Six Reasons To Love Paul McCartney's New The Boys Of Dungeon Lane Album

The emotional trip down Beatles memory lane which is ‘Days We Left Behind’

“The album title comes from a lyric in this track,” Paul McCartney explains. “It’s just a lot of memories of Liverpool. It involves a bit in the middle about John [Lennon] and Forthlin Road, which is the street I used to live in. Dungeon Lane is near there.”

Cheap guitars, smoky bars, secret codes and the Mersey Shore are also recalled in vivid detail as Paul treats us to one of his most powerfully autobiographical songs yet.

Paul’s first-ever duet with Ringo Starr, ‘Home To Us’

It’s only taken them sixty years to get around to it but this one jingles and jangles in all the right places and also features Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders and Texas’ Sharleen Spiteri on vocals. “I’m talking about where we came from,” Paul reflects. “In common with a lot of people, you come from nothing and you build yourself up.

"Ringo was from the Dingle,” he adds, "and that was well-hard. He said he used to get mugged coming home, because he worked. Even though it was crazy, it was home to us. I made the song around that idea and sent it to Ringo. We took my first line, Ringo’s second line, and then we had a duet.” And what a duet it is!

The super-trippy ‘Mountain Top’, which nods at Fab Four classics like ‘Strawberry Fields’ and ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’

From harpsichord start to squalling guitar finish – he’s not afraid to turn it up to ‘11’ – this is a brilliant example of Paul bringing his past bang up to date.

The instant pop appeal of ‘Never Know’, which confirms Macca’s position as the Mozart of melody

“I want to feel your touch/ The things that you do have always meant so much,” Paul sings as his merry band of musical cohorts swoop and soar around him. This is the man who made The Beatles the pinnacle of songwriting invention.

Credit: Sonny McCartney / MPL Communications

Mother Mary is back on 'Salesman Saint'

Having famously referenced her in ‘Let It Be’ – “When I find myself in times of trouble, Mother Mary comes to me, speaking words of wisdom…” – Paul once again writes about her and his father James, on the poignant and marvellously loving ‘Salesman Saint’.

“I often remember that my mom and dad had me in World War 2,” he tells Paul Mescal who’s poised to play Macca in one of Sam Mendes’ (fab) four upcoming Beatles biopics. “I’ve always known that growing up – but at a certain point you go ‘Wow.’ It occurred to me that it’d be good to just put down some stuff about them carrying on through whatever they had to put up with.”

Paul’s awesome falsetto, which steals the honours on the inspiringly life-affirming ‘Life Can Be Hard’

Contrary to the title, it's an upbeat meditation on how love conquers all. Be warned: you’ll be singing this in the shower for the rest of the year – and very possibly beyond…

The Boys of Dungeon Lane is out now – and you can listen here.

Read our album review here.