Driving Rain

by

Paul McCartney

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...maybe then people we would be able to listen to an album open minded. But, Paul is Paul, John Lennon's partner, founder of Wings, a friggin BEATLE for God's sake...it's hard not to expect too much.

Yet, this album is good enough anyway. If Paul had produced his last two albums incognito, (I am thinking about "Flaming Pie" and "Driving Rain" here) and suddenly died, reviewers the world over would be lamenting the forshortened career of an under apreciated artist. But this is Paul McCartney, and everything is judged by Penny Lane and Revolver. Not gonna happen. Can't...this isn't the 60's and none of us are removing the sleepy dew of the 50's from our eyes.

So, on its own, this is a great album.

Like Jagger, Paul attempts to cover a number of musical genres here, but Paul's effort feels a little less forced. contrary to most expectations, this album isn't 64 minutes of Paul bemoaning Linda's death. "Lonely Road" clearly gets that job done, and rather ably at that.

There is a darkness to this album, lacking the silliness of "Press to Play" or the rawness of "Flaming Pie," but maybe that's its strength. Paul plays with a small 4 or 5 piece group for most of this album, staying away from his proclivity for massive over production.

Overall this is a hip, modern sounding album - with a refreshingly minimalist feel. It's also very good.

After seeing Paul last night in "Big D", I realized two things: 1) Paul has written (or co-written) many of the greatest songs of the last 40 years. 2) Paul hasn't written a "great" album since his days with Wings. The problem here is that the songs just don't have the staying power of JET, YESTERDAY, MAYBE I'M AMAZED, BLACKBIRD and hundreds of others. It's not a truly bad album, just very average. When you hear the new tunes played right next to the classics, it's easier to dismiss them as weak. On their own, written by someone we didn't hold to such high standards, they'd be just fine. But, just fine won't do after the absolute pop perfection that Paul has been cranking out since 1963. Still, McCartney's got more skill and talent then almost any modern artist getting airplay today (see your local top 10 for proof of how lame music has gotten in 2002), and I still believe the man has got a few more classics to give us in the future.