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PAUL McCARTNEY
Egypt Station:
Explorer's Edition
(Capitot)
Let’s face it – as a principal song-
writer for the eternally-beloved Beatles,
Paul McCartney holds to a higher stan-
dard than your average songwriter. He’s
an easy target for those expecting every
song to match ruminative masterpieces
including “Yesterday” and “Eleanor
Rigby,” let alone brash stunners written
as a 20-year-old like “I Saw Her
Standing There.” The bottom line of any
Egypt Station review should be that Paul
McCartney has made a fun and satisfy-
ing record of pop-rock confections, silly
love songs (what’s wrong with that?)
and character sketches, with a couple of
weighty musings for balance. It’s more
than any pop fan (or critic) has a right to
demand. We’re 57 years on from “Love
Me Do,” after all, and Macca turns 77
this month. Single “Come On to Me” is
spirited and just a bit randy. “Happy
with You” echoes the bright simplicity of
the
Beatles’
“Blackbird,”
while
McCartney sings about turning from
youthful, self-destructive ways and find-
ing peace in everyday pleasures. “Hand
in Hand” is an evocative pledge of
fidelity from one lover to another.
Although the melody carries enough
melancholy to suggest that heartbreak
has come before, McCartney promises,
“We can make each other happy if we
get it right.” Because this truly isn’t just
any pop songwriter, it’s fair to call fault
when recognized. Fans denying the exis-
tence of the ham-fisted innuendo in the
Ryan Tedder-produced “Fuh You” have
their heads in the sand. The song’s atro-
cious, but it certainly achieved its aim of
sparking debate – and allegedly served
to skewer Tedder’s heavy-handed pro-
duction despite his golden touch for
OneRepublic and Beyoncé. The original
album wouldn’t have suffered if it
focused on the remaining 15 tracks pro-
duced by Greg Kurstin. But credit is due
even here. McCartney has stretched his
boundaries for so many years, the fact
that he’s still taking provocative jabs
should be validating to his loyal audi-
ence. Egypt Station’s message songs suit
McCartney’s status as a household name
and all-ages entertainer. He’s not an
acerbic social critic a la Dylan, Zevon,
Newman or even old collaborator
Costello. Nonetheless, he uses his plat-
form to spread some light. The blunt
question posed by “Who Cares” is
46 illinoisentertainer.com june 2019
answered just as directly with the
response, “I do.” The anti-bullying mes-
sage comes from the perspective of a
survivor of harsh treatment, encourag-
ing someone younger to believe that it
eventually gets better. “People Want
Peace” has a chanted coda that picks up
the thread from John Lennon’s “Give
Peace a Chance.” The song was inspired
by McCartney’s involvement with One
Voice, advocating with activists on both
sides of the conflict between Israel and
Palestine. The arrangement blends
Wings’ “Let ‘Em In” and Kate Bush’s
“Love and Anger.” The descending tune
to “Dominoes” features a loping bass
countermelody, trippy backward sonics,
and tight vocal harmonies reminiscent
of those reflected through Beatles disci-
ple Jeff Lynne. The careening “Hunt You
Down/Naked/C-Link” closes the
album with a moody and orchestral
blues jam.
The heady songs bookend the narra-
tive. Opening track “I Don’t Know” is
dark and personal, as McCartney con-
siders missteps and mortality with
“crows at the window, dogs at the door.”
The album’s most pointed track is a
veiled political and ecological fable
called “Despite Repeated Warnings.”
The unnamed captain refuses to listen to
reason, and it’ll take a mutiny by the
crew to keep the good ship from going
down. The track slips through different
musical episodes like “Band on the Run”
or “Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey.”
The Explorer’s Edition of Egypt
Station arrives in time for a new leg of
McCartney’s Freshen Up tour. Bonus
material reveals different excursions
between stations on McCartney’s updat-
ed magical mystery tour. The vinyl ver-
sion spreads the original album across
two heavyweight magenta-colored plat-
ters, alongside a third purple disc called
Egypt Station II. The final side includes
live versions of album singles performed
by McCartney’s ace touring band at
Abbey Road Studios, Liverpool’s
Cavern Club, and New York’s Grand
Central Station. Most affecting is an inti-
mate performance of “Confidante” at
the Liverpool Institute of Performing
Arts (where younger McCartney and
George Harrison attended high school).
McCartney has revealed the song’s
inspiration as one of his most faithful
friends – his old Martin guitar. Five B-
sides are the biggest draw. With its
breezy melody, “Get Started” must have
been a strong contender for Egypt
Station. The song repurposes the senti-
ment of “Do It Now,” suggesting there’s
no time like the present to tell loved ones
of their value. The song’s hard rock coda
mirrors the “Foxy Lady” outro append-
ed to Wings’ “Let Me Roll It” at
McCartney’s concerts. “Frank Sinatra’s
Party” is a reggae-pop trip down memo-
ry lane to days when the upstart Beatles
rubbed shoulders with ‘60s entertain-
ment giants like Sammy Davis Jr., Angie
Dickinson, and Dean Martin. The
brushed-snare shuffle of “Sixty Second
Street” describes fleeting joys captured
amid fast-paced city life.
Tedder again helms the batch’s only
dog.
The lyric for “Get Enough” packs emo-
tional punch, but the delivery is
obscured through oppressive auto-tune
effects that sound out of place on
McCartney’s familiar voice. “Nothing
for Free” fares better, suggesting a fond-
ness for ‘90s pastiche hip-hop/pop by
the Beastie Boys and Beck.
Appearing 6/11 at TaxSlayer Center,
Moline.
7
– Jeff Elbel
TOMMI ZENDER
More Songs About Time
(Self)
Local fixture Tommi Zender has
inspired countless aspiring musicians in
his longstanding role as a teacher at the
Old Town School of Folk Music (where he
took his first lesson in 1975). Zender is
now ready to inspire listeners with his first
album in 15 years, More Songs About Time.
Fans of Zender’s previous album Will
Work for Harmony can place a comma
directly in the middle of the current title.
The new album serves well as a calling
card for Zender’s value as a musical tutor,
given that all instruments are self-played
aside from lap steel by the Bahamas’
Christine Bougie on songs including
“Everything There is to Know.” “I know
everything there is to know and how to
throw it all away,” sings Zender on the
confessional and gentle tune. The soul of
the album, however, is in the songwriting
and emotive performances of such songs.
Likeminded tracks include the tumbling
acoustic waltz “Learn to be Alone,” which
paints an intimate portrait of the small
activities consuming time in the aftermath
of a relationship’s end. The haunted “Seen
Too Much, Forgotten Too Little” adds
evocative and moody piano to brightly-
strung, shimmering folk instrumentation.
“Getting Personal” does just that, using a
crafty and complex-but-concise prog-pop
arrangement to color a story about diving
into the dating scene in middle age with
equal parts trepidation and hope. “Echo
Chambers in the Hall of Mirror” examines
the search for contact within contempo-
rary social media culture, its thematic ten-
sion accompanied by urgent percussion
and crashing waves of guitar. Simple
truths escaping from tracks like “Your
Time is More Important” make the album
relatable throughout. The album’s pop
epic is the beautifully layered and expan-
sive “Strangers and Passersby,” with
echoes of late-period Beatles experimenta-
tion in its psychedelic coda.
More Songs About Time’s pop-rock core
hinges upon the fertile union of sonics and
sentiment in songs like the warmly senti-
mental and straightforward “Best Waste of
My Time,” but the LP’s staying power
benefits from Zender’s experience with
progressive rock and arid instrumental
sounds rooted in the American Southwest.
This compact blast of 10 songs spans 35
minutes and forms a satisfying set worthy
of repeat play, mainly because Zender
works these different styles into the stew.
Through both his day job and his song-
writing, Zender clearly uses music as a
means to connect with the world and peo-
ple around him. More Songs About Time
was a long time coming. Crafted with care
and affection, this album should resonate
with music lovers. (tommizender.com)
Appearing 6/2 at SPACE, Evanston.
– Jeff Elbel
8