I don't listen to many podcasts, but I like to
feed my Beatles addiction with the
excellent "Nothing is Real" - a witty and insightful exploration of
varied topics. So I was curious when they eulogised the recent rerelease of the 1974 "McGear" album, and soon
agreed it is an obscure gem.
It cannot
have been easy to be the brother of Beatle, but Mike McCartney forged his own path.
Adopting the alias McGear, he pursued hairdressing, photography and immersed
himself in Liverpool's bohemian scene. Teaming up with Roger McGough and John
Gorman to form The Scaffold, blending poetry, humour and music, they even
scored a Christmas number 1 with "Lily the Pink".
The Scaffold led to Grimms, but after departing acrimoniously from their
tour, "our kid" volunteered to help him with a solo single. A session
was arranged at the famed Abbey Road studios, with Paul producing "Leave
It", co-written with Linda. They also roped in the current lineup of Wings
to play, and the presence of Denny Seiwell dates it as late 1973.
A jovial and
playful paen to a lover ("I wanna help you to celebrate"), typical of Paul's early and prolific 1970s
work, but with Mike's humorous style evident ("I dearly love her
artichokes"), veering on risque ("Peeling off her underwear").
Mike's vocals are good, and I love the way he sings "It's gone away".
A bouncy and
feelgood tune is enhanced by the tight Wings' backing, and a thrilling
saxophone from Tony Coe.
They were so
happy with the single, they proceeded with recording a whole album at Strawberry
Studios in early 1974, with Paul again at the helm.
"Leave
It" was a minor ht, reaching 36, but the album disappeared, and never
received its due credit. Thankfully I, and many others have now been able to
discover it after 45 years. An offbeat delight that helped to pass the quarantine.
Hear Next - The Cherry Red rerelease of "McGear",
includes two CDs and a DVD.
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