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After the breakup, Beatles fans expected major statements from the three chief songwriters in the Fab Four. John and {|George|} fulfilled those expectations -- {|Lennon|} with his lacerating, confessional {|John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band|}, {|Harrison|} with his triple-LP {|All Things Must Pass|} -- but {|Paul McCartney|} certainly didn't, turning toward the modest charms of {|McCartney|}, and then crediting his wife {|Linda|} as a full-fledged collaborator on its 1971 follow-up, {|Ram|}. Where {|McCartney|} was homemade, sounding deliberately ragged in parts, {|Ram|} had a fuller production yet retained that ramshackle feel, sounding as if it were recorded in a shack out back, not far from the farm where the cover photo of {|Paul|} holding the ram by the horns was taken. It's filled with songs that feel tossed off, filled with songs that are cheerfully, incessantly melodic; it turns the monumental symphonic sweep of {|Abbey Road|} into a cheeky slice of whimsy on the two-part suite {|"Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey."|} All this made {|Ram|} an object of scorn and derision upon its release (and for years afterward, in fact), but in retrospect it looks like nothing so much as the first {|indie pop|} album, a record that celebrates small pleasures with big melodies, a record that's guileless and unembarrassed to be cutesy. But {|McCartney|} never was quite the sap of his reputation, and even here, on possibly his most precious record, there's some ripping {|rock & roll|} in the mock-apocalyptic goof {|"Monkberry Moon Delight,"|} the joyfully noisy {|"Smile Away,"|} where his feet can be smelled a mile away, and {|"Eat at Home,"|} a rollicking, winking sex song. All three of these are songs filled with good humor, and their foundation in old-time {|rock & roll|} makes it easy to overlook how inventive these productions are, but on the more obviously tuneful and gentle numbers -- the ones that are more quintessentially {|McCartney|}-esque -- it's plain to see how imaginative and gorgeous the arrangements are, especially on the sad, soaring finale, {|"Back Seat of My Car,"|} but even on its humble opposite, the sweet {|"Heart of the Country."|} These songs may not be self-styled major statements, but they are endearing and enduring, as is {|Ram|} itself, which seems like a more unique, exquisite pleasure with each passing year. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine