CHAOS AND CREATION IN THE BACKYARD Fine line How kind of you Jenny Wrenn At the mercy Friends to go Enligsh tea Too much rain A certain softness Riding to vanity fair Follow me Promise to you girl This never happened before Anyway I only got two hands (hidden track)

Paul comes in 2005 with a fantastic album, widely regarded as one of his best. After decades of career, he’s still able of creating superb music, without falling into recipes as some of his contemporaries. It makes me so proud to love Paul when I see this wonderful artist he is.

When I first heard the album repeated times I wrote an e-mail to a friend telling about my first impressions on the album, so I’ll paste it here:

FINE LINE
Maybe it’s the most commercial track and coincidentially it has appearently leaked on the internet, as I saw a few comments about it already. Some people didn’t like it, but I can’t agree with them. To it’s an excellent rocker with brilliant chorus, and I just loved Paul’s voice on it. It shows what is maybe a good point on the album, which is bringing back one of Paul’s characteristics I have always loved and that he hadn’t been paying much attention to, which is the ability of creating different voices.

HOW KIND OF YOU
Wow! This one just give me a thrill. The melody is so wonderful and the lyrics are great. I specially liked the note bend on “you” during the first verses. It isn’t something Paul will normally do, because he tends to put one note on each sylabe, but here he did different and it gives a different groove to the song.

JENNY WREN
I confess I tended to think badly of this song, because I had heard on the internet it was described as “daughter of Blackbird”, and that kinda diminished it. So when Ilistened to it I was totally stunned by its beauty, one the best. It has sort of a narrative perspective, which is another traditional great item on Paul’s writing that he hasn’t explored much lately. His ability to creating great characters has been commented before, but not given its due value. Lyrics aside, the songs is truly wonderful. What’s that intriguing instrument on the solo? It’s so beautiful. It could be a violin, but sounds more like a viola, but it’s intriguing that I seem to hear a breath on it. Anyway it’s amazing. And what about the mixing? Paul’s voice’s been put right upfront, looks like some close-mike has been used when recording. Again it’s not usual for Paul to do it. And he vocals are so delicate on that one. After the live version of “I’ll follow the sun” during the latest tour I didn’t epect him to reach such high notes with that tenderness anymore. Brilliant, simply brilliant tune. It’s a shame Paul doesn’t have the same space on the music market as in the old days, or I’d bet this would become one of his dearest classics. By the way, is it just me or is this song really Elliot Smith-like?

AT THE MERCY
Liked a lot this one, maybe Paul’s best recent attempt of creating a weird melody. I thought he tried to do it on “She’s given up talking” and “Vanilla sky”, but to be honest I didn’t think he got to the point on those ones. But right now he did manage to create something that’s both unconventional and really beautiful.

FRIENDS TO GO
An enjoyable tune, but maybe on a slightly lower level than the avarage track on the album. Doesn’t do any harm though. P.S.: After a few months, though, the song grew a lot on me, with its rich harmony.

ENGLISH TEA
Lovely string work, enojyable tune, but maybe a little behind other tracks on the album. Ringo did a track called “English garden” on his “Ringorama” CD, and it was also evocative of the Beatles years. Maybe it’s a happier “For no one”. There’s a phrase that’s a little too similar to a bit of the Liverpool Oratorio. I thought, due to the context, all this might be intentional. Loved the arrangement.

TOO MUCH RAIN
I guess this is a strong contender for the favourite track on the album position. Really beautiful melody, the arrangement just blows me out with those acoustic guitars. The chorus is wonderful, the lyrics are nice, the mood is touching, a tension lies on all the track and it kinda solves on the high note of the chorus without becoming corny, so it’s just the perfect song for me, just fantastic.

A CERTAIN SADNESS
I liked this one a lot. It just shows Paul’s versatility. I wish he did this more often, trying writing on unconventional rhythms. It makes me wonder it’s a shame he appearently doesn’t know much about Brazilian music, Tom Jobim, bossa nova, etc. I bet he would make very good use of it.

RIDING TO VANITY FAIR
Maybe it’s the weakest point on the album musically. Sounds like he tried again to do an unconventional melody, but the restul is a little forced, like on “Vanilla sky”. Still I liked the arrangement. I read on internet this track is in response to some unfriendly interview Heather gave to Vanity Fair magazine. Since I don’t know this interviews, I feel I’m missing something. P.S.: It’s another song that grew on me after repeated listenings. I like the orchestration a lot; it creates a tension and a sensuality that somehow underlines a certain amibuity behind the anger.

FOLLOW ME
Already knew it from the Glastonburry concert, of course. I already liked it and can only add it got better on the studio version. When I first heard it, I had the feeling Paul had written it on a hurry specially to add extra climax on Glastonburry. If that’s the case, he did manage to make a much much much better job than with “Freedom”.

PROMISE TO YOU GIRL
Oh my God, that’s so wonderful. I loved that melody, the feel, everything about it. Paul’s voice’s amazing on this one, again showcasing his ability to sing with different voices. The harmonies part are wonderful, evocative, to me, of Queen, “Daytime nightime suffering” and “Because”. One resource Paul uses here that I love is repeating the opening lines on a faster tempo later in the song. I just love when he does that or pitches the lines one octave higher as in “Move over busker”. Along with “Too much rain”, this is maybe my favourite track on the album, even though it has some resemblance to “Private property”, a track Paul wrote for Ringo’s “Stop and smell the roses” album.

THIS NEVER HAPPEN BEFORE
Wonderful ballad, without nothing to spoil it, except a slight resemblance to “Same love”. Just loved the drum machine.

ANYWAY
Along with “This never happen before”, a fantastic ballad. “Only love remains” came to my mind oce or twice during the tracks, but still leaving plenty of room to enjoyment. These two ballads are really wonderful and melodic but at the same time they’re not sugary as some of Paul’s 80s works. I couldn’t point one of the two as favourite; both are wonderful.

I’VE ONLY GOT TWO HANDS
Fantastic! The fact that the track exists would be enough o impress me, but the best is that it’s nice music. I don’t think Paul’s done many instrumental on his career, and you know it’s a real shame, as this track shows.

In general, I think this is not a very commercial album, with more introspective tracks. I agree it’s a good thinkg Paul did, appearently not openly trying to force a mega hit as he did with “Freedom”. At the same time, I do think there’s been an attempt at achieving a more contemporary sound while respecting Paul’s history.” The bonus DVD is great, with some backing tracks to enjoy and more. I wish it was a bit longer, though. The web promotion was one of the best to me. The obvious idea of commercializing the b-sides finally allowed people like me to easily obtain them. I also got the vinyil edition, which reproduces the CD content with improved artwork. I put two texts on my site Olho Vivo about the album: the first one is a review, the other is a study about the lyric of “Fine line”. Both are written in Portuguese.

Heartfelt thanks to my dear friend Leonard Haddad

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