If you haven’t seen or at least heard about Kanye West‘s furious debuting of ‘All Day’ at the BRIT awards the other week then I’ll assume that you’ve just been too absorbed in watching Madonna‘s unfortunate fall to have noticed but the performance was fire, and not just because those two giant flamethrowers either.
This week saw the studio version of the track and while Kanye may not be yelling quite as much and isn’t accompanied by a daunting gang of grime’s hottest MCs behind him, we are treated to a completely new insane final minute of the song. After the bludgeoning swagger that West throws in your face for the first four minutes, things take an unexpected turn as we bump into new frequent Kanye collaborator Paul McCartney‘s ‘Two-Finger Chord & Whistle’ that has it’s own story before rampant distorted synths ambush McCartney and do battle until nothing remains. So Help Me God can’t come soon enough.
Originally published March 7th at: http://audioaddictmag.com/2015/03/08/hey-listen-7th-march-2015/
Inescapable in pop music just a few years ago, Mark Ronson has since adopted a lower profile – if you can call producing Sir Paul McCartney , Lil Wayne and Duran Duran as maintaining a low profile anyway – but he’s enlisted the voice of one of his most successful young buddies to kickstart his climb back to the top.
You could probably predict how ‘Uptown Funk’ will sound before you’d hear it and you’d most likely be right. The track’s chicken scratch guitar and colourful synths harken back to 1999-era Prince while Bruno Mars’ braggadocios come-ons are more in line with something that Sly Stone or Parliament–Funkadelic might be found flirting with. The lyrics aren’t going to be inspiring any college classes anytime soon but then that’s never been what funk is about anyway. Most importantly: this thing has one hell of a groove.
It’s big, it’s in your face, it’s got a super-tight horn section. It’s beautiful.
Originally published November 14th at: http://audioaddictmag.com/2014/11/15/hey-listen-14th-november-2014/
After 12 Beatles albums, 16 solo records, seven Wings LPs, seven classical releases and three CDs as The Fireman, the ‘cheeky’ Beatle is not showing any signs of slowing down just yet – incredibly, he continues to still release New (see what I did there?) material. His first album of entirely fresh compositions since 2007’s Memory Almost Full finds Macca in an energetic and inspired state of mind and as a result his music sounds rejuvenated and exciting once again.
After 12 Beatles albums, 16 solo records, seven Wings LPs, seven classical releases and three CDs as The Fireman, the ‘cheeky’ Beatle is not showing any signs of slowing down just yet – incredibly, he continues to still release New (see what I did there?) material. His first album of entirely fresh compositions since 2007’s Memory Almost Full finds Macca in an energetic and inspired state of mind and as a result his music sounds rejuvenated and exciting once again.
“I can try to give you everything you ever wanted” McCartney tells us during the shot of adrenaline that he chooses to open New with. The instant energy established from the initial drum roll of ‘Save Us’ doesn’t wane for the track’s short span thanks to Macca’s age-defying vocals and guitar riffs reminiscent of his 1973 Wings signature tune ‘Band On The Run’. Contrary to the album title, many of the songs on New actually reference McCartney’s past or hold similarities to his past material. Look no further than the plodding ‘On My Way To Work’ or ‘Early Days’ which act as a snapshot of a young Sir Paul and little-known partner-in-crime John Lennon when the two were taking their first steps toward their imminent musical super stardom. Elsewhere ‘Queenie Eye’ (based on an old street game from McCartney’s childhood) and the title-track are colourful Beatles-y nuggets; the former could’ve even sat nicely on Magical Mystery Tour due to its memorable vocal hook and bouncy harpsichord not dissimilar to the Fab Four’s Sgt. Pepper classic ‘Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds’.
Sir Paul does toy with his proven formula slightly however as ‘Appreciate’ brings a more robotic edge to the forefront with an array of synths and it sounds as if McCartney raided a Passion Pit concert for the keyboards on ‘Looking At Her’. The majority of the album is comprised of guitar or piano-based songs and most make for simple, effective pop songs. However, ‘Everybody Out There’ in particular offers little to deem it a memorable track and while final track ‘Road’ contains some of the more interesting storytelling on New, it could be labelled an anti-climax as it doesn’t end far from where it began.
While he isn’t hitting those Little Richard high notes anymore, McCartney’s voice has not been as ravaged by Ol’ Father Time as some of his peers and he wisely stays within his still impressive (for an OAP at least) capabilities. Obviously none of the tracks here stand up to his greatest work from his early days and New often runs thin lyrically for a songwriter who was never particularly complex anyway. But, with the help of no less than four different producers including Mark Ronson and Giles Martin (son of the ‘Fifth Beatle’ George Martin) McCartney has managed to craft a cohesive and modern sounding set of songs while simultaneously proving that the old dog sure can still pen a catchy jingle.
3/5
Originally published October 28th at: http://www.electric-banana.co.uk/reviews/album-reviews/paul-mccartney-new/
James Barlow: full-time music consumer
BASS ODDITY 