Solid Little Rock Jams

Paul McCartney - Driving Rain

First of all, did this album come in a slipcase or something? Because I'm familiar with two covers, one of which is pictured above, and one of which is possibly the ugliest, most ridiculous cover ever to grace the front of a Macca masterwork (and man, if you're familiar with this dude's album covers, that is some feat, it is.) I mean, look at this fucking shit:



If he is wanting to be taken seriously with this album, well, that alternate cover art is not helping one bit. Truly the Paul Is Live of our generation.

Anyways, the album. Paul has definitely not lost it. Dude is not about to just rehash the same old shit. This time, he's back with what I believe is a hip backing band of young musicians. Are these the same dudes who played on Live 8? The enormous black/hispanic drummer? The fiery young turk of a guitarist? Whoever the fuck else? There clearly is a band on this one, at least. Listen to how ridiculously over-the-top the drumming is. And the guitars! This is clearly some guy who isn't Paul McCartney playing guitars.

And it rocks quite a bit! Hell, I'd go so far as to say that a lot of these songs are downright ANGRY-SOUNDING, perhaps moreso than "Angry" itself. Have you heard "About You," mang? What a menacing little rocker this thing is. And more than half of "Heather" is this totally pissed off intro thing. Steve Miller and Ringo Starr clearly gave select Flaming Pie tracks a "band" feel, but even then, Paul was playing many instruments on those tracks himself. Here, though, there's just this total full-band sound, it's awesome! And different! Flowers In The Dirt and Off The Ground often sounded totally angry and rocking, but man, they sucked! I guess this is how Paul copes with the losses of things? By getting together with a band and just rocking out? Like he did by forming Wings after the Beatles broke up and unleashing their grindcore masterpiece Wild Life. Now his wife is gone, and he just needs to let all of his sadness and grief out by jamming for ten minutes on "Rinse The Raindrops." I just respect the shit out of that. Really. Paul is definitely not just some shitty old guy here. At an hour long, this is quite the ambitious album. Some cool surprises, too. Not only is the extended hard-rock barn-stormer "Rinse The Raindrops" here, but right before it is "Riding Into Jaipur." Is that one a George Harrison tribute or what? Total indian music shit. I'm down with it.

Another thing about "Rinse The Raindrops"... what the fuck happens around the seven and a half minute mark? Does Paul seriously put ridiculous delay on every instrument? Shit, that's something I do to make my own home-made music as annoying and unlistenable as possible. Fuck yeah, Paul.

Rating: The hooks aren't totally immediate. This is more of a band-oriented release, perhaps even lyrics-oriented. Thus, it is already quite an underrated item in his catalog. Very much worth hearing. Paul hasn't been totally lame for nearly a decade at this point. This shit is danged VITAL, it is. Excellent album.

Song: "About You"... KICK AXE!!!