Album Review: Paul McCartney – The Boys of Dungeon Lane
3 min read
Introductions are truly not necessary for Sir Paul McCartney. Musical icon, creative powerhouse behind not one but two of the biggest rock bands of the past 60 years, and curator of now twenty solo records spanning the entirety of those six decades. His latest release, The Boys of Dungeon Lane, may be reflective, but it’s by no means formulaic.
Opener As You Lie There is a whirlwind of changing passages weaving in and out of one another. It’s reminiscent of songs like Band on the Run and Hunt You Down/Hunted/C-Link, but feels even more cohesive in its execution. Paul muses on someone he’s never met and yet feels a connection to, and the music encapsulates the heady excitement and confusion of such an interaction. Lost Horizon, a song that was found in a box of demos from years gone by, acts as the perfect bridge between the opener and initial single Days We Left Behind. The simple guitar and piano combo along with Paul’s aged falsetto tugs at your heartstrings and gets you feeling nostalgic for a time you may not even remember. Mountain Top is another psych-tinged rocker, with analogue tape manipulation and a phased vocal that really makes you feel as though you’re succumbing to altitude sickness.
The tracks where Paul is truly looking back over his life are definite highlights. Down South is a simple acoustic tune about him and George Harrison on a hitchhiking holiday, and its rustic feel puts you in the backseat of the stranger’s car with them. Home To Us with Ringo Starr is another high energy song, sung with youthful glee. It’s amazing that despite their history together, this is the first time the pair have duetted in the traditional sense, and it pays off. Life Can Be Hard takes a left turn into musical territory, with an arrangement and melody from Paul that feels almost vaudevillian. The album concludes on the one-two punch of Salesman Saint and Momma Gets By, both being about his parents. The latter is a lavish orchestral ballad, with Paul pouring his heart out with the lyrics ‘she loves him; she loves him with all her heart and soul’.
The Boys of Dungeon Lane is a magnificent piece of work from a legend that never ceases to create and innovate. Within all the solid rock songs and excellent performances are flashes of creative genius and above all else fun, something that most musicians at Paul’s age have lost along the way. He’s looking back but has created with producer Andrew Watt a modern sounding collection of contemporary rock music; one foot in the past and one in the present. This album is a precious and spectacular thing.
Writer and Musician, Ryan Bulbeck has been published with a number of online publications, and has worked with a myriad of great artists, both as a performer, and as a producer. His most recent band The 295 are still active, playing shows around the UK.
