Paul McCartney - Memory Almost Full - Album Review
Paul McCartney's new album Memory Almost Full was released yesterday in Great Britain and today in the United States. It can be ordered at Amazon.com
His last album Chaos & Creation In The Backyard was a mostly quiet and restrained album and many said it was his best album since Band on the Run. Many also gave much credit for the album's sound to producer Nigel Godrich (of Radiohead and Beck fame.) The album felt like McCartney was revisiting his songwriting style from the The Beatles Rubber Soul and Revolver era. While I do not think there was anything as timeless as "Eleanor Rigby," "Michelle," or "For No One" there were some really fine songs on the album and it was in my top three McCartney albums (after Ram and Band on the Run.)
Now I think it's dropped to 4th because of Memory Almost Full which shows Paul back in charge and running with his musical whims. While it is not as restrained or as consistent as Chaos & Creation, it has higher highs and includes some of the most creative songs McCartney's ever written. This album sounds youthful both in voice and more importantly in ideas. It sounds like McCartney is finely doing something that I have wished he would do for quite some time which is to combine some of his more experimental side (see The Fireman and The Liverpool Sound Collage.) and his classical music side (most recently Ecce Cor Meum) with his pop music.
The album's stand out tracks include "Mr. Bellamy," "House of Wax," "Only Mama Knows," "Vintage Clothes," and "Feet in the Clouds."
"Mr. Bellamy" sounds unlike anything McCartney has written before. In fact it sounds like nothing I've ever heard before written by anyone. It's a very original and unique song. The feeling I get from it is similar to the silliness of the Ram album but it has a darker side to it and I've read that McCartney says it's about a man who is going to jump off a building. From listening to it, it sounds like it could also be about a cat stuck in a tree. The song switches back and forth from different characters perspectives in voice, lyrical content, and in musical composition. The song is just bursting at the seems with ideas and the ending is just killer. The last 40 seconds get really spacey with vocals, pianos, and horns floating all around. It could be the man jumping off the building and floating through the air? This is my personal favorite song on the album and at this very moment it may be my favorite solo McCartney song ever.
"House of Wax" is another track that doesn't really remind me of anything McCartney's done before. It's a very over the top melodramatic song with huge sounds and a blistering guitar solo played by Sir Paul himself. It reminds me of some sort of strange combination of a big McCartney ballad, Ozzy Osbourne, and Pink Floyd. Regardless of the ingredients the effect is absolutely hair raising. This song gives me chills and makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
"Lightning hits the house of wax
Woman scream and run around
To dance upon the battleground
Like wild demented horses
Hidden in the yard. Underneath the wall
Buried deep below a thousand layers lay
the answer to it all"
"Only Mama Knows" starts and ends with somewhat creepy strings. In between there's the best rock song McCartney has written in about 30 years. It reminds me of "Nineteen Eighty Four" from Band on the Run and "Junior's Farm." I'm not only talking about the strings opening and closing of this song when I speak of the classical influence on this album. McCartney has always had a penchant for writing complex pop music but it seems even more complex on this album. I'm hearing more and more layers every time I listen.
"Vintage Clothes" is the best example of what I was talking about earlier with the experimental side of McCartney coming through in this album. The song starts off simply enough as a jaunty piano track (with some great bass) but then suddenly it drops off into a section with sampled Mellotron and delayed voices coming together very rhythmically making for an interesting juxtaposition. Immediately after this is a whistling section that is just as surprising as the bit before but also fits in perfectly. The second time through there are a lot of voices in the delayed section which add to the magic of the track. Perhaps most cool is the section that comes in after the second time through ("A little worn....") where it feels like a 60s rock song sort of just enters out of nowhere. This works very well musically and fits in perfectly with the idea of the song. The amount of ideas crammed into this 2 minute 22 second song is astounding.
"Feet in the Clouds" is where McCartney does his Brian Wilson thing. This is a good song the first couple of minutes but it turns into a very very very very very very good song over the last 90 seconds. I love the layers of vocodered vocals and it's another example of classical influence.
The album does have some tracks that don't work quite as well as these such as "Gratitude" which while it has some good moments (I think every song on the album at least has some good elements) is a bit awkward. "See Your Sunshine" has a cool Stevie Wonder thing going on in place but there are some bad lyrics that get in the way of enjoying the song (it doesn't help that they are the opening lyrics to the track.) Both of these songs have grown on me somewhat. The middle section on "See Your Sunshine" is in particular very cool.
"End of the End" is one of the songs that has been most talked about as in it McCartney is considering his own death. While it is a poignant track I do not think it's one of the real standouts. It has grown on me quite a bit with repeated listening though. But I think "You Tell Me" is the better ballad. I love the backing vocals on this track.
It's hard to believe that McCartney is 64 years old. His voice sounds exceptional throughout the album and his ideas are fresh and creative.
I think it's time that people get over it* and accept that Paul McCartney is one of the most important and influential musical artists in popular music history.
*it being "hip" to dismiss McCartney's contributions to the Beatles and to ignore his solo work
The lead UK single "Dance Tonight" is perhaps the least interesting track on the album. As an opener to the album it works alright but it's not a very good representation of the album as a whole. That being said I'll include the video for "Dance Tonight" below. The video was directed by Michel Gondry and stars "Gareth" (UK The Office) and Natalie Portman.
His last album Chaos & Creation In The Backyard was a mostly quiet and restrained album and many said it was his best album since Band on the Run. Many also gave much credit for the album's sound to producer Nigel Godrich (of Radiohead and Beck fame.) The album felt like McCartney was revisiting his songwriting style from the The Beatles Rubber Soul and Revolver era. While I do not think there was anything as timeless as "Eleanor Rigby," "Michelle," or "For No One" there were some really fine songs on the album and it was in my top three McCartney albums (after Ram and Band on the Run.)
Now I think it's dropped to 4th because of Memory Almost Full which shows Paul back in charge and running with his musical whims. While it is not as restrained or as consistent as Chaos & Creation, it has higher highs and includes some of the most creative songs McCartney's ever written. This album sounds youthful both in voice and more importantly in ideas. It sounds like McCartney is finely doing something that I have wished he would do for quite some time which is to combine some of his more experimental side (see The Fireman and The Liverpool Sound Collage.) and his classical music side (most recently Ecce Cor Meum) with his pop music.
The album's stand out tracks include "Mr. Bellamy," "House of Wax," "Only Mama Knows," "Vintage Clothes," and "Feet in the Clouds."
"Mr. Bellamy" sounds unlike anything McCartney has written before. In fact it sounds like nothing I've ever heard before written by anyone. It's a very original and unique song. The feeling I get from it is similar to the silliness of the Ram album but it has a darker side to it and I've read that McCartney says it's about a man who is going to jump off a building. From listening to it, it sounds like it could also be about a cat stuck in a tree. The song switches back and forth from different characters perspectives in voice, lyrical content, and in musical composition. The song is just bursting at the seems with ideas and the ending is just killer. The last 40 seconds get really spacey with vocals, pianos, and horns floating all around. It could be the man jumping off the building and floating through the air? This is my personal favorite song on the album and at this very moment it may be my favorite solo McCartney song ever.
"House of Wax" is another track that doesn't really remind me of anything McCartney's done before. It's a very over the top melodramatic song with huge sounds and a blistering guitar solo played by Sir Paul himself. It reminds me of some sort of strange combination of a big McCartney ballad, Ozzy Osbourne, and Pink Floyd. Regardless of the ingredients the effect is absolutely hair raising. This song gives me chills and makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
"Lightning hits the house of wax
Woman scream and run around
To dance upon the battleground
Like wild demented horses
Hidden in the yard. Underneath the wall
Buried deep below a thousand layers lay
the answer to it all"
"Only Mama Knows" starts and ends with somewhat creepy strings. In between there's the best rock song McCartney has written in about 30 years. It reminds me of "Nineteen Eighty Four" from Band on the Run and "Junior's Farm." I'm not only talking about the strings opening and closing of this song when I speak of the classical influence on this album. McCartney has always had a penchant for writing complex pop music but it seems even more complex on this album. I'm hearing more and more layers every time I listen.
"Vintage Clothes" is the best example of what I was talking about earlier with the experimental side of McCartney coming through in this album. The song starts off simply enough as a jaunty piano track (with some great bass) but then suddenly it drops off into a section with sampled Mellotron and delayed voices coming together very rhythmically making for an interesting juxtaposition. Immediately after this is a whistling section that is just as surprising as the bit before but also fits in perfectly. The second time through there are a lot of voices in the delayed section which add to the magic of the track. Perhaps most cool is the section that comes in after the second time through ("A little worn....") where it feels like a 60s rock song sort of just enters out of nowhere. This works very well musically and fits in perfectly with the idea of the song. The amount of ideas crammed into this 2 minute 22 second song is astounding.
"Feet in the Clouds" is where McCartney does his Brian Wilson thing. This is a good song the first couple of minutes but it turns into a very very very very very very good song over the last 90 seconds. I love the layers of vocodered vocals and it's another example of classical influence.
The album does have some tracks that don't work quite as well as these such as "Gratitude" which while it has some good moments (I think every song on the album at least has some good elements) is a bit awkward. "See Your Sunshine" has a cool Stevie Wonder thing going on in place but there are some bad lyrics that get in the way of enjoying the song (it doesn't help that they are the opening lyrics to the track.) Both of these songs have grown on me somewhat. The middle section on "See Your Sunshine" is in particular very cool.
"End of the End" is one of the songs that has been most talked about as in it McCartney is considering his own death. While it is a poignant track I do not think it's one of the real standouts. It has grown on me quite a bit with repeated listening though. But I think "You Tell Me" is the better ballad. I love the backing vocals on this track.
It's hard to believe that McCartney is 64 years old. His voice sounds exceptional throughout the album and his ideas are fresh and creative.
I think it's time that people get over it* and accept that Paul McCartney is one of the most important and influential musical artists in popular music history.
*it being "hip" to dismiss McCartney's contributions to the Beatles and to ignore his solo work
The lead UK single "Dance Tonight" is perhaps the least interesting track on the album. As an opener to the album it works alright but it's not a very good representation of the album as a whole. That being said I'll include the video for "Dance Tonight" below. The video was directed by Michel Gondry and stars "Gareth" (UK The Office) and Natalie Portman.
Labels: Paul McCartney
2 Comments:
I made an error: the lead UK single is actually Ever Present Past - Dance Tonight is the US single. For some reason it's not letting me edit the entry...
My mom was spinning this album in her car today (is that an insult?).
I really, really like that "Mr. Bellamy" tune.
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