Advanced Search Beta »
Basic Search Fields
Kisses on the Bottom - Paul McCartney
Metascore
62 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 26 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 8 out of 26
  2. Mixed: 16 out of 26
  3. Negative: 2 out of 26
view
per page
  1. Entertainment Weekly
    Feb 8, 2012
    100
    It's de-lovely.
  2. Paste Magazine
    Feb 8, 2012
    80
    Kisses on the Bottom is a winner from beginning to end.
  3. The New York Times
    Feb 6, 2012
    80
    The music ... floats over you like a light mist on a cool spring morning in an English garden as the sun glints through the haze.
  4. Uncut
    Feb 3, 2012
    80
    This album is made with care, love and expertise and it shows on every song. [Mar 2012, p.80]
    All this publication's reviews
  5. The Telegraph (UK)
    Feb 3, 2012
    80
    It sounds like a romantic gift to his new wife and a sentimental salute to his own childhood--a minor gem from a major talent.
  6. BBC Music
    Feb 3, 2012
    80
    Remind[s] you just what a good singer the rocking knight can be. And after years of personal and professional earnestness, he sounds like he's having fun.
  7. The Guardian
    Feb 3, 2012
    80
    It's beautifully done, with palpable affection for the songs, airy whimsy and perhaps a hint of mischief.
  8. Blurt Magazine
    Feb 15, 2012
    70
    Throughout the tunes, you can hear that McCartney loves the language of the old songs. He enjoys the phraseology, tickles and teases each lyrical phrase. You can hear that he's waited forever to do as much such as this.
  9. Mojo
    Feb 27, 2012
    60
    The album works because McCartney treats the material with respect, exuding charm by the bucket-load. [Mar 2012, p.94]
    All this publication's reviews
  10. Clash Music
    Feb 15, 2012
    60
    It's got a sweet, easy intimacy.
  11. American Songwriter
    Feb 13, 2012
    60
    It's warmly, immaculately recorded, featuring a wealth of tasty cocktail pop atmosphere perfect for sipping wine on the couch late at night or reclining with a book in a bay window on a lazy Sunday afternoon. It's fine, it's dandy, and it's completely inessential.
  12. Consequence of Sound
    Feb 10, 2012
    60
    Kisses on the Bottom is a respectable collection from a pop mastermind.
  13. Boston Globe
    Feb 7, 2012
    60
    The album is inconsequential.
  14. All Music Guide
    Feb 7, 2012
    60
    As a vocalist, this may not be his natural forte, but he takes great care with the songs, and that palpable love is enough to make Kisses on the Bottom worth a spin or two.
  15. Rolling Stone
    Feb 7, 2012
    60
    McCartney is better transforming influences than mirroring them.
  16. PopMatters
    Feb 7, 2012
    60
    Kisses on the Bottom may only get you about halfway there, flowers in hand wondering whether a second date is on the cards, unsure if that's even what you want at all.
  17. The A.V. Club
    Feb 7, 2012
    58
    Here they sound like preludes to a nice cup of tea and an afternoon nap.
  18. Drowned In Sound
    Feb 6, 2012
    50
    Such relaxed saunters down musical memory lane have been done before, and often better.
  19. Chicago Tribune
    Feb 6, 2012
    50
    These songs are meant to swing, but McCartney lets them plod.
  20. Los Angeles Times
    Feb 6, 2012
    50
    Gentle on the ears and soft on the heart, Kisses might be of no greater or lesser consequence than an easygoing golf outing among friends or a weekend spent digging a garden near the back fence, but its pleasures, though small and sleepy, can be gratifying.
  21. Tiny Mix Tapes
    Feb 14, 2012
    40
    He has always played it warm and safe, but in this album, he is playing it warmer and safer than ever....Lukewarm this album is, indeed.
  22. NOW Magazine
    Feb 9, 2012
    40
    His usually formidable voice could have saved it, but he often sounds like he's struggling to hit the notes.
  23. The Observer (UK)
    Feb 6, 2012
    40
    These standards have a lot still to say--if only they sang a little more potently here.
  24. The Independent (UK)
    Feb 3, 2012
    40
    The lite-jazz treatment of standards on Kisses on the Bottom seems like a misstep.
  25. Spin
    Mar 21, 2012
    30
    Sir Paul McCartney has made an utterly forgettable, featherweight record designed primarily to appeal to Sir Paul McCartney.
  26. The Independent on Sunday (UK)
    Feb 6, 2012
    20
    Suggests that McCartney lacks anyone to tell him when he's had a terrible idea.
prev next
Page:
  • 1

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
6.7 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 9 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 4
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 4
  3. Negative: 0 out of 4
  1. CircleGuy
    8
    This album is something very special for me, and I didn't know it would be until I listened to it. It made me remember my early years spent running around my grandparents’ house with most of these songs playing on an old record player. I had forgotten these memories long ago, incidental memories at that. Sadly, those grandparents passed away recently enough, and I’m still physically & mentally dealing with their passing. The song selection by McCartney is amazing, featuring such classics as “It’s Only A Paper Moon” (Ella Fitzgerald) and “Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate The Positive” (Johnny Mercer). The music is superb, either faithfully replicating it in the case of “Home (when shadows fall)” or changing the sound of the music while still retaining all the charm (It’s Only A Paper Moon, for example). The production is superb, although maybe a little too good. It’s all a little too perfect for me. I would have preferred that it maybe kept the charming genuine feel of the original music, but that could just be me. I like the sound of just the air crackling in the background on those old standards. (You can hear a similar effect in a bonus track on the deluxe edition of the album, “My One and Only Love”) McCartney’s main contribution to the album is vocals. His voice isn’t as perfect as it was (I doubt he could do his Little Richard impression now), he now sounds the elder statesman of music he is. And it suits this album perfectly. The motivation for the album is delivered through McCartney’s rough, older voice. I found it actually suited songs better than the original artists’ did. Sam Cooke’s version of the song (not the original but the most popular version, I’ve found) is an example of this: Cooke’s voice (he is the King of Soul), I feel, overpowers the song, and the soft music is lost underneath it. McCartney’s voice matches the music well, even letting the music swell over his voice at times. There are three McCartney originals on the album: My Valentine, Only Our Hearts and Baby’s Request, the last of those being a deluxe album exclusive. My Valentine was the big single of the album, being used in all the advertising. My Valentine wouldn’t stick out on a Beatles album. This is probably my favourite of the McCartney originals, mainly because of the wonderful Latin guitar from Eric Clapton and wonderful orchestration one has come to expect from him. Looking further into the lyrics one can see it as a love letter to his late-wife Linda, but looking further one can see it as a letter to the women he’s lost, mainly Linda and his mother, Mary, who died when Paul was 14. Only Our Hearts is the second single from Kisses on the Bottom. It features Stevie Wonder on harmonica. Only Our Hearts seems to be a love letter to his current wife, Nancy Shevell. “I wish that my heart was strong I’d be letting it beat, much faster At the thought of you holding me near I wish that my heart, wish that my heart was strong” These lines have two meanings, in my opinion. The obvious being that McCartney feels he’s too old for his younger bride, thinking that he wont be enough for her and that he wishes he could be stronger. I have a few problems with this theory, the main being that the age difference isn’t that substantial (17 or 18 years depending on what report you read), especially when you compare that to the age gap between McCartney and his previous wife, Heather Mills, who was born in 1968, aka the year The Beatles (The White Album) was released. Speaking of The Beatles, he’s a **** Beatle! He has his choice of women of any age forever, and I don’t think he’d be too worried about a younger woman. The second meaning is that McCartney is worried that he doesn’t have enough room in his heart for his new love. Support for this theory (on the album) lies in My Valentine, a letter to his late-mother and first wife. Conclusion: Kisses on the Bottom is an incredible trip down memory lane, and a very apt album for a man of McCartney’s age and stature to record. It’s not going to be everyone’s cup of tea, but that comes with the territory, that territory being McCartney and nostalgia. What? Everybody loves some smooth jazz!… right? This album had a deep impact on me. It awakened memories that I didn’t know I had, and it made me cry to think of the people I’ve lost. Not because I was sad, but because it filled me with joy to remember, and that’s the impact of McCartney http://nerdvice.com/2012/02/08/kisses-on-the-bottom-album-review/… Full Review »
  2. AlexxTrusc
    8
    The Beatles is history, the world's rushing forward and so does Paul McCartney, who decided to release an album in the strictly jazz style, covering such hits as " It's Only a Paper Moon" originally performed by Ella Fitzgerald and Nat King Cole, or "Always" by Frank Sinatra. McCartney wanted with this album to return to the country of his childhood and you have to admit - he succeed. It is true - the artist does not have a voice that could compete with the original performers, but in this case it works in favor for the album. Nothing is done by force - McCartney casually and gently leads the melodic line, which with the stirring accompaniment of artists like Diana Krall, Eric Clapton or Stevie Wonder speaks for itself.… Full Review »
  3. jnorris
    4
    Please choose 3: Somnolent. Insipid. Tedious. Uninspired. Inexplicable. Interminable. Colorless. Pedestrian. Monotonous. Disappointing. Save the other 7 for later. You may need them. The hour spent listening to Sir Paul's latest seemed to last a week. The songs are fine, the arrangements tasteful to a fault. An album of "standards"? Everybody is entitled to one. But why sing these in his sleep?… Full Review »
See all user reviews »