Paul McCartney's New Album: Electric Arguments

McCartney's newest album was released inIt's a thrilling ride especially when you consider the
November of 2008 but it's not exactly a Paulrather psychedelic notion that this is the same man
McCartney album. It's officially an album by thewho basically gave birth to many of the musical
experimental music group called The Fireman.styles of today. This 66 year old man who has seen
Hopefully you are now intrigued and are wonderingthe music he helped give birth to develop into many
what in the heck I'm talking about. And you shoulddifferent styles of music. And here he is in 2008 still
be intrigued if you enjoy interesting music thatproducing inventive original music. It's truly a beautiful
stretches the boundaries of "normal" songthing if you are into music for the art of it and not
arrangements.for the scene (yes I'm looking at you Pitchfork
So who is The Fireman and what do they have toMedia.)
do with Paul McCartney? The Fireman is a duoOne of the really great things about this album is the
consisting of a producer who goes by the nameway that McCartney stretches his vocals. On each
Youth (his real name is Martin Glover) and a formersong they sound completely different than the song
bass player for a certain influential 1960s band namedbefore (or just about any song he's ever released in
Paul McCartney (ah yes, how did you guess?)the passed.) There's a rawness to his vocals that is
If you haven't heard of The Fireman before that'sreally exciting to listen to.
because they have only released two previousThere's a lot of different styles of music on Electric
albums which haven't gained much widespreadArguments from ragged rock (track 1 opens the
attention. One of which was basically a remix albumalbum with a noisy Led Zeppelin-esque rocker) to
(1993's Strawberries Oceans Ships Forest) and aquiet acoustic music (Track 2 "Two Magpies") to
second that was a psychedelic, almost entirelyspaced out hard to describe electronica inspired
instrumental, ambient album (1998's Rushes which Imusic.
highly recommend.) Neither of these albums wereOne of the highlights for me is track 6, "Light From
very publicized and neither made the charts in the UKYour Lighthouse" which features probably the
or the US.weirdest vocal on the album (and that's saying quite
Their newest album, Electric Arguments, is a shift fora bit.) It's also probably the catchiest song on the
the group in that it has been more heavily promotedalbum. It actually reminds me a great deal of Ween
(and it did enter the charts in the US and the UKwhich is a very good thing. I don't think a lot of
although only at #67 & 71) and in that it includespeople realize how inspired by McCartney Ween
songs with vocal melodies & lyrics rather thanactually are. It was Paul, after all, who was behind of
pure instrumentals (in fact every song on the albumthe "genre pastiches" with The Beatles ("Rocky
features vocals.)Raccoon," "Honey Pie," "When I'm 64," "Back In The
This is very exciting for McCartney fans like myselfUSSR.") By the way, if you are more of an old school
who have greatly enjoyed McCartney's moreclassic rock fan and you've never heard Ween, I
experimental tendencies (such as the tape loops onrecommend you check them out. Start out with
"Tomorrow Never Knows," the second album fromsomething like White Pepper so you don't get scared
The Fireman (Rushes,) or The Liverpool Soundaway!
Collage.) Finally we get to hear the combination ofAll said, I think Electric Arguments is sure to go down
McCartney's songwriting & singing talents (andas one of the best albums of 2008 and as one of
his vocals sound amazing on this album) combinedthe most essential albums in Paul McCartney's solo
with his experimental musical ideas.career.