Video: 'Ram (Paul & Linda McCartney) 2012 Remaster' (first 12 videos constitute original album)

(Monday, May 17, 1971) — Ram, a studio album by Paul McCartney and his wife, Linda McCartney, was released today in the U.S. (May 21, 1971, in the UK) by Apple Records.

It was recorded in New York with guitarists David Spinozza and Hugh McCracken, and future Wings drummer Denny Seiwell.

Three singles were issued from the album: “Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey” (Paul McCartney’s first number 1 hit in America without The Beatles), “The Back Seat of My Car” and “Eat at Home.”

The recording sessions also yielded the non-album single “Another Day.”

The album’s release coincided with a period of bitter acrimony between McCartney and his former Beatles bandmates, and followed his legal action in the United Kingdom’s High Court to dissolve The Beatles partnership. John Lennon perceived slights in the lyrics to songs such as “Too Many People.”

Although McCartney felt that he had addressed the criticisms he received with his 1970 solo debut, McCartney, Ram elicited a similarly unfavorable reaction from music journalists. It nonetheless topped the national albums charts in the UK, the Netherlands and Canada. It has subsequently been recognized as an early indie pop album.

In 2012, an expanded edition of Ram was reissued with over two dozen bonus tracks as part of the Paul McCartney Archive Collection.

In 2020, Ram was ranked number 450 on Rolling Stone‘s list of the greatest albums of all time.