Paul McCartney/Rare Live Performances 2007-2009

Since Linda was battling illness, Paul did not go on tour for a long time after 1993. Although he did make a few one-off appearances on stage, his voice had deteriorated more than expected, and it seemed as if he would never tour again in the late 1990s as he was getting older. If you think about it, Paul was still in his 50s at that time. It was too early for him to retire. However, when you listen to his concert in Montserrat in 1997, for example, you are shocked at how much his voice had deteriorated. However, just as professional baseball pitchers say they “build up their shoulders,” when it comes to going on tour, there must be some adjustments to his voice. The tour that began in 2002 showed no signs of deterioration, and even without taking age into account, I was surprised by his wonderful singing voice and wonderful performance. The main reason he started touring in 2002 was that he married a new wife. Together with his wife Heather Mills, who is as young as his daughter, he toured Europe, North America, Japan and South America in 2002, 2003 and 2005 after a one-year break, impressing the public with his complete recovery. However, in 2006, he barely toured, let alone performed on stage. It is said that this was because he was spending time in negotiations for his divorce from Heather Mills. Instead of touring, Paul started working on a new album with the band he had toured with. The result was Memory Almost Full. Fortunately or unfortunately, this album can be said to be the product of the gap during which he was unable to tour due to the divorce negotiations. The title of the album seems to be modern, and it was inspired by the fact that Paul happened to look at his cell phone and saw the message “Memory almost full”. The word “memory” in cell phone is the same as the word for “memories”. There must have been some sentimentalism in that. The title is a direct copy of “Memories Are Full,” a song that takes you up the stairs to adulthood. The atmosphere of the album is mechanical, with a lot of synths, which may have been difficult for traditional Paul fans to accept. However, the album was released in the aftermath of the tour that began in 2002, and the band had also performed secret gigs in Europe and the United States to maintain their strength, so Paul’s enthusiasm was still strong, and the album was generally well received. In particular, “Dance Tonight,” in which Paul sings with a mandolin in one hand, has been performed on stage for a long time, and is probably the most well-known song, having been performed for the first time in a long time at the 2015 Budokan concert. This work contains recordings related to this “Memory Almost Full.” Although he was not on tour during this period, he was actively promoting the album, and even appeared on television with Ringo. At the time, he had sung “Dance Tonight” so many times that it was almost boring. As part of the album promotion, there was a plan for Paul to teach how to play the songs on the album. That is the “teaser trailer,” which is the main feature of this work. There are two versions of “Dance Tonight” played only on mandolin. A lot of time is spent on “Ever Present Past”. First, it is played acoustically. Compared to the released version, where the vocals were also effected using a rhythm machine, this version conveys the quality of the song more directly. It has the feel of a studio live performance with acoustic guitar. Next, there is a take where Paul plays on acoustic guitar while guiding the chords, a take where he plays while explaining the drums, a take where he plays while explaining the bass, and a take where he plays while explaining the guitar. It is interesting to see Paul talk about the process of completing this song in his own words as he gradually adds instruments. The best song on “Memory Almost Full” is undoubtedly “Vintage Clothes”. Fujiko Fujio once said that when you get used to drawing manga, you gain the skills and can draw decent things even by inertia. However, if you do that, you won’t be able to capture the hearts of the readers. When I listen to Paul’s new works since the 2000s, many of them are due to the accumulation of skills over many years, and unfortunately there are no songs that resonate with me. Of course, it’s “something,” so I think it’s a good song, but it’s clearly different from the songs by Paul that I was crazy about in the past. Among them, “Vintage Clothes” is a very wonderful song from his recent works, a true masterpiece. I thought I could buy the album just for this one song, just like buying a single. The greatness of “Vintage Clothes” is hard to describe. The lyrics are nostalgic yet positive, the intro is beautiful and light on the piano, and the chorus comes over as soon as Paul starts singing. The song structure brings the climax immediately after it starts, the song brightens up, and the chant of interjections from the microphone is a nostalgic atmosphere as if listening to an unreleased Wings song. The song even has a Linda-like chorus that goes “woo-woo” in the middle. And above all, it ends with a “this is the best part!” The feeling that you want to listen to this song longer is something that is common to “No Words.” It is a perfect masterpiece that is truly Paul here. Even though it is such a great song, it has never been performed on stage. However, what is included in this album is a live performance by Paul with only an acoustic guitar. As far as I know, it is the only live performance of “Vintage Clothes”. Even if it is only an acoustic guitar performance with Paul singing without chorus, the goodness of this song cannot be hidden. No matter what arrangement it is, it resonates in your heart as a truly wonderful different version. The scene where Paul makes a mistake in the chord and starts over is a cute scene, but because of that, the performance is almost a minute longer than the released version. Moreover, while the released version was connected to the next song “That Was Me” without a break, this one has a proper ending. In addition, there is an ad-lib vocal before the ending, which is irresistible for “Vintage Clothes” fans. “That Was Me” is also a version where Paul plays only an acoustic guitar. It is well hidden in the released version, but if you listen to this take, you can clearly see that this is a song that is conscious of Elvis. It’s like a homage to “Heartbreak Hotel”. However, in the released version, I can’t help but think that it’s impressive how they managed to cover it up with an arrangement and make it into a Paul song. If I hadn’t heard the acoustic guitar performance on this album, I wouldn’t have realized that this was a homage to Elvis. “Feet in the Clouds” is a small song that doesn’t stand out in the album. Here too, Paul plays it live with just an acoustic guitar. In the same vein, he sings Elvis’s “Blue Moon” and “O Sole Mio”, the original source of “It’s Now Or Never”. Not only is “Memory Almost Full” an album made under the influence of Elvis, which shows so much respect for Elvis that I wonder if it’s okay to reveal the secret up to this point, but it is also a declaration that Elvis is the origin of Paul’s career as a musician. From this point onwards, actual live recordings are included. At the beginning, I wrote that there was no tour accompanying this album, but there were numerous TV appearances and one-off secret gigs to promote the album. This album contains a one-off stage performance from this period that has never been recorded anywhere before. First of all, it is a studio live performance from the TV program LATER WITH JOOLS HOLLAND on June 7, 2007. The first song is “Only Mama Knows” from “Memory Almost Full”. It is a good rock tune that seems to have been recorded with the intention of playing it live from the beginning, and its effect is fully demonstrated here. Paul also likes this song and has taken it up on subsequent tours. After one song “I’ve Got A Feeling”, it is “Dance Tonight”. Here it is performed with a band. And it ends with “Lady Madonna”. It is a selection of songs that introduces the album while showing the diversity of the live performance, with two songs by the band, mandolin, and piano. Next is the performance at the British music festival BRIT AWARDS on February 20, 2008. Paul received this award both as a member of The Beatles and as a solo artist, and he played five songs on this occasion, so it can be said that he was given a very special treatment considering his achievements. Only one song from Memory Almost Full was performed, “Dance Tonight” by the band. This is also inevitable considering the nature of the award. Other than this, the selection of songs seems to have been selected from the climaxes of full concerts, such as “Live And Let Die,” “Hey Jude,” “Lady Madonna,” and “Get Back.” The last one-off stage during the blank period before the new tour was the performance at the GRAMMY AWARDS on February 8, 2009. This time, only one song, “I Saw Her Standing There,” was performed. The last song was “Meat Free Monday.” It is known that Paul is a vegetarian, but even if you are not, this is a song to promote vegetarians, encouraging them to at least not eat meat on Mondays. Although the song is a simple, trivial one that simply repeats “Meat Free Monday,” it is still a song that makes you feel like Paul is a typical Paul. The recording was performed live at the MPL headquarters in London. This work contains recordings from the 2007 album “Memory Almost Full.” Although there are no outtakes released as an album, this is a rare live performance from a time when Paul was not touring. Especially when you listen to the songs on the album, which makes heavy use of synths and programmed sounds, in a simple acoustic performance like this or an actual live performance, you can definitely feel the quality of the songs, which are typical of Paul. All of Paul’s recent albums seem to have excessive sound processing, and he tends to apply strong effects to the vocals themselves, but listening to this work makes you feel that live singing is better. MEMORY ALMOST FULL TEASER TRAILER 2007 01. Dance Tonight #1 02. Dance Tonight #2 03. Ever Present Past #1 04. Ever Present Past #2 05. Ever Present Past #3 06. Ever Present Past #4 07. Ever Present Past #5 08. Ever Present Past #6 09. Ever Present Past #7 10. Vintage Clothes 11. That Was Me 12. t in the Clouds 13. Blue Moon 14. O Sole Mio LATER WITH JOOLS HOLLAND June 7, 2007 15. Only Mama Knows 16. I’ve Got A Feeling 17. Dance Tonight 18. Lady Madonna BRIT AWARDS February 20, 2008 19. Dance Tonight 20. Live And Let Die 21. Hey Jude 22. Lady Madonna 23. Get Back GRAMMY AWARDS February 8, 2009 24. I Saw Her Standing There MEAT FREE MONDAY July 2009 25. Meat Free Monday