Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: McCartney, Paul
Label: Universal Music Group
Release: 2013
Duration: 46:11
Rating: 4/5
Legendary Beatle Sir Paul McCartney, the famous singer, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter, and according to the Guinness Book of Records the most successful (pop-rock) musical creator of all time, at least as far as record sales go, really needs no special introduction, at least not for anyone who hasn’t spent the last fifty years frozen under the ice. »New« is his sixteenth studio album, made with the help of no fewer than four different producers, which shows just how deep Paul’s almost proverbial sonic perfectionism runs. Funnily enough, Mark Ronson, one of the producers on »New«, who handled the title track, »Alligator« and »Secret Life of a Party Girl« (the latter didn’t make the final cut), first came into contact with the famous Beatle as the DJ at Paul’s wedding to Nancy Shevell.
»New« is Paul’s first album since »Memory Almost Full« (2007) made up entirely of brand-new compositions, so it’s especially interesting to hear what kind of fun ideas a music legend of his caliber has come up with this time. Even before the album’s release, McCartney promised it would be as sonically diverse as it gets, and as expected his words held up, because there’s nothing to complain about on that front; Sir Paul hasn’t put together a record this varied in a long while. The lyrics are mostly inspired by memories of Paul’s early life, from before the Beatles even existed, and, as usual, by romantic daydreams about love.
This mix of old and new sonic and stylistic tricks is already easy to hear on the opening track »Save Us«, which, thanks to its cheeky, iconoclastic melody, is a thoroughly representative creation from McCartney’s best creative days, while the electronic keyboards are proof that we’re living in modern times. The nostalgic and slightly gloomy »Alligator« is crowned with muffled guitar phrases, while Sir Paul once again proves that, even at 71, he can still impress with his vocal chameleonism. »On My Way to Work« is an autobiographical song about Paul’s wet-behind-the-ears years, before the Beatles and before fame hit, when he was still making a living in Liverpool working alongside a freight truck driver. The orchestrally dressed-up crowd-pleaser »Queenie Eye« features an interesting chorus that’s supposedly borrowed from a children’s game Paul played as a kid in the middle of Liverpool. The pastoral, folk-tinged ballad »Early Days« is full of nostalgic atmosphere, which is no surprise, since it’s yet another autobiographical piece, in which Paul remembers his old, sadly long-departed comrade John Lennon from the days of The Quarrymen, that is, before The Beatles even existed.
The title track, which was also released as a digital single, has a love-themed lyric and a catchy melody that damn well reminds you of the Beatles evergreen »Got To Get You Into My Life«. The modern, ambient-tinged »Appreciate« provides a great stylistic contrast, since with its electronic patterns and improvisations it offers clear proof that Paul, even though he’s always stayed true to himself as a songwriter, has always known how to adapt exceptionally well to innovative sonic challenges. »Everybody Out There« was more than obviously built around a somewhat annoying chorus meant to get the crowd going, which, a bit ironically, is its only weak spot, since in every other respect it’s a pretty fun piece of work. »Hosanna« sounds like Paul’s nod to the psychedelic era of the second half of the sixties.
The mischievous »I Can Bet« has that signature playful approach that once adorned certain songs by the famous quartet from Liverpool, plus an extremely witty Hammond organ solo. »Looking At Her« is another love ballad, mixing the ‘old’ and the ‘new’, that is, acoustic guitar arrangements and tough electronic patterns on a synthesizer. The art-rock-tinged »Road«, with its melodramatic atmosphere, is surely the most complex achievement on the album, which also includes a rather melancholic, if not downright bleak, hidden track called »Scared«.
With »New«, McCartney hasn’t made a boundary-pushing album that deserves comparison with his greatest masterpieces, but he’s still put together an impressively varied blend of classic and newer songwriting tricks, which is a truly respectable achievement for a musician of his age, who has nothing left to prove, having achieved practically everything there was to achieve in his career. For all those restless souls who rack their brains over how the legendary Beatles would sound today if they were all still alive and back together, Paul offers the best possible approximation of an answer to that burning question with »New«.
Lineup
Paul McCartney – vocals, guitar, steel guitar, bass guitar, bouzouki, piano, glockenspiel, Wurlitzer, keyboards, mellotron, percussionRusty Anderson – guitar on tracks 2, 3, 5–8, 10, 11, backing vocals, bouzouki on 6
Paul Epworth – drums on 1, 4, 12, 15
Ethan Johns – drums, percussion, production on 5, production on 9, 13
Abe Laboriel, Jr. – drums on 2, 6–8, backing vocals on 5–7
Steve McManus – bass guitar on 3, 8
Toby Pitman – keyboards on 11, programming on 3, 7, 8, 10, 11
Richard Pryce – bass guitar on 3, 8
Brian Ray – guitar on 2, 3, 5–8, dulcimer on 5, backing vocals on 6, 7
Paul Wickens – keyboards on 2, guitar, piano, accordion on 3, Hammond organ on 10
Production
Mark Ronson, Ethan Johns, Paul Epworth, Giles Martin
Tracklist
1. Save Us
2. Alligator
3. On My Way To Work
4. Queenie Eye
5. Early Days
6. New
7. Appreciate
8. Everybody Out There
9. Hosanna
10. I Can Bet
11. Looking At Her
12. Road (incl. Scared)
