Paul McCartney
Egypt Station

THE REVIEW

Unfortunately, the launch singles "Come on to Me" and "I Don't Know", did not have a full qualitative confirmation in the rest of the album. I regret to say it, but the level is well below that of "New" from 2013 of this "Egypt Station". The quality of the sounds is all there, but the craftsmanship is dominant, there is no sought-after art pop, and in the case of "Memory Almost Full" a bit nostalgic of the '70s, which distinguished the two previous works but rather a general slackening in style "Driving Rain" of 2001 can be observed, an album too full of songs and little cared for as a whole that failed to highlight the standout tracks that were present. This "Egypt Station" is a product of contemporary times, a collection of songs whose listening is enclosed in the time between two train stations, the two brief choir pieces that open and close the album (the best things along with the homage to George Harrison's spiritual music in "Do it Know"). It is not a concept album, it is a fluid and massive work that is easy to listen to, but after five years of silence, more was expected than the suggestive "Fuh You" in which Paul masks the verb "to fuck" to avoid censorship. A cheeky trick, far removed from the much more interesting "Hi, Hi, Hi" by Wings. McCartney's eclecticism is well-known but cannot be an added value, we are far from the Wings' era when the song form was studied and meticulously subservient to the pleasure of listening, in this album we find songs that seem more like jam sessions ("Caeser Rock") or embarrassing stylistic exercises (the samba of "Back to Brazil") while the two final suites ("Despite Repeated Warnings" and "Hunt You Down/Naked/C-Link") are ordinary work for Paul and historically a stratagem he resorts to when he needs to tie together song pieces that he cannot enhance individually. The award for the worst track, and one of Macca's worst pieces from 1958 to today, can be given to "People Want Peace", while "Confidante" and "Hand in Hand" are among the best pieces of the album with the ZZ-Top style track "Who Cares".

In the end, there remains the beautiful blues solo that characterizes "C-Link", and the final consideration is that Paul needs to work entirely alone to create an interesting album or to rely on excellent collaborators, not necessarily renowned like the members of Wings were; his touring band now appears tired, and perhaps it's time (also considering his age) to try something new with creative sources of different caliber compared to the producers Greg Kurstin and Ryan Tedder who are good for today's bland and colorless bubble rock and bubble pop.