Reviewed by Ian Phillips.
By Paul McCartney, Capitol Records 2018.
The opening track from Paul McCartney’s Egypt Station, I Don’t Know, is one of the best songs he has written in some time and a powerful opening to a really good album.
The track reveals a vulnerability that somehow seems at odds with his God-like Beatles status coming from a man who it would seem, has achieved everything and has nothing else to prove.
The lyrics point to the obvious question that most of us feel compelled to ask; what compels one of the most successful and adored musicians of all time to constantly seek the approval of the ever changing industry to which he has devoted his life?
“I got crows at my windows, dogs at my door, I don’t think I can take any more, What am I doing wrong? I don’t know.”
There is no doubt that he has a constant desire (need?) to remain relevant which explains his choice of producers for the album.
Greg Kurstin has worked with some of the hottest acts in the business such as Lily Allen, Kylie, Britney, Adele, and Chvrches while Ryan Tedder has produced for OneRepublic, Leona Lewis, Beyoncé, Adele and Taylor Swift.
The album title and artwork suggests a concept of a rail journey with the songs being the stations but in reality it doesn’t bear scrutiny.
Instead what we get are 16 tracks that contain an exceptional variety of genres from the Wings like pop of Who Cares through the piano ballad, Despite Repeated Warnings, (a comment about Brexit and Trump among other political misadventures) on to the experimentations introduced by the new breed of producers/collaborators that throw up the unusual and unexpected.
There are, of course, flash backs to his past work, especially in the pastiche of Hunt You Down/ Naked/ C-Link which transports us back to the B side of Abbey Road.
No one is better at developing the melodic links that entwine and unite disparate musical snippets into a complete and compelling whole than Paul McCartney.
Egypt Station is a logical progression from his excellent previous album New.
In it he shows us that he still has a lot to offer, that he is still relevant, and that despite, or because of, his vulnerabilities, his creative juices continue to flow.
