Paul McCartney - McCartney III

At the age of 78, the legendary Paul McCartney did not hide his ambition on his 3rd eponymous album, on the contrary it allowed him to create a captivating and particularly seductive work. McCartney III features a tempting and clear-sighted instrumentation backed up by striking writing that shows just how great a writer/composer Paul still is.

As a sign of destiny Paul McCartney is an album worked in isolation and solitude during a year 2020 that will be definitely marked by that, 50 years before the first eponymous album, also recorded under special conditions.
Sometimes history and life play tricks on you, as if in the end everything is linked to a question of destiny. McCartney decided to seize "this opportunity to be alone" as a link to what happened 50 years ago when his band The Beatles went out of business. During this painful separation, where McCartney was seen as the ugly duckling by many of the band's fans and by media personalities who accused him of being one of the major culprits behind the Beatles' dissociation. Very touched by the period he was going through, full of anxiety and sadness, Paul McCartney had taken the pseudonym Bill Martin in order to finish his first solo album without being noticed, which gave birth to the controversial but brilliant lo-fi rock McCartney. 10 years later, things were repeating themselves, when he gradually recorded, again with the help only of his wife Linda, the McCartney II sequel, marked by the anticipation of the separation of his band Wings. Once again Paul had made it a point of honour to experiment, even if it was in a totally different way approaching emerging musical styles such as Synthpop in the midst of the New Wave period. Here we are, 2020, 40 years later. Whatever mistakes Paul McCartney made during his solo career, the Liverpool native has managed to build a monumental post-Beatles career that is impossible not to respect. The proof is in this new album, which is not likely to surprise you.

McCartney III is first of all a logical continuation both in its conception and in its spirit since it shares a little the fusion of the first 2 volumes with this Art Rock / Art Pop aesthetic on an eclectic direction. The album doesn't show an unimaginable technicality and complexity, but many passages impress me when you think that he made it entirely on his own. A fascinating experience for a great man whose career now spans more than 60 years, who will make you see it in all its colours, without ever losing its interest and coherence. Sincerely Paul McCartney exudes an incredible form that shows his full confidence in his own project, a delicate thing to happen after decades of continuing works that have received horrible reviews when released. Instead McCartney moves forward unashamedly, offering warm instrumentation and melancholy melodies that always have the gift of having a formidable effect. Of course there is a certain hindsight, but McCartney doesn't seem like the "legend" that many people expect him to be, which would have given us one more album. On the contrary, McCartney as very strong and never decreases in intensity on 11 rigorously chosen songs that fit together like pieces of a puzzle. McCartney III is therefore launched first of all by Long Tailed Winter Bird, is a virtuoso race like a train running at full speed, approaching the folklore of oriental sounds like the legends of American Primitivism at the end of the 50s / beginning of the 60s like Sandy Bull or John Fahey. This perfectly mastered introduction is a symbol of the freedom that McCartney has all along the project, without artistic pressure, confident in his abilities. It is immediately consolidated by a handful of songs alternating in rhythmic and groovy ballads that are particularly effective and well written. And then there is Deep Deep Feeling, a sensational song lasting more than 8 minutes, a real Art Rock lesson. Finally when you analyse this album, apart from the introduction which is very different from the rest, Deep Deep Feeling brings out everything you find throughout, that is to say good catchy doses alternating between Rock and R&B, an invigorating electrification and some risk-taking experimentation which gives depth. To conclude I am really seduced by this new album, there is nothing to throw away and on the contrary there are even some very nice surprises. I will never be able to thank you for what you have done before, so I will try to do it now for this one.