Paul McCartney - McCartney

Paul McCartney -  McCartney (1970)

Genre: Rock, Lo-Fi

Released less than a month before the release of the final Beatles record Let It Be, McCartney's debut album received substantial hype, thanks in part to rumors of The Beatles' eminent break-up. As a reminder, I do not intend for this to be a really in-depth and complex review. I'm just sharing my quick personal thoughts on the album. As for any album review I will do, I try to be objective without letting any personal bias get too much in the way of the final grade.

It was perfectly reasonable to expect nothing short of a masterpiece from Macca. After all, he contributed so many hits to The Beatles' discography as part of his songwriting partnership with Lennon. The first time I listened to this record all the way through, I was honestly left a bit confused and disheartened. It's riddled with unfinished songs and short, whimsical ditties that by the end, it felt like I had listened to a collection of cut studio takes and abandoned B-sides. It definitely didn't have the consistency and wow factor that one would expect from a former Beatle.

But I digress, as none of the tracks on here are downright stinkers. In fact, this album did spawn one of McCartney's most celebrated solo efforts, Maybe I'm Amazed, a raw, yet sweet piece of romantic piano rock. It's very clear that most of the album drew inspiration from his wife, Linda. The opening track, The Lovely Linda, while only being a mere 44 seconds long, is one of the cutest acoustic piece that McCartney ever recorded and stands out as one of my favorite tracks on the record. If you like cute, sappy love songs, then Macca has you covered on this record.

It's interesting to note, however, that out of the 13 tracks, 5 of them are instrumental and that includes Singalong Junk, which is just an instrumental version of Junk. Pretty cheap of him, if you ask me. While the incomplete songs were already a big indication, this further solidifies my claim that poor Paul was simply struggling with coming up with enough decent material. Junk is quite pretty, at least. Glad he didn't do this with some of the other tracks. Oo You is the most hard-rocking tune here, very much uninspired in it's lyrical content, but quite catchy nonetheless. Man We Was Lonely dabbles in some country influences and remains another simple, but effectively catchy tune. To sum up my thoughts on most of the track-listing, a lot of these may be pretty short, simple tunes, but they're mostly quite pleasing and enjoyable.

 I'd like to properly address Kreen-Akrore. I like to think of this track as an excuse for McCartney's ego to shine through. It's a glorified percussion-heavy jam session. Seeing as he played every instrument on this album, he possibly wanted to show off his [subpar] drumming skills. It's not a particularly horrible track, but it seems quite odd to include it, especially as the closing track. Overall, the album has a low-fi quality about it, production wise. Seeing as a lot of the tracks were recorded at home, it stands to reason that McCartney was going for a more "DIY" kind of sound and aesthetic. For the type of tunes he was putting on this record, it works well enough. This was probably not what most people expected from Macca's debut solo effort, but it has its charm.

B

Favorite Tracks: Maybe I'm Amazed, Man We Was Lonely, The Lovely Linda, Junk, That Would Be Something

Least Favorite Track: Kreen-Akrore