McCartney (album)

McCartney
Studio album by Paul McCartney
Released	17 April 1970 (UK) 20 April 1970 (US)
Recorded	November 1969 – March 1970 at McCartney's Home; Morgan Studios, Willesden and Abbey Road Studio No. 2, London
Genre	Rock, pop, experimental
Length	35:03
Label	Apple
Producer	Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney chronology
McCartney (1970) Ram (with Linda McCartney) (1971)

McCartney is the debut solo album by Paul McCartney. Apart from then-wife Linda's vocal contributions, he performed and recorded the entire album solo. Featuring loosely arranged (and in some cases, unfinished) home recordings, McCartney further explored the "back-to-basics" style which had been intended for The Beatles' Let It Be. The album was reissued on 13 June 2011 as part of the Paul McCartney Archive Collection.

Background

The other Beatles realised that McCartney could conflict with the impending release of the Let It Be album and film. Ringo Starr, whose own first album post-Beatles was almost ready for release, was sent to ask McCartney to delay his solo debut. McCartney later commented, "They eventually sent Ringo round to my house at Cavendish [Avenue] with a message: 'We want you to put your release date back, it's for the good of the group', and all of this sort of shit. He was giving me the party line; they just made him come round, so I did something I'd never done before or since: I told him to get out. I had to do something like that in order to assert myself because I was just sinking. I was getting pummeled about the head, in my mind anyway." During an Evening Standard interview on 2 April, McCartney said that the four "all have to ask each other's permission before any of us does anything without the other three. [...] I had to get George [Harrison] [...] to authorise its release for me." Once McCartney found from his father in-law John Eastman that Allen Klein had purposely held McCartney's album back from release as to not conflict with sales of Let It Be, Eastman had ben dispatched to get hold of the master tape and McCartney then proceeded to threaten Capitol that he would release it with a different record company unless they issued in the US straight away.

On 10 April, McCartney publicly announced his departure from The Beatles in the form of a Q&A package included in advance copies of the album sent to the press the day before, containing questions McCartney could − and probably would − have been asked about the break-up of the Beatles and their future. He stated that he did not know whether the group's break-up would be temporary or permanent. The day before, McCartney had called John Lennon, who was at primal scream therapy at the time, to mention that his new album was coming out, but didn't tell Lennon that he was leaving the Beatles, as Lennon recalled that McCartney said to him "'I'm now doing what you and Yoko [Ono] were doing last year. I understand what you were doing', all that shit. So I said to him, 'Good luck to yer.'"

Recording and content

The development of McCartney was undertaken as the Beatles were growing apart. Recordings were made from November 1969 to March 1970 in London at his home, at Morgan Studios, and at Abbey Road Studios (under the pseudonym "Billy Martin"). Paul McCartney had brought his instruments with him, as well as a Studer four-track tape recorder. He recorded the ad-libbed "The Lovely Linda", a reply of-sorts to John Lennon announcing his affection for his wife Yoko Ono, to test the equipment before the year was out. Enjoying the experience, he continued, composing and improvising new material and overdubbing his singing. In March 1970, as Phil Spector was concurrently mixing the Let It Be album, McCartney was completed. The most notable song on the album is "Maybe I'm Amazed", one of McCartney's many love songs for his first wife, Linda. McCartney has said that Linda was instrumental in bolstering his spirits and confidence during the making of the album, helping him out of depression following his estrangement from the other Beatles. McCartney said "Maybe John was right. Maybe the Beatles were crap. The sooner I get this album out and get it over with the better."

Release and reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic
Robert Christgau	B+
Rolling Stone	(favourable)
The Rolling Stone Album Guide
Pitchfork Media (reissue)	(7.9/10)
MusicHound

McCartney was released in the UK on 17 April 1970, and a few days later, on the 20th, in the US. In the UK, McCartney debuted straight at number 2, where it remained for three weeks. It was only denied the top spot by the best-selling album of 1970, Simon and Garfunkel's Bridge Over Troubled Water. On the day of release, owner of Associated Television, Lew Grade, described the album as "absolutely brilliant". By 15 May, the album had over 1 million copies in the US, and on 23 May, reached number one, eventually going 2x platinum.

The album was widely criticised for its "homespun" approach and "half-written" songs. The UK's rock bible Melody Maker declared that "With this record, his debt to [Beatles producer] George Martin becomes increasingly clear"; the reviewer found "sheer banality" in all the tracks save for "Maybe I'm Amazed". Shortly after the album's release, George Harrison described the same song and "That Would Be Something" as "great", but the rest, he said, "just don't do anything for me". Harrison added that, unlike himself, Lennon, and Starr, McCartney was probably too "isolated" from other musicians: "The only person he's got to tell him if the song's good or bad is Linda." Lennon stated in his 1970 interview with Rolling Stone editor Jann Wenner that, given McCartney's penchant for demanding perfectionism in the studio from his fellow Beatles, he was surprised at the lack of quality in the album; Lennon also made several remarks comparing McCartney negatively to his own solo album debut, John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band.

When the new remastered version was released in 2011 as part of the Paul McCartney Archive Collection, the album re-entered the charts in the UK, Netherlands, France and Japan.

Track listing

All songs written by Paul McCartney.

Side one

1. "The Lovely Linda" – 0:45
2. "That Would Be Something" – 2:41
3. "Valentine Day" – 1:43
4. "Every Night" – 2:35
5. "Hot as Sun/Glasses" – 2:09
6. "Junk" – 1:56
7. "Man We Was Lonely" – 3:00

Side two

8. "Oo You" – 2:50
9. "Momma Miss America" – 4:07
10. "Teddy Boy" – 2:24
11. "Singalong Junk" – 1:56
12. "Maybe I'm Amazed" – 3:52
13. "Kreen-Akrore" – 4:15

2011 remaster

On 13 June 2011, McCartney and McCartney II were reissued at the same time, in the UK (they were released on 14 June in the US), by Hear Music/Concord Music Group as part of The Paul McCartney Archive Collection.

It was released in multiple formats:

• Standard edition 1-CD; the original 13-track album
• Special edition 2-CD; the original 13-track album on the first disc, plus seven bonus tracks on a second disc
• Deluxe Edition 2-CD/1-DVD; the original 13-track album, the bonus tracks disc, a 128-page hardcover book with never-before-published photos and all-new liner notes
• Remastered vinyl 2-LP version containing of the special edition and a download link to the material

Disc 1 – The original album

The original 13-track album.

Disc 2 – Bonus tracks

All tracks are previously unreleased

1. "Suicide" (Outtake) (Originally heard at the end of "Hot as Sun/Glasses") – 2:48
2. "Maybe I'm Amazed" (From the "One Hand Clapping" video, 1974) – 4:53
3. "Every Night" (Live at Glasgow, 17 December 1979) – 4:30
4. "Hot as Sun" (Live at Glasgow, 17 December 1979) – 2:27
5. "Maybe I'm Amazed" (Live at Glasgow, 17 December 1979) – 5:11
6. "Don't Cry Baby" (Instrumental version of "Oo You") – 3:07
7. "Women Kind" (Demo) (Mono) – 2:09

Disc 3 – DVD

1. "The Album Story"
2. "The Beach"
3. "Maybe I'm Amazed" (Music video)
4. "Suicide" (From the "One Hand Clapping" video, 1974)
5. "Every Night" (Live at the Concert for the People of Kampuchea, 29 December 1979)
6. "Hot as Sun" (Live at the Concert for the People of Kampuchea, 29 December 1979)
7. "Junk" (MTV Unplugged performance, 25 January 1991)
8. "That Would Be Something" (MTV Unplugged performance, 25 January 1991)

Personnel

• Paul McCartney – bass guitar, drums, acoustic guitar, lead guitar, piano, mellotron, organ, toy xylophone, lead vocals
• Linda McCartney – harmony and backing vocals

Charts

Chart positions

Chart (1970–71)	Position
Australian Kent Music Report	3
Dutch Mega Albums Top 10	3
French SNEP Album chart	4
German Media Control Charts	15
Japanese Oricon Weekly LP Chart (Top 100)	13
New Zealand Albums Chart	2
Norwegian VG-lista Albums Chart (Top 20)	2
UK Albums Chart (Top 60)	2
US Top Pop Albums	1

Year-end charts

Chart (1970)	Position
Australian Albums Chart	17
UK Albums Chart	10
US Billboard Year-End	25

Chart positions (Reissue)

Chart (2011)	Position
US Top Pop Catalog Albums	7
Japanese Oricon Weekly Chart	27
Spanish Albums Chart	74
Dutch Mega Albums Top 100	85
UK Albums Chart	88
French SNEP Albums Chart (Top 200)	91

Certifications

Region	Provider	Certification (sales thresholds)	Date
United States	RIAA	2x multi-platinum	3 December 1991

References

• Spitz, Bob (2005). The Beatles. Little Brown. ISBN 0-316-80352-9. 

External links

• The McCartney Recording Sessions
• JPGR's Beatles site: Paul McCartney's McCartney
• McCartney Album reviews

Preceded by Déjà Vu by Crosby, Stills & Nash (and Young)

Billboard 200 number-one album 23 May – 12 June 1970

Succeeded by Let It Be by The Beatles