McCartney Live?

"I see him as a has-been and a hack"

Definitely not a "hack" as I understand it.

Has been?

How many rock era music figures will be well known 100 years or so from now, like Bach, Beethoven or Mozart today?

I'd wager Paul McCartney will be one.

Yes Mapman he will be remembered, but for the things he wrote before 1970. That is my point. He has not grown, and seems not interested in growth. Since 1970 he has been a business-showman, like (god forbid) ole king Elvis (who I will NEVER understand). Before 1970...great. After 1970...hack. Wings? Please....

My point is that it is possible to keep growing and innovating indefinitely for the mind of a musical genius.

Yes, it is true I am not a huge rock fan. But it is possible to keep growing. Hey, just look at Neil Young or Bob Dylan for example. They are agruably just as musically vital now as they ever were (whether you like the new stuff or not), and they seem just as engaged and full of insight as musical thinkers. Sir Paul became a one man corporate industry, and dropped being a creative thinker a year or so after the Beatles broke up, IMO.

Chashmal,

I understand your point.

Personally I lost interest in his new stuff in the early 1980s for the most part. He has had lots of good output as a solo artist more in the pop rather than rock vein through post 1970. I suspect he is also still an awesome bass player worth listening to just for that to boot.

McCartney was always antipolitical, the anti-John Lennon even in the Beatles. Comparisons to Dylan and others are not really relevant. He is what he is. He likes to write songs that make people feel good, not that necessarily make them think. Others do plenty of that. As such I believe he remains relevant, if no longer particularly innovative, to many.

His legacy will be cemented in that he was a key part of a cultural revolution of sort and has produced many songs that just simply make people happy as a byproduct.

In his prime he wrote some of the most evocative and poignant melodies one can imagine. His harmonic accompaniments as a bass player were UNREAL. I am a fan, don't get me wrong. I am saying this more out of frustration. After 70 I just wish he had become more than he became. And I wonder why he didn't.

Ever hear the 'Liverpool Oratorio'???!!!??? (P.U. as they used to say)