Made In Rockdown: Paul McCartney Announces New Album Release

Sir Paul McCartney has announced a new solo album release this December, titled McCartney III. The former Beatle follows on from his previously named solo works McCartney, released in 1970 and McCartney II, released in 1980. McCartney III is his 18^th solo album release, and has given it the descriptive tagline “Made in Rockdown.”

Made In Rockdown

The album, which will be out on 11^th December 2020, has been entirely written, performed and produced by Paul McCartney, and came about from the Covid circumstances that saw the artist spontaneously creating while under the lockdown restrictions.

McCartney III is described as “a stripped back, self-produced and, quite literally, solo work marking the opening of a new decade, in the tradition of 1970’s McCartney and 1980’s McCartney II.”

According to Paul, inspiration struck when he came back to an unreleased track from almost 30 years ago, “When Winter Comes” which had been co-produced by the late, great George Martin. Picking up the song once more inspired McCartney to add more material to it and it led to the creation of “Long Tailed Winter Bird” which will be the opening track on the album, as well as the album’s closing track, “Winter Bird”. Speaking about III, Paul said:

“I was living lockdown life on my farm with my family and I would go to my studio every day. 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.”

Keeping it in the family

The photography for the album has been captured by Paul’s daughter, Mary McCartney, who he was in ‘rockdown’ with, and includes additional work by nephew Sonny McCartney, and photos from Paul’s phone. The photography for I and II was shot by Linda McCartney, Paul’s late wife. The cover art and typography for McCartney III is by Ed Ruscha, an American artist.

What can we expect musically?

The album is reported to cover a “vast and intimate range of modes and moods, from soul searching to wistful, from playful to raucous and all points between – captured with some of the same gear from Paul’s Rude Studio used as far back as 1971 Wings Sessions.”

Mentions of a ‘lo-fi, raw’ sound have been confirmed by Sir Paul himself in early interviews, as has a very cool list of vintage instruments that have been played on the album – Paul’s Hofner violin bass and a mellotron from 60’s era Abbey Road Studios are certainly enough to pique interest in ‘Rockdown’.

The release

“McCartney III will be released December 11 on Capitol Records across digital platforms, on CD, and on LP manufactured by Third Man Pressing. Vinyl configurations will range from standard 180g to a Third Man Edition of 3000 hand-numbered red vinyl copies, a ‘333’ Edition sold only via Third Man Records online store and limited to 333 copies on yellow-with-black-dots vinyl created using 33 recycled vinyl copies of McCartney and McCartney II, a U.S. indie retail exclusive pressing of 4000 hand-numbered white vinyl LPs, and more.” 

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