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Paul McCartney - Memory Almost Full
Tuesday, in every Starbucks store, all throughout the world (even in China), Sir Paul's new album will accompany every coffee-buyer's coffee-buying experience. As part of some cross-promotional silliness, Memory Almost Full will be played on repeat all day long. What does this mean? Well, a few things. First, the corniness in music industry promotion has hit new heights. Second, come Tuesday, the Seattle-based coffee chain enters the record label business by releasing McCartney's new album as the first record ever on its newly-formed Hear Music label. And third, those of you who like to sit at Starbucks for hours sipping on lattes and punching your laptop, Tuesday might be a good day for this.
Ostensibly, the title of Paul's 13th solo album is a bit hokey. I assumed Memory Almost Full was a cybery allusion to the ex-Beatle's recognition that he is near the end of his musical career. However, as Paul has always been a master of word play and hidden messages, the title of his album represents more than just a strange admission of his old age (he turns 65 this month). "Memory Almost Full" is an anagram for "for my soulmate LLM," the initials of his wife of 30 years, Linda Louise McCartney.
And in the wake of Paul's publicly sloppy divorce with Heather Mills last year, it appears obvious on his new record that he misses his true love. While many of the songs he wrote for the Beatles looked forward, on Memory, Paul looks back at his life acknowledging his accomplishments in music and admitting his own foibles.
Highlights of the album are "Dance Tonight," a radio-friendly mandolin song in which Paul summons the ghosts of his past for a dance party, and "Mister Bellamy," an eery piano tune about a lost old man. The video for "Dance Tonight," released exclusively for YouTube last month, features Natalie Portman and British actor Mackenzie Crook.
For those Beatles mythology folks, Paul wrote much of and released Memory Almost Full at the age of 64, the age Paul glorified in the 1967 Beatles tune "When I'm Sixty-Four." Also, on Paul's latest, the fourth track is titled "Only Mamma Knows," perhaps an homage to the McCartney-written Magical Mystery Tour track "You Mother Should Know."
If you are a Beatles fan looking for the boyish McCartney to bring some some "Yesterday"-esqe piano pop, you may be disappointed. But if you are a Wings fan hoping for some guitar-driven 70s Paul, you might be pleased with the new one. Memory is all about the melodies, and lacks the pretense of the recent solo albums of his contemporaries still making music.
Marilyn
Manson
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Eat Me,
Drink Me The Rebel from the Waist Down has had numerous manifestations over the years but I have to say that as a teen, Manson had me at
"Fuck Christianity." And so he's back with his most "personal" album to date, Eat Me, Drink Me. The record comes amidst speculation that Manson was on the verge of retirement following numerous blowouts with former band members (a curious quazi-fist fight that might not have been staged, occurred between Manson and former guitarist John 5 on stage at the Rock am Ring Festival in 2003), the release of a greatest hits album and Manson's own forays into alternate media (film and art production). If he didn't shock critics, he at least mildly astonished them by releasing Eat Me, Drink Me on Trent Reznor's Nothing record label. Lyrically, he is as good as he always was, although the album retreads some of his older themes: America's fascination with celebrity and Manson's own conflicted position within that realm. Musically, he again concentrates on crafting the anthemic, Industrial Metal that made him a household name. |
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Bruce Springsteen with the Sessions Band - Live in Dublin  Most Springsteen fans think there are many faces to The Boss. Most Springsteen fans are wrong. There are two, count them, two Bruce Springsteens. One is the tight jeans, white T, Born in the U.S.A., Jersey boardwalk, "Rosalita," share the mic with Stevie, sell out stadiums, "Santa Clause is Coming to Town" Bruce. And the other is this soft-spoken, politically conscious, Ghost of Tom Joad, harmonica neck-holder, bearded Bruce. His Seeger Sessions tour last summer features the latter Bruce, though with an upbeat 18-piece band, that together honored the music of the American folk legend Pete Seeger. Live in Dublin is a three-piece package-- an audio CD, DVD and a Blu-ray disc, whatever the hell that is. The music is a collection of footage from 3 shows that Bruce and the Seeger Sessions band performed at the Point Theatre in Dublin, Ireland. |
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Poison - Poison'd!  Did someone say new Poison album? Brett, Cici, Rikki and Bobby are back with an album of brand-spankin' new, ear-blasting, head-banging...wait for it...COVERS! A Poison cover album. According to the band's website, they wanted to honor some of their favorite classic rock songs. According to me, they're hard up for cash and they're looking for any excuse to tour this summer. On Poison'd, the band's ninth studio album, they do Bowie's "Suffragette City," Petty's "I Need to Know," and "Cant You See," by the Marshall Tucker Band among others. And guess what, Poison's touring this summer with another old 80s band Ratt.
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Perhaps the best voice in modern rock, Chris Cornell has ditched Tom Morello and the Rage guys and releases his second solo album this week -- or perhaps they ditched him to reform Rage Against the Machine. Anyways, the former front man for Soundgarden and Audioslave, Cornell called on the rock-pop magic man Steve Lillywhite to produce Carry On. While Cornell's last solo record Euphoria Morning (1999) somewhat sucked, his new one is peppered with tracks he wrote for Audioslave and never released.
The 12-piece Classical/New age group that took Asia by storm when they debuted in 2001, the 12 Girls Band are back with a live disc from the Shangers. The all-female group was put together as part of contest with over 4000 participants from all over mainland China. Their melding of ancient Chinese music with a modern sound has made the group the highest-grossing mainland Chinese musical act in Japan and one of the most popular Classical groups in the world. In October, the girls embark on a 34-stop North American tour sponsored by PBS. And they're hot.
-Small
Swords Staff
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