Continued from page 16 includes fun confections like " Silly Love Songs " and " Rocky Raccoon," not to mention the infrequent misfire like " Fuh You," now offers this heartfelt set with compelling personal relevance. McCartney surveys a wonderful life with overflowing gratitude and maybe even amazement, if you’ ll pardon the reference. There’ s hardly any scrap of regret to be found. There are love songs to enjoy, and listeners can simply bask in McCartney ' s unmatched sense of pop melody. They can also be drawn into his memories of life in the bygone days of postwar Liverpool, offered at a time when firsthand witnesses are rapidly leaving us. Memories of a boyhood hitchhiking adventure with George Harrison in the folksy " Down South " are undeniably heartwarming and brought into the present tense. " It was a good way to get to know you before we learned to twist and shout," sings McCartney of days before Beatlemania. Tell us another one, Grandude. We can ' t get enough of ' em. Such material invites comparison to prior work, and this review probably won ' t be the only one to claim that The Boys of Dungeon Lane is McCartney ' s most compelling collection since Chaos and Creation in the Backyard. That 2005 album benefited from collaboration with Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich. Here, McCartney teams with hotshot Andrew Watt, who guides the proceedings without leaving such a large sonic thumbprint. The difference is that the album feels more authentically like a conversation with McCartney himself. The music and songs are exploratory, but not experimental in the mode of lockdown album McCartney III, and not as scattered in identity as Egypt Station. The sense of purpose at work in Dungeon Lane wasn ' t as evident in work like Memory Almost Full or New. The undeniable wear and tear and vulnerability in McCartney ' s familiar voice( he ' s allowed!) lend weight to the nostalgic and genuinely moving " Days We Left Behind." The gentle song remembers boyhood days in Liverpool, including local scuffles and bonds formed with John Lennon. The music hinges on an understated piano-andacoustic-guitar arrangement with a charming hook that echoes the " how can I tell you about my loved one " breakdown in the aforementioned " Silly Love Songs." With unmistakable swing, Ringo Starr guests as drummer on " Home to Us " and trades lines in a first-of-its-kind duet between the two Beatle veterans. With a riff and bounce reminiscent of " Getting Better " or " Penny Lane," the song remembers joy among friends and family, even while living in relative poverty among the rougher neighborhoods of postwar Liverpool. In addition to Starr ' s co-starring role, the song features background vocals by Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders and Sharleen Spiteri of Texas. " As You Lie There " describes a boyhood crush with dreams that an unrequited love could go the distance. " I ' d like to think that we could be together forever," he sings to an oblivious neighbor girl. The shapeshifting arrangement indulges McCartney ' s musical whims, veering from spoken word atop a glistening acoustic guitar arpeggio into serene melody and then further into cathartic electrified rock. Buzzy rocker " Lost Horizon " was recovered from a decades-old cassette by late Abbey Road engineer Eddie Klein, who also built and worked in McCartney ' s home studio. Klein presented the complete song to McCartney, who had no memory of it. Interestingly, the song connects to the thread of the album ' s newer material, with a message to treasure the past while living for the present. It ' s a bit sludgy and might be the set ' s least remarkable tune, but it ' s interesting to hear McCartney channeling Booker T. and the M. G.' s guitarist Steve Cropper with a sense of playfulness and affection. The breezy and bouncy " Ripples in a Pond " is a devoted ode to McCartney ' s spouse, Nancy, expressing hope that their love will continue to grow into a long and happy life together. The song is Dungeon Lane ' s poppiest and most modern-sounding, leaning most directly into the slicker trickery that Watt brought to acts including Justin Bieber. The coda, however, is spiked with a heavy riff that echoes Wings ' favorite " Jet." There ' s a bit of Magical Mystery Tour and Sgt. Pepper ' s Lonely Hearts Club Band is embedded within the chugging " Mountain Top." The song is colored with psychedelic pop flourishes, tape loops, and baroque harpsichord. " Little girl, you ' re trippin," sings McCartney, describing the altered hippie scene at a festival like Glastonbury or Coachella. The song explodes into a blistering coda with shades of McCartney ' s live arrangement of " Live and Let Die." By comparison, pensive pop ballad " We Two " is stripped to essentials. McCartney plays lead guitar licks reminiscent of Harrison atop a melodic bass line in the vein of Harrison ' s Abbey Road standout " Something." Mellotron strings heighten the Beatles comparisons." Come Inside " is a bluesy riff-rocker in which McCartney declares his life to be an open book. That may not be entirely true, but certainly this is someone whose comings and goings have been scrutinized for more than 60 years. If anyone has spent his life in a palatial fishbowl, it ' s Paul McCartney. " Never Know " celebrates the Laurel Canyon singer-songwriter sound of the ' 70s. The coda echoes the Electric Light Orchestra’ s " Shangri-La," which is an interesting case of an influence folding back upon itself. Swing reappears with the music hall showtune-styled " Life Can Be Hard," a song that insists upon hope even in turbulent times. With a starry-eyed bridge, the cinematic song glides atop rich but understated big-band orchestration replete with flutes, clarinets, and strings. The effect is a cross between Broadway and Supertramp. " First Star of the Night " echoes the sentiment, looking for signs that things are turning for the better. The album winds down
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with thanks for examples of resilience and intentional positivity. Folk waltz " Salesman Saint " recalls sacrifices McCartney ' s parents made during wartime austerity and falling bombs to make a better life for their children. Laughter and song are identified as the saving graces of those hard days, as well as " hot tea and cigarettes " to steady the nerves. Dance band, brass, and woodwinds play as if coming from a radio in the 1940s. McCartney has claimed the influence of George Gershwin ' s musical Porgy and Bess on the closing track " Momma Gets By." Floating atop a melodramatic string arrangement, the song creates a portrait of a nuclear family held together by a woman ' s
16 illinoisentertainer. com july 2026