Egypt Station
It would be difficult to think of a recording artist currently working who has less to prove than Paul McCartney. Yet in the past decade alone, the former Wings frontman has released, between stops on a seemingly endless stadium tour, one classical album, one electronic album as The Fireman, and now two contemporary pop albums—all of which have managed to burnish what was already rock’s most unburnishable résumé. His 17th solo effort is casually ambitious power pop, delivered with the ease and confidence of someone who invented it. At 76, McCartney finds hooks in relatable topics such as ditching weed for domestic bliss (“Happy With You”) and weathering petty criticism (“Who Cares”), while “Despite Repeated Warnings” and closer “Hunt You Down/Naked/C-Link” each clock in at over six minutes, juggling their moving parts in ways that feel complex but never complicated. Producer Greg Kurstin (Adele, Foo Fighters) navigates the middle ground between low-hanging nostalgia and trend-chasing modernity, but the biggest curveball comes courtesy of the Ryan Tedder-helmed “Fuh You”—the Macca song you’ll least want to play around little kids since “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer.”
Part of the Beatle’s charm lies in his vacillation between the banal and the profound, sometimes within a single song. Despite its dark moments, his 17th solo album is firmly within this tradition.
For two artists that don’t sound or act much alike musically, the parallels between the careers of Paul McCartney and Paul Simon are substantial. Both Pauls started in pop music as teenagers, wound up playing in extremely popular and influential bands, released a prodigious amount of great material with those bands…
Macca gives the fans what they want on this whistle-stop tour through his world-changing career
His first LP in five years is structured like a ride on the cosmic train, complete with silly sex songs and a plea for peace. The result is classic Paul.
McCartney describes each song as a station on life’s journey. It’s a theme unravelled on the tracks that throw back to his prime eras, where Egypt Station’s real magic lies
Discover Egypt Station by Paul McCartney released in 2018. Find album reviews, track lists, credits, awards and more at AllMusic.
Paul McCartney has often gotten a bad rap for his post-Beatles work, mostly because of the occasionally corny Wings years, but he's actually...
The charming father of Western pop music, Sir Paul McCartney has had a remarkable career. Not many songwriters can claim to have been in one of the most influential bands in history, written some of the most successful tunes in living memory, and still be
By this stage, Paul McCartney has nothing to prove. One of the most successful songwriters in history, he’s toured the world countless times and won
By turns playful, honest and questing, Paul McCartney hitches empathy to experimentation on his urgent new album<br /><br /><br />
Egypt Station marks a clean break from the music McCartney has been making for the last 20 years.
Five years since his last album, subversively titled New, Paul McCartney has returned with Egypt Station, a concept album that finds the legend traveling...
Paul McCartney expands his sonic range in brilliant form while keeping his writing in a stagnant place in our review of 'Egypt Station'
Macca tries to keep up with the kids by recording with super-songwriter Ryan Tedder, but the strongest moments are when he embraces his own innate talent for melody – and his angst
Egypt Station is Sir Paul McCartney’s 25th album of songs since the break-up of the Beatles (and that is not counting another dozen classical, electronic and soundtrack works).
All aboard for some late, great new tunes from Macca. CD New Music review by Tim Cumming