Paul McCartney has announced the September 7th release of his 26th mainstream studio album, Egypt Station. Yesterday (June 20th), McCartney released two songs from the set as a “Double A-Side” single — “Come On To Me” and “I Don’t Know.” The album was recorded in Los Angeles, London and Sussex, and produced — with the exception of one track — by Greg Kurstin, who best known for his work behind the boards for Adele, Beck, and Foo Fighters.
According to the press release for the new set:
Sharing a title with one of Paul’s own paintings, Egypt Station is the first full album of all-new McCartney music since 2013’s international chart-topping New. Of the forthcoming album’s enigmatic title, Paul says, ‘I liked the words ‘Egypt Station.’ It reminded me of the ‘album’ albums we used to make. Egypt Station starts off at the station on the first song and then each song is like a different station. So it gave us some idea to base all the songs around that. I think of it as a dream location that the music emanates from.’
True to the inspiration behind its title, Egypt Station’s 14 songs combine to convey a unique travelogue vibe. Between the opening and closing instrumentals ‘Station I’ and ‘Station II,’ each song finds Paul capturing a place or moment before transporting the listener seamlessly to the next destination. Stops along the way include an acoustic meditation on present day contentedness — ‘Happy With You’; a timeless anthem that would fit on virtually any album of any McCartney era — ‘People Want Peace’; and an epic multi-movement closer clocking in at seven minutes with a song suite structure hearkening back to the days of Paul’s previous combos called ‘Despite Repeated Warnings.’ The result is a kaleidoscopic journey through myriad musical locales and eras, yet firmly rooted in the here and now — with Paul’s singular unmistakable melodic sensibility serving as guide.
Paul McCartney appears tonight (June 21st) on CBS’ The Late Late Show with James Corden — with Corden and “Macca” taking part in the show’s signature “Carpool Karaoke.” While filming in Liverpool with Corden, the former-Beatle went back to his old home in Liverpool on Forthlin Road. Although McCartney has made a point to drive by the old council estate during his frequent trips to the city, the recent visit was his first time he actually entered the legendary residence where he lived with his brother Mike, and parents Jim and Mary.
He told BBC radio that being in the now National Trust property was definitely a strange sensation: “It’s the same as everyone experiences when you go back; it was little. It looked so much smaller, ’cause I was little — although, I mean, I was still livin’ there when the Beatles were going on, so, I was early-’20s, so I wasn’t that little. But it just looked very small — and as we say in Liverpool, ‘Dead Aunt’s Wacky’ — it was like, so old-fashioned (laughter). And I’m thinking, ‘Wait a minute — when I lived there, it didn’t seem old fashioned at all.’ ‘Cause it’s just your house and you don’t gauge it against anything. And, of course, that was the period, but it looked to me like ancient history.”
In a new interview with Diymag.com, McCartney confirmed that a remixed deluxe 50th anniversary edition of the Beatles’ 1968 “White Album” is in the works — marking the first time someone in the group’s camp has gone on record stating the project is definitely happening. McCartney said, “It’s all in place, I’ve just got a couple of essays (to approve). It’s all lined up and it’s really good. . . It’s really nice because we were a great little band — I think we can agree on that. So for me to be a part of that and to be remembering it is great; all these little things remind me of it and I do learn things. The album itself is very cool and it sounds like you’re in the room; that’s the great thing about doing remasters. But we’ve also got some demos of the songs, so you get things stripped right back to just John’s voice and a guitar…Amazing. We were just doing it; it was amazing. We were having a good time.”
No release date for the package was given.
