Paul McCartney - Egypt Station

Paul McCartney
Egypt Station
2018
Spotify

I'm likely not the guy to be reviewing a Paul McCartney record. I've never been obsessed with the Beatles and their fandom often confused me. Of course they are legends and have hits upon hits in their catalog, but new music feels like grasping at something that is completely gone. It's kind of incredible when you think about music that someone on the charts today could possible be in their eighties while another person might not even be 20 yet. With that big of a divide in artists, not to mention listeners there has to be something for everyone. However Paul McCartney singing a song like "Come On to Me" at 76 years old sounds absolutely fucking ridiculous. This kind of stomp and boogie track may have been the backbone for a lot of the Beatles' and Wings' early work, but good god does it sound silly here.  It almost feels like an album of covers, but they are new songs leaving you in this odd nowhere's land. His songs feel like meaningless ditties like "Happy With You" where you are bound to hear the terms "baby's laughter" and "I used to get wasted" as Paul outlines just how happy He is, but the song sounds like a Kid's sing a long rather than a true pop song. The song with Kanye West "Fuh You" is a fine outing, but the lyrics are so goddamn cringe and are nothing that a 76 year old man should be singing. It just doesn't fit who Paul McCartney is at all.

The thing is as well is Paul McCartney isn't doing anything new, or trying to explore his art more, instead He is just singing the same sounding songs about the same shit. "People Want Peace" is a wonderful message, absolutely wonderful, but how many songs about the exact same thing does Paul McCartney have in him? 1,000?? It never seems to end and each time He sings it like he's never felt these words before. The entire record just stays at this one note over the whole 15 tracks never wavering from it's commitment to old school pop-rock. If this were an album about looking back, reflecting on a live lived interestingly that would be one thing, but Paul McCartney still thinks this is the stuff that should be played on top 40 radio everyday. He isn't sharing advice or looking inward like David Bowie did on his final record, He wants to be back on top. That feels off, and it feels weird, but it's a syndrome many people of his age are suffering from these days. Well regardless of how great He might have been today Paul McCartney sounds like an old man trying remain relevant. it's not a good look.

4.0 out of 103