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Track Listings
| 1. Lonely Road |
| 2. From A Lover To A Friend |
| 3. She's Given Up Talking |
| 4. Driving Rain |
| 5. I Do |
| 6. Tiny Bubble |
| 7. Magic |
| 8. Your Way |
| 9. Spinning On An Axis |
| 10. About You |
| 11. Heather |
| 12. Back In The Sunshine Again |
| 13. Your Loving Flame |
| 14. Riding Into Jaipur |
| 15. Rinse The Raindrops |
| 16. Freedom |
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Paul McCartney's first album of self-composed material since the tragic loss of his wife and soul mate Linda, Driving Rain is the sound of pop's most indefatigable optimist coming to terms with his bereavement, picking up the pieces and moving on. Thus, there's a determined rasp to McCartney's vocal delivery on the opening rocker "Lonely Road", which begins with a resigned "I tried to get over you" and moves purposefully forward with an insistent chorus of "Don't want to walk that lonely road no more". Further down the line, the title of "Back In The Sunshine Again", a languorous groover and one of two songs co-penned with son James, speaks for itself--"No more worries, no more pain... that's the way it's going to be for the rest of my life", he sings. McCartney's new amour is nodded to on the predominantly instrumental "Heather" (something about shacking up on the moon with the Queen of his heart, that's love for you!) whilst the bittersweet, pining "From A Lover To A Friend" is one of the prettiest ballads the man has written this side of the Beatles. And yes, even George Harrison's tandoori-flavoured retro-pop is evident on the tablas and sitars of "Riding To Jaipur". McCartney lets himself go and stretches his legs on the 10-minute ELO/Steve Miller/Police fuzzed-up mish-mash that is "Rinse The Raindrops", but it's well worth taking that walk with him. Evidently, McCartney is enjoying a new lease of life in both his private and professional life. Good on him. --Kevin Maidment
Product Description
2011 reissue of critically acclaimed, spare yet warmly produced 2001 studio album
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
At best, this album is akin to the greatest of the Wings output. If I were to describe it accurately though, I would say it was a mix between 'McCartney II' in weirdness, 'Back To The Egg' in Wings-ness and 'Flaming Pie' in sheer creativeness. Upon first hearing, the similarness of the songs makes them seem to merge together and nothing particularly strikes you - but listen again, and it's actually marvellous!
It will grow on me. That is the reason I gave it four stars and not three. The songs that immediately stand out are: "From A Lover To A Friend" (the excellent first single), "Magic" (with a great drum break at the end), "Your Way" (which wouldn't have looked out of place on 'The White Album'), "About You" (a great rocker - too short, though), "Heather" (a mostly instrumental track and arguably one of the best tracks on the record), and "Your Loving Flame" (one of the best Macca ballads: and he's done a few!)
Despite recent reports, Paul's voice may not be in the best shape it's ever been, but it's still in great form. This is especially shown on the impressive vocal of the bonus track "Freedom" (a song for the NYC Firefighters.) The musicianship is great. The drummer (Abe Laboriel Jnr.) is excellent, as is the bassplayer (I can't quite remember his name!)
Of course, there are more than a fair share of Beatles/Wings moments. "I Do" and "Your Way" could have been extracted from any later Beatles record, and "Riding Into Jaipur" could have been written by George H. and the walking basslines couldn't be anyone else. The whole sound of the album has a spontaneous quality which are apparent on most Beatles albums/songs.
You can imagine most of these tracks appearing on Wings albums, especially "Lonely Road", "She's Given Up Talking" and "Back In The Sunshine Again" (one of two written with his son, James). This is not signifying that Sir Paul has taken a backwards step: he is merely showing the world that he can still do it!!
All in all, 'Driving Rain' is extremely enjoyable. It's great to hear the master back doing what he does best - a guy loving life and sharing it with you; singing about loves and losses and just so happening to make a damn good CD documenting it all! In a nutshell, extremely creative and inspiring.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Not Macca's most commercial album but after a few listens the sheer beauty iof the melodies emerges. On first hearing it comes over as rough and under produced but given time the beauty of songs like "Tiny Bubble". "Magic", "Heather" and "Loving Flame" escapes.It's amazing that "From A Lover To A Friend" didn't do well as a single as it's one of his best ballads for a long time. The title track is a great rocker spoilt only by pretty awful nurserty rhyme type lyrics. Whilst there are a couple of filler tracks, overall this shows that Macca hasn't lost his touch and the album is up there with "Flowers In The Dirt" and "Flaming Pie" for quality.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
A welcome return to the studio and an album of original material since the death of Linda. Featured strongly is a mix of feelings of loss and new found love as should be expected from a performer well known for penning emotional songs from the heart.
Upon the first listening i thought it was not of a very high standard that is expected of McCartney, i was already disappointed by the single(From a lover to a friend), but after a few listenings it began to grow on me and i think i prefer it to Flaming Pie now!
This album is a positive, harder edged McCartney still showing he still doe'nt mind taking a few risks along the way.
There are obvious commercial catchy songs (Driving Rain and Tiny Bubble) and the strong balled Your Loving Flame.
Tiny Bubble surprised me..not sounding particularly typical Macca but it works and it IS a great song.
Much in evidence is McCartney the bass player. More interesting and melodic of late perhaps due to looking back to early rock n roll on the Run Devil Run album.
For me the album only picks up momentum with the title track Driving Rain. Riding to junipur is in Indian style similar to George Harrisons. You either love it or hate it!!
Rinse the Raindrops is an incredible 10 minute long jam similar to songs he did with Steve Miller on Flaming Pie and although could have been edited it is still a welcome track.
In conclusion Driving Rain is as good as anything McCartney has done..if not better. Typical McCartney melodic, lyrical songsmith with the odd surprise and a man who has gone through every emotion through the past few years to return with a positive, strong album which sounds like he is really enjoying himself, after all he does not HAVE to record anything again..but he is a workaholic and you just cant stop the guy producing brilliant songs.
Upon the first listening i thought it was not of a very high standard that is expected of McCartney, i was already disappointed by the single(From a lover to a friend), but after a few listenings it began to grow on me and i think i prefer it to Flaming Pie now!
This album is a positive, harder edged McCartney still showing he still doe'nt mind taking a few risks along the way.
There are obvious commercial catchy songs (Driving Rain and Tiny Bubble) and the strong balled Your Loving Flame.
Tiny Bubble surprised me..not sounding particularly typical Macca but it works and it IS a great song.
Much in evidence is McCartney the bass player. More interesting and melodic of late perhaps due to looking back to early rock n roll on the Run Devil Run album.
For me the album only picks up momentum with the title track Driving Rain. Riding to junipur is in Indian style similar to George Harrisons. You either love it or hate it!!
Rinse the Raindrops is an incredible 10 minute long jam similar to songs he did with Steve Miller on Flaming Pie and although could have been edited it is still a welcome track.
In conclusion Driving Rain is as good as anything McCartney has done..if not better. Typical McCartney melodic, lyrical songsmith with the odd surprise and a man who has gone through every emotion through the past few years to return with a positive, strong album which sounds like he is really enjoying himself, after all he does not HAVE to record anything again..but he is a workaholic and you just cant stop the guy producing brilliant songs.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Driving Rain...What a Shame
Unfortunately I really didn't enjoy Driving Rain. I felt that the lyric's were mediocre and the majority of the songs were Paul going through the motions of making an album rather... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Andrew Whitby
Dire
Apart from a couple of tracks, this is the second worst album from Paul. However as it's McCartney us fans have to own it.
Published on 7 Mar 2010 by Mr. W. G. Eatock
Macca in a hurry
For the most part this was a reasonable effort from Macca. What the "driving" force was behind this album is not so evident unless it was to say goodbye to one past love in his... Read more
Published on 13 Jun 2009 by Funsize
Driving Rain
'Driving Rain' is an interesting if slightly uneven album, with the material ranging from beautifully crafted ballads to extended rock noodling, with a couple of diversions to... Read more
Published on 30 Jun 2007 by Jane Aland
Very different
I must admit when I bought this album (the day it came out) I was expecting it to be a dark, harrowing album filled with McCartney writing about the loss of Linda. Read more
Published on 22 Aug 2003 by Josh
Macca's Best Album In Decades
Driving Rain is McCartney's best album for years. At last he's rejected the glossy production and injected some rough edges and real emotion into his songs. Read more
Published on 15 April 2003 by Scott Hart
Driving Nowhere
A great disappointment: there are a couple of good tracks but lazy songwriting and some terrible toe-curling lyrics are the norm on this release. Read more
Published on 17 Sep 2002 by P. Tucker
Paul is one of our best musicians and pop writers
With the release of DRIVING RAIN, Paul McCartney has delivered three superb albums and hasn't been on a streak like this since the early 1970s. Read more
Published on 6 Sep 2002 by Mike London
Someone should tell him "That's not finished yet, Paul"
The man can still write a melody. But too frequently, it's just a great chorus and the verse is weak, or vice versa. Read more
Published on 13 May 2002 by R. S. Stanier
Almost, almost could have been a GREAT album.
After "Run Devil Run" (which rocked liked nobody's business) I had really high hopes that "Driving Rain" would be a great album. Read more
Published on 29 Jan 2002
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