Sunday, September 2, 2007

Reviews 2/9/07

Paul McCartney - Memory Almost Full

Love him or hate him, McCartney's career is still constantly ongoing, with this being his fourth release since the turn of the century. Some say he should have stopped making records years ago, but what would they know when he's still making consistently good music?

Memory Almost Full comes as an interesting enough title, as i was reading in an interview, Paul stated, he looked at his his mobile phone as it read "memory almost full", explaining it's relevance of the present time. He sat on the idea long enough before he decided it as the title of his new record.


On first listen, it's drastically clear that's this is the finest work he has crafted in quite some time. The album begins with the first single "Dance Tonight" which is a simple as you can get light hearted pop song, it's not a terrific track but get's the ball rolling.

The basic overall sound and lyric content on the album isn't really too different from McCartney's other outings, but here it just seems to have a bit more depth and intrigue. In your face rocker "Only Mama Knows" begins in elegance with a string section at the helm before bursting into one of the most heaviest riffs he's recorded in quite some time. "Vintage Clothes" easily one of the better songs on the album unfolds into a neat little pop gem as the whistling chorus kicks in.You'd be a fool to not expect a few ordinary tracks here which is an occasional occurence throughout his albums.

The good news is the good outweighs out the bad. The marvelous "Mr Bellamy" which is easily the best song on the album and one of the best songs to be released this year. "That was me" has a winning chorus dosed in rich melody, the brooding "House of Wax" with the longest duration on the album leads up to some fine lead guitar work. The album ends with a bang in "Nod your head" which is probably one of McCartney's most ambitious tracks, with heavy guitar riffing battling a startling brass section.

This is critically regarded as some of McCartney's best work not only in recent times but in a long time. I'm not about to disagree with that, the album won't blow your mind but it will satisfy the longing McCartney fans.


6.5/10


Sean B

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