Paul McCartney - Flowers In The Dirt album review

Extras-packed editions of a watershed release

Cover art for Paul McCartney - Flowers In The Dirt album

You can trust Louder Our experienced team has worked for some of the biggest brands in music. From testing headphones to reviewing albums, our experts aim to create reviews you can trust. Find out more about how we review.

Ending the decade on a high, at least partly motivated by a new co-writer and sparring partner, Macca’s 1989 album was the springboard for his first live shows since before John Lennon’s death. Elvis Costello’s input to the Fabs-friendly My Brace Face and the gospel-soaked That Day Is Done makes those songs clear highlights, but they aren’t the whole story.

Deluxe versions of this reissue contain a full disc of the pair’s working demos, including some tracks ultimately destined for Costello’s own records, notably So Like Candy and Playboy To A Man. An additional rendition of the former with a full band manages to evoke the Lennonesque grit of Wings favourite Let Me Roll It.

Even detractors might think soppy cuts (Put It There and We Got Married, odes to his dad and Linda respectively) carry impressive weight, the sound of a legend back on the top of his game, and actually trying again.

Terry Staunton was a senior editor at NME for ten years before joined the founding editorial team of Uncut. Now freelance, specialising in music, film and television, his work has appeared in Classic Rock, The Times, Vox, Jack, Record Collector, Creem, The Village Voice, Hot Press, Sour Mash, Get Rhythm, Uncut DVD, When Saturday Comes, DVD World, Radio Times and on the website Music365.

Latest in
Vera Farmiga in 2021
The Conjuring star Vera Farmiga announces debut album with her heavy metal band The Yagas
'Emo' Ed Sheeran busking
Watch Ed Sheeran cover Chappell Roan's Pink Pony Club on the New York subway while disguised as an emo busker
A close-up shot of the Marshall Major IV on-ear headphones on a turquoise, blue and black background.
I’ve never seen the Marshall Major IV headphones this cheap before - get them for half price in Amazon’s big spring sale
Evanescence in 2025
Evanescence release new song Afterlife from Devil May Cry TV series soundtrack, have their next album in the works
Tony Banks
“You only have to hear the opening sweep to reach for your lighter and wave it in the air”: Tony Banks' greatest Genesis moments
The Horrors
Ghouls Aloud: The Horrors come back from the dead with "a dazzling nocturnal spectacle of sombre reflections and oozing catharsis"
Latest in Review
The Horrors
Ghouls Aloud: The Horrors come back from the dead with "a dazzling nocturnal spectacle of sombre reflections and oozing catharsis"
/news/the-darkness-i-hate-myself
"When the storm clouds clear, the band’s innate pop sensibilities shine as brightly as ever": In a world of bread-and-butter rock bands, The Darkness remain the toast of the town
Sex Pistols at the RAH
"Open the dance floor, you’ll never get to do it again." Forget John Lydon's bitter and boring "karaoke" jibes, with Frank Carter up front, the Sex Pistols sound like the world's greatest punk band once more
Arch Enemy posing in an alleyway
Arch Enemy promised they'd throw out the rule book for Blood Dynasty. They didn't go quite that far, but this is the boldest album of the Alissa White-Gluz era - and it kicks ass
The Darkness press shot
"Not just one of the best British rock albums of all time, but one of the best debut albums ever made": That time The Darkness added a riot of colour to a grey musical landscape
Roger Waters - The Dark Side of the Moon Redux Deluxe Box Set
“The live recording sees the piece come to life… amid the sepulchral gloom there are moments of real beauty”: Roger Waters' Super Deluxe Box Set of his Dark Side Of The Moon Redux