New album The Boys Of Dungeon Lane by Paul McCartney will be released on Friday and there should be something on the album for every Beatles fan with varied sounds and styles
The first time I heard excepts of this album was in the offices of Sir Paul’s publicity machine. Please, please me, I thought. New material from the Beatle is rare these days and how many more albums we will get(this is number 27 post Beatles), remains to be seen.
Days We Left Behind was tender and showed Paul a bit vulnerable at 83. It made me emotional when I first heard it. But to make sure I knew this wasn’t going to just be a gentle nostalgic LP they also played me the opening track, As You Lie There, with its loud and slightly crazy chorus. It reminds me a bit of the work producer Andrew Watt did with Ozzy Osbourne.
Listening to the 14 tracks in total, The Boys of Dungeon Lane ends up being hard to categorise as an album. Paul says “half” of it is nostalgic and it is those songs I prefer like Days We Left Behind and Home To Us, the retro-sounding duet with Ringo.
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Salesman Saint, the ode to his hard working parents, is the 13th track featuring some lovely brass and strings recorded at Abbey Road in a swing style. It’s a song I would have thought fitting to close the LP with, and perhaps the one which will be most memorable in the long run.
“They couldn’t take anymore, but they had to carry on” Paul sings of his mum and dad, but also perhaps anyone else going through a tough time now.
Paul’s voice seems to struggle a little at times singing Life Can Be Hard, but accompanied by a piano and some strings, I found it charming and more beautiful for the fragility. This song is Paul growing old gracefully.
Given the five year gap since his last LP, it is no surprise Paul has lots of ideas and lyrics and styles to play around with. You also have the rock of Come Inside and the trippy track called Mountain Top and even some pop, in the form of Ripples In A Pond.
The album is a bit like a big Christmas tin of Quality Street; there’s masses of music and my guess is most fans of Paul or the Beatles will really like some, love a couple, and perhaps find some less enjoyable they’ll leave for someone else to enjoy.
The throwbacks and lyrics filled with memories are what excited me more than big production numbers. But regardless what you think, Paul’s long and winding career is not ending with a whimper.
VERDICT **** (4 stars)
The Boys Of Dungeon Lane is out on Friday(May 29) via MPL/Capitol Records.
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