving as an assistant on the mixing. This was further acknowledged when a promotional image for the album showed the cover art along with a legend saying: "On his own".
73	* MythologyGag: Besides all the celebs mentioned in ShoutOut, one of the members of the backing band played by Paul in the "Coming Up" video is none other than Beatlemania-era Beatle Paul, complete with moptop wig, collarless suit, Hofner violin bass and constant grin.
74	* OneWomanSong: "Temporary Secretary".
75	* OneWordTitle: "Waterfalls" and "Darkroom".
76	* PaperThinDisguise: Linda sports a obviously fake mustache in the music video of "Coming Up".
77	* ParodyNames: Paul and Linda represent a band called [[Music/JohnLennonPlasticOnoBand Plastic Macs]] on the music video for "Coming Up".
78	* ThePowerOfLove: "Waterfalls". Its original title was "I Need Love" and Paul was looking for a less ordinary name.
79	* ThePowerOfMusic: "Bogey Music" and its repeated lyrics: "Without bogey music, life is incomplete".
80	* RegionalRiff: "Frozen Jap" has a sound similar to the "oriental riff" which has been used as a way for Western people to portray Eastern Asia.
81	* RhymingTitle: "Tempor'''ary''' Secret'''ary'''".
82	* {{Sampling}}: "Check My Machine" (originally the BSide of the "Waterfalls" single, then added to the deluxe edition) samples a bunch of dialogue from the 1957 WesternAnimation/SylvesterTheCatAndTweetyBird cartoon ''Tweet Zoo''.
83	* SelfTitledAlbum: Paul's second one.
84	* TheSomethingSong: "Summer's Day Song".
85	* ShoutOut:
86	** The music video for "Coming Up" has Paul dressing up as various artists: keyboardist Ron Mael from the band Music/{{Sparks}}, guitarist Hank Marvin from the Shadows (sometimes mistaken for Music/BuddyHolly), guitarist David Gilmour from Music/PinkFloyd, and drummer John Bonham from Music/LedZeppelin, according to Paul. The kick drum also bears the name "Plastic Macs," a riff on Music/JohnLennon's Plastic Ono band.
87	** "Nobody Knows" mentions the story of Literature/SamsonAndDelilah.
88	--> ''Samson and Delilah would have made a crazy pair'' \
89	''If that silly woman hadn't shaven off his hair''
90	* SillyLoveSongs: From the TropeNamer himself, much of the album counts.
91	* SpokenWordInMusic: "Temporary Secretary" has a section where Paul says how hard it is for young girls to stay on the right track.
92	* TakeThat: Averted with "Frozen Jap" which has been interpreted as a commentary of Paul about his incarceration in Japan, despite the fact that the track has been recorded prior to that event (it was also renamed "Frozen Japanese" in order to avoid any offending). According to Paul, Japanese people made the connection anyway.
93	* TitleDrop: Particularily evident on "Temporary Secretary" and "Nobody Knows", both of them dropping their title 22 times. "Bogey Music" is also title-dropped 24 times.
94	* VocalDissonance: Paul's voice on this album goes through varying degrees of altering, sounding high-pitched on "Coming Up", having a low echoed voice on "Bogey Music" and reaching his highest registers on "Darkroom"

Context Music / McCartneyII