Current Paul McCartney news thread (interviews, articles, miscellaneous)

From today's Huffington Post:

Dave Grohl Says Taylor Swift Saved Him At Paul McCartney's Party | HuffPost

 

Not current news, in fact very old news--but what the hey: (from RS Magazine cover story on Neil Young which I happen to be re-reading)
Feb 8, 1979, Cameron Crowe (time frame 1975-1976 Zuma tour)

After finishing the album, Neil Young and Crazy Horse toured the world. "We played England, Japan, everywhere except America," says Talbot. "It was an idyllic time, man, Neil was just sparkling. We had a band again. I heard us playing like I knew nobody else could play. I remember in Rotterdam, coming offstage and seeing Paul McCartney standing there. We'd just finished the set, the four of us are running through this wind tunnel to get back to the dressing room, and McCartney's just standing there. He nods at me like, you know, musician to musician. I just kept thinking . . . four of us. Four of them. Have we got a band or what? I don't think we've come down from that tour yet.

 

The james Cordon video with Paul is getting more traction than anything about Paul in recent memory , and deservingly so. It shows humanity , something that is sorely lacking in the USA . I just received a note from VF about this. You all should read it, just google VF Paul McCartney, James Cordon karaoke.

 

How many people today know what “The Family Way “ means ? I’m dead serious ...

 

Nothing new here, but I realized these recent interviews hadn’t been posted here, and they ought to be, for future reference!

Paul McCartney on new album 'Egypt Station' and collaborating with the next generation: “I feel lucky that these people are interested in working with me”
Sir Paul McCartney: 'Retire from what?'

 

We use more nuanced language now like knocked up!

 

Might I get banned with all my fuhing talk?

 

Also if anyone hasn't heard Paul's first solo project "The Family Way." It's available on Spotify.

The Family Way (Original Soundtrack Recording)

 

We can only hope!

 

Now I'm fuhing mad! - not really!

 

I just received this amusing email from Bullmoose:

We just wanted to let you know that the release of:
MCCARTNEY,PAUL/EGYPT STATION@2LP DELUXE ED (602567545040)
Has been delayed until Sep 07, 2018. It was previously scheduled for Jan 01, 1900. We’re very sorry about this!

First I got excited, Oh is it coming out sooner? Then I read the rest, Jan 1, 1900, LOL!

 

I only know because of the soundtrack.

 

At least you've got a rescheduled date. My preorder of a W.C. Handy record from January 1900 has also been delayed for 118 years!!! Still waiting ...

 

I got that one too. I also got one indicating the yellow submarine 50th anniversary is pushed back to Christmas

 

Of what year?

 

Damon Albarn Warned Paul McCartney Not To Work With Kanye West

I wonder what his screen name here is.

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Damon Albarn is apparently no fan of Kanye West. In a new interview with the French publication L’obs, the Gorillaz and Blur leader embarks on a bit of a tirade about Kanye, specifically his “abusive” creative relationship with Paul McCartney.

Although Albarn’s comments are a little jumbled after being translated from English to French and back, the tone and substance of the exchange are clear. After the interviewer brings up Kanye’s lengthy process of gathering samples for Pusha-T’s Daytona, Albarn responds, “I do not sample, I create music.” He then begins a tangent about Kanye’s relationship to McCartney: “Do not get me started on Kanye West … Kanye West trapped Paul McCartney.”

[More at the link above]
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The Guide to Getting into Paul McCartney The Guide to Getting into Paul McCartney via @noiseymusic

I thought this was an interesting read.

 

I read the intro and thought, "a kindred spirit! - someone who'll shine some light on Paul's lesser commercial highlights", and then was ultimately quite disappointed with his limited scope. He lists over 60 tracks and, unless I missed it, doesn't get a single tune from Flaming Pie, Run Devil Run, Chaos and Creation, Memory Almost Full or New, but throws in not one, but two Kanye collaborations? Yeah, because "Only One" is clearly more representative of Paul than, say "Too Much Rain" or "Somedays" or "Ever Present Past" or "New".

Don't get me wrong, I certainly appreciate you pointing out the article - that's EXACTLY what this thread is for - I'm just disappointed the writer feigned such vast knowledge of Paul's entire career and then loaded his playlists with about 60% Beatle music.

 

Maybe he'd been to a concert and thought he was being generous with the solo material!

 

Kinda hard to list non-collaborative songs in a section devoted to collaborations.

But I was a tad disappointed, as well. The granny music/music hall charge always ticks me off.

 

First just want to point out the writer is female. She also appears young and, since this is Vice, I think is writing for a youngish audience that might have little exposure to Paul other than having just seen him on Carpool. Within that context, from a skimming it sounds like a decent intro for that crowd. It talked about a mix of his Beatles and solo work, included tracks from a chunk of his solo albums, and explicitly mentioned some albums that get less attention in the popular press (M2, FITD). It mentions the Kanye tracks because the target audience is likely to have heard them. I disagree with some of her opinions, but that's what music criticism is all about. There are no groundbreaking insights, but she's just trying to provide some context for the listening. Bottom line, this is the kind of thing I mentioned the other day I'd hoped/anticipated might come out of Carpool -- a prompt to get some new people, especially young ones, curious about Paul's entire career, including his Beatles work since that can inspire further exploration. That's a vast catalog so it helps to have a springboard and this seems like a decent starting point from which those inclined might branch out.

 

Got me.
I’d already closed the window when I wrote “his” and actually thought about double-checking the writer’s gender but was too lazy (yup, I’m a male! ) to check. But I’m still lukewarm on the piece. If - aside from the “collaborations” section - you only pick one song from his last 35 years of music making, that doesn’t exactly make a persuasive argument that you should explore his solo catalogue. On the contrary, it strengthens the misplaced notion that he can’t effectively create on his own...

Isn’t “English Tea” a better example of “Music Hall Paul” than Lovely Rita? Why not consider the lonely howl of “No Other Baby” as more Lennon-esque than say, Paperback Writer (which has zero Lennon qualities to this listener)? Aren’t Somedays/Calico Skies/Heather/Put it There* better examples of “Romantic Paul” than “Two of Us”? It reminded me of the recent Harrison tribute album (Randy Bachman, iirc?) that covered about a dozen Beatle compositions + one Wilburys tune + one solo Harrisong - a nice idea, but something went wrong in the execution department, IMO...

*Going by their broader definition “beyond romantic love”

 

I just read the article. Ugh. That's what passes for professional writing these days? At least, as a freelancer, she probably didn't make enough for cat food from that.

If you're the target audience for that style of writing, examine your education and get more.

"This popped into my head and my thoughts have value - now pay me." Hackery.

 

Didn’t hate it as much as you, but also didn’t love it as much as the above line.

 

A simple addition that would have improved the article and fixed some if it's shortcomings would have been a "So you want to get into Paul's recent great songs" section with 3 tracks each from his most recent 4 or 5 albums with his new singles as well.