McCartney III
*McCartney III* is obviously not Paul McCartney’s third solo album. (It’s his 18th.) What binds this with its two eponymous forebears, beyond any particular stylistic thread, is its reaction to some sort of major dissolution. *McCartney* followed The Beatles’ sudden and bitter breakup in 1970, *McCartney II* came at the end of Wings’ decade-long run in 1980, and the 2020 edition, performed and recorded by himself at his studio near his home in Sussex, England, of course, results from the breakdown in normal everyday life and society. “It was really good to be able to play music, and make up music, and put your thoughts and your fears and your hopes and your love into the music,” McCartney tells Apple Music. “So it kind of saved me, I must say, for about three or four months it took to make it.” Bookended by acoustic songs about birds—certainly in the man’s wheelhouse—much of the album feels appropriately homespun, unadorned and immediate, taking pride in its lack of fuss as it slides from style to style. “Slidin’” is as heavy and sludgy as “Find My Way” is playful and “The Kiss of Venus” is fragile. And he embraces his formidable past, which helps *III* earn its legacy. “Lavatory Lil” can’t help but feel like a sonic and spiritual cousin to “Polythene Pam,” while “Seize the Day” channels his pre-Wings band in a way that McCartney himself was initially alarmed by. “I wrote that on piano,” he says. “I\'m thinking, \'Yeah, I like this,\' but then you check yourself, you go, \'Is this too Beatle-y? Do I need to kind of stop and get radical here somewhere?\' The chorus, the descending bassline—it\'s very Beatle-y, but you know what? Once you\'re done that little question and said, \'Should I be doing this?\' the answer is, yes, you should. Just embrace this whole thing and have some fun.”
The third installment in McCartney’s home-recorded series is less adventurous and revelatory than its eponymous predecessors, but still contains moments of genuine wonder and weirdness.
McCartney III could stand as a proper coda for the singer/songwriter we’ve listened to for fifty-odd years: sentimental yet strong, a bit wistful, but as always, looking ahead.
Like the rest of us, Macca's been whiling away the hours. The result? A stellar return to his three-decade-spanning series
It’s commonly accepted with any innovation in popular music that The Beatles did it first – from surreal music videos to nasty break-ups – but bedroom pop? Surely the most successful songwriters of all time didn’t pioneer the current trend for locked-down musicians experimenting under their duvets?
Paul McCartney's 'McCartney III': His latest recalls the pastoral, laid-back sound of 1970 solo debut. Rob Sheffield reviews.
McCartney’s mood-hopping rattle bag of a third solo album sounds more like a descendant of The Beatles’ ‘White Album’ than anything else
Paul McCartney faced the COVID-19 lockdown of 2020 like he faced so many other unexpected challenges in his life: he set out to make music on his own.
Like its predecessors McCartney (1970) and McCartney II (1980), McCartney III was written, recorded and produced entirely by Sir Paul McCart...
It wouldn’t be too foolish to think that Paul McCartney - nearly sixty years into his illustrious career and the man responsible for writing and co-writing some of the most notable songs in pop music history - has done and said just about everything he needs or wants to.
Stop me if you’ve heard this before: Paul McCartney, perhaps the greatest songwriter in the history of popular music, has gifted the world with yet another wonderful record.
There has been an ever so slight shift in the Macca narrative in the past few years. The image of the slightly cheesy uncle has made way for the real
The former Beatle’s latest offering possesses the same playful spirit as his 1970 solo debut
Returning to the critic-confounding solo home recordings of his McCartney series, this album is – some oddities and filler aside – affectingly personal and hugely enjoyable
The third album in the ex-Beatle’s solo series is a fantastical, if occasionally cheesy, set of light-hearted pop ideas
This unexpected release is as wholesome and solid a pop-rock album as you’re likely to hear in 2020