Bruce Beatlefan (November 25, 2006)

For both of his late-1980's albums (Press to Play and Flowers in the Dirt), Paul McCartney has mostly abandoned the familiar melodic sound of his Beatles/Wings years and has immersed himself totally into 1980's music trends and sounds (with a few exceptions like "Only Love Remains" and "Put it There"). In each album he teams up with a songwriting/performing partner (the underrated Eric Stewart and the headliner Elvis Costello), and in each album it is clear that Paul is once again paying special attention to furnishing his songs with a strong lyrical message in the manner of "Penny Lane" or "She's Leaving Home" (after a decade of just sorta throwing out things like 'cattle beware of snipers' and 'Magneto was mad, Titanium too!'.
Now, Flowers in the Dirt is truly a McCartney masterpiece, chockful of superb songs, but Press to Play, although not quite up to that standard, is quite a terrific album and deserves a better place in the cosmic concensus which has unfairly bashed this collection.

Macca's 1980-esque sound probably painted him into a corner, as Beatle-aged McCartney fans (like myself) were mostly turned off by his turning to styles which were from the punk/new wave cesspool, while young rockers weaned on the Police and Frankie Goes to Hollywood undoubtedly looked at this album as an old fuddy-duddy trying to sound hip (rather like Bill Haley in the '50's, Elvis in the '60's, and the Rolling Stones every decade since). I must admit I wasn't exactly enthralled with Paul's "new" sound, but it didn't take me very many listenings to appreciate Paul's treatment of these sounds--with the bonus of the vastly improved lyrics.

"Stranglehold" is a perfect album-opener, a savage rocker which reminds me a little of the Beatles "Hey Bulldog". "Good Times Coming" is a sound reminding me of the Family DeBarge or Miami Sound Machine. "Press" was the hit, albeit a minor one, that brings to mind some of Hall & Oates' music, "Pretty Little Head" sounds like a cross between Phil Collins' "Edge of Town" and FGTH's "Relax". It's fun to play this game with all the songs, but my knowledge of 1980's music isn't really up to speed. But here's one old-guy Beatles fan who really appreciates the creativity and experimentation (not to mention the just plain good songs) in Press to Play. And man is that one cool album-cover!

John (July 14, 2005)

For some strange reason, I have always liked this album. I think it's because it is so different from anything that McCartney usually does.
Strange subject matter on some songs; Talk More Talk, Pretty Little Head. These songs also have strange sounds that a McCartney fan is just not to used to hearing.
You also get some typical catchy McCartney songs like Press and Stranglehold.
There is also the ever present McCartney ballads like Only Love Remains and Footprints. Very nice.
How could I forget the rockers like Angry and Move Over Busker? Paul trying his best to rock the house.
This CD is a potpourri of McCartney. You get a little of everything which makes it an interesting listen.

A Lost Gem!!!!! (March 3, 2006)

Actually this is not a Bad album for McCartney not his best but this is what you get when Paul writes song with Eric Stewart former member of the Mindbenders and 10cc very strange Karma!!!! My favorite songs are the first track Stranglehold
Press to Play , Only Love Remains which is a great Ballad and Pretty Little Head ( The Video is Awesome) plus Bonus tracks Spies Like Us & Once Upon A Long Ago !!! Overall a good album that gets overlooked!!!

Press it like McCartney (January 7, 2005)

Now if you ask me, and a lot of folks do now and again, this here album is representative of the continuing slide of Paul's work down the charts as the 80s progressed. This one made it up to #30 and lasted only a week before disappearing in to obscurity... despite a relatively strong single in "Press."

See, by this time, the world was truly turning its attention elsewhere and Paul was still making the same formulaic music that was his strength in the 1970s except the world had moved on to the 1980s and was fixin to get ready to start changing for the 1990s... and that, my dear review reader, is the progression of time. See, time waits n\for no man (and only 10 minutes for a woman) and Paul was kind of caught in a time warp with his music. I happen to like this album a lot, but even when it came out it was dated.

I ain't got much to say about this one, except that the twins particularly like the album due to the nice sepia tone cover artwork that features Paul and the late Linda looking like a couple from the 1940s. They refer to this one as "the romantic album" because they think the photo looks romantic. Me and Mama listen to it now and again, but not nearly as much as his other stuff.

If you absolutely have to have everything he ever done did - then go ahead on and get this one. If not, then there are better album from which to start discovering McCartney.

THE MOST UNDERRATED ALBUM IN HISTORY! (December 23, 2003)

When I first heard this album in 1986 my first reaction was 'What is McCartney doing'?! But the more I listened to it, the more I realized the creative genius that PTP is all about. As it was released, in 1986, the original 10 songs on PTP are some of the most musically satisfying songs I have ever heard (with one exception). And though Paul usually excels more on the musical side, these songs include some of his strongest lyrics. STRANGLEHOLD is a classic rocker and the perfect way to start out the album. GOOD TIMES COMING/FEEL THE SUN is a catchy melody that brings back memories of warm sunny days and the warm fuzzy feelings that come with them. TALK MORE TALK is driven by a creative drum machine track and includes comments from his young son James. Who else but McCartney could successfully pull off a song about talk/conversaton? FOOTPRINTS is a stirringly emotional song about a man who has lost his true love and laments his loss privately. ONLY LOVE REMAINS is a classic McCartney love song. PRESS is a catchy rocker that should have been a bigger hit than it was. PRETTY LITTLE HEAD is a musical classic, very Bealtlesque in its creativity. MOVE OVER BUSKER tells a funny story and includes references to Nell Gwynne, Mae West, and Errol Flynn. Great guitar work and strong lyrics. One of my favorites. ANGRY is the only exception on the album. Although it includes Pete Townsend on guitar and Phil Collins on drums, the song lacks any kind of a signiture. There is a B-side version that Paul added horns to and it sounds great, it would have made the album a perfect 10. I think with Pete and Phil on the song Paul was afraid he would overproduce it and in the process he underproduced it. HOWEVER ABSURD is lyrically Pauls most Lennon like song. I love lines like 'It's a funny thing, half serious, With our hands on our ears./Living dreams with mouths ajar, Wide awake, we go to sleep'. and 'Something special between us, When we made love the game was over./I couldn't say the words, Words wouldn't get my feelings through, So I keep talking to you...'. Classic. It always reminded me of 'I am the Walrus'. I can't get enough of this album. In fact, I once listened to nothing else for 3 months. When I was in the car I listened to the tape, in the house I had the album on. If I was stranded on a desert island and could only have one album, this would be it. The extra tracks ruin the flow and continuity of the album and do not really belong, although it is nice to have CD versions of ONCE UPON A LONG AGO and SPIES LIKE US. IT'S NOT TRUE and TOUGH ON A TIGHTROPE have B-side mixes that are much better than the ones on this disk. I would listen to the extra tracks seperately from tracks 1-10. You may have to listen to it a few times, but once it hooks you, you won't be sorry you spent the time to discover this gem.

Press To Play - Paul McCartney (June 14, 2003)

Not the best Paul album, but has a couple of very good songs. Paul tries a techno sound on some songs working with Eric Stewart. Only one of those worked very well, Pretty Little Head. There are two superb songs on this CD that have a more traditional Paul sound, Only Love Remains and Once Upon A Long Ago. Both were top 40 hits in the UK with Once Upon A Long Ago going Top 10.

Album tremendamente incomprendido (November 24, 2002)

McCartney puede ser posiblemente el artista jusgado con mayor vehemencia de la historia del rock.Jamás se han leído tantos ataques vertidos sobre la misma figura.Pese a ello,siempre se ha mantenido por encima de los mismos,gracias a su gran nivel compositivo.Con Press to play construye un album de difícil escucha-precisamente tal y como su último y sorprendente "Driving rain".Claro está que hay temas menores("Talk more talk","Angry"),pero el disco tiene suficientes puntos altos como para desdeñarlo.El propio McCartney,inducido siempre por las ventas-actualmente espero que hay dejado de tenerlo en cuenta-ha terminado hasta renegando de este disco.Eso habla del nivel de presión(justo como el título del album indica)que tiene que aguantar.Si tuviera que elegir un disco malo,malo de McCartney este sin duda sería McCartney II.Press to play es un disco extraño,de letras con dobles(o ninguno,estupendo,tampoco muchas de los Beatles lo tenían),significados."Footprints" es una bellisima canción,al igual que "However absurd";pero necesitan un poco más de atención que otras baladas suyas."Pretty little head" es tremendamente original,hipnótica incluso.Creo que el cariño que le tengo a este disco es debido a la montaña de criticas que se le vertieron,y estoy convencido de que si este disco lo hubiera firmado otra pluma no hubiera sido nunca tan vilipendiado.