The soundtrack to my day today, inevitably, what with it being released this morning, was the
new Paul McCartney album ‘Egypt Station’, and to paraphrase one of its lyrics,
“It’s been a blast”.
Listening to new
material from an artist you’ve followed your whole life can be a tense
experience, particularly when - like McCartney - they’re eternally teetering toward inevitable comparison with their own past. Paul’s one of a tiny
handful of people who somehow manages to be both hugely respected for his work
with The Beatles while also often being derided as
a figure of fun who supposedly hasn’t done anything to rival his early
days for an eternity.
Now, the latter
half of that sentence is bollocks and is something that - at least in the eyes of
the music press - has been refuted so often by reviews of his recent work, which
has generally been seen to have hit a bit of a purple streak since the late Nineties. Yet despite this, the cliche's a difficult beast to shake. I know it’s stupid,
but I feel very protective of him, partly because his music’s been so
protective of me and has helped me through so much.
Each time he's
released a new album since 2001's Driving Rain my more morbid side worries it's his last, yet somehow, his career's gained more vitality with age; Egypt
Station's no different and is bursting with ideas and energy; of
course the man sounds older, yet at the same time he doesn’t. What’s most
inspiring of all is he clearly still loves making music; so much so that he just
can’t not do it, and while it’s a little early to say, i think the album might be his best since 2005’s Chaos and Creation in the Backyard.
I’ve yet to
settle on a favourite track but what’s great is the album’s wonderfully
eclectic. I’ve seen a few comparisons to Ram - an album that always polarizes
opinion, mainly because it was released so soon after The
Beatles’ breakup when public perception of Paul was at its lowest - and I
can see the connection; it’s just very him, and that’s what so good
about it. Once again, I worry it’s his swansong, but whatever the case, one thing’s
for certain: as long as he has his health then the well’s not dry yet.