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After what can only be described as a ‘troubled’ time for the former Beatle and frog botherer, Macca returns thumbs aloft and as wide eyed as ever.
By now most of the known universe will have heard the good natured relentless stomp of the Starbucks quaffing, I-Tunes flogging single ‘Dance Tonight’. The simplistic arrangement and heartfelt ‘oohs’ show a man still able to have fun with pop music. It will, however, very quickly become tiresome. That song kicks off Memory Almost Full and despite the – perhaps unsurprising for a 65 year old - fixation on the past and time passing the album continues in similarly feel good style.
‘Only Mama Knows’ survives a bizarre melancholic synth-strings intro to transform into a Wings style 70’s boogie, while the slower songs (You Tell Me, Gratitude) show off McCartney’s well known saccharine side.
Mr Bellamy is probably the oddest arrangement; almost sinister backing vocals vie for room with McCartney who boldly proclaims (possibly to a one-legged former model) that he ‘likes it up here without you’.
Vintage Clothes, despite featuring risible lyrics ‘what we are is what we are and what we wear is vintage clothes’ comes closest to evoking the spirit of the Beatles, but moments like these are sparse.
That Was Me shows Macca (as does much of the album) trying to make sense of the last 45 old years of stardom ‘It’s pretty hard to take in’ he sings, and you certainly believe him. This sums up McCartney’s main song writing strength – you always believe him, whether banal (Feet in the Clouds, featuring an alarming Cher style vocoder), or laughably sentimental (End of the End) you always believe that he means it.
Not going to move any mountains then and it certainly won’t lead anyone to reassess his worth to pop music – which is frankly unquestionable – but as a pop record that shows legends can still have fun records it’s worth a spin.
