III
[Capitol-2020]
The backstory is already pretty much well known but here’s the recap: a byproduct of being on lockdown due to the pandemic of 2020, the man went into his studio to ostensibly work on some film music, took a side turn at some point and ended up with a full-length solo album. Obviously, it’s not his third but it follows in the footsteps of his two previous self-titled one-man-band albums, McCartney [Apple-1970] and McCartney II [Columbia-1980]. Unlike those two, which came on the heels of a band breakup (the Fabs and Wings, respectively) and are strong statements about where he was artistically at those particular junctures, this one feels more like the circumstantial work it was meant to be. In other words, this group of songs comes across as what the artist would have assembled regardless of outside extenuating circumstances, making the relationship to the previous two a bit tenuous. (It would have not been a stretch to title this album Chaos and Creation in the Backyard Vol.2, after his mostly one-man-band record from 2005.)
That being said, some of the ramshackle magic of the 1970 record is present in the likes of “Long Tailed Winter Bird” and “Lavatory Lil”, as well as in the hypnotic if strangely arranged eight minute-long “Deep Deep Feeling”. Interestingly, while this is the most cohesive and polished of the self-titled trifecta and the songs greatly benefit from the man’s solid multi-instrumental prowess, there’s still a down-at-the-farm vibe to mostly acoustic tunes like “Pretty Boys”, “The Kiss of Venus” and even rocker “Slidin’”. (The latter sure to be a treat in a live setting with the powerful backing of his long-time band.)
At this late stage of the game Sir Paul has absolutely nothing to prove, of course. And the fact that he still cares about releasing new material at a regular pace in his late 70s is admirable in and of itself. But while III is not as startling as its predecessors were when released, it’s a worthy sequel that shares their honesty and a certain lack of guardedness, which gives this collection of tunes its own kind of charm.
