Paul McCartney’s controlled chaos and creation verges on dull
DISC REVIEW
As a producer and recording engineer, Nigel Godrich has finetuned some of the past decade’s landmark recordings, including Radiohead’s OK Computer and Beck’s Mutations. No doubt, Godrich influenced the inventiveness of each of those discs, although it can’t have hurt to be working with gifted young artists at the peak of their creative powers. Working with a bona fide pop legend like Paul McCartney — whose new albums are greeted with the kind of eyebrow- raising skepticism normally reserved for the ex- Beatle’s generational peers, the Rolling Stones — is another matter altogether. It’s a fact that hasn’t escaped Godrich, who was recommended by none other than Beatles producer George Martin to turn the dials on McCartney’s freshly minted Chaos and Creation in the Backyard
( Capitol/ EMI).
“ I think with Paul, he deserves some respect that maybe he hasn’t got in recent years,” says Godrich, on the DVD that accompanies a “special edition” version of the 20th studio album of McCartney’s solo career and first studio release since 2001’ s Driving Rain.
It is easy to overrate the impact a producer can have on an album, even in cases — say, for instance, Daniel Lanois’ work on Bob Dylan’s Time Out of Mind — where the effect can seem transparently transformational. As adept as they might be as technicians or even creative consultants, Lanois, Brian Eno, David Fridmann, Godrich and the rest of the studio gurus need great songs to make a great album. Chaos and Creation in the Backyard is not a great album. It is the kind of respectable, middling effort listeners have come to expect from McCartney. But it does include a great cut, the beguiling “ Riding to Vanity Fair.” Tucked away as a starting point to the last third of the album, “ Riding to Vanity Fair” is the kind of track that casts its author in an entirely different light. Its easeful, fluid minimalist construction is a departure, even for an album that leans toward confessional introspection.
Sadly for McCartney, the song is probably too laid- back to interest most radio programmers.
During the DVD’s 30- minute promotional documentary, McCartney concedes that he was convinced by Godrich to effect a dramatic alteration in the tune’s original, more upbeat tempo. It was also the producer, we learn, who led McCartney to embrace a DIY work ethic when it came to the instrumentation. The toy glockenspiel that gives the arrangement its delicate, dream-like quality was performed by McCartney himself, as were the bass, guitars and electric piano. The only accompaniment, while not negligible, is provided by drummer James Gadson and a string section. Mind you, McCartney isn’t bashful about seating himself behind the kit either, as he does for the more typically jaunty opener, “Fine Line,” or even picking up the flugelhorn on the comparatively low-key “How Kind of You” or folk- flavoured “ Friends to Go.” He does, however, call upon a specialist, Pedro Eustache, to grace “ Jenny Wren” with the exotic flavour of the duduk, an Armenian wind instrument.
Mostly though, Chaos and Creation in the Backyard
is a pianodriven album, whether it’s the music hall trifle, “ English Tea,” or closer “ Anyway,” which sounds as if it could have been written by Elton John.
Lyrically, the songs don’t register much impact, although not everything stoops to the banality of “You lift up my spirits/ You shine on my soul/ Whenever I’m empty/ You make me feel whole” from “Follow Me” or “Laugh when your eyes are burning/ Smile when your heart is filled with pain” from “Too Much Rain,” a song McCartney consciously patterned on the old Charlie Chaplin chestnut “ Smile.”
Musically, though, Chaos and Creation in the Backyard
has its moments — and at least one song worth hearing more than twice.