CD Reviews: Paul McCartney, Page France
Paul McCartney - Memory Almost Full
The problem with rock legends, assuming they live past 30, is that they are held to such high standards. But for Sir Paul McCartney, age 65, such standards exist nowhere if not in his own driven psyche. In the past two years, he has released a politely (read: coolly) received acoustic album, Chaos And Creation In The Backyard, performed an extravagantly surreal rendition of "Yesterday" with Jay-Z at the Grammies, signed an unprecedented album distribution deal with Starbucks, and endured a messy and highly public divorce. McCartney has described the latter event, a tabloid phenomenon, as the worst period of his life. But they say that all good art comes from pain, and one can infer from the hype surrounding McCartney's new album, Memory Almost Full, that his personal problems have resulted in a creative rejuvenation.
That said, this is still McCartney we're talking about. There's going to be a fair amount of schmaltz to deal with, represented by tracks like "The End Of The End" ("The Long And Winding Road" rewritten by a retiree) and the strictly-grade school mad/glad/sad lyrical scheme on "See Your Sunshine" (unfortunately not a naughty double entendre). But it's mostly gorgeous schmaltz, and the goopy stuff is balanced by a surprising amount of snarly distorted guitars and edgy vocal performances. Forty years removed from their heyday, McCartney's pipes are none the worse for wear--on the closing rocker "Nod Your Head," he lets it rip "Helter Skelter"-style, a feat far younger performers would have trouble with (hi, Axl), and on "Only Mama Knows" his furious vocals drives a disquieting tale of childhood abandonment to a manic catharsis. It's a surprisingly modern-sounding recording, and the album's glossy digital enhancements mesh remarkably well with McCartney's classicist pop compositions. For all the hype, it's probably one of the few items at Starbucks actually worth buying.
Official website
"Dance Tonight" video
"Maybe I'm Amazed" promo (1974)
Page France - ...And The Family Telephone
Page France's new album ...And The Family Telephone inhabits a magical sparkling world where every song sounds like The Velvet Undergrounds' "Sunday Morning" and trumpet solos blossom like daffodils under your bare feet. If the previous sentence made your lip curl, this record is probably not for you; the incessantly cheery melodies and general 60s-pop-without-the-drugs vibe requires a certain childlike mindset to be fully appreciated. Though off-putting at first, singer Michael Nau's voice (no one in the band is named Page or France) acquires a certain nasally charm as the album progresses, a hybrid of The Mountain Goats' John Darnielle and croaky-period Nico. The album is simple and pleasant, but in the long run suffers from a washed-out same-iness; the band's sound is probably more suited to the single/EP format in this regard.
Page France website
on MySpace
