I’m one of a small but significant group of people who continues to look forward to the release of McCartney III. I love its’ two predecessors. McCartney I and McCartney II are both, in their own way, evidence of Paul in retreat, introspective, insular but inspired; to write and record music that combines his accessibility and popularity with a much needed adrenaline burst of unpredictability and inscrutability. Paul missed The Beatles but would anyone miss him underlined McCartney I. The need for McCartney II is less obvious: possibly contractual, possibly self-indulgent, possibly rash, possibly confessional.

Some call these albums half-baked (Danny Baker was no fan of McCartney II) but I find their work-in-progress vibe in itself fascinating. It’s the person as much as the music that is in development; regrouping, reorganising and reassessing. By revealing something more of the inner workings of Paul’s song-writing in the self-organisation – evidence often gets lost, either in wonderment or in antipathy, depending on where you stand on fully polished solo/Wings McCartney – these albums seem to reboot, in equal measure, both the artist and the fan.

McCartney II is my personal favourite. I was 13 when it came out. I’d grown up with » Continue Reading.