Paul McCartney
McCartney - Archive Collection

THE REVIEW

The drum exercise of "Kreen-Akrore" seasoned with jungle sounds and moans is the manifesto of this new version of "McCartney". An exceptional sound quality that brings much closer the small details that in the old CD versions disappeared in more or less successful digital compressions. If you have the old '93 edition, it's time to throw it away and replace it with this 2011 version.

Paul McCartney's first solo LP is historic more for the story behind it, for the sensations it transmits, than for the composition of the tracks. It's a necessary confessional album, minimal, domestic in all its intrinsic raw beauty. Finally, the sound is clean and detailed, tracks that are sketched like "That Would Be Something" gain charm. Listening through headphones, hearing Paul mimicking the drum part with his voice is almost a new experience, like the splendid and forgotten "Momma Miss America" with its almost viscerally threatening piano stride supported by a commendable drum performance of our guy. The reissue of "McCartney" was necessary, of this very improvised work in solitude that the other Beatles hastily classified as disappointing. Only Harrison understood that tracks like "Every Night" and "Maybe I'm Amazed" were truly worthy of their author's pen.

"McCartney" is released in an enriched version with a second disc which for many will be superfluous as there are no great unreleased tracks from the period and the legendary long version of "The Lovely Linda" (a small opening song of just 43 seconds) is perhaps only a legend circulating among Beatles fans. However, the second disc adds an instrumental of the energetic blues "Oo You" and a home demo of a minor piano composition, "Women Kind" never heard until now, and finally "Suicide", a song written for Sinatra that in the original version of the album appears only with its intro after the mysterious sounds of "Glasses". Then there are live versions from the Glasgow concert of December '79 of the Wings, "Every Night", "Maybe I'm Amazed", and "Hot As Sun".

For those willing to make a major financial sacrifice, there is the deluxe version with DVD and book. A sore point is the abolition of the 2CD+DVD format which was available for "Band On The Run". The whole package is completed by a rich photographic booklet featuring the beautiful photos of Linda, Paul, and their daughters Mary and Heather, images that depict the new life of a twenty-seven-year-old who has decided to walk his path alone.