Reviews

As The Beatles crumbled before the mourning eyes of their millions of fans, the four men scattered after the recording of Abbey Road. Paul McCartney used his home studio to deal with the break up, and the result was the most lo-fi album of his career. Wife Linda lends her voice to the occasional backing vocals, but beside that this is 100% Paul, on his own for the first time in his life, trying to find his musical voice solo. Having recorded the whole thing in secret, relations with his previous bandmates were further strained when the release date was scheduled for only a few weeks prior to The Beatles final album Let It Be. (It is worth noting that Ringo Starr's debut solo album was also released the same month, but his sales were never seen as a concern.) The resulting album, the first 'proper' solo album from any of the Fab Four, is actually mostly an underwhelming set of simple ditties, with only a couple of tracks even coming close to what would be expected of McCartney. In comparison, the solo debuts of both John Lennon and George Harrison later the same year often vie for the position of the best solo album from any of the four, ever. Today it is often said that the album's unfinished feel was due to it being rushed to cash-in on the buzz around The Beatles break-up and to be the first member to release anything solo. Half a century later it all seems a bit petty to think that may have been the motivations, but it is probably likely. Opening with the simplistic 'The Lovey Linda', the acoustic strummed ditty is a strange opener, but does a good job of preparing the listener for what is ahead. 'That Would Be Something' sounds like an unfinished demo, sung into a tape recorder to capture a song that would be further realised - even to the point of McCartney verbally singing 'tish' where a cymbal hit would work. This song is a perfect example of everything both good and bad about the album. It shows a song that has real promise, and has some hallmarks of classic McCartney, but feels so unfinished it is barely worth a second listen. 'Valentine Day' is instrumental and isn't particularly memorable, but at 'Every Night' the album begins to show what is below if Macca had just taken a little bit longer to really scratch and see what was under the surface. It is a stand-out of the album, and great song. Apart from a drum beat the version of 'Junk' is almost identical to the Kinfauns demo recorded back in May 1968, but doesn't quite have the charm of that earlier version. 'Man We Was Lonely' is simple, but by adding just a few finishing touches it emerges as a keeper. "Momma Miss America' is another instrumental, but it has a real smooth groove to it that is hard to describe. Just nod your head and enjoy it. 'Teddy Boy' is another Beatles cast off, this time from the January 1969 Let It Be sessions, and a bit of effort has been put into it. Unfortunately no shine can replace how lacklustre the vocal performance is. 'Singalong Junk' is a pointless instrumental reprise to fill time, but by song number 12 the fans that had hung around long enough were finally rewarded. 'Maybe I'm Amazed' is not only the best song on the album by a long stretch, but it is also one of the greatest McCartney composition of all time. It's piano intro and 60s style guitar fuzz calls straight back to Abbey Road, and this could easily be confused as being a lost Beatles track. The album closes with over four minutes of what can only described as a bad drum solo with the occasional guitar, and no one ever needed to hear it a second time. There are moments of occasional greatness here, even amongst the less realised tracks, but the brilliance of McCartney only really shines very occasionally. It is easy to dismiss it all as a rush job, but who knows what his mental state was when recording this? Losing three brothers no doubt left him with a feeling of heightened isolation (something John Lennon sang about on his own debut), so maybe these songs reflect the incompleteness of his surroundings. We have all heard the term 'art imitating life' after all.