Experimentation has often been the reason to return to Paul McCartney’s work. Be it the debut self-titled album, which provided tremendous contrast to his Abbey Road materials or the invention of soft rock and pop on Ram, the ever-curious frontman is working at his very best on Coming Up. It is to McCartney II what Maybe I’m Amazed is to McCartney. A standout song which comes from the creative freedom of a former group imploding. Be it The Beatles or Wings, the flow of new ideas and experimentation which comes when an artist is left to their devices and instruments, can be magic. Coming Up is a monumental example of this energy, this desire to create with new sounds. One of the very best McCartney songs. A piece so good it inspired John Lennon to get back in the studio.
Coming Up gives McCartney a straight shot into solo recordings through the 1980s. Though the dissolution of Wings would occur a year after the release of McCartney II, the end was in sight. Those live performances he did with the band suggest Wings were backing McCartney, rather than him being a part of the group. Commercial unreliability sees McCartney turn inward, relying on drum machines and the funk and pop blur of modern times. He is not chasing the sound of the times, as that would imply a clear direction. Coming Up remains unlike anything McCartney has written, before or after its release. Exploring the sound of the times and pairing it with the vocal inflections he shied away from during the Wings days, McCartney brings together the past and present on Coming Up, which serves more as a nod to his influences and those musicians he loved listening to. McCartney dressed up as Sparks’ Ron and Russell Mael is a charming extra touch for those watching the music video.
Their unique pop style can be heard in passing on this, as can David Byrne of Talking Heads. More the mentality of the latter man. There is a sense McCartney wanted to break from expectation. To get back to the fundamentals of recording and creating. This attitude would serve him well, but briefly, as he geared up for a series of pop-appealing albums. Catchy feels like a backhanded compliment for Coming Up, but it is. That guitar riff and punchiness, the funky tech-sounding instrumentals, find a route straight into the brain and never leave. Proceed with caution. Coming Up is a song which will ambush your brain in the dead of night, like an embarrassing memory. McCartney does very well to coax the fire of his solo works, preparing for what would be the end of Wings with a tap into the pop of the times.
Talking Heads’ clear influence on the Live at Glasgow version, which hit number one in the US charts, is a lesser version. Without the vocal manipulation affecting McCartney’s voice, without the funk-riddled charms, the song loses its edge. There is a lesser momentum, but at least there is momentum present. A bit stock and standard, a friendlier version of the song. McCartney would take this on board and through the 1980s and 1990s, would make affable music in line with this chart hit. Effectively, what McCartney can do in the studio on his own, Denny Laine and Linda McCartney cannot bring to life on stage. There is the creative difference, the desire to turn Coming Up into an accessible hit by sacrificing the alternative, artsy tech tones. A shame to hear it but it does not detract from the song itself. What it does detract from, as Venus and Mars cut Lunch Box does too, is from the future for McCartney.
