Paul McCartney was the most creatively driven Beatle, and he
kept up an unstoppable pace of writing and recording after the band broke up
that is still ongoing. Not only did McCartney release a slew of albums and
singles in his signature pop mold as a solo artist and member of Wings, but he
also experimented with orchestral and electronic music and participated in a
number of collaborations with artists such as Elvis Costello, Carl Perkins, and
Brian Wilson.
In The Paul McCartney
Catalog: A Complete Annotated Discography of Solo Works, 1967-2019, Ted
Montgomery draws all this material together and does what the title of his book
says he does. Montgomery’s annotations cover each release as a whole before
following with track-by-track reviews that are sometimes overly descriptive but
reasonably critical. While McCartney has often been chided for making flimsy
music after The Beatles, Montgomery approaches it all with an open mind, pointing
out his likes and dislikes (synthesizers) according to his personal tastes,
which makes it a bit difficult to criticize his criticisms. You like what you
like.
There are some odd self-contradictions though, as when the
author refers to Press to Play as
example of “pop craftsmanship at its finest” before dismissing it as “disastrous.”
More delightful is the author’s recommendation you check out the DVD edition of
Rock Show instead of the grainy,
poorly edited VHS. Thanks for the advice, Ted! I’ll also do my best to avoid picking
up Ram on 8-track.
