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Here’s what’s missed by every music critic about McCartney:
the album is a direct plea to emotional plea to Paul McCartney’s
former band mates and a thankful acknowledgment of the salvation
that Linda McCartney gave Paul; the album is, like John
Lennon’s Plastic Ono Band and George Harrison’s All Things
Must Pass a statement of independence but also very much
about the redemptive power of love in saving one’s sanity.
John would pick up and discard causes and beliefs like he
changed his underwear and George clung to his beliefs like
a tree in a windstorm. Paul had someone to hang on to that
saved his life and although he probably didn’t realize it
his first solo album is about that redemption and striking
out on his own. Although the album is made up of a selection
of left over songs and new ones (I’ve always viewed Teddy
Boy as both a veiled bit of biography about John as much
as it was about Paul while Maybe I’m Amazed acts as that
moment of realization and redemption that the only thing
that can save Paul is this new person in his life and his
new belief in himself), the album becomes much more than
the sum of its parts. As an act of musical primitivism McCartney
is every bit as powerful as Lennon’s album in its own way
as Paul reinvents himself not with the latest psychological
fad or belief in religion but with the power of love of
one woman who believes IN HIM. In its own way McCartney
flaws and all is every bit as powerful and important as
Lennon and Harrison’s first solo albums the difference is
its author humbly never claims it to be. ***
The problem with McCartney wasn’t with the material
but the expectations of the audience that was expecting
Abbey Road Part II but got, instead, a solo album that was
as primitive in its own as Please Please Me and a brave
reinvention. Expectations can be damning and in the case
of Paul McCartney’s first solo album fans were a bit perplexed;
while it wasn’t as avant garde as John and Yoko’s trio of
releases prior to the breakup of The Beatles or George’s
Electronic Sounds, McCartney featured a mix of songs, instrumentals,
experimental music and song fragments that recalled The
Beatles (aka The White Album). That’s not a surprise given
that some of the material here was originally proposed for
The Beatles or its follow up albums but rejected or forgotten
about. Pulled out of his depression by Linda, McCartney
started work on McCartney diving into the project. ***
Freed of the baggage of the breakup of The Beatles,
McCartney remains both a charming tuneful document of its
time and an enjoyable step away from the hyper perfectionism
that McCartney had conjured up with Lennon, Harrison and
Starr for each Beatles release. Although McCartney is far
from a perfect album it is those very imperfections that
make it unique and one of Paul’s memorable albums in his
vast, uneven discography. ***
Playing all the instruments himself Paul creates a rough
hewn musical tapestry that both embraces his past (Maybe
I’m Amazed, Junk) and rejects it (Kreen-Azore, Glasses,
Momma Miss America) with a mixture of slick songwriting
and rough experimental instrumentals. McCartney worked in
his recording shed working with a primitive 4 track machine
and also secretly at Abbey Road studios to put together
his first true solo offering (his first could technically
be seen to be The Family Way the soundtrack to a little
seen film from the 1960’s that was orchestrated by George
Martin but given that it was a theme written by McCartney
and orchestrated and embellished upon by Martin I don’t
know that most fans would consider it a true McCartney solo
album). McCartney was drinking too much, deeply depressed
due to the difficulties The Beatles were facing in their
personal and professional relationships. ***
All of this colored the critical and public reaction
to McCartney luckily history has the ability to give us
a sense of balance. Is it a flawed album? Yes but it also
allows us to rank McCartney with a bit more fairness now.
Although it had its fair share of filler even that material
had something to recommend it. The experimental instrumentals
such as “Glasses” (which had been dreamed up for The Beatles
but never made it to the final recording stage), the instrumentals
such as “Momma Miss America” and the powerful classic ballad
“Maybe I’m Amazed” represented the many facets of McCartney’s
skills as a writer. Could they have used John’s to make
suggestions, Ringo’s pounding drums or George’s skillful
melodic guitar playing? Sure they could have but the point
was this was McCartney unvarnished and raw. ***
The original release of the album on CD (early Japan
for Japan or Japan for U.S. editions) sounded quite good—there
wasn’t the overuse of noise reduction that marred the later
reissues. Until recently the ultimate edition has been Steve
Hoffman’s re-mastered version on DCC. Whether or not these
were indeed pulled from the master tapes has been debated
for years but it doesn’t really matter; Hoffman did a marvelous
job of redressing the flaws of the previous editions producing
a wonderful sounding CD. ***
The Abbey Road team that worked on The Beatles re-masters
and the recent acclaimed Band on the Run re-master worked
on this edition of McCartney as well. They’ve done an exceptional
job here. While I won’t be giving up my DCC edition, this
version is, hands down, one of the best I’ve heard. ***
Sound: Allen Rouse and his team have gone back to the
original master tapes and using state-of-the-art analog
to digital converters have tried to accurately capture the
sound of “McCartney” as close as possible to the sound on
the tape. They have removed clicks, pops and other imperfections
that have nothing to do with the music. Likewise, noise
reduction has been used but sparingly and there is a variety
of ways to listen to the album; we’re given the physical
CD, two digital download options one of which is lossless
and can be burned to a DVD-A for those audiophiles out there.
***
The latter is important because there is no limiting
so the original dynamic album can be heard the way the master
tape sounds just with any damage and/or edits removed. Even
The Beatles discography which became available on a USB
drive didn’t allow this option.***
Download 24bit 96kHz high resolution audio versions
of all 20 songs on the remastered album and bonus audio
disc ***
As mentioned the 24 bit, 96HZ high resolution audio
version is a bit plus for fans of the album and ALL 20 songs
from the reissue can be downloaded this way. You can also
download a 320kps to your portable device although that
represents the way the CDs sound. ***
Special Features:
The second disc includes a demo that Paul made (and
he later made the song available to Frank Sinatra who turned
him down) for Suicide a fragment of which is heard on the
McCartney album. We also get an audio performance of Paul
performing Maybe I’m Amazed with the then current line-
up (1974). It’s a marvelous take on the song slightly different
than other versions that have been released. The CD continues
on with audio of McCartney with Wings performing Hot as
Sun and Maybe I’m Amazed both from the same show that Paul
recorded to produce the live version of Coming Up from McCartney
II. The Cd closes out with Don’t Cry Baby which later received
a new title and ended up on the album (I’ll let you discover
this one on your own and guess which song it became) and
the previously unreleased demo Women Kind a unreleased demo.
While the second audio disc is relatively short it’s nice
to have all this material available finally in good sounding
audio. Hopefully we’ll see the concerts that some of the
music and videos are drawn from receive full releases as
well. ***
The third disc comprises a video The Album Story that
runs about 15 minutes or so with Paul discussing the making
of the album, home movies, animation and hand written lyrics,
photos that illustrate the creation of the album. ***
The Beach features the uncut home movie footage that
Paul and Linda shot on the beach while doing the photo shoot
for the album cover. It’s charming to see them cavorting
with their kids and just being normal folks. ***
We also get a music video for Maybe I’m Amazed that
is comprised of stills and animation. Suicide appears from
the One Hand Clapping documentary included with Band on
the Run and we get footage of Paul with the last line up
of Wings doing material from the album at the Concert for
the People of Kampuchea benefit shows he organized in 1979.
Finally the videos close out with two selections from the
as yet unreleased on DVD or Blu-ray MTV Unplugged show that
Paul did back in 1989 performing two songs from McCartney.
***
Finally everything is housed in a deluxe hardcover
book for the three disc edition (that wasn’t provided to
us for review)all numbered and released in a limited edition
with photos, credits, lyrics and comments from Paul about
the making of the album. ---
Final Words:
Let’s look at McCartney slightly differently from those
critics and listeners at the time; it’s Paul’s statement
of musical independence and like John’s Plastic Ono Band
a return to his roots to reinvent himself. Yes, it may be
flawed and it may have filler but the power of the statement
still remains. ***
This reissued re-master sounds very good with a collection
of terrific extras to make this ultimate edition essential
for fans of Paul’s. Recommended.
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