Like all of us, Paul McCartney had to deal with quarantine in 2020, so he began recording in his personal studio. Entirely conceived by the one-man band, McCartney III follows in the footsteps of two solo projects completed in 1970 and 1980, after the Beatles and Wings respectively were disbanded. The first of these three one-man-band projects heralded the aesthetic sequel to the Fab Four, followed up with the memorable RAM. A decade later, he bundled himself up with synths to record McCartney II, which was in itself an editorial stance in the electro-pop era. Here we are four decades later and Macca still wants to communicate know-how, great mastery, and emotions: acoustic sessions, soul groove (“Deep Deep Feeling” is superb!), rock, country-folk, allusions to his Indian periods, typical beatlesque pop, in short, everything that characterizes his work. This time, no band dissolution precedes the process, the preventive isolation of the pandemic is the determining factor. We learn little from the composer, melodist, multi-instrumentalist, director, clearly the best musician of the Beatles whatever we think of his lyrical talents or his ideological and moral positions. In 2020, he was content to be himself with the resilient voice of a septuagenarian in full possession of his means. He plays all the instruments (electric and acoustic guitars, bass, piano, organ, keyboards, synths, drums, flutes, machines) and has recorded and mixed everything himself, electronically modifying certain takes. In short, he recycles his best recipes while retaining the fervour essential to any pop composition. What more could you ask of a 78-year-old man who remains so vital? We are never far from the model, that must also be underlined. The coarseness of the relatively rough mix gives this recording an eminently sympathetic pop crudeness, which can be an advantage for Macca who wears his small flaws in the twilight of his existence, nevertheless deploying the know-how of a true pop Yoda.
Latest 360 Content
Concert review expérimental / contemporain/Jazz
FIJM | Fievel is Glauque For Dessert… Dessert loaded!
By Alain Brunet
Interview Soul/R&B/Jazz
FIJM | Alexis Lombre and the Holy Spirit in the South Side of Chicago
By Alain Brunet
Concert review Americana
FIJM | Allison Russel’s Apotheosis Concert in Her Hometown
By Michel Labrecque
Concert review
FIJM I Best Dressed, Most Possessed: Fantastic Negrito Stupefies Rogers Stage
By Stephan Boissonneault
Interview Africa/Hip Hop/Jazz/Soul/R&B
Nuits d’Afrique | Immersion In The World of Stogie T
By Michel Labrecque
Concert review Jazz
FIJM | Anomalie and Lettieri: A New Musical Friendship, Developing in Real Time
By Harry Skinner
Concert review Jazz
FIJM | Linda May Han Oh, A Role Model for Female Double-Bass Players
By Alain Brunet
Interview latino/Rock
Nuits d’Afrique | La Chiva Gantiva As Seen by Rafael Espinel
By Michel Labrecque
Concert review Soul/R&B/Hip Hop/Jazz
FIJM | Thundercat, A Feline on The Loose
By Jacob Langlois-Pelletier
Concert review Africa
FIJM | Queen of Afrobeats, Ayra confirms her status as a Global… Starr
By Sandra Gasana
Interview Classical/classique
Festival de Lanaudière | Leonardo Garcia Alarcon/Monteverdi’s Coronation of Poppea: being marketwise
By Frédéric Cardin
Interview Africa/Mandingo Blues
Nuits d’Afrique 2025 | Tyrane Mondeny Presents Her Mandingo Soul
By Sandra Gasana
Concert review Folk/Americana/Jazz/Soul/R&B