JP Gerard wrote:

Wasn't he plugging his instruments straight into the tape machine in the
early 70's???

I could swear I heard him say that in an interview about the early Wings
sessions. He claimed it was "such a pure sound" or something. DI heaven...
those bass lines certainly sound pretty "direct" to me.

I remember it was a big deal that he bypassed the console when he made
"McCartney II" in 1980. As good as it may have sounded technically, many
(including me) were not that impressed with the songs.

Most of John's material sounded kind of muddy, and sometimes out of
tune, until "Double Fantasy", which was very punchy, and very good, I thought.