Music Disc Reviews

"No need to be sad," he also sings - but McCartney isn't about to leave us there, so whereas Abbey Road truly ended with "Her Majesty," this album ends with "Nod Your Head." It's a classic, nutty McCartney shout, and it beats the bejesus out of the deliberate "Gratitude." Alas, it's burdened by yet another unnecessary flourish - a big, heavy, "Live and Let Die" riff - but it still manages to stomp you silly.

So, yeah, it doesn't approach the overall excellence of Flaming Pie, but Memory Almost Full is indeed very good. Maybe even very very very very very very good. And for those of you who think I'm being tough, well, hell, this is Paul McCartney - and according to Kahne in Rolling Stone, he did ask for this kind of scrutiny, right? We should all be "tough" on him - we should all be the ones who could ask for more - because we still respect him as a musician. After all, he still is a musician, when so many of his contemporaries have fallen by the studio-side. And considering that, over the last 10 years, he's given us Pie, Chaos, and Memory (not counting the mostly dank Driving Rain, a forgivable misstep due to the death of his first wife), McCartney's musical legacy isn't just a thing of the past. It's ever present.

And another thing: You gotta love how the lyrics for "222" have Paul musing dreamily on four lines: "Look at that / Look at her walking / Turning my head / Taking my breath away." Some things never change, whether he's 64 or 17. And you know what I mean.

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