I don’t know that I’ve ever come to an album with lower expectations than I did for McCartney III.
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I’d call it disappointing if it wasn’t pretty much what I expected from McCartney at this point in his artistic career. It plays to all of McCartney’s weaknesses without the benefit of any of his strengths. It has the lamest melodies of any McCartney album ever, from a man who has written more amazing melodies than anyone. It has the occasional promising idea for a song that fails to engage because the spark of a brilliant idea for a song was never properly nurtured into a flame. It is an album bogged down with endless repetition of musical phrases that weren’t even that interesting the first time you heard them (think “Momma Miss America” or “Valentine’s Day” from the original McCartney album). And his latest album, McCartney III, makes the point about as well as any of his albums I can think of. Which is why I am so disappointed that he is used that unimaginable amount of talent to so little effect over the last 50 years of his solo career. I don’t believe anyone who has walked the earth has ever been given as much pure musical talent as Paul McCartney, and I am being 100% sincere. Perhaps at the outset of this review I should make it very clear that my disdain for much of McCartney’s solo work – especially over the past twenty years – is not because I don’t think he’s talented, and certainly not because I hate the guy. In recent years, we've had #1s by acts like Rod Stewart, Weird Al Yankovic and Rick Astley because the younger artists are all about singles or steaming albums instead.Well, at least I don’t think McCartney II is Paul McCartney’s worst solo album anymore. He's one of the few still making albums rather than compiling singles. Where Paul can and likely will do succeed is to release an album audiences will purchase against weak competition to go #1. Quite frankly, if Paul copied Taylor he wouldn't get close to the same sales simply because of the size of their audience. McCartney's relied on live performances to get his music out there, not Twitter / army of fans / press releases about politics / etc.
PAUL MCCARTNEY MCCARTNEY III FOR FREE
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If you doubt the last one, you haven't looked at the McCartney super deluxe releases in recent years. Regular, coloured, cassettes, CDs… it's multiple options packaged together.
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If you doubt the first three, look at some of the other upcoming releases these days.
PAUL MCCARTNEY MCCARTNEY III PLUS
McCartney I/II/III numbered limited edition boxed set that has an extra book looking at the connections, plus lithographs and a puzzle.McCartney III limited edition package of other, coloured vinyl, CD, possibly cassette.McCartney III limited edition coloured vinyl.McCartney III standard edition LP, CD, digital.If the last few years have taught MPL anything it's to make expensive sets for fans to overspend on.