Nice reviews and intro, John.

Regarding Ram, it's clearly a great album, but there are several songs I just can't quite fully love. The worst of the lot is Smile Away, which is just obnoxious. It's funny, I guess, but that's about it, and the joke wears really thin quickly. Monkberry Moon Delight is musically pretty interesting but it's also really annoying. I'll listen again, but I've always thought it overstayed its welcome by a good two minutes. Long Haired Lady is, like you said, marred by Linda's awful vocal delivery. It's not that she's a bad singer, but it's that nasally delivery that I hate. Yuck. Back Seat of My Car has always seemed a little lame to me too, but going from memory I can't really commit to that. I'll have to give it another listen soon.
The first five tracks are ####ing amazing, though, and prime Beatles-McCartney quality.