Press to Play
| Press to Play | ||||||||||
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| Studio album by Paul McCartney | ||||||||||
| Released | 25 August 1986 | |||||||||
| Recorded | March–May 1985 at McCartney's Sussex studios, and from October–December 1985 at McCartney's Scottish studios | |||||||||
| Genre | ||||||||||
| Length |
45:11 (LP) 58:53 (CD) |
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| Label |
Parlophone (UK) Capitol (US) |
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| Producer | Paul McCartney, Hugh Padgham | |||||||||
| Paul McCartney chronology | ||||||||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    |
| Chicago Tribune | (mixed) |
| Encyclopedia of Popular Music | |
| The Essential Rock Discography | 4/10 |
| Los Angeles Times | (unfavourable) |
| Q | |
| Rolling Stone | (favourable) |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | |
| Stylus Magazine | (mixed) |
Press to Play is the sixth post-Beatles studio album by the English musician Paul McCartney (outside of Wings' body of work), released in August 1986. It was McCartney's first album of entirely new music since Pipes of Peace in 1983, and his first solo album to be issued internationally by EMI following a six-year alliance with Columbia Records in the United States and Canada. Keen to re-establish himself after his poorly received 1984 musical film Give My Regards to Broad Street, McCartney enlisted producer Hugh Padgham to give the album a contemporary sound.
On release, Press to Play received a mixed critical reception and it was McCartney's poorest selling studio album up to that point. Although it failed to make the top 20 in America, the album peaked at number 8 on the UK Albums Chart and achieved gold status from the BPI in September 1986. Four singles were issued from Press to Play: "Press", "Pretty Little Head", "Stranglehold" and "Only Love Remains". "Press" was a minor success, peaking at number 21 in the US. The music video for the song featured McCartney walking around Piccadilly Circus tube station in London, catching a tube train and speaking with members of the general public.
After the box office flop of the musical film Give My Regards to Broad Street, McCartney decided that it was time for a change of pace in his solo career. In an attempt to give his music a more contemporary sound, he joined forces with Hugh Padgham, an in-demand, multiple award-winning producer famed for having recorded Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, Genesis, The Human League, The Police, and XTC. Beginning in March 1985, McCartney began recording Press to Play, having written several new songs, many with current collaborator, 10cc guitarist Eric Stewart who co-wrote six of the album's ten songs, McCartney claimed that "When we started working on the record, Hugh came in one day and said he'd had a dream," McCartney recalled when he visited New York City in 1986. "He dreamed he woke up one morning and had made this really bad, syrupy album with me, an album he hated, and that it had blown his whole career. We took that as a little warning". Guesting on the album would be The Who's lead guitarist, Pete Townshend, Genesis' drummer and lead vocalist Phil Collins, Split Enz's keyboard maestro Eddie Rayner and Eric Stewart himself. Carlos Alomar also overdubbed electric guitar on several tracks, including "Press", "Good Times Coming/Feel the Sun", "It's Not True", "Tough on a Tightrope", "Write Away" and "Move Over Busker", according to his recollections included in the book Paul McCartney: Recording Sessions (1969–2013).
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