I like a week with a new Paul McCartney album at the end of it.
Unfortunately this situation doesn't tend to come up more than once
every five years these days - or two to three if we’re lucky - but no-one
could keep up the ridiculous two albums per year policy The Beatles applied in
the 1960s (or at least one a year in the case of Wings in the 1970s). However, when the conditions
are right, another Macca LP bubbles to the surface, and it’s fair to say
he’s been on a bit of a creative roll ever since Flaming Pie emerged in 1997 with only a few
minor blots on the landscape (as you’d expect with any artist).
I’ve written regularly of how frustrated I get with the public perception
of McCartney, which is lazy at best and often at odds with his obvious high ability and
prolificity; it doesn’t matter how regularly his work is critically
acclaimed (which is remarkably often for an act with such a long history)
there’s still the suggestion he’s put out nothing good since he was a Beatle,
which is far from the truth; to pit him against his own past is
strangely meta anyway as it’s all part of the same big picture, not to mention the
fact very few artists ever reach that peak.
I suppose I’m lucky to be in on the
secret. While I love The Beatles, I’m actually more likely to scour the the
far reaches of Paul’s back catalogue in my downtime than I am theirs, and in
doing so have uncovered many gems. While his live act may rest heavily on his
Beatles past these days - hence those often unrealistic expectations - there’s
also an artist working under the same name who never stopped challenging himself once 1970 had passed; if the reviews
of his new album Egypt Station are to be believed, we’re about to
receive another collection worthy of his fascinatingly eclectic past; personally, I'm looking forward to it.