Kisses On the Bottom

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Disc 1

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About

From paulmccartney.com, December 19, 2011:

While many a musician is often asked about the tunes that have influenced their songwriting, it is not a question Paul McCartney ordinarily gets to answer – until now. Paul is about to offer a glimpse into “the songs which inspired the songs” with the upcoming release of a brand new album of those standards he grew up listening to in his childhood—plus two brand new McCartney compositions: the album, which is currently untitled, will be released on Hear Music/Concord Records on February 7th 2012.

With the help of Grammy Award-winning producer Tommy LiPuma and Diana Krall and her band—as well as guest appearances from Eric Clapton and Stevie Wonder, McCartney’s new album is a deeply personal journey through classic American compositions that, in some cases, a young Paul first heard his father perform on piano at home. As authentic and daring a musical statement as he could make, this is the album Paul has been thinking about making for more than 20 years – and probably the last thing his fans are expecting. “In the end, it was ‘Look, if I don’t do it now, I’ll never do it,” he says.

In short, Paul believes it is about time “the songs me and John based quite a few of our things on” received the recognition they deserve. Moreover, the record also features a couple of new original McCartney compositions in the spirit of those classics.

“When I kind of got into songwriting, I realised how well structured these songs were and I think I took a lot of my lessons from them,” Paul explains. “I always thought artists like Fred Astaire were very cool. Writers like Harold Arlen, Cole Porter, all of those guys – I just thought the songs were magical.  And then, as I got to be a songwriter I thought it’s beautiful, the way they made those songs.”

Determined to approach the record in a new and unique manner, Paul enlisted the help of LiPuma and Krall and her band—who delivered ultra-high quality musicianship and were completely in tune with Paul’s restraint and feel for the music. In the studio, the recording of this album was also a new challenge for Paul who, for the first time ever, performed exclusively in the vocal booth without no instrument – no guitar, no bass, no piano – which led to a vocal performance like no other in his career.

He adds, “It was very spontaneous, kind of organic, which then reminded me of the way we’d work with The Beatles. We’d bring a song in, kick it around when we found a way to do it we’d say ‘Okay, let’s do a take now’ and by the time everyone kind of had an idea of what they were doing, we’d learnt the song. So that’s what we did, we did the take live in the studio.”

“It was important for me to keep away from the more obvious song choices so, many of the classic standards will be unfamiliar to some people.  I hope they are in for a pleasant surprise.”

The album was recorded at the legendary Capitol Studios in Los Angeles, New York and London throughout 2011.  It also features guest musicians Eric Clapton and Stevie Wonder, respectively, on the original compositions  ‘My Valentine’ and ‘Only Our Hearts’. 

From paulmccartney.com, January 8, 2012:

On December 19^th 2011 Paul announced that February 2012 would see the release of his brand new studio album. Scores of fans then streamed the new original track ‘My Valentine’, many assuming it would be the new record’s title track.  While a few Twitter hints have been dropped and rumours have run rampant, Paul puts an end to speculation today, confirming that the album will indeed be titled ‘Kisses On The Bottom’.

Paul has apparently had some fun with his choice of album title—while causing some confusion amongst those who have historically subjected his every move to microscopic scrutiny (with many fixating on an anatomical interpretation!). The phrase ‘Kisses On The Bottom,’ however, actually comes from the album’s opener ‘I’m Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter’. Originally made a big hit by Fats Waller in 1935, the song opens with the lines ‘I’m gonna sit right down and write myself a letter and make believe it came from you.  I’m gonna write words oh so sweet.  They’re gonna knock me off of my feet.  A lot of kisses on the bottom , I’ll be glad I got ‘em’.

‘Kisses On The Bottom’ is a collection of standards Paul grew up listening to in his childhood as well as the two new McCartney compositions ‘My Valentine’ and ‘Only Our Hearts’.  With the help of Grammy Award-winning producer Tommy LiPuma and Diana Krall and her band—as well as guest appearances from Eric Clapton and Stevie Wonder,
McCartney’s new album is a deeply personal journey through classic American compositions that, in some cases, a young Paul first heard his father perform on piano at home.  The full tracklisting reveals that Paul has been both reverent and adventurous in his song choices.

From Wikipedia:

Kisses on the Bottom is the fifteenth solo studio album by Paul McCartney, consisting primarily of covers of traditional pop music and jazz. Released in February 2012 on Starbucks’ Hear Music label, it was McCartney’s first studio album since Memory Almost Full in 2007. The album was produced by Tommy LiPuma and includes just two original compositions by McCartney: “My Valentine” and “Only Our Hearts”. The former features Eric Clapton on guitar, while the latter features Stevie Wonder on harmonica. Kisses on the Bottom peaked at number 3 on the UK Albums Chart and number 5 on the US Billboard 200, while also topping Billboard magazine’s Jazz Albums chart.

In addition to the standard release, the album was made available in a “Deluxe” edition, which added the songs “Baby’s Request”—written by McCartney and originally recorded by Wings for their 1979 album Back to the Egg—and another cover, “My One and Only Love“. In November 2012, an expanded edition of Kisses on the Bottom, subtitled Complete Kisses, was released exclusively on the iTunes store. The latter release features the fourteen-track album with four bonus tracks, and the complete iTunes Live from Capitol Studios performance.

Contents

History and recording

A year prior to recording the album, jazz producer Tommy LiPuma and an unnamed keyboardist tried out some ideas for five days with Paul McCartney at McCartney’s home studio in East Sussex. Featuring just vocals and piano, the trio “put about 15-20 songs on tape”, to see what tracks would work. Around this time, an unknown McCartney original was recorded, with the help of engineer Geoff Emerick. The songs that McCartney would work on were voted upon democratically; McCartney commented, “I pulled up some [songs] from my memories, when I was a kid and we had family sing-songs, which was the original inspiration for the whole idea, I said to Tom, ‘Let’s look at these ones. This is the kind of era I want to look at.’ Tommy himself suggested some; a girl in my office; […] Diana [Krall] suggested some. Then I played Tommy a couple that I’d written, and he said, ‘Whoa, that’s a great idea,’ so we selected a couple of those. […] We all made suggestions, and we took all those suggestions to the studio.”

An alternate musical arrangement of “My Valentine” was recorded, along with remakes of earlier McCartney songs: “Baby’s Request” and “Goodnight Princess”. The version of “My Valentine” recorded during the album sessions, as well as the original 1983 vocal version, remain unreleased.
“My Valentine” was arranged by Alan Broadbent, who recalled his work with McCartney in the book Paul McCartney: Recording Sessions (1969–2013), speaking about the ideas McCartney offered him for the arrangement.
Some songs were from McCartney’s childhood, in which his father, Jim, would often be playing on the family piano. Most of the songs were played based on the sheet music, with LiPuma commenting that “We’d have somebody write out a chord sheet for us, and then we went in and figured it out on the date”. LiPuma added that McCartney wasn’t unfamiliar with the group’s way of recording, and related that McCartney said, “I love this. It reminds me of the way we used to do the Beatles. John [Lennon] and I would write a song, we’d have a date booked at Abbey Road, and neither George Martin, George Harrison or Ringo [Starr] knew what the songs were about. They’d work it out right there in the room”.

The album was recorded during March 2010 at Capitol Studios and Avatar Studios. The album’s title comes from the lead track “I’m Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter“, originally a hit for Fats Waller in 1935. In the liner notes for the album, McCartney commented, “I worked with Diana Krall, and great jazz musicians like John Clayton. This is an album very tender, very intimate. This is an album you listen to at home after work, with a glass of wine or a cup of tea.” The disc was helmed by LiPuma, who had previously worked with Miles Davis and Barbra Streisand, among others. The album is mostly standards, with two originals written in the same style (“My Valentine” and “Only Our Hearts”). The first song released from the album was “My Valentine”, composed by McCartney and featuring Eric Clapton on guitar. Stevie Wonder plays harmonica on “Only Our Hearts”. McCartney plays acoustic guitar on “Get Yourself Another Fool” and “The Inch Worm”, but otherwise contributes only vocals.

Release and promotion

Kisses on the Bottom was released in the UK on 6 February 2012, and a day later in the US, on LP and CD. The CD version was originally released in two editions: a standard 14-track edition, and a 16-track “Deluxe” edition.

A streaming free live performance was hosted by iTunes on 9 February 2012. McCartney performed live from Capitol Studios in Los Angeles, where much of the album was recorded. People tuned into the show by accessing iTunes on their PCs or Macintosh computers. The live performance was later released as Paul McCartney’s Live Kisses, directed by Jonas Åkerlund, airing on PBS’ Great Performances in September 2012. The performance was released on DVD and Blu-ray on 13 November 2012. In an interview with Billboard, McCartney said that he did not rule out the possibility of a tour for the album with the musicians who played on it: “We haven’t really talked about it yet. People have plenty of ideas and suggestions. I’d like to see how it goes live, just how much we enjoy it. If we all enjoy it, then we’ve got to think about taking it out.”

Singles

McCartney performed “My Valentine” live at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards in 2012 with Diana Krall and Joe Walsh, the latter of the Eagles. The single climbed to number 20 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary Chart after its debut at number 28. “My Valentine” also reached number 23 on the Japan Hot 100, number 27 on the Billboard Jazz Digital Songs chart, and number 23 on the Billboard Rock Digital Songs chart. “Only Our Hearts” debuted at number 84 on the Japan Hot 100.

Reception

Kisses on the Bottom rates 62/100—meaning a “generally favorable” reception—at Metacritic, who compiled data from 26 professional reviews, sixteen of which were “mixed”.

According to Rolling Stone, “like Rock ‘n’ Roll, John Lennon’s 1975 album of primal rock gems, Kisses on the Bottom is the sound of a musician joyfully tapping his roots; and like his former song writing partner, McCartney is better transforming influences than mirroring them. But it’s fun, and touching, to hear him crooning his way through the great American songbook.” In a review of the album for BBC Music, writer Patrick Humphries referred to the collection as “an album of neglected dishes from the great banquet of American popular music”, before concluding that “what McCartney accomplishes here, in the best possible sense, is an album ideally made for Easy Listening”.

AllMusic’s Stephen Thomas Erlewine said McCartney “cut faithful, loving versions of songs he’s always sung”, and deemed his two original compositions—”My Valentine” and “Only Our Hearts”—to be “quite good”. Of McCartney’s originals, Neil McCormick, reviewing the album for The Daily Telegraph, noted that it is “impossible to pick them out as contemporary songs amongst the standards” and added that, whilst “Only Our Hearts” is “unremarkable”, the album’s other original, “My Valentine”, “has the ring of a classic”. Greg Kot said the slow version of “Bye Bye Blackbird” “nearly stalls”.

Awards and accolades

Kisses on the Bottom won a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album at the 2013 Grammy Awards.

Commercial performance

Kisses on the Bottom peaked at number 3 on the UK Albums Chart, and number 5 on the US Billboard 200. It also debuted at number 17 on Billboard‘s Jazz Albums listings, before climbing to number 1 the following week. In addition, it hit number 2 on the Billboard Tastemaker Albums chart, just behind Van Halen’s A Different Kind of Truth, and number 5 on the magazine’s Digital Albums chart.

Track listing

Deluxe edition

The deluxe version of the album includes two additional tracks (including “Baby’s Request”, a rerecording of a Wings song from the Back to the Egg album), a download code for access to an exclusive live show available from McCartney’s website a week after the album’s release, and longer liner notes and expanded album packaging, including three postcards. The US deluxe edition of the CD is 16 tracks which is available exclusively through Target stores.

Kisses on the Bottom – Complete Kisses

An expanded edition of the album, titled Kisses on the Bottom – Complete Kisses, was released exclusively on iTunes on 26 November 2012 for the UK, and 27 November 2012 for the US. The album contained the original fourteen-track version of the album, plus four bonus tracks, and the complete Live from Capitol Studios performance (thirteen tracks). One of the bonus tracks, “The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)”, was released as a vinyl single titled Christmas Kisses (backed with the previously released “Wonderful Christmastime“), on both red and green vinyl, and peaked at number 25 on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary chart. The track was also featured in a different mix without strings on the 2012 Christmas compilation album Holidays Rule.

Last updated on December 1, 2020