Hey everybody, Giggens here, and it's my absolute honor to talk about the brand new album from Paul McCartney, The Boys of Dungeon Lane.

Paul McCartney, a living legend, a Beatle, a Wing, a solo guy. He can play anything, write anything, jam with anyone, and just is universally loved. He's back now with his 20th solo album, his first since 2020's pandemic release McCartney III. McCartney III definitely carried on the tradition of McCartney and McCartney II by embracing the sort of wacky, homespun, experimental stuff. The album just sort of happened. I know he wasn't really planning on making that one, but this one feels much more focused.

Working with producer Andrew Watt, who has now worked on the last two Stones albums, this album for Paul is easily one of the best things he's done since Chaos And Creation In The Backyard in 2005. It feels like one complete thought, one complete vibe, one emotion. It happily takes some left turns, it tugs at your heart, there's plenty of rockers.

The album opens up with "As You Lie There" and it's definitely kind of a weird, jarring introduction to the record. A very peculiar set of chords brings you into this song, and then Paul does a spoken word bit. Very different for Macca, but it works. And then all of a sudden, it just lays into this crunchy, riffy, Paul screaming his ass off, RAM-esque moment. The drums are pummeling away. Paul's doing, "As you lie there, as you lie there." It's great to hear Paul rock this hard, this deep in his career, and it captures your attention the whole way through. Paul has said this song was about about a girl named Jasmine who he fancied as a youth. And apparently he did meet this girl one time, it was crazy about her, and never got to see her again. But apparently she showed up at his door one time, but he was in the bathroom, so missed his chance.

We're off to a great start here. Like I said earlier too, this definitely has moments of Ram. There's guitar phrases that sound like "Too Many People," there's moments that sound like the end of "Backseat Of My Car."

"Lost Horizon" dates back a couple decades, and this was a song brought to Paul's attention by his friend Eddie Klein. Eddie was going through some tapes of Paul's and discovered this song that was decades old and said, "Hey, this is a pretty good track, you might want to look at this one." It was fully complete, so Paul looked at it and said, "Yeah, this kind of fits with the mood I'm going for from what I'm recording right now, these songs about looking back. Let's do it." I love how the chugging guitars remind me of "Come On To Me" from Egypt Station, and lyrically it's about how any sort of sound or music will link you to your past. Love the guitar riffs between the verses, the steady drums, Paul's harmonies. It's just a great pop rock song.

"The Days We Left Behind," this was the debut single to the record, and holy moly, this is a ballad for the ages. Paul's looking back at his youth, he's looking back at his old pictures, wondering who that kid was that he used to be. Love the gentle strumming on the guitar, the tender piano, his very soft harmonies. Everything about this track tugs at your heart, and it's meant to. Paul has written about the past before, of course, many times, but there's something about this song that hits different. There's a poignancy, and there's a way he's expressing himself through his soul that he hasn't really tapped into in his career. You're seeing history happen in real time, you're seeing things change, you're seeing buildings come and go, you're seeing people come and go — you know like they say in this song: "Nothing stays the same." It's sweet; it's deeply heartfelt; it was absolutely worthy of being the debut single for the record to give you hint what's to come!

"Ripples In A Pond" follows that up, and this one was love song for Nancy — and Paul was basically asking Andrew Watt to make something poppy and dancey just upbeat fun. I loved the call-and-response moments on verses, and vocally in chorus its one of coolest things he has done: "da-da-da-dah dah-duh duh duh doo!" That harmony line — that melody line — is infectious! He just sounds so youthful and enthused on this one. He sounds really stoked about it, and you know, love will make you stoked.

"Mountain Top" follows that one up next, and I love the groovy harpsichord at the beginning of this track. It's definitely a psychedelic-inspired moment, you know, right down to talking magic mushrooms and saying that this girl's trippin'. The song gently bounces along throughout most of the track, and then takes a complete left turn and goes down this, like, wild path where you can just imagine, like, this magical forest bursting with colors and talking flowers and groovy smiles on trees. It just shifts into high gear and charges along, and there's great tape loops at the end. You hear Nancy's voice, which is pretty cool.

"Down South" is one of my favorite songs on the record. This is about him and George in their early days when they first became friends, and you know, Paul was great for getting one of his buddies to be like, "Hey, let's just go hitchhiking and see where we end up," and that's exactly what happened on this one. They got into a truck, a lorry if you're from England, got into a truck, went as far as they could, and it's the story about them learning each other, talking about rock and roll, talking about guitars, all these things that would become absolutely instrumental to who they they were as people in the future, but you know, when you meet somebody in the early days, you just learn the stuff that you have common interests with, and they both loved rock and roll. And it's just Paul and his guitar and his memories of George, and it's such a sweet song. I love that line where it says, you know, "We learned how to work it out before we learned how to twist and shout." Like, that's just cool.

"We Too" is a calm song that kind of plods along, and this was done at Paul's studio. And the drums on this one, the snare drum in this thing is loud. That lumbering — it's one of my favorite instruments on the album is the snare drum on this song. Excellent harmonies from Paul, a rubbery bass throughout, and a tambourine in the background just gently holding it together. Some of the guitar lines remind me of early '70s McCartney stuff, and even newer stuff — newer like Flaming Pie or Chaos And Creation.

"Come Inside" follows that up next, and this is just an "upbeat rocker," as Paul put it, and rightly so. I think we need it on the album at this point. Paul is vocally shining with killer confidence on this one. The production is tight, he rips through it, he's just letting loose. Love the middle bit where the piano gets to shine for a moment. He just sounds awesome. It punches along. It's bloody Paul McCartney. Never know is a really cool song. Actually, it's becoming one of my favorites. I dig the bass line on this one a lot, the wobbly effects in the background, Paul's calm vocals.

And I've used the word calm numerous times throughout this review, but because I just — I like that word. It's got a happy little bounce to it, but I think what I like the most about it is you appreciate these gentle moving chord combinations, and at the end of the song, it just explodes, and these gentle chords become more anthemic and more epic, and you're still feeling them, but you feel them so much more deeper because they're so much more pronounced and so much more in your face. It's amazing how inspiring this guy is at this age to write moments like this, and you're just like, "how does he do it?" Because you take something that it just feels so warm and natural, then just make it explode, and it feels even more impactful.

"Home to Us," I mean, what more can be said? It's Paul and Ringo. It's the bloody Beatles, man. Paul and Ringo have always worked together for as long as we can imagine. Over 50 years they've been on each other's albums. You know, some of my favorite moments are "Beautiful Night" from Flaming Pie, "Walk With You" from Y Not, and this moment here. Paul and Ringo have a duet together. They take alternating lines, and it's great to hear them sing about their childhood and growing up and what the post-war world was like when they were kids growing up in England.

And like, you know, no matter how rough it was, no matter how bad it was, they didn't know any better, and they appreciated what they had, and they did what they could. It's just a wonderful track, a career highlight. If you're gonna listen to anything from this album, "Home To Us" is one of the songs you cannot miss. Their chemistry together is perfect. Their vocals together are just like — it's just smile on your face moment. It's the Beatles, man.

"Life Can Be Hard" follows that one up, and I'm digging this one a lot because the piano on this one is very old-timey, '30s, not necessarily vaudeville, but kind of like a "Great American Songbook" or something, if you will. Paul debuted this song years ago on that Hulu special with Rick Rubin, that "McCartney 3,2,1." He did an early version of it at that time. He wrote it during lockdown while staying with Nancy and her family and just experiencing the world at that time as as we all did, looking around at each other being like, "Yeah, I guess this is pretty rough, huh?" I do like how the song shifts near the end because the song has kind of a somber feel to it, but as it grows and as it gets towards the end, towards the finish line, everything sort of changes. These big brass elements come in to make it swell and it's got a much more happier resolve. So leave it to Paul for a happy ending.

"First Star at Night" is one of my favorite songs on the record as well. He wrote this while he was on tour. It's just a quiet, cute song. Paul's soft guitar playing, his whisper vocals, everything about this feels like a warm sweater. Endlessly reassuring, and I love that line, "I know my little world is still alright." It's very reminiscent of "nothing's gonna change my world" from "Across the Universe," and I'm all for it. Sometimes all you need is a little bit of starlight to calm the craziness of the day. You put your phone down, connect with the universe, and just appreciate what's going on at this universe that we'll never fully understand. But if we see a little bit of light, sometimes it helps you get through it.

"Salesman Saint" is about his parents, and it's one of the first times he's been like openly direct about his folks in a song. His dad was a salesman. He definitely saw his mom as a saint. And it's definitely autobiographical, or biographical, I guess, about his parents. But, you know, remembering what it was like to grow up during the war and how little they had, but what they did have, they really appreciated. So it's kind of like a compliment to "Home To Us."

You know, music was always there for them. Hot tea and cigarettes was always there for them. Love the big band horns throughout this one, the determination of the track. It's so focused and you know, the work ethic back there. It's like: they always paid the rent; they always had food on the table, no matter how hard things got.

"Mama Gets By" is the last track on the record, and I kept listening to this song thinking it was about his parents, but apparently it's just a story song. And I know there's parts of it that definitely are a story, but there has to be elements that are about his folks, or at least his mom. And it's one of the more piano-based songs on the record as well. And like I said, Paul wrote this kind of as a story, but art usually comes from life, so I'm assuming there's elements of his life in this song. Singing that no matter how bad it gets, she'll get by. No matter how much it rains, she'll weather the storm.

You know, if this isn't about his mom, it's just a really, really sweet song. And the first time I heard it, it made me kind of get teary-eyed. Like, it's just a sweet song. She loves him, she loves him. It's like, oh God, if this song doesn't move you, I don't know what to tell you.

The Boys of Dungeon Lane is more than a walk down memory lane. It's a testament to Paul's abilities to beautifully look at his past come to grips with change, loss, deep love, and yet all the while joyously remaining optimistic for what lies ahead. The vivid imagery that he lyrically paints invites you to his childhood neighborhood, the warm memories with his friends and bandmates, being with his parents, and being inside that house that he grew up in. This is Paul at his most autobiographical, looking back with love and a sense of peace.

He's been autobiographical many times throughout the course of his career, of course, he has. You know, "Early Days" or "On My Way To Work" from the NEW album, and then the hardships he was going through during the chaos and creation of the Backyard album. But this album is different. There's a much more deeper, much-needed grip on his youth that makes these songs sound so necessary.

Simon & Garfunkel once said "how terribly strange to be 70," and it's gotta be a trip to be in your 80s and one of the most famous people to ever walk this planet. But at the end of the day, you know, you still go to bed and wake up just like everybody else. And I feel like this is Paul looking back before he was famous, when he was just Jim and Mary's kid. He went to school and blended in with the rest of the students. He met the other Beatles and his other friends, and they goofed around and palled around like crazy teenagers do. He will always be one of the boys of Dungeon Lane.

An incredibly rewarding listen, a deeply moving album, and something that Paul should be immensely proud of. A 9 out of 10, hands down.

Paul McCartney, Boys of Dungeon Lane. Forever.