It’s become a long running cliche over the years to enthusiastically declare that Paul McCartney has "returned to form" pretty much every time he's released anything since The Beatles that wasn’t terrible. This time, his new album Egypt Station contains more brilliant Macca moments than anything he’s made in years. Although it thrives on a surprisingly contemporary sound, at the same time much of it recalls various points of his long as me illustrious career. The highlights include the stunning Abbey Road-like 'I Don’t Know', a beautifully soulful track which ranks as one of his very best.
McCartney said:
"I liked the words 'Egypt Station.' It reminded me of the 'album' albums we used to make... 'Egypt Station' starts off at the station on the first song and then each song is like a different station. So it gave us some idea to base all the songs around that. I think of it as a dream location that the music emanates from."There's also the upbeat ‘Come On Me’, and ‘Confidente’, a touching acoustic ode to his old guitar. Aside from the gorgeous ‘Hand In Hand', when you get past the first few tracks, the best stuff remaining is the material that doesn’t sound much like McCartney at all: the hugely divisive Coldplay-on-viagra singalong 'Fuh You', the closing medley ‘Hunt You Down/Naked/C-Link’, the odd bossa nova of 'Back In Brazil’, and the Chic-like 'Caesar Rock'. Elsewhere, the epic multi-part 'Despite Repeated Warnings' is a bit of an awkward, disjointed listen, it’s lyrics concerning a ship with a dangerous captain at the helm, in what is probably a political metaphor. Brilliant and flawed, but this time brilliant shines more noticeably. 8/10 is my verdict.