Michael Gerber
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(A friend of mine, Nick Zaino, wrote me his thoughts on Paul’s latest LP, The Boys of Dungeon Lane. I found them interesting, and asked him if I could share them here. Put your own feelings in the comments, hmm?—MG)

I like it. He can still write a snarling guitar riff when he wants to, and his ability to chart a whiplash change in an arrangement is well intact. And he can still tell a story from a character’s point of view. The opening track is sticking with me. It’s about him having a crush on a neighbor when he was a kid, but it feels kind of menacing to me.

This is probably the most consciously nostalgic album he’s ever released, at least the most focused on one particular time, when he was a kid. He’s still ambitious, still wants to write a proper rocker. The range in his voice has shrunk, but he’s nimble enough with a melody so you might not notice so much. And his facility at arrangements means he can bring in other voices for some power to back him up, although he’s playing a lot of the instruments here.

My love of McCartney is partly aspirational. I admire the way he moved through the world, and the way he moves through the process of songwriting. I think his mindset is to not squash that initial impulse – to let the thing out in the writing stage. Don’t overthink it. But once it’s out in the world, polish that sucker and arrange it so everything’s perfect. And I think he’s still swinging for something. And he’s kept his mind open all these years, which sometimes looks like he’s chasing trends. But I give him the benefit of the doubt because I think he is endlessly curious. And that is about the best think a human being can be. Keeping looking at the new things popping up, take them apart, see what’s inside, see how it applies to you.

There is no world in which my creative output comes close to anything McCartney’s done. But watching him keep pushing, the drive he still has when he proved everything he ever needed to prove 50 years ago, is fascinating and inspiring.

And this new album, maybe because it is so focused on one period of his life – it does feel like there’s something he needed to address before it was too late. Maybe he’s feeling his mortality as he approaches 84. There are no huge revelations in the music. He established his skills and his voice over the decades. And there is some schmaltz here. But he’s still pushing himself, like he has always pushed himself (and everyone else he felt could make something special). And I will carry off any little bit of that I can to apply to whatever I’m doing. A real live beating heart.

NICK ZAINO lives in Massachusetts, where he is compiling a comprehensive history of Boston comedy.

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