In many ways, Paul McCartney cannot win. Considering that the man is a Beatle billionaire, one of the few who has taken care of himself and his family for generations to come, and one who has written some of the best songs of the rock era, it’s surprising how many still rip on Paul for his post-Beatles fare.<\/p>\n
There is no way Paul will live up to anything he wrote between 1963 and 1970. Get over it. The man is a solid songwriter and on his latest disc, Memory Almost Full<\/i>, he delivers a solid disc that falls short of his best solo work. It most\u00a0 resembles his self-titled solo albums.<\/p>\n
Where Chaos And Creation In the Backyard<\/i> delighted audiences with its subtle, understated nature, Memory Almost Full<\/i> hauls off in the opposite direction toward Vegas. The pure showmanship that McCartney has always flaunted is in full display, and since no one quite knows pop like Sir Paul, the entire album shines with bright, colored and full performances. Even a theoretical, bare-bones track like \u201cDance Tonight\u201d can\u2019t escape small flourishes here and there.<\/p>\n
In many ways, the discrepancy between this album and its predecessor make for the ultimate yin\/yang of Paul McCartney. When the man tries for introspective pop, as he did on Chaos<\/i>, he can deliver. When he feels like churning out music with little substance below the surface, he pulls it off. Both are exhibited here on Memory Almost Full<\/i>. The first half of the record, save \u201cOnly Mama Knows,\u201d\u00a0 finds McCartney grappling to grab a hold of \u201csomething,\u201d which leads to the decidedly scattershot quality of the songs. The man has certainly had better singles than \u201cDance Tonight,\u201d and \u201cEver Present Past,\u201d and mixed genres more effectively than on \u201cGratitude.\u201d<\/p>\n
About midway through the proceedings, Memory Almost Full<\/i> start to find its footing. \u201cMr. Bellamy\u201d draws comparisons to some of the avant-garde pop that populated Band On The Run<\/i>, and \u201cYou Tell Me\u201d revels in its status as the most Beatle-sounding track on the entire record. The aforementioned \u201cOnly Mama Knows\u201d delighted me, as this song is basically the 2007 version of \u201cJet\u201d and find McCartney at his most rocking. After the slow and deliberate pacing of Chaos<\/i>, it\u2019s great to hear the man let loose.<\/p>\n
The suite\/medley that comprises the second half of Memory<\/i> is the most interesting listening on the entire disc. It’s not quite Abbey Road,<\/i> but work that only a 64-year old McCartney could have delivered. Starting with \u201cVintage Clothes\u201d and ending with \u201cThe End Of The End,\u201d Macca somehow manages to avoid a cliched trip down memory lane and reflects over his life in a meaningful and interesting way.<\/p>\n
Specifically, \u201cHouse Of Wax\u201d and \u201cThe End Of The End,\u201d represent the best one-two punch in McCartney\u2019s catalogue since\u2026 well let us just say it\u2019s been a while. The chilling intro to the former is only the tip of the iceberg; it slowly gathers some menacing momentum before exploding into blistering guitar solo upon solo, screaming chorus upon chorus, etc. This is a compelling side of McCartney that he so rarely shows. Meanwhile, \u201cThe End Of The End\u201d finds the former Beatle in a most contemplative mood, mulling an end to a life that has been so good to him. To McCartney, the eternal optimist, if this life wasn\u2019t so bad, then \u201ca much better place would have to be special.\u201d<\/p>\n
If anything, Memory Almost Full<\/i> further demonstrates McCartney makes his best music when working with a strong collaborator to rein him in. It does not reach the same level of quality as Chaos<\/i>, but it is far from an embarrassing effort. It is obvious Paul has reached a certain level of contentment now in his life, and on some level is prepared for the end, whenever it may come. That alone has given him a clarity that could not have existed when he was first writing about being 64.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":28825,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5744],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-40324","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-paul-mccartney","rating-rating-b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40324"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40324\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28825"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40324"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=40324"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=40324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}