Paul McCartney: New

      Paul McCartney, one of the most important artists of the last 60 years, has returned with a single called New.  It has been issued just ahead of his album of the same name scheduled for US release on 15 Oct, 2013.  This is McCartney's first record of all original material in six years, and the single has generated a high amount of interest promising to be yet another triumph for Sir Paul.
      The song is Beatlesque pop that comfortably takes it's place somewhere between We Can Work It Out and Got To Get You Into My Life.  It is unusually keyboard heavy for McCartney and perhaps a bit too brightly produced, but it is very good music.    Considering he is now 71 years old, time has been very kind to his voice.  His sensitive tenor is almost as agile today as it was the day the Beatles released Michelle in 1965.
      Without production notes to follow it's hard to know what instruments were used because the technology available today can make any computerized piano keyboard sound like almost any instrument.  The intro sounds very much like a harpsichord scaling up to a pause followed by a triplet on drums leading directly into the song.  In the mix is the harpsichord, a piano, & bass, with hand claps & drums for rhythm.  Eventually a rhythm guitar joins in and some accents on what sounds like a trombone.  In the second bridge section the trombone is joined by some other brass floating nicely above the melody.  McCartney is a master craftsman who has put together a very slick arrangement that sounds new and yet is still reminiscent of his beginnings with the Beatles.
       Lyrically it is both a love song and a messenger imploring the listener toward new beginnings.  We all make choices and Paul is encouraging us to do the things that make us happy by making choices motivated by love.  Not exactly original, but still very nice to hear.  The tune features clever tempo changes woven around the melody with very pleasant background vocals.  It all winds up with  a sweet choral arrangement harmonized with the trombone and a bassoon that matches the melody of New but is reminiscent of the clever harmonies from the Beach Boys song Heroes & Villains.  All in all this is a very satisfying song that will bring a smile to the face of Beatles fans and possibly even encourage a brand new audience to take a look at their music.  I'm looking  forward to the hearing the rest of McCartney's ironically titled New album.

Paul McCartney: New