Welcome to the first in an occasional series paying tribute to the promotional video versatility of James Paul McCartney.
#1: PRESS
DEFINITION:
A man meeting his people
THINGS TO KNOW:
a) It was the lead single off Macca's 1986 album 'Press To Play'.
b) Both it and the LP flopped.
c) The song was produced by Hugh "Phil Collins" Padgham.
d) It contains the inexplicable lyric "Oklahama was never like this".
e) It also contains a trademark "excited" count-in from the man himself.
f) There is a none-more-80s "breakdown" two thirds of the way through.
THINGS TO LOOK OUT FOR:
A veritable prize showroom catalogue of the man's finest tricks and techniques:
a) Some pointless pointing.
b) Harmless joshing with pensioners and foreigners.
c) "Walking against the wind" in a comical fashion.
d) A weird bit of business on the escalator c. 2:38.
e) The Macca Face.
f) Lots of mid-80s pot pourri, including those old London Underground maps which lit up when, ahem, pressed.
VERDICT:
Quintessential
4 weeks ago
3 comments:
I would like to personally commend the person who thought of this new feature.
So would I. Cheers Chris!
It looks like Macca dipped into the tricks the Beatles used when making Magical Mystery Tour. Namely, if you're a big star and you're going to make a video/film surrounded by members of the public, the results will be so much better if you turn the charisma up to 11 and make it into a big party. Any account of the making of Magical Mystery Tour contains records of the Beatles eating in fish & chip shops, dancing with pensioners, holding pub singalongs. More of the same seems to be on show here.
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