Paul McCartney: The poor man's Emitt Rhodes

Cafe Society
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Maybe this thread will fall on deaf ears. I hope not. But a few months ago I discovered a singer/songwriter/musician named Emitt Rhodes, who recorded a few very obscure albums in the late 60s and early 70s. Rhodes was a true one-man band, kind of like an earlier version of Todd Rundgren on Something/Anything - he wrote all of his own songs, did all the vocals, AND played all of the instruments. He also sounded almost exactly like Paul McCartney. Except, he consistently put out well-crafted, entertaining, shamelessly enjoyable pop songs, unlike Paul McCartney (and I am talking about McCartney’s post-Beatles work here, because within the context of that band, McCartney was a genius.)

Some people have said that Emitt Rhodes was the solo career that Paul McCartney should have had.

There’s no doubt that some of Rhodes’ work is, for lack of a better word, a rip-off of the Beatles’ sound, but he definitely brings something unique to it, also. The guy had a tremendous voice and really good instrumental hooks, too.

When I first heard Emitt Rhodes I was half-asleep and riding in the back of someone’s car, in a less than lucid state. At first, I thought that it WAS Paul McCartney. Then I thought it was someone from the present day, who was trying to imitate Paul McCartney’s style, like some indie rocker. It wasn’t until I asked the guy who had put in the CD that I found that Emitt Rhodes was a contemporary of McCartney. And most shockingly, despite the vocal similarity, Rhodes is American through and through. He grew up in Decatur, Illinois!

Here are some of his songs (on Youtube)

Birthday Lady (great music video too)

Face on the Floor

Tame the Lion (one of my favorites, a Vietnam War protest song)

Really Wanted You (rocks harder than any of McCartney’s lame ass solo work)

Nowadays his music is nearly impossible to find. It’s not available on CD anymore, and it’s not on iTunes either. There are a few albums available used on Amazon, but some of them are pretty expensive. If you want more information on how to get Rhodes’ full discography, send me a private message.

Any other Emitt Rhodes fans? Anyone else even heard of him?

This guy is an unsung hero of music. Last I heard, he was living in a tiny house with practically nothing to his name - screwed out of all his profits by the record company that put out his music, and suffering from Diabetes besides. A sad case.

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A few songs of his have drifted onto my iPod courtesy of a friend of mine who’s a big fan. I like “You Should Be Ashamed.” I also have the original Merry-Go-Round version of “Live.” I suppose the Bangles cover is the last time this guy saw a decent check from the music industry. I didn’t realize his stuff was all out of print – there’s no excuse for his records to not at least be on iTunes.

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I’ve been a big fan since his first album came out.

I’ve written about Rhodes on my web page and I think that his career was one of the great lost opportunities in rock. His first album is a perfect pop album, with every song having a catchy hook and delightful melody and lyrics.

Rhodes had the misfortune to record for ABC/Dunhill records (known as “ABC/Dunghill”). They didn’t know how to promote him and didn’t seem to understand that, since he played all instruments himself, he had to be treated differently from other artists. But they insisted he tour – which is hard to do when you play all instruments himself. Then they wanted a brand new album of original material in six months, which also is hard to do when you play everything yourself and are supposed to be out touring. “Mirror” was a disappointment; if Rhodes had been allowed to develop properly, he could have put out another great album.

I wouldn’t say he was better than McCartney, but he was pretty damn good.

I have his LP, but would love to have it work on CD or MP3. Alas, it’s nowhere to be found except for a few CDs released in Japan and appearing on eBay for about $30.

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The Bangles covered Live on their album, All Over The Place. It sounds almost exactly like the original (which can be found in the Nuggets box set).

ETA: Oops, Ichbin Dubist beat me to it!

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Solo Paul gets a bad rap. I think this rocks pretty hard: Monkberry Moon Delight

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Pardon any real or perceived hijack, but did anybody ‘read the news today oh boy’ about the upcoming 'Beatles Reunion’talks? Basically it means Paul and Ringo and some of the back-ups from back in the day and maybe a producer or two still in the biz. It was irritating: if Paul and Ringo constitute a Beatles Reunion then just wait til one of them dies and then anywhere the surviving one goes will be a Beatles Reunion. (IIRC Ringo did projects with all 3 Beatles post breakup but it was never called a reunion.)

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I had Rhodes’ first album, but I can’t say I remember any single song of his. Honestly, that has more to do with my poor memory than his talent as a singer-songwriter. Actually, the first song that came to mind was by someone else (“Lonely Boy” by Andrew Gold).

As far as a Beatles “reunion” goes, I would LOVE to see Paul and Ringo together onstage, no matter who the “substitute” players are. I doubt I’m alone in feeling that way.

(You know, people, the performers that qualify as the original “Rock Gods”(the British 1st Wave, etc) aren’t going to be with us much longer. They may be shadows or their former selves, but you won’t get ANY chance to see them when they’re gone. In 15 years or so, being able to say "Yeah, I saw Paul and Ringo play together" will be a very cool thing to brag about.)

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I don’t think Paul McCartney can be called the “poor man’s” anything!

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I’ve got two Emitt Rhodes albums on vinyl that I bought when they first came out. Emitt had a nice voice, wrote pretty, catchy pop songs, and he was an adequate player of several instruments. Making albums on which one person plays all of the instruments is generally a wanking exercise, except in special circumstances. I think Emitt’s first album was recorded at home and shopped to record companies as a completed package. To make a second album the same way made no sense and helped to sabotage his career. I think you are overstating Emitt’s talent, and undervaluing McCartney’s post-Beatles output.

But you have prompted me to hook up my turntable to give him another listen. It has been years.

I nominated Rhodes as someone who should have been more famous a couple of months ago.

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I’ll go back and give this stuff a listen sometime soon, but so far I haven’t heard anything about this fellow that doesn’t sound like Badfinger - a group of incredibly talented songwriters, musicians and singers who wrote great pop songs (even in the shadow of Macca at Apple) and never quite broke through…

Write perfect pop songs and having all the other intangibles come together to make it all work over a long music career is hard work.

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I don’t think there’s anything Badfinger ever recorded that sounds like “My Love is Strong,” “Textile Factory,” “Nights are Long” or “Bad Man.” All of those songs ROCK hard with a distinctly American bluesy-sounding groove that is much more gritty and raw sounding than anything Badfinger did (and I was listening to Badfinger when I was like 5 years old…I always had a crush on that exotic-looking, half naked woman on the cover of No Dice.)

Maybe you just haven’t heard all of his work. Mirror and Farewell to Paradise are some of the best. (Again, anyone who wants Emitt Rhodes albums, PM me, I will see about helping you out.)

Paul McCartney was an amazing bassist, a great songwriter, and an ace at crafting catchy melodies. When he was in the Beatles. As soon as he started putting out his own stuff, it was all by and large a lame-fest.

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McCartney was probably the most successful solo Beatles, if only for Band on the Run alone. Lennon’s best was probably Imagine, and his albums were hurt by his insistence that Yoko was his equal as an artist. Harrison’s All Things Must Pass seemed pretty good at the time, but doesn’t really hold up well and I now find the “wall of sound” effect gimmicky and tiresome.

McCartney, of course, never rocked hard, but that wasn’t the point. He had some lame songs, but as many great ones – or more – than any of the other post-Beatles. Much as I like Rhodes, he’s no McCartney (though he had the potential to be a much bigger success than he was).

Badfinger really doesn’t match up with either.

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Never heard of him, but I REALLY enjoyed listeing to those songs. i will definitely be searching for his stuff in the future.

Regarding the comparison to Badfinger, I think both can be considered “power pop” with overtones of the Beatles.

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He was also better looking than Paul McCartney.

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Rhodes may have ripped off McCartney’s sound, but he did it both better and more consistently. Solo Paul is mighty hit-and-miss, with an emphasis on the latter.

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This describes me as well.

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I can’t tell you how happy I am to have “turned on” at least 2 people to Emitt Rhodes. I get a lot of satisfaction out of helping to popularize obscure, underrated music. You guys can PM me if you want more info about how to get all of Rhodes’ albums.