FEATURE:
When Winter Comes
Looking Ahead to McCartney III
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NOT to suggest that the most important…
PHOTO CREDIT: Mary McCartney
album of the year is Paul McCartney’s McCartney III, but I wanted to follow up from my previous feature on the album as it has now been confirmed and it is coming out on 11th December. McCartney has conducted interviews since the release was announced, and it is going to be wonderful having the final part of the McCartney trilogy released into the world! I speculated previously what nature the new album will take and, as McCartney recorded all the parts himself, it is quite a stripped affair, but it seems like there are going to be some really interesting sounds and instruments on the album. Here are some more details concerning McCartney III:
“A stripped, self-produced solo work marking the opening of a new decade”
Paul McCartney will release McCartney III, a new solo album, in December.
Paul’s isolation in lockdown (or what he calls ‘Rockdown’) encouraged him to get on with working on new music as he fleshed out some existing musical sketches and created new ones.
The album is described as a “stripped, self-produced solo work marking the opening of a new decade” and was built mostly from live takes of Paul on vocals and guitar/piano, with him overdubbing bass, drums, etc. on top of this foundation.
The label blurb tells us that “McCartney III spans a vast and intimate range of modes and moods, from soul searching to wistful, from playful to raucous and all points between” and informs us that Paul has captured this audio with some of the same gear from his ‘Rude Studio’ used as far back as 1971 Wings sessions. Instruments used include Bill Black’s double bass (bought for him by Linda many years ago), alongside Paul’s own Hofner bass, and a mellotron from Abbey Road Studios used on Beatles recordings”.
Make sure you order yourself a copy, as one cannot deny that this is a very special release. Even if you are not a massive Paul McCartney fan, I think the fact that he recorded it in his home studio in East Sussex and produced and performed it all himself is great. It is Macca taking this D.I.Y. approach and recording music without any outside assistance and input. I think McCartney III will be one of his most personal and effecting albums and, until we await a release of the first single, many are speculating as to what sort of vibe the album will put out. Loud and Quiet spoke with Paul McCartney and why he decided to put out an album now:
“Hi Paul. To start with the most obvious question, a lot of people will be thinking why now for McCartney III?
It was kind of unintentional. I had to go into the studio at the beginning of lockdown to do a couple of bits of music for an animated short film. So I got got in and did that bit of work and sent it off to the director, and then I thought, ‘Oh, this is nice, I’m enjoying this, this is a nice way to spend lockdown,’ so I ended up finishing off some songs, looking at bits and bobs, making up stuff, and generally enjoying myself in the studio. And then I’d come home in the evening, and I just happened to be with my daughter Mary’s family. The combination of being able to go to work, make some music, and then hang out with four of my grandkids, I was very lucky. Y’know, we were being super careful, but being able to make music really helped”.
There have been rumours about the release of this new album over the last few weeks, and within those is a theory that McCartney III will be your last record.
Everything I do is always supposed to be my last. When I was 50 – “That’s his last tour.” And it was like, ‘Oh, is it? I don’t think so.’ It’s the rumour mill, but that’s ok. When we did Abbey Road I was dead, so everything else is a bonus.=
In 1970, McCartney was an album that featured themes of home, the family and love. What features on this new one?
I think it’s similar. It’s to do with freedom and love. There’s a varied lot of feelings on it, but I didn’t set out for it to all be like, ‘This is how I feel at this moment.’ The old themes are there, of love and optimism. ‘Seize the Day’ – it’s me. That’s the truth”.
I cannot wait to hear what he has come up with, but I would hate to think that McCartney III is the final album from him – the reason he ended the trilogy now is to sort of close the book. At seventy-eight, there might not be many more albums from him, but McCartney seems to have a lot of energy still, and I do feel like we will get album in the coming years. I am a big fan of both of the previous McCartney albums, and I like the experimental and lo-fi nature of McCartney II (1980), and how he managed to release something so powerful and consistent in 1970 on his first eponymous album – considering the stress he would have felt with The Beatles breaking up!
PHOTO CREDIT: Mary McCartney
McCartney spoke with Matt Everitt on BBC Radio 6 Music, and he talked about mixing together a couple of older tracks with mostly new material:
“Do you think you work differently if you're recording in a bathroom, instead of Abbey Road?
I think so. If you're on your own, you can have an idea and then very quickly play it. Whereas, with a band, you've got to explain it.
Sometimes that's great... but when you're just noodling around on your own, there's just a sense of freedom.
This album has songs from lots of different points in time.
Most of it's new stuff. There are one or two [songs] that I hadn't finished and, because I was able to get in the studio, I thought "OK, wait a minute, what about that one?" So I'd get it out and think, "Ugh, oh dear." And you'd try to figure out what was wrong with it, or why you didn't like it.
In some cases the vocal or the words just didn't cut it, so you'd strip it all down and go "OK, let's just make it completely different".
When I'd done them, I was going "Well, what am I going to do with this?" And it suddenly hit me: this is McCartney III. You've done it all yourself, like the others, so this qualifies”.
In such a bad year, I know McCartney III has not made it immeasurably better, but many welcomed the news of that new album with so much cheer. Having the greatest songwriter who has ever lived treat us to a new album, and one that holds such historical importance, is brilliant! I cannot wait to hear what the songs sound like and how critics react to the album – hopefully it will get a lot more love than McCartney, and McCartney II! A salute to Paul McCartney and an album that will make a lot of people’s 2020…
SO much better and fuller.