NOW DIG THIS

2018’s Egypt Station – especially the evocative and doubt-filled I Don’t Know – proved that McCartney’s gift for melody has not deserted him one iota. Those hankering for the rawer-edged Macca will find much to love in rock’n’roll covers album Run Devil Run (1999), while digging through his early post-Beatles LPs unearths many forgotten gems such as Some People Never Know (Wings’ Wild Life, 1971) and Little Lamb Dragonfly (Red Rose Speedway, 1973). 1982’s Tug Of War (a reunion with George Martin) is well worthy of reappraisal, while concert film Rockshow captures the arena- and stadium-filling 1976 Wings line-up at their wondrous, mullet-y peak. Book-wise, biographies and encounters by Miles, Philip Norman and Paul Du Noyer – (and don’t forget that guy Tom Doyle –Ed) – all get closer to the immaculate core of Macca-dom.