Search - Paul McCartney :: Memory Almost Full

Now he's 64, and we may not need him, but I'd certainly like

Tom Benton | North Springfield, VT USA | 04/08/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The boyish Beatle has now reached the age he half-mused about forty-plus years ago. With the Beatles far behind him and his solo career eccentric at best, one would have a hard time arguing that we need him. But whenever he releases a record like "Memory Almost Full"--which is about once every two decades--I realize just how much I like having him around. His attitude is perpetually boyish, but now the concepts are distinctly aged: the best song on the album, "Ever Present Past," has him singing, "I hope there's something to find/Searching for the time that has gone so fast/The time that I thought would last." On the song preceding it, he promises "Everybody gonna dance tonight/Everybody gonna feel alright," but he sounds like an elderly Englishman singing to the village young 'uns. Which doesn't mean his music is any less potent--the opposite, in fact. "See Your Sunshine" is almost delightful. "Nod Your Head" is like a morbid old man's "Kashmir." "House of Wax" is a dandy of a melancholy kicker, although it occasionally veers uncomfortably near Radiohead-esque coldness. And the rest is good, too."