McCartney III – Part II

The Press might have got there first but now it’s official: McCartney III was announced today by Macca to be released on 11 December 2020 – freakin’ awesome news in a shitful year. Let’s face it, it’s going to be momentous!

Like his other two self-titled albums, McCartney III is written, produced and performed entirely by Paul, and was recorded this year in Sussex, England. “I was living lockdown life on my farm with my family and I would go to my studio every day,” McCartney recently said in the press release:

I had to do a little bit of work on some film music and that turned into the opening track and then when it was done I thought what will I do next? I had some stuff I’d worked on over the years but sometimes time would run out and it would be left half-finished so I started thinking about what I had. Each day I’d start recording with the instrument I wrote the song on and then gradually layer it all up, it was a lot of fun. It was about making music for yourself rather than making music that has to do a job. So, I just did stuff I fancied doing. I had no idea this would end up as an album.

‘It’s just me’: an exclusive interview with Paul McCartney about McCartney III – Loud And Quiet

At what point did you realise that what you were doing was making McCartney III?

Right at the end of it, I’d just been stockpiling tracks, and I thought, ‘I don’t know what I’m going to do with all of this – I guess I’ll hang onto it,’ and then I thought, ‘Wait a minute, this is a McCartney record,’ because I’d played everything and done it in the same manner as McCartney I and II. That was a little light bulb going off, and I thought, ‘Well, at least that makes a point of explaining what I’ve been doing, unbeknownst to me.’ 

The vocals sound really raw.

Thanks. I was trying to get them posh.

I meant that in a good way!I

I know, I know! Because I wasn’t aiming at a proper record release, I was just having a go. So I think it has ended up being exactly what it is – which is me not really trying very hard, except to have fun.