There’s a leak

I’m listening to the new Paul McCartney release right now, “Good Evening New York City”, well the audio CD’s from it anyway. It hasn’t really been released yet, but it leaked out into the internet yesterday. I remember 2002’s “Driving Rain”, that one was all over the internet several months before the release date. The new one’s out just a few days before it’s in the shops, so I guess things have improved.
It’s a rocking couple of CD’s this, reflecting the slightly harder sound Paul and his band seems to be into these days. Contributing to this is the fact that all chit chat on stage has been eliminated. Apart from the opening legend “good evening, New York City”, we don’t get to hear Paul talk in between songs. There’s no “let’s hear it for John” or “not many people know this, but George was a great ukulele player”. Just the songs. And I think that was a good decision, and one that makes repeat plays more likely.
I don’t know how to spot where a tool like auto-tune has been in use, but I hear a lot of fans saying that this release is full of it. Sometimes the words come out unintelligible. Like in “Eleanor Rigby”, it sounds like Father McKenzie is writing the words for a sermon that no one will hear, no one thumb near. There are a couple of other examples, but I forget.
It’s hard to describe Paul’s voice now that we know it’s been tampered with, but it sounds quite okay. And all these years on the road has made him an ace guitar player. He spent 1989-1993 mostly on the road, then took a long break. But ever since 2002 he’s been at it again with the tours. And rumour has it that his current one will be extended over to South America in the New Year. I also believe it’s time he went downunder again, he hasn’t played there since 1993.
Of course, I’m buying the official release when it hits the shop, I always do. I was just curious, that’s all.
The folks over at MaccaBlog will feature this release on their radio station today, so tune in! Or get it elsewhere.