- by Sam Unsted
- Friday, June 08, 2007
- filed in: Pop
How do you solve a problem like Paul? High expectations for new albums by ex-Beatles will always remain, despite both survivors having made nothing of true worth since the early-70s. There always seems to be a sense of disappointment surrounding McCartney’s solo albums, a desire of fans and critics for him to finally produce something either of the homespun magic of Ram or the incisive primality of Plastic Ono Band. The latter is likely the exact root cause of the problem, there remains a sense for all Beatles fans that maybe Paul will one day carry on the enquiring spirit of Lennon and make an album of raw emotion and squalling experimentation. The sad fact is this will now never happen. After wading through a publicity shitstorm with his divorce, you would believe here is where those raw emotions, the blistering catharsis, could come out.
'Memory Almost Full' has moments of interest, songs where Lennon’s restless genius seeps through into Paul’s work and even has lyrics that seem to address his recent turmoil. But unlike the warts ‘n’ all therapy of Lennon, McCartney remains behind the sheen of his musical history and continues ploughing the very same furrow he’s been at for well over 40 years. So you get the album you’d expect; all perfectly constructed, sometimes irritating, but mostly pleasant pop. Aside from a recent foray into classical music and working with Nigel Godrich, neither of which really stretched his experimental tendencies (if they do indeed exist), this is just what Paul does. A pop classicist through and through, this work is filled with lovely moments of lilting melodies and jaunty jangling. Opener and single ‘Dance Tonight’ is useless, almost filler, but still manages to burrow into your humming memory despite its trite lyrics and slight vocal similarities to Cliff Richard.
The standout moment is ‘Mr Bellamy’ on which dissonant riffs and spiteful lyrics are employed to no great emotional end but at least it sounds like he’s trying something new. The stronger moments otherwise are the ones that recall his lovely acoustic odes in The Beatles. ‘End Of The End’ in particular is charmingly fragile, recalling the gorgeous ‘For No One’ on Revolver. ‘Ever Present Past’ perhaps sums up the other facet of modern McCartney music, recalling as it does the pillow-soft rock of ELO while the album is strewn with tastes of Todd Rundgren-esque, white-soul melody. It seems McCartney has streamlined this sound so much it now sounds like those who originally took from him. It’s no bad thing, its also no good thing. This is about as inoffensive as music can be made but, what more should we expect?
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- your review is complete tosh.
you havent even listened to the cd.
i take it you prefer john lennon?...
”Lennon’s restless genius”
”unlike the warts ‘n’ all therapy of Lennon,”
”incisive primality of Plastic Ono Band”
”maybe Paul will one day carry on the enquiring spirit of Lennon ”.
......cant you review a mccartney album without pending your already made up mind that john lennon was better than him!!
your editor should s
- i totally disagree with mark bradley whitby... mccartney’s work has been stagnant for some time. reviews are opinions, so calling someone’s review tosh because they don’t agree with your worship of an artist is, itself, tosh. good review!
- maybe the reviewer should spend more time reviewing the songs and telling us what THEY think was GOOD/BAD about them.
the continued ref to john lennon is a common trend for critics who dont like paul mccartney full stop.
...a new piece of work by any artist should be judged on its own merits.
it is my opinion that the lazy reviewer couldnt be bothered to properly listen to the cd .hence the continued references to mccartneys past bandmember.
pretty sad really
- Mark Bradley Whitby - I thought I should just defend my review a little bit here as you’ve made an accusation a couple of times there that calls my integrity into question which is really unacceptable.
If you disagree with the review, fair enough, but I listened to ’Memory Almost Full’ four times before reviewing it and just felt I should make that known to you. Apologies for having to do this but if you call someone’s integrity into question, that question must be answ
- if that was the case i apologise,
and i totally agree that paul mccartney isnt everyones cup of tea.
however my point remains valid that you really have to put any artists history to one side when you are reviewing new work.
i dont believe you did with this article,and the constant reference to lennon certainly weakens your review!
» View all 34 comments~ by mark bradleywhitby e 6/8/2007
~ by jenni hamperton 6/8/2007
~ by mark bradley whitby 6/8/2007
~ by Sam Unsted 6/9/2007
~ by mark bradley 6/10/2007
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