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Ram
Studio album by Paul McCartney and Linda McCartney

Released 17 May 1971 (US), 21 May 1971 (UK)
Recorded Columbia Recording Studio, New York, November−December 1970; A&R Recording Studios, New York, January 1971; Sound Recording Studios, Los Angeles, February−March 1971
Genre Rock
Length 43:15
Label Apple, EMI
Producer Paul and Linda McCartney

Singles from Ram

"Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey"
Released: 2 August 1971 (US only)
"The Back Seat of My Car"
Released: 13 August 1971 (UK only)
"Eat at Home"
Released: 2 September 1971 (Europe only; except UK)

Ram is an album by Paul McCartney and Linda McCartney, released in 1971, the only album credited to the pair. Set against the backdrop of the legal action taking place in Britain's High Court with the dissolution of The Beatles partnership, following their break-up the year before, Ram was the second of two albums McCartney released between quitting The Beatles and forming Wings, whose future drummer Denny Seiwell played on the record, alongside the McCartneys and session musicians.

Three singles were released from the album: the American number 1 hit "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey", the minor British hit "The Back Seat of My Car", and "Eat at Home", which appeared in Europe, Japan and Australia. The album was reissued on 21 May 2012.

Recording and structure

After the release of the commercially successful (though, critically, poorly received) debut McCartney, Paul and Linda went on a lengthy holiday and spent much time on their farm on the Mull of Kintyre, Scotland. It was during this period that Paul, often with his wife's input − her self-confessed lack of musical ability notwithstanding − composed the songs that would feature on Ram. The couple flew to New York City in the fall of 1970 to record the new material.

Lacking a working band, they held auditions for musicians, bringing some in under the guise of a session to record a commercial jingle. Denny Seiwell was recruited on drums, David Spinozza was tapped for guitar duties (later replaced by Hugh McCracken when Spinozza became unavailable), and Marvin Stamm was featured on flugelhorn on "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey". Although it was a collaborative project, Linda's vocal duties were mostly limited to backing Paul, who sang almost all of the lead parts. Linda sang co-lead vocals on "Long Haired Lady", however. The sessions also birthed future songs like "Dear Friend", released on the debut Wings album Wild Life later in 1971, "Little Woman Love" (B-side to "Mary Had a Little Lamb"), as well as future tracks featured on Wings' 1973 album, Red Rose Speedway; "Get on the Right Thing", "Big Barn Bed" (opening lines of which can be heard on "Ram On (Reprise)"), and "Little Lamb Dragonfly".

By early 1971, the project was completed along with the non-album "Another Day" / "Oh Woman, Oh Why" single − McCartney's first after The Beatles − which was released that February and became a worldwide Top 5 hit. In May, Ram was unveiled.

Despite the phasing-out of monaural albums by the late 1960s, Ram was pressed in mono (MAS 3375) with unique mixes that differ from the common stereo version (SMAS 3375). These were only made available to radio stations and are among the most valuable and sought-after of Paul McCartney's solo records.

Apart from the songs released on Ram and the first two Wings albums, McCartney also recorded the following tracks during these sessions:

"A Love for You"
"Rode All Night"
"When the Wind Is Blowing"
"Sunshine Sometime"
"Hey Diddle"

Feud
The back cover

According to Peter Brown, John Lennon believed that a number of songs on Ram contained jibes aimed at him, particularly "Too Many People" and "Dear Boy". Brown also described the picture of two beetles copulating on the back cover as symbolic of how Paul McCartney felt the other Beatles were treating him. George Harrison and Ringo Starr were said to consider the track "3 Legs" as an attack on them and Lennon ("Three Legs" being McCartney's nickname for his former band-mates).

McCartney later claimed that only two lines in "Too Many People" were directed at Lennon. "In one song, I wrote, 'Too many people preaching practices,' I think is the line. I mean, that was a little dig at John and Yoko. There wasn't anything else on [Ram] that was about them. Oh, there was 'You took your lucky break and broke it in two.'"

As well as conducting a war of words via Britain's musical press, Lennon's response was the scathing "How Do You Sleep?", and it has been considered too that "Crippled Inside", also from his Imagine album, was directed at McCartney. Early editions of Imagine included a postcard of Lennon pulling the ears of a pig in a parody of Ram's cover photograph of McCartney holding a ram by the horns.

Release and reception

Professional ratings
Allmusic 5/5 stars
Blender (magazine) 5/5 stars link
Robert Christgau C+
Rolling Stone (negative)
MusicHound 3.5/5 stars

"The Back Seat of My Car" was excerpted as a UK single from Ram that August, only reaching number 39, but the US release of the ambitious "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" proved much more successful, giving McCartney his first number 1 single since leaving The Beatles.

The album reached number 1 in Britain and number 2 in the US, where it spent over five months in the Top 10 and went platinum. The album has sold over two million copies.

At the time of its release, Ram was given a poor critical reception, and Paul was particularly stung by the harsh reviews − especially as he had attempted to address the points raised in criticism of his earlier album, McCartney, by adopting a more professional approach this time around. Jon Landau in Rolling Stone labelled Ram "incredibly inconsequential" and "monumentally irrelevant", while Playboy opined, "you keep wondering why he bothers."[citation needed] Writing some four years later, Roy Carr and Tony Tyler from the New Musical Express explained the situation: "It would be naive to have expected the McCartneys to produce anything other than a mediocre record ... Grisly though this was, McCartney was to sink lower before rescuing his credibility late in 1973."

His fellow ex-Beatles, all of whom were riding high in the critics' favour with their recent releases, were likewise vocal in their negativity. Lennon famously hated the album, dismissing his former songwriting partner's efforts as "muzak to my ears" in his song "How Do You Sleep?". Even the affable Starr told Britain's Melody Maker: "I feel sad about Paul's albums ... I don't think there's one [good] tune on the last one, Ram ... he seems to be going strange."

However, after the passage of several years, critics began dramatically revising their earlier opinions. By the 1980s, for instance, Rolling Stone were hailing the album as one of McCartney's best, and retroactively awarded it four (of five) stars.

In 1977, McCartney supervised the release of an instrumental interpretation of Ram (recorded in June 1971 and arranged by Richard Hewson) with the release of Thrillington under the pseudonym of Percy "Thrills" Thrillington.

Re-release and tributes

Ram was first issued on compact disc in 1987. In 1993, the album was remastered and reissued on CD as part of "The Paul McCartney Collection" series with "Another Day" and "Oh Woman, Oh Why" as bonus tracks. That same year Digital Compact Classics (DCC) released an audiophile edition prepared by Steve Hoffman. The mono mix has never been issued on compact disc, except by bootleggers.

In 2009, two tribute albums featuring all of the songs from Ram were made available for digital download. Ram On L.A. was compiled by the website Aquarium Drunkard and featured Los Angeles-based acts; Tom was put together by New Jersey radio station WFMU DJ Tom Scharpling and included Aimee Mann and Death Cab for Cutie, among others. On 3 December 2010, Juliens Auctions sold the only known remaining acetate of Ram for $1536.00.

On 21 May 2012 (UK) and 22 May (US), Ram was reissued by McCartney's current label Hear Music.

Track listing
Side one

1. "Too Many People" Paul McCartney 4:10
2. "3 Legs" P. McCartney 2:44
3. "Ram On" P. McCartney 2:26
4. "Dear Boy" P. McCartney, Linda McCartney 2:12
5. "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" P. McCartney, L. McCartney 4:49
6. "Smile Away" P. McCartney 3:51

Side two

7. "Heart of the Country" P. McCartney, L. McCartney 2:21
8. "Monkberry Moon Delight" P. McCartney, L. McCartney 5:21
9. "Eat at Home" P. McCartney, L. McCartney 3:18
10. "Long Haired Lady" P. McCartney, L. McCartney 5:54
11. "Ram On (reprise)" P. McCartney 0:52
12. "The Back Seat of My Car" P. McCartney 4:26

2012 reissue

Ram was reissued in several packages:

Standard Edition 1 CD; the original 12-track album
Standard Edition digital download; the original 12-track album
Special Edition 2 CD; the original 12-track album on the first disc, plus 8 bonus tracks on a second disc
Deluxe Edition Box Set 4 CD/1 DVD; the original 12-track album, the bonus track disc, the original album in mono, Thrillington, DVD of films (including the documentary, 'Ramming' narrated by Paul and directed by Ben Ib, as well as the original music videos for "Heart of the Country" and "3 Legs"), 112-page book, 5 prints, 8 facsimiles of lyric sheets, photograph book, and download link to all of the material
Remastered vinyl 2-LP version of the Special Edition and a download link to the material
Remastered mono vinyl limited edition LP of the mono mixes
Remastered (Record Store Day 2012 exclusive) vinyl single of "Another Day" and "Oh Woman, Oh Why"

Disc 1: The original album

The original 12-track album.
Disc 2: Bonus tracks

15. "Another Day"
single released in 1971
16. "Oh Woman, Oh Why"
B-side of the "Another Day" single
17. "Little Woman Love"
B-side of the Wings' "Mary Had a Little Lamb" single
18. "A Love for You" (Jon Kelly Mix)
previously unreleased
19. "Hey Diddle" (Dixon Van Winkle Mix)
previously unreleased
20. "Great Cock and Seagull Race" (Dixon Van Winkle Mix)
previously unreleased
21. "Rode All Night"
previously unreleased
22. "Sunshine Sometime" (Earliest Mix)
previously unreleased

Disc 3: Ram mono

The mono version of the original 12-track album.

1. "Too Many People" – 4:14
2. "3 Legs" – 2:52
3. "Ram On" – 2:34
4. "Dear Boy" – 2:19
5. "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" – 4:59
6. "Smile Away" – 3:57
7. "Heart of the Country" – 2:28
8. "Monkberry Moon Delight" – 5:29
9. "Eat at Home" – 3:27
10. "Long Haired Lady" – 6:09
11. "Ram On" – 0:59
12. "The Back Seat of My Car" – 4:35

Disc 4: Thrillington

The Thrillington album.

Digital Bonus Tracks

(available only on Paulmccartney.com and iTunes)

21. "Eat at Home" / "Smile Away (Live in Groningen, 1972)" – 8:24
22. "Uncle Albert Jam" – 2:17


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