Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
There is no doubting that Sir Paul McCartney is one of Liverpool’s and indeed the U.K.’s favourite sons. The songs he co-wrote with John Lennon has rightly passed down generation after generation of music lovers to the point where surely at any point in time around the world a song he wrote, whether with the Beatles or his lengthy solo career, a song he lovingly crafted and put together, is being played on a radio station, in a Juke Box or on a record or C.D. player with reverence.
The latest in a long line of albums to be released with Paul McCartney’s name attached to it, doesn’t see the famous Liverpool lad sing anything at all upon it but nonetheless still has all the sheer talent running through it in abundance. It may be art for art’s sake but The Art of McCartney, a compilation album consisting of 34 songs and covered by the likes of Billy Joel, Corinne Bailey Rae, Willie Nelson, Owl City and Alice Cooper is after all an album that delivers exactly what it says on the tin. A couple of hour’s worth of true delight and respect where it belongs.
The only trouble with the album is that for many in Liverpool, the sound of Paul McCartney is so engrained into the psyche of many a gig goer that it is almost impossible not to hear any song that he wrote with John Lennon/The Beatles, with Wings or for his many numerous solo albums being played in almost any pub, club or venue that straddles the Mersey River. It is such an impossible task for anybody walking around down by the narrow and overcrowded Mathew Street, up by Parr Street or in any nook and cranny in which a guitar can be played and a smile can be flashed and not hear a song by one of Liverpool’s favourite sons be played. In many cases the young performer knocking the tunes out should be looking to other Liverpool favourite bands such as the Icicle Works, Pele, Pete Wylie or even the Christians for example in delivering a good tune for the crowds to admire.
By allowing the album, which it has to be said is a very compelling, and in many cases, hugely entertaining, the room to breathe in a market that is over saturated with nods to the past, it feels as though that at times there is no room for growth, for other artists to become as celebrated. It’s hard to imagine in 30 years time a whole double album being dedicated to the talent that lives in the four Ian’s of McNabb, Prowse, Broudie and McCulloch or even 21st century local icons such as The Mono LP’s, Anna Corcoran, Black Diamond, Only Child, or Liverpool favourite crowd favourite Natalie McCool.
The album itself is as tremendous as you could want it to be but it just highlights the problem even more. With truly expert displays of reading by Billy Joel on the two tracks, Maybe I’m Amazed and the stunning Live and Let Die, Heart’s version of Band on the Run, the phenomenal reading of The Long and Winding Road by Yusuf Islam, Alice Cooper’s showing of the delightful Eleanor Rigby, Barry Gibb’s very enjoyable and poignant When I’m 64, Roger Daltrey’s Helter Skelter, The Cure’s look at Hello Goodbye, Steve Miller’s Hey Jude, Dr. John’s Let ‘Em In and arguably the finest musician to come out Birmingham in Jeff Lynne and his version of Junk, the album is truly a who’s who of Paul McCartney acolytes and devotees and it sounds beautifully produced and assorted; it’s just that the past never lays down and allows the future at times to breathe and grow, which at the end of it all, is the whole point. The past is a great friend but if it is not shown the future can survive and thrive, its eats anything lagging behind with an almost tyrannical fever.
Ian D. Hall