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Press to Play by Paul McCartney

Press to Play

Release Date: 9/19/1986

Recording Date: 9/1986

Tracks: 13

Length: 00:58:55 Hrs

Label: Capitol

Type: CD

Genre/Styles:
Synthesizer, Adult Contemporary, Soft Rock, Contemporary Pop/Rock, Guitar (Electric), Vocals

Album Tracks (13)

Song Title
Length
1.
Stranglehold
03:36
2.
Good Times Coming/Feel the Sun
04:56
3.
Talk More Talk
05:17
4.
Footprints
04:32
5.
Only Love Remains
04:16
6.
Press
04:43
7.
Pretty Little Head
05:13
8.
Move over Busker
04:05
9.
Angry
03:36
10.
However Absurd
04:58
11.
Write Away
03:01
12.
It's Not True
05:53
13.
Tough on a Tightrope
04:51

What the Critics Say

At the time, Press to Play was occasionally promoted as Macca's response to punk -- which we all better hope is not true, since that means he was responding ten years after the fact, signaling just how out of touch he was. But McCartney wasn't that disconnected from reality (he did talk about punk in interviews from the late '70s), so a more accurate view of Press to Play is to see it as McCartney trying to reconnect with his classic strengths, from orchestral pop and whimsy to driving rockers and sweet love songs. All this is apparent on the record, often in pretty charming fashion. "Stranglehold" has an offhand charm, "Good Times Coming/Feel the Sun" feels like a forgotten Red Rose Speedway medley, "Move Over Busker" has a brisk gait (better than its cousin, "Angry," anyway), and "Press" is a terrific mid-'80s drum machine-driven slice of synth-pop, utterly featherweight in the best possible way. Each of these captures a different side of McCartney, and that's the overriding impression of Press to Play -- 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. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi

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