Driving Rain

Paul McCartney’s reappraisal from position of slightly embarrassing uncle of British pop to rather more vital figurehead has been gathering pace over recent years, from sessions with everyone from Oasis to the Super Furry Animals and the constant place of the Beatles at the heart of cultural history.

Driving Rain is an album that only enhances that process, putting continued ground between McCartney and the disasters of the ’80s. Following on from 1999’s Run Devil Run, this is a record that revisits the glorious rawness of McCartney’s earlier days rather than his later studio excesses.

Captured mostly on sixteen-track analogue and recorded with a simple three-piece band, the man’s unrivalled ear for melody and song structure shines through. His love for two women dominates lyrical proceedings, a theme set out on the album’s two opening tracks ‘Lonely Road’ (“I tried to get over you, I tried to find something new, but all I could ever do was fill my time with thoughts of you”) and the ballad ‘From A Lover To A Friend’ with its simple refrain of “let me love again”.

Not everything here works – the eastern tinged ‘Riding Into Jaipur’ sounds like Kula Shaker on a bad day and there are a couple of ill advised forays into a small soulful sound – but the majority of Driving Rain is very fine indeed.