Paul McCartney

Driving Rain

Ziplock

Review Score:

(10/10)
Driving Rain is a CD that gets better with repeated listening. It's like the music is ziplocked and needs to be repeated for full appreciation. The opener "Lonely Road" is a great rocker, "I hear your music & it's driving me mad." The burning lead guitar makes this quality pop. The piano-based stately pop tune "From a Lover to a Friend" is touching. The nursery-rhyme melody on "She's Given Up Talking" works well with the heavy electric guitar, the fuzz distortions on the vocal; and comes out with a ominous, spooky sound. Very different, but excellent. The title tune is fun. Sure, "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, let's go for a drive," is not the most complex lyric McCartney has ever penned, but his spirited vocals make this a driving pop tune. I love the string arrangement on the sentimental acoustic love song "I Do." McCartney's such a great bass player; and this whips "Tiny Bubble" into pure confection, "All the world's a tiny bubble floating inside the truth." The sweet melody counterpoints the hidden wisdom. McCartney's soaring vocal is great on the pretty pop tune "Magic." "Your Way" is a sweet country-western flavored ditty. "Spinning On an Axis" written with son James McCartney is an interesting idea for a song and is pleasant enough, but is probably not one other singers will rush to cover. For me, the high points of the CD are tracks 10, 11 & 12. McCartney smokes on the rocker "About You." This is followed by a beautiful piano on "Heather" which is instrumental about two-thirds of the way through until McCartney sings, "Here I will stay for a year & a day til the cares of the world drift away." This is beautiful music! Track 12 is another song written with son James that is great, the bluesy contemplative "Back in the Sunshine Again" where McCartney wishes for "no more pain." "Your Loving Flame" is a soft melody made of cloud vapor. The sitar noodlings on "Riding to Jaipur" are an obvious George Harrison tribute that almost works. It segues into "Rinse the Raindrops" which rocks with lyrics about the bird of Paradise. The live "Freedom" ends the disc and actually sounds better to me listening to the CD than when I watched the tribute show on tv. This is a CD that you will need to spend time with to unlock. It is worth the journey!

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