McCartney - PAUL MCCARTNEY****

The Lovely Linda/That Would Be Something/Valentine Day/Every Night/Hot As Sun/Glasses/Junk/Man We Was Lonely/Momma Miss America/Teddy Boy/Singalong Junk/Maybe I'm Amazed/Kreen Akrore

The release of a mainstream solo album from a former Beatle was a major musical event at the time. Unfortunately McCartney disappointed many fans with the inclusion of too many throwaway tracks amongst the obvious gems. (US:1 UK:2)

"On it are two phenomenal, five star songs - the well known and well loved Maybe I'm Amazed, and the highly underrated Every Night. Both are highly memorable, which is the point of pop music. There's a couple of other songs with a good hook and melody, but not much else to offer, like Junk and Teddy Boy - both are let down by poor lyrics. However, McCartney suffers most from filler - there are several brief instrumental tracks that develop no musical ideas and which just take up space."

"It seems like there's some wasted potential here: unfortunately many of the songs are too short and they end way too early. Paul McCartney himself has said that almost all these tracks are throwaways. Highlights are Every Night, That Would Be Something and of course the masterful Maybe I'm Amazed - a truly wonderful song that holds up even when compared to his Beatles material. A pretty good album that could have been much greater."

"Solid first solo outing by Paul McCartney. The music is very rich and what we have got here is the proof that he has got all the potential to lead a solo career without being a part of the Fab Four. The instrumental Momma Miss America is excellent, Every Night is one of my personal favourites and Maybe I'm Amazed is the summit, for me, of McCartney in his solo years. Another instrumental Singalong Junk is worth a listen too."

"An understated album, which feels more like a scrapbook of ideas for what could have been new Beatles songs had things turned out differently. With songs that have fully developed, like Every Night and Maybe I’m Amazed, you’ve got some McCartney classics, and whilst Junk feels like it could have been so much more, it still works perfectly well as it is. A lot of the rest just feel like ideas for the melting pot, but interesting ideas, at least."

"Much of McCartney sounds like a homemade project, which makes sense considering he performed the entire album by himself. This results in much of the material sounding like a rough sketch, plus there are too many instrumentals."