So the Stones’ guitarist is 77 and still rockin’? “Hold my beer,” say the Beatles! As old as Keith Richards is, there are older rock stars around, from even more famous bands… and they’re keeping busy! Believe it or not, this week we have new music from both remaining Beatles – a new song from Ringo Starr, and an entire album from Sir Paul McCartney!
The two have similarities and huge differences. Both were created at the rockers’ own homes and seem to have been partly inspired by boredom resulting from the pandemic and subsequent “lockdown”, keeping Ringo, 80 years young, and Paul, 78, from being out and about or socializing much this year. That’s where the similarities end though, with Ringo’s song “Here’s to the Nights” being a veritable musical all-star (or “All Starr”) team effort, while Paul’s, simply entitled McCartney III, is a truly solo effort. Mind you, the number of people involved with Starr’s single doesn’t equate to a big party or crowded control rooms. He told NBC’s Harry Smith yesterday that he moved his drums into his bedroom at home, and played them there while he converted his guest house into a studio and had other musicians come in to play there individually. He says he’s not seen more than eight people in person since March due to the virus.
Among the guests who took part in “Here’s to the Nights” were Dave Grohl, Sheryl Crow, Lenny Kravitz, Corinne Bailey Rae and one…Paul McCartney. He had Steve Lukather of Toto on guitars and Benmont Trench, formerly of Tom Petty’s Heartbreakers on keyboards for the song primarily written by Dianne Warren. Warren rose to songwriting prominence in the ’80s penning such light pop hits as “Rhythm of the Night” by DeBarge and Laura Branigan’s “Solitaire.” The song may not match his best works of four or five decades back, but is a likable enough little tune that could well be a closing time sing-along with lines about “here’s to nights we won’t remember, with friends we won’t forget.” Perhaps the most surprising thing about it is how fine a form Starr’s voice appears to be in.
McCartney’s venture is a bit more ambitious. McCartney III he says is the finale of a trilogy of albums he envisioned long ago, following, logically enough McCartney I (in 1970, which featured the original version of “Maybe I’m Amazed”) and McCartney II (from 1980 with its lively hit “Coming Up”.) Those two resulted from his reactions to the demise of Beatles and Wings, respectively, while this one is simply him playing music, seemingly for himself. He played all instruments and produced it himself, in contrast to his last effort, Egypt Station, two years ago which had extensive outside help and production designed squarely with the idea of having him back on the charts.
The 11 song Capitol Records album contains a mix of songs, tempo and mood wise, with a variety of titles that would sound at home on old Beatles albums – “Winter Bird”, “Lavatory Lil”, “Seize the Day”, “Deep, Deep, Feeling”…
Initial reviews are quite good for it. Entertainment Weekly grades it a “B” while Rolling Stone gives it 4-stars, the same as allmusic and Britain’s The Guardian. The latter note that it does seem like a follow-up to the other two because they garnered mixed reviews due to them being “moments where he temporarily forgot his commercial impulses, but not his innate gift for melody.” This they considered “personal and hugely enjoyable,” with “Deep Deep Feeling” “the best song to bear McCartney’s name in over a decade”, although they lament “Lavatory Lil” is best flushed… “the best thing you can say about it is it isn’t quite as awful as its title.” Allmusic say that it doesn’t have “the shock of the new” the way I and II did, but with “arrangements so uncluttered” and “nods to sadness and loneliness on ‘Deep Deep Feeling’” as well as “the sweet ‘The Kiss of Venus’”, the album is enjoyable and better than his 2018 work.
If you want to find out for yourself, McCartney III is available today digitally or in small quantities as an LP. Real hardcore fans might want to search out one of the limited edition colored vinyl editions – Jack White’s Third Man Records (Detroit and Nashville) have some 333 yellow albums with black dots, Target stores will carry green ones and some retailers will have pink.