Well, I am biased as Red Rose Speedway is my favourite PMC album, but I see it in a different kind of light. 'My Love' is melodically just as elegant as 'Yesterday'. 'Get on the Right Thing' is a better song than 'Getting Better'. 'Little Lamb Dragonfly' is better than 'Fool on the Hill' or 'Your Mother Should Know'. 'Single Pigeon' I think is a far nicer song than 'Fixing a Hole' or 'Rocky Raccoon' - probably on a par with 'Martha My Dear' with that distinctive piano line.
I know all of this could be debated, but my point is, he wasn't all that far off his best Beatles work here. Even if it's a shade of a notch down, it wasn't several leagues below his best. Take the most hated tune on RRS - 'Loup' - it's still way cooler and groovier than Maxwell's Silver Hammer isn't it! I would venture to say it has a similar kind of groove to 'I Want You (She's So Heavy)'.
But yeah - thank god 'Mary Had A Little Lamb' wasn't on RRS eh!