New McCartney Album "Memory Almost Full" 6.4.07
05-01-07, 09:29 AM
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New McCartney Album "Memory Almost Full" 6.4.07
http://www.paulmccartney.com/
Memory Almost Full out Monday June 4th 2007
By Paul McCartney
I actually started this album, Memory Almost Full, before my last album Chaos And Creation In The Backyard (released September 2005). The first recording session was back in the autumn of 2003 at Abbey Road with my touring band and producer David Kahne. I was right in the middle of it when I began talking with Nigel Godrich about a brand new project (which became Chaos And Creation In The Backyard).
When I was just finishing up everything concerned with Chaos and had just got the Grammy nominations (2006) I realised I had this album to go back to and finish off. So I got it out to listen to it again, wondering if I would enjoy it, but actually I really loved it. All I did at first was just listen to a couple of things and then I began to think, ‘OK, I like that track – now, what is wrong with it?’ And it might be something like a drum sound, so then I would re-drum and see where we would get to.
I took it from there and built it up. I went through, track by track, making changes as I went along. I fixed things I wasn’t too keen on and it just evolved from there. Without me knowing, or really trying, it started to get its own theme, a sort of thread that holds it all together. So I suppose it’s about half new stuff and half old stuff from 2003.
In places it’s a very personal record and a lot of it is retrospective, drawing from memory, like memories from being a kid, from Liverpool and from summers gone. The album is evocative, emotional, rocking, but I can’t really sum it up in one sentence.
There is a medley of 5 songs towards the end and that was purposefully retrospective. I thought this might be because I’m at this point in my life, but then I think about the times I was writing with John and a lot of that was also looking back. It’s like me with ‘Penny Lane’ and ‘Eleanor Rigby’ - I’m still up to the same tricks!
I know people are going to look at some of the songs and interpret them in different ways but this has always been the case. The thing is that I love writing songs, so I just write and write. I never really get to a point where I start thinking I’m going to write about specific subjects. Inevitably though, what I am thinking is going to find its way into what I’m doing
The opening track of the album is ‘Dance Tonight’. I recently got myself a mandolin and I was just playing about with it and came up with the basis of this track. A couple of weeks ago we made the video, which was great fun. It’s directed by Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind) and stars Natalie Portman and Mackenzie Crook. I’m not going to give the plot away. You’ll have to go and watch it for yourself, but we had a good time doing it.
The album title came after I had finished everything. For me, that’s when they normally come, with the exception of maybe Sgt. Peppers, otherwise I don’t think I have ever made an album with The Beatles, Wings or solo where I have thought of a title and a concept. I was thinking about what would sum the whole thing up and ‘Memory Almost Full’ sprung to mind. It’s a phrase that seemed to embrace modern life; in modern life our brains can get a bit overloaded. I realised I had also seen it come up on my phone a few times. When I started bouncing the idea round with some friends they nearly all got different meanings out of it, but they all said they loved it. So the feedback helped solidify the title.
After completing the album I then started thinking about the album artwork and how I’d want it to look. I really wanted to make the CD a desirable object. Something that I know I’d want to pick up from the shelf, something that would make people curious. I hope our final concept has done that. The album sleeve itself includes an etching by a friend of mine, Humphrey Ocean. As with the album lyrics, I’m looking forward to seeing how people might interpret the artwork.
Currently I’m just starting out on the promo trail and beginning to get the first bits of feedback about the album and so far so good! It’s interesting now as I’m getting to hear what other people are making of the songs and what their feelings are. I’m also talking about the album myself and I’m really enjoying the discovery process.
I really enjoyed making this album with David Kahne and I’m proud of all the songs. We had a great time. I hope that the fun we had will communicate itself to the people who are going to listen to it.
All the best,
Paul McCartney, April 2007
Full Track Listing
1. Dance Tonight
2. Ever Present Past
3. See Your Sunshine
4. Only Mama Knows
5. You Tell Me
6. Mister Bellamy
7. Gratitude
8. Vintage Clothes
9. That Was Me
10. Feet In The Clouds
11. House Of Wax
12. End of the End
13. Nod Your Head
Memory Almost Full out Monday June 4th 2007
By Paul McCartney
I actually started this album, Memory Almost Full, before my last album Chaos And Creation In The Backyard (released September 2005). The first recording session was back in the autumn of 2003 at Abbey Road with my touring band and producer David Kahne. I was right in the middle of it when I began talking with Nigel Godrich about a brand new project (which became Chaos And Creation In The Backyard).
When I was just finishing up everything concerned with Chaos and had just got the Grammy nominations (2006) I realised I had this album to go back to and finish off. So I got it out to listen to it again, wondering if I would enjoy it, but actually I really loved it. All I did at first was just listen to a couple of things and then I began to think, ‘OK, I like that track – now, what is wrong with it?’ And it might be something like a drum sound, so then I would re-drum and see where we would get to.
I took it from there and built it up. I went through, track by track, making changes as I went along. I fixed things I wasn’t too keen on and it just evolved from there. Without me knowing, or really trying, it started to get its own theme, a sort of thread that holds it all together. So I suppose it’s about half new stuff and half old stuff from 2003.
In places it’s a very personal record and a lot of it is retrospective, drawing from memory, like memories from being a kid, from Liverpool and from summers gone. The album is evocative, emotional, rocking, but I can’t really sum it up in one sentence.
There is a medley of 5 songs towards the end and that was purposefully retrospective. I thought this might be because I’m at this point in my life, but then I think about the times I was writing with John and a lot of that was also looking back. It’s like me with ‘Penny Lane’ and ‘Eleanor Rigby’ - I’m still up to the same tricks!
I know people are going to look at some of the songs and interpret them in different ways but this has always been the case. The thing is that I love writing songs, so I just write and write. I never really get to a point where I start thinking I’m going to write about specific subjects. Inevitably though, what I am thinking is going to find its way into what I’m doing
The opening track of the album is ‘Dance Tonight’. I recently got myself a mandolin and I was just playing about with it and came up with the basis of this track. A couple of weeks ago we made the video, which was great fun. It’s directed by Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind) and stars Natalie Portman and Mackenzie Crook. I’m not going to give the plot away. You’ll have to go and watch it for yourself, but we had a good time doing it.
The album title came after I had finished everything. For me, that’s when they normally come, with the exception of maybe Sgt. Peppers, otherwise I don’t think I have ever made an album with The Beatles, Wings or solo where I have thought of a title and a concept. I was thinking about what would sum the whole thing up and ‘Memory Almost Full’ sprung to mind. It’s a phrase that seemed to embrace modern life; in modern life our brains can get a bit overloaded. I realised I had also seen it come up on my phone a few times. When I started bouncing the idea round with some friends they nearly all got different meanings out of it, but they all said they loved it. So the feedback helped solidify the title.
After completing the album I then started thinking about the album artwork and how I’d want it to look. I really wanted to make the CD a desirable object. Something that I know I’d want to pick up from the shelf, something that would make people curious. I hope our final concept has done that. The album sleeve itself includes an etching by a friend of mine, Humphrey Ocean. As with the album lyrics, I’m looking forward to seeing how people might interpret the artwork.
Currently I’m just starting out on the promo trail and beginning to get the first bits of feedback about the album and so far so good! It’s interesting now as I’m getting to hear what other people are making of the songs and what their feelings are. I’m also talking about the album myself and I’m really enjoying the discovery process.
I really enjoyed making this album with David Kahne and I’m proud of all the songs. We had a great time. I hope that the fun we had will communicate itself to the people who are going to listen to it.
All the best,
Paul McCartney, April 2007
Full Track Listing
1. Dance Tonight
2. Ever Present Past
3. See Your Sunshine
4. Only Mama Knows
5. You Tell Me
6. Mister Bellamy
7. Gratitude
8. Vintage Clothes
9. That Was Me
10. Feet In The Clouds
11. House Of Wax
12. End of the End
13. Nod Your Head
05-01-07, 12:49 PM
#2
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I'm surprised he's already readying a new cd to come out considering I've heard the reason he's holding off the Beatles remasters until after the divorce with Heather is finalized.
05-01-07, 01:59 PM
#3
DVD Talk Limited Edition
I hope he takes some lyrical digs at Heather on this. I'm looking forward to this release because his touring band that is featured on it kicks ass. Also considering the creative strength of Chaos, this catches him at a time that he's doing some excellent writing.
05-02-07, 05:26 PM
#7
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Paul McCartney in nostalgic mood on new album
Tue May 1, 6:03 AM ET
A reflective Paul McCartney, currently embroiled in a bitter divorce battle, retreats to a simpler time of childhood games and early Beatles gigs on his new album, "Memory Almost Full."
The album, his first since 2005's Grammy-nominated "Chaos and Creation in the Backyard," is due for worldwide release in the week beginning June 4; he turns 65 on June 18.
"In places it's a very personal record, and a lot of it is retrospective, drawing from memory, like memories from being a kid, from Liverpool and from summers gone," McCartney said in a statement. "The album is evocative, emotional, rocking, but I can't really sum it up in one sentence."
McCartney pondered the past in such Beatles tunes as "Penny Lane" and "Eleanor Rigby," and returns to similar territory in such new songs as "That Was Me," in which he recalls "playing conkers at the bus stop" and "Merseybeatin' with the band."
But tunes such as "My Ever Present Past" and "Vintage Clothes" warn against spending too much time looking back.
Fans looking for commentary on McCartney's highly publicized and increasingly nasty divorce from Heather Mills might find a conciliatory line in the song "Gratitude," in which he sings, "I should stop loving you, think what you put me through, but I don't want to lock my heart away."
A spokesman said he did not know if this lyric was directed at Mills, who separated from McCartney last year and has been portrayed in Britain's tabloid newspapers as gold-digger seeking to cash in on the beloved former Beatle's fortune.
In his statement, McCartney noted, "I know people are going to look at some of the songs and interpret them in different ways, but this has always been the case."
"Memory Almost Full" marks his first release for coffee retailer Starbucks Corp.'s nascent Hear Music label, following a career spent mostly at EMI Group Plc.
Reuters/Nielsen
Tue May 1, 6:03 AM ET
A reflective Paul McCartney, currently embroiled in a bitter divorce battle, retreats to a simpler time of childhood games and early Beatles gigs on his new album, "Memory Almost Full."
The album, his first since 2005's Grammy-nominated "Chaos and Creation in the Backyard," is due for worldwide release in the week beginning June 4; he turns 65 on June 18.
"In places it's a very personal record, and a lot of it is retrospective, drawing from memory, like memories from being a kid, from Liverpool and from summers gone," McCartney said in a statement. "The album is evocative, emotional, rocking, but I can't really sum it up in one sentence."
McCartney pondered the past in such Beatles tunes as "Penny Lane" and "Eleanor Rigby," and returns to similar territory in such new songs as "That Was Me," in which he recalls "playing conkers at the bus stop" and "Merseybeatin' with the band."
But tunes such as "My Ever Present Past" and "Vintage Clothes" warn against spending too much time looking back.
Fans looking for commentary on McCartney's highly publicized and increasingly nasty divorce from Heather Mills might find a conciliatory line in the song "Gratitude," in which he sings, "I should stop loving you, think what you put me through, but I don't want to lock my heart away."
A spokesman said he did not know if this lyric was directed at Mills, who separated from McCartney last year and has been portrayed in Britain's tabloid newspapers as gold-digger seeking to cash in on the beloved former Beatle's fortune.
In his statement, McCartney noted, "I know people are going to look at some of the songs and interpret them in different ways, but this has always been the case."
"Memory Almost Full" marks his first release for coffee retailer Starbucks Corp.'s nascent Hear Music label, following a career spent mostly at EMI Group Plc.
Reuters/Nielsen
05-15-07, 10:59 PM
#9
DVD Talk Limited Edition
I'm looking forward to this album, big time. I didn't start listening to Chaos and Creation until last summer, but I have spent the last year going in and out of the album, and now it's very familiar and I've grown to fully appreciate it. I'm hoping that this album will be just as great, even if it will have a totally different feel.
05-16-07, 11:02 AM
#10
From Rolling Stone:
15/07, 11:31 am EST
Preview Paul McCartney’s New Album, “Memory Almost Full”
When Paul McCartney sat down with producer David Kahne to record his latest album, Memory Almost Full, which comes out June 5th, the ex-Beatle said he wanted it to compare to everything he’d ever done. “I said ‘Everything?’” Kahne recalls. “He said ‘Everything.’ He was looking to make something great.” We’ve had a chance to listen to the new disc, McCartney’s first since 2005’s Grammy-nominated Chaos and Creation in the Backyard, and while it’s not quite Sgt. Pepper’s, it’s pretty great. The album has a retrospective feel, with nods to McCartney’s discography: “Nod Your Head” sounds like “Come Together” and “Only Mama Knows” feels like a more metal version of “Helter Skelter.” The second half includes a five-song medley that recalls side two of Abbey Road. The medley revisits different eras of the musician’s life – from childhood summers by the sea to the experience of getting old and looking back – but it never sounds nostalgic or especially sad. On the contrary, Macca seems to embrace the future, in both the lyrics and music: On “Vintage Clothes,” he sings “Don’t live in the past/Don’t hold on to something that’s changing fast,” before Trent Reznor-ish industrial effects drop in, giving the song an eminently modern veneer. McCartney has also made several moves leading up to the release that signal his embrace of change. He left Capitol Records last year and signed with Starbucks’ new label Hear Music, which will release Memory Almost Full. He has also agreed for the first time to release all of his solo music digitally and just shot a video for album opener “Dance Tonight,” directed by Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind director Michel Gondry, and starring Natalie Portman. “‘Memory Almost Full’ is a phrase that seemed to embrace modern life,” McCartney, in a letter released to the public, said of the album title, which came to him after the message popped up on his cell phone. “In modern life, our brains can get a bit overloaded.”
-- Evan Serpick
15/07, 11:31 am EST
Preview Paul McCartney’s New Album, “Memory Almost Full”
When Paul McCartney sat down with producer David Kahne to record his latest album, Memory Almost Full, which comes out June 5th, the ex-Beatle said he wanted it to compare to everything he’d ever done. “I said ‘Everything?’” Kahne recalls. “He said ‘Everything.’ He was looking to make something great.” We’ve had a chance to listen to the new disc, McCartney’s first since 2005’s Grammy-nominated Chaos and Creation in the Backyard, and while it’s not quite Sgt. Pepper’s, it’s pretty great. The album has a retrospective feel, with nods to McCartney’s discography: “Nod Your Head” sounds like “Come Together” and “Only Mama Knows” feels like a more metal version of “Helter Skelter.” The second half includes a five-song medley that recalls side two of Abbey Road. The medley revisits different eras of the musician’s life – from childhood summers by the sea to the experience of getting old and looking back – but it never sounds nostalgic or especially sad. On the contrary, Macca seems to embrace the future, in both the lyrics and music: On “Vintage Clothes,” he sings “Don’t live in the past/Don’t hold on to something that’s changing fast,” before Trent Reznor-ish industrial effects drop in, giving the song an eminently modern veneer. McCartney has also made several moves leading up to the release that signal his embrace of change. He left Capitol Records last year and signed with Starbucks’ new label Hear Music, which will release Memory Almost Full. He has also agreed for the first time to release all of his solo music digitally and just shot a video for album opener “Dance Tonight,” directed by Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind director Michel Gondry, and starring Natalie Portman. “‘Memory Almost Full’ is a phrase that seemed to embrace modern life,” McCartney, in a letter released to the public, said of the album title, which came to him after the message popped up on his cell phone. “In modern life, our brains can get a bit overloaded.”
-- Evan Serpick
05-16-07, 12:11 PM
#12
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
Originally Posted by lotsofdvds
I'm not sure why Paul keeps pushing that "official" story for the title of the album. The title is an anagram for "For my soulmate LLM".
05-16-07, 05:19 PM
#14
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Originally Posted by lotsofdvds
I'm not sure why Paul keeps pushing that "official" story for the title of the album. The title is an anagram for "For my soulmate LLM".
05-17-07, 08:11 AM
#16
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Originally Posted by atlantamoi
On first listen this is much more immediately accessible than Creation. Very enjoyable, but will gauge it better over time.
I've probably listened to Memory Almost Full 100 times now.
05-17-07, 08:22 AM
#17
Originally Posted by lotsofdvds
I listened to Creation once, then put it away and haven't been interested in it since.
I've probably listened to Memory Almost Full 100 times now.
I've probably listened to Memory Almost Full 100 times now.
Geez, hasn't it only been leaked a few days? I wish I had that much free time to listen to music.
05-24-07, 08:55 PM
#18
Moderator
The video for "Dance Tonight" premiered on Youtube yesterday... Natalie Portman is in it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTNXrkBSp_o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTNXrkBSp_o
06-04-07, 07:59 PM
#20
DVD Talk Hero
I've been listening to the CD and it's a lot better than I had hoped. I was bracing myself, though. I wasn't sure if he still had it in him. It was a very pleasant surprise and I'll be listening to it more and more.
Good job, Sir Paul
Good job, Sir Paul
06-07-07, 05:10 AM
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Originally Posted by nothingfails
early word is that Memory Almost Full is expected to be Macca's first US #1 album since Tug Of War 25 years ago!