Press to Play
{{Use British English|date=May 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2014}}
{{Infobox album
| name = Press to Play
| type = studio
| artist = Paul McCartney
| cover = Paul McCartney Press to Play.jpg
| alt =
| released = {{start date|1986|08|25|df=y}}
| recorded = March–May 1985; October–December 1985
| studio = Hogg Hill Mill (Icklesham, England)
| genre = Rock
| length = {{duration|m=45|s=11}} (LP)
{{duration|m=58|s=53}} (CD)
| label = Parlophone (UK)
Capitol (US)
| producer =
| prev_title = Give My Regards to Broad Street
| prev_year = 1984
| next_title = All the Best!
| next_year = 1987
| misc = {{Singles
| name = Press to Play
| type = studio
| single1 = Press
| single1date = 14 July 1986
| single2 = Pretty Little Head
| single2date = 27 October 1986 (UK)
| single3 = Stranglehold
| single3date = 29 October 1986 (US)
| single4 = Only Love Remains
| single4date = 1 December 1986
}}
}}
Press to Play is the sixth solo studio album by English musician Paul McCartney, released on 25 August 1986. It was McCartney's first album of entirely new music since Pipes of Peace in 1983, and his first solo album to be issued internationally by EMI following a six-year alliance with Columbia Records in the United States and Canada. Keen to re-establish himself after his poorly received 1984 musical film Give My Regards to Broad Street, McCartney enlisted producer Hugh Padgham to give the album a contemporary sound.
On release, Press to Play received a mixed critical reception and was McCartney's poorest-selling studio album up to that point. Although it failed to make the top 20 in America, the album peaked at number 8 on the UK Albums Chart and achieved gold status from the BPI in September 1986."Paul McCartney: Artist: Official Charts". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 5 March 2014. Four singles were issued from Press to Play: "Press", "Pretty Little Head", "Stranglehold" and "Only Love Remains". "Press" was a minor success, peaking at number 21 in the US. The music video for the song featured McCartney walking around Bond Street and Charing Cross tube stations in London, catching a tube train and speaking with members of the general public.
Production and recording
After the box office flop of the musical film Give My Regards to Broad Street (1984), McCartney decided that it was time for a change of pace in his solo career. In an attempt to give his music a more contemporary sound, he joined forces with Hugh Padgham, an in-demand, multiple award-winning producer famed for having recorded Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, Genesis, the Human League, the Police, and XTC. McCartney began recording Press to Play in March 1985, having written several new songs, many with current collaborator, 10cc guitarist Eric Stewart who co-wrote eight of the album's 13 songs. One additional song co-written by McCartney and Stewart was released as a B-side ("Hanglide"), while two more songs were later recorded by 10cc for their studio albums ...Meanwhile (1992) and Mirror Mirror (1995).
McCartney recalled in 1986: "When we started working on the record, Hugh came in one day and said he'd had a dream. He dreamed he woke up one morning and had made this really bad, syrupy album with me, an album he hated, and that it had blown his whole career. We took that as a little warning".{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/08/29/arts/paul-mccartney-goes-back-to-the-hard-sound.html#|title = PAUL McCARTNEY GOES BACK TO THE HARD SOUND|newspaper = The New York Times|date = 29 August 1986|last1 = Palmer|first1 = Robert}} Guesting on the album would be the Who's lead guitarist, Pete Townshend, Genesis' drummer and lead vocalist Phil Collins, Split Enz's keyboardist Eddie Rayner and Eric Stewart. Carlos Alomar also overdubbed electric guitar on several tracks, including "Press", "Good Times Coming/Feel the Sun", "It's Not True", "Tough on a Tightrope", "Write Away" and "Move Over Busker", according to his recollections included in the book Paul McCartney: Recording Sessions (1969–2013).Luca Perasi, Paul McCartney: Recording Sessions (1969–2013), L.I.L.Y. Publishing, 2013, {{ISBN|978-88-909122-1-4}}, pp.245–258.
The album was not finished until the end of 1985, by which time only one song would see release from its sessions – the title track to the film Spies Like Us (1985), joined by Phil Ramone in the producer's chair. "Spies Like Us", a non-album single backed by Paul McCartney and Wings' 1975 recording "My Carnival", was a US top 10 hit.
Cover artwork
The album's cover features Paul McCartney and his then-wife, Linda McCartney. The album cover's photograph was taken by George Hurrell, using the same box camera that he used in Hollywood in the 1930s and the 1940s.{{cite web|url=http://www.discogs.com/Paul-McCartney-Press-To-Play/release/2571018 |title=Paul McCartney – Press To Play (CD, Album) at Discogs |publisher=Discogs.com |access-date=7 June 2012}} Hurrell was renowned for his photographs of movie stars of the 1930s and 1940s like Clark Gable and Greta Garbo, to which the album's cover was meant to pay homage.{{Cite web|url=http://www.discogs.com/Paul-McCartney-Press-To-Play/release/2571018|title = Paul McCartney – Press to Play (1993, CD)|website = Discogs}}
Release
"Press", a slick up-tempo pop song, was released in July 1986 and went on to become the album's sole top 30 hit. Press to Play itself appeared on 25 August in the United States{{cite book|last1=Madinger|first1=Chip|last2=Easter|first2=Mark|title=Eight Arms to Hold You: The Solo Beatles Compendium|publisher=44.1 Productions|location=Chesterfield, MO|year=2000|isbn=0-615-11724-4|page=601}} and 1 September in the United Kingdom.{{cite book|last=Badman|first=Keith|title=The Beatles Diary Volume 2: After the Break-Up 1970–2001|publisher= Omnibus Press|location=London|year=2001|isbn=978-0-7119-8307-6|page=376}}
It received lukewarm reviews{{cite book|last1=Madinger|first1=Chip|last2=Easter|first2=Mark|title=Eight Arms to Hold You: The Solo Beatles Compendium|publisher=44.1 Productions|location=Chesterfield, MO|year=2000|isbn=0-615-11724-4|pages=281, 291}} and proved to be McCartney's weakest-selling studio album up to that point.{{cite book|last=Sounes|first=Howard|title=Fab: An Intimate Life of Paul McCartney|publisher=HarperCollins|location=London|year=2010|isbn=978-0-00-723705-0|pages=405–06}}
Peaking at number 8 in the UK, its chart life was brief, while in the US, Press to Play failed to go gold, peaking at number 30 and selling only 250,000 copies.{{cite web |title= McCartney: Low-Key With New Album|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-05-28-ca-1333-story.html|work=Los Angeles Times|last=Grein|first=Paul|date=28 May 1989|access-date=21 October 2011}} The follow-up singles, "Pretty Little Head" and "Only Love Remains", performed poorly on the charts. As a result of this disappointing commercial reception, author Howard Sounes writes, McCartney appointed a former Polydor Records executive, Richard Ogden, as his manager, "to help revive his career".{{cite book|last=Sounes|first=Howard|title=Fab: An Intimate Life of Paul McCartney|publisher=HarperCollins|location=London|year=2010|isbn=978-0-00-723705-0|page=407}}
In 1993, Press to Play was remastered and reissued on the CD as part of The Paul McCartney Collection series with his 1985 hit "Spies Like Us" and an alternate mix of impending 1987 UK success "Once Upon a Long Ago" as bonus tracks. In this edition "Press" (4:25) was replaced by the 4:43 remixed version.
Critical reception
{{Album reviews
| rev1 = AllMusic
| rev1score = {{Rating|3|5}}{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/press-to-play-mw0000194809|last=Erlewine |first=Stephen Thomas |author-link=Stephen Thomas Erlewine|title=Paul McCartney Press to Play|publisher=AllMusic |access-date=30 January 2024}}
| rev2 = Encyclopedia of Popular Music
| rev2score = {{Rating|2|5}}{{cite book|author=Larkin, Colin|title=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th edn) |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York, NY |year=2006 |isbn=0-19-531373-9 |page=1257}}
| rev3 = The Essential Rock Discography
| rev3Score = 4/10{{cite book|author=Strong, Martin C. |year=2006|title=The Essential Rock Discography|publisher=Canongate|location=Edinburgh, UK|page=696|isbn=978-1-84195-827-9}}
| rev4 = Los Angeles Times
| rev4score = (unfavourable){{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-08-31-ca-14816-story.html|first=Terry|last=Atkinson|work=Los Angeles Times|title= Paul: Signs Of Hope Before The Letdown|date=31 August 1986|access-date=31 August 2011}}
| rev5 = Q
| rev5score = {{Rating|2|5}}{{cite news|last=Nicol|first=Jimmy|title=Re-releases: Paul McCartney The Paul McCartney Collection |work=Q |date=October 1993 |page=119}}
| rev6 = Record Mirror
| rev6score = 2/5{{cite magazine|last=Levy|first=Eleanor|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Record-Mirror/80s/86/Record-Mirror-1986-09-13.pdf|title=Albums: Paul McCartney – Press to Play (Parlophone)|magazine=Record Mirror|date=13 September 1986|page=18|location=London|publisher=Spotlight Publications Ltd.|access-date=8 January 2024|via=World Radio History|issn=0144-5804|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230623143615/https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Record-Mirror/80s/86/Record-Mirror-1986-09-13.pdf|archive-date=23 June 2023}}
| rev7 = Rolling Stone
| rev7score = (favourable){{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/press-to-play-19861023|author=DeCurtis, Anthony|title=Paul McCartney Press to Play|magazine=Rolling Stone|date=23 October 1986|access-date=21 December 2014}}
| rev8 = The Rolling Stone Album Guide
| rev8score = {{Rating|2|5}}Randall, Mac; Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds) (2004). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th edn). New York, NY: Simon & Schuster. p. 526. {{ISBN|0-7432-0169-8}}.
| rev9 = Smash Hits
| rev9score = 5/10{{cite magazine|last=Patterson|first=Sylvia|authorlink=Sylvia Patterson|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/57779449@N02/29677268601/in/album-72157670717304343/|title=Albums: Paul McCartney – Press to Play (WEA)|magazine=Smash Hits|location=Peterborough|publisher=EMAP National Publications, Ltd.|volume=8|issue=19|page=56|date=24 September – 7 October 1986|issn=0260-3004|access-date=2 January 2023|via=Flickr}}
| rev10 = Stylus Magazine
| rev10score = (mixed){{cite web|url=http://www.stylusmagazine.com/articles/on_second_thought/paul-mccartney-press-to-play.htm|title=Press to Play – On Second Thought|last =Soto|first=Alfred|date=8 February 2005|publisher=Stylus Magazine|access-date=21 October 2011}}
}}
AllMusic editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine admired the track "Press", but gave the album a 3 out of 5 star rating saying: "McCartney is dabbling in each of his strengths, just to see what works. It doesn't wind up as one of his stronger albums, but it's more interesting than some of his more consistent ones, and those aforementioned cuts demonstrate that he could still cut effective pop records when he put his mind to it."
In a review for the Chicago Tribune, critic Lynn Van Matre wrote of the album: "No doubt about it, this is McCartney's most rocking album in ages. Much of it's catchy, most of it's fun, and it's superior to McCartney's efforts of recent years."{{cite web|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1986/09/12/no-silly-love-songs-on-press-to-play/|last=Van Matre|first=Lynn|work=Chicago Tribune|title= No Silly Love Songs On 'Press To Play'|date=12 September 1986|access-date=20 October 2011}} In the Los Angeles Times, Terry Atkinson praised "Press" as "a sprightly, sunny delight – one of the most playful, positive pop songs ever written about the joy of sex and its link with love", but opined that overall "the album finds McCartney as lost as usual and Stewart of little help". Atkinson concluded: "'Press to Play,' though it shows some signs of recovery, is basically just another in a long line (over 12 years!) of post-'Band on the Run' letdowns by a once almost unimaginably creative artist." Rich Stim in Spin noted that 'the whole album, as well crafted as it is, offers too much conventional McCartney and not enough exceptional'.{{Cite journal |last=Stim |first=Rich |date=December 1986 |title=Press to Play review |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FL-rqqrDxb8C&pg=PA40 |journal=SPIN |volume=2 |issue=9 |pages=40 |via=Google Books}}
More recently, Kit O'Toole of Blogcritics has contended that much of the album belongs among McCartney's "most ambitious work" and that the adventurousness of the project is unfairly overlooked. O'Toole adds: "Press to Play, along with McCartney II, arguably laid the foundation for his future musical experiments under the name The Fireman (particularly the first two albums, Strawberries Oceans Ships Forest and Rushes)."{{cite web|url=http://blogcritics.org/want-to-hear-paul-mccartneys-most/ |author=O'Toole, Kit|title=Want to hear Paul McCartney's Most Adventurous Album? Just Press to Play |publisher=Blogcritics |date=22 April 2010|access-date=22 December 2014}}
Track listing
{{Track listing
| all_writing = Paul McCartney and Eric Stewart, except where noted
| headline = Side one
| total_length = 22:23
| title1 = Stranglehold
| length1 = 3:36
| title2 = Good Times Coming/Feel the Sun
| writer2 = McCartney
| length2 = 4:44
| title3 = Talk More Talk
| writer3 = McCartney
| length3 = 5:18
| title4 = Footprints
| length4 = 4:32
| title5 = Only Love Remains
| writer5 = McCartney
| length5 = 4:13
}}
{{Track listing
| headline = Side two
| total_length = 22:34
| title6 = Press
| length6 = 4:43
| writer6 = McCartney
| title7 = Pretty Little Head
| length7 = 5:14
| title8 = Move Over Busker
| length8 = 4:05
| title9 = Angry
| length9 = 3:36
| title10 = However Absurd
| length10 = 4:56
}}
{{Track listing
| headline = Additional CD tracks
| total_length = 13:35
| title11 = Write Away
| length11 = 3:00
| title12 = It's Not True
| writer12 = McCartney
| length12 = 5:53
| title13 = Tough on a Tightrope
| length13 = 4:42
}}
{{Track listing
| headline = 1993 CD The Paul McCartney Collection bonus tracks
| total_length = 9:22
| title14 = Spies Like Us
| writer14 = McCartney
| length14 = 4:45
| title15 = Once Upon a Long Ago
| note15 = long version
| writer15 = McCartney
| length15 = 4:37
}}
{{Track listing
| headline = iTunes bonus track
| title16 = Press
| note16 = 12" Bevans/Forward dub mix
| writer16 = McCartney
| length16 = 6:31
}}
Personnel
Musicians
- Paul McCartney – lead vocals, backing vocals, acoustic piano, keyboards, synthesizers, acoustic and electric guitars, bass guitar
- Nick Glennie-Smith – keyboards
- Eddie Rayner – keyboards
- Eric Stewart – keyboards, acoustic guitar, electric guitars, harmony vocals
- Simon Chamberlain – acoustic piano, electric grand piano
- Carlos Alomar – acoustic guitar, electric guitars
- Pete Townshend – electric guitars (9)
- Jerry Marotta – drums, percussion
- Graham Ward – drums, percussion
- Phil Collins – drums and percussion (9)
- Ray Cooper – percussion
- Dick Morrissey – tenor saxophone
- Lenny Pickett – alto saxophone, tenor saxophone
- Gary Barnacle – saxophone
- John Bradbury – violin
- Gavyn Wright – violin
- Nigel Kennedy – violin solo (15)
- Tony Visconti – orchestral arrangements (5)
- Anne Dudley – orchestral arrangements (10)
- Kate Robbins – harmony vocals
- Ruby James – harmony vocals
- Linda McCartney – harmony vocals, spoken word (3)
- James McCartney – spoken word (3)
- John Hammel – spoken word (3)
- Matt Howe – spoken word (3)
- Steve Jackson – spoken word (3)
- Eddie Klein – spoken word (3)
Production and artwork
- Paul McCartney – producer, stereo drawings
- Hugh Padgham – producer (1–13, 15), engineer (1, 2, 4–15), mixing (1–5, 7–11, 13, 14)
- Phil Ramone – producer (14, 15)
- George Hurrell – photography
- Haydn Bendall – additional engineer
- Matt Butler – additional engineer
- Tony Clark – additional engineer
- Matt Howe – additional engineer
- Steve Jackson – additional engineer, engineer (3)
- Jon Kelly – additional engineer
- Peter Mew – additional engineer
- Bert Bevans – mixing (6)
- Steve Forward – mixing (6)
- Julian Mendelsohn – mixing (12)
- George Martin – mixing (15)
- John Hammel – studio technician
- Trevor Jones – studio technician
- Eddie Klein – studio technician
Charts, sales and certifications
{{col-begin}}
{{col-2}}
=Weekly charts=
{{col-2}}
=Certifications and sales=
{{certification Table Top|caption=Certifications for Press to Play}}
{{Certification Table Entry|region=Japan (Oricon Charts)|nocert=yes|salesamount=81,000|salesref=}}
{{certification Table Entry|title=Press to Play|type=album|artist=Paul McCartney|region=United Kingdom|award=Gold|id=5201-3435-2}}
{{Certification Table Bottom|nosales=yes}}
{{col-end}}
Notes
- A{{anchor|endnote_A}}^ Until January 1987, Japanese albums chart had been separated into LP, CD, and cassette charts. Press to Play also entered the cassette chart at number 21, and peaked at number 8 on the CD chart.
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{Discogs master|93695}}
- [http://www.jpgr.co.uk/pcsd103.html JPGR's Beatles site: Paul McCartney's Press to Play]
{{Paul McCartney}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:Paul McCartney albums
Category:Capitol Records albums
Category:Albums arranged by Tony Visconti
Category:Albums produced by Paul McCartney
Category:Albums produced by Hugh Padgham
Category:Albums produced by Phil Ramone