Ram

Ram is the second studio album by Paul McCartney, released in May 1971 on Apple Records and produced by McCartney himself, his first album credited to Paul and Linda McCartney, reflecting both Linda's actual contribution as backing vocalist and arranger and McCartney's desire to establish a collaborative creative partnership with her, and the album from which 'Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey' was drawn as a single that reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100. McCartney wrote or co-wrote all material with Linda; the album's songs range from the country-folk simplicity of 'Heart of the Country' to the dense, layered production of 'Monkberry Moon Delight,' demonstrating the stylistic range McCartney would explore through the 1970s. The album was critically savaged on release, John Lennon responded to its perceived barbs against him on his Imagine album ('How Do You Sleep?'), but has been substantially rehabilitated in subsequent decades, with critics noting its melodic invention and production ambition as examples of McCartney at his post-Beatles peak. Ram reached number one on the UK Albums Chart and number two on the Billboard 200, and its reappraisal as a cult classic, driven partly by the influence of its dense, layered production on subsequent artists, has made it one of the most reconsidered albums in the Beatles-adjacent catalog. The album is now regularly cited by critics as McCartney's finest solo work.