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Paul McCartney’s ‘NEW’ album getting rave reviews

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Credit: MPL / Mary McCartney

Paul McCartney has been working overtime promoting his new album called ‘New.’ In the US, he appeared on Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, and Howard Stern, plus he performed at the iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas, did an impromptu mini-concert in New York’s Times Square last week and a surprise concert in Queens at the Frank Sinatra School for the Performing Arts.

‘New’, with a release date of October 15, is McCartney’s first album of original material in six years. With all the attention that ‘New’ is getting, the reviews are in: it’s a hit!

The UK Telegraph says “Paul McCartney’s jaunty, melodic 16th solo album, New, proves the former Beatle’s talent is timeless.”(5 out of 5 stars)

Rolling Stone says “New feels energized and full of joyous rock and roll invention.” (4 out of 5 stars)

The Irish Times says “New finds him in one of the best shapes of his life.” (4 out of 5 stars)

The Associate Press says “the end result is surprisingly cohesive, modern-sounding and, most of all, fun to listen to.”

Entertainment Weekly gives New a grade of A- : “[New] celebrates the idea that pop music can still invigorate, inspire, and surprise — even if you had a hand in inventing it.”

The Montreal Gazette: “Sir Paul delivers his most irresistible effort in decades.” (4 stars)

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Credit: MPL / Hear Music

Talking about the album, Paul said: “It’s funny, when I play people the album they’re surprised it’s me. A lot of the tracks are quite varied and not necessarily in a style you’d recognise as mine. I didn’t want it to all sound the same. I really enjoyed making this album.  It’s always great to get a chance to get into the studio with a bunch of new songs and I was lucky to work with some very cool producers.  We had a lot of fun.”

Songs receiving special attention include the title track, “On My Way to Work” and “Queenie Eye”.

There are also some mixed reviews of the album:

The Guardian gives New 3 out of 5 stars.

The Independent says “There’s an unsatisfying, piecemeal character to New, probably attributable to McCartney’s decision to use four producers.” (3 out of 5 stars)

Paul worked on the album with producers Paul Epworth, Mark Ronson, Ethan Johns and Giles Martin.

Commenting on the process, Paul said: “The original idea was to go to a couple of producers whose work I loved, to see who I got on with best – but it turned out I got on with all of them! We made something really different with each producer, so I couldn’t choose and ended up working with all four. We just had a good time in different ways.“

The album was recorded at Henson Recording Studios, Los Angeles; Avatar Studios, New York; Abbey Road Studios, London; Air Studios, London; Wolf Tone Studios, London and Hog Hill Mill, East Sussex.

New_CoverCTracklisting for Paul McCartney’s “New”:

1.     Save Us (produced by Paul Epworth)

2.     Alligator (produced by Mark Ronson)

3.     On My Way to Work (produced by Giles Martin)

4.     Queenie Eye (produced by Paul Epworth)

5.     Early Days (produced by Ethan Johns)

6.     New (produced by Mark Ronson)

7.     Appreciate (produced by Giles Martin)

8.     Everybody Out There (produced by Giles Martin)

9.     Hosanna (produced by Ethan Johns)

10.  I Can Bet (produced by Giles Martin)

11.  Looking At Her (produced by Giles Martin)

12.  Road (produced by Giles Martin)

The deluxe version also includes two bonus tracks:

13.  Turned Out (produced by Ethan Johns with additional production by Giles Martin)

14.  Get Me Out Of Here (produced by Giles Martin)

Here’s a video of Paul McCartney performing ‘New’ on Jimmy Kimmel Live:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NAA6ZK4uNk]

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