mostly david ephgrave

It's with no small fanfare - or at least with a faint anal parp - that the first episode of 'The McCartney McAlphabet' is out. I'm proud of it and am looking forward to doing more. The second episode's already in the can (not that there is a can) and needs editing, but it's good to at least have the show up and running instead of just a load of social media accounts with no product to push. And aside from a few syncing problems I had when I putting our conversation together, making it was an easy process. Recording our chat was fun and comes over well; as I've mentioned, the topic's not something I have to stretch to discuss and the whole thing's a labour of love. All that's left now is the hope people enjoy it. It's surprising how positive the online Beatles community have been. We've only had encouraging comments on the concept so far and I hope the content will live up to this. As with Doctor Who, I know that Beatles fans can be exact...

There’s something about the simplicity of this song that I can’t get enough of. Macca’s first solo album is famed for its primitive sound and production, which came about as a result of it being mostly recorded at home with a very basic set-up. There's an honesty and directness that's striking compared to the intricately produced Abbey Road (or the over-the-top Let it Be). While there are still big moments - Maybe I’m Amazed is the most obvious - it’s the intimacy that comes across the most, of the kind McCartney didn’t revisit so consistently until 1997’s Flaming Pie or 2005’s Chaos and Creation in the Backyard, a good twenty-seven / thirty-five years later. While Paul’s debut album got a tough press when it was released, which wasn't helped by the recent breakup of The Beatles and the subsequent sniping from John, George and Ringo, it’s a far more solid affair than you'd imagine when listened to in retrospect; yes, some of it'...