New (album)

New
Studio album by Paul McCartney
Released	15 October 2013 (2013-10-15) (see release history)
Recorded	Henson Recording Studios, Los Angeles; Avatar Studios, New York; Abbey Road Studios, Air Studios, Wolf Tone Studios, London; The Mill, East Sussex
Genre	Rock, electronic[1]
Length	46:11
Label	Virgin EMI Records (UK)[2] Hear Music (US)[3]
Producer	Mark Ronson, Ethan Johns, Paul Epworth, Giles Martin
Paul McCartney chronology
iTunes Live from Capitol Studios (2012) New (2013)
Singles from New
"New" Released: 2 September 2013 (2013-09-02) "Queenie Eye" Released: 24 October 2013 (2013-10-24)

New is an album by Paul McCartney, released on 14 October 2013 in the UK and released in the US on 15 October 2013. It is his sixteenth studio album and his first since 2007's Memory Almost Full to consist entirely of new compositions.^[4]

The album was executive produced by Giles Martin with production by Martin, Mark Ronson, Ethan Johns and Paul Epworth. McCartney has stated that the record was inspired by recent events in his life as well as memories of his pre-Beatles history. He added that some of the arrangements are unlike his usual rock recordings, and that he specifically sought out younger producers to record the album.^[5] He and his stage band performed in various venues to promote the record, along with promotional events held through social media.

The first single "New" and the album as a whole has been greeted positively by music critics. The song became BBC Radio 2's record of the week and was placed on their A-list. The album later debuted at number three in the UK Album Chart.

Recording

McCartney had initially intended to trial four of his favourite producers and select the best to record the whole album with.^[6] McCartney ended up recording with all four: Mark Ronson, Ethan Johns, Paul Epworth and Giles Martin.^[4][6] Martin produced the majority of the tracks and acted as executive producer on the album. Recording took place at Henson Recording Studios in Los Angeles; Avatar Studios in New York; Abbey Road Studios, Air Studios and Wolf Tone Studios in London; and The Mill in East Sussex. The recording sessions started in January 2012 with Paul Epworth (Wolf Tone Studios and Hog Hill) and then resumed at Abbey Road Studios during February-March with other songs taped with Ethan Johns. The sessions with Ronson took place probably around January 2012, with work resuming in July and then later in 2013. Songs produced by Giles Martin were recorded AIR Studios during March 2013 and in Los Angeles, very likely during Spring.^[7]

Ronson had been selected following his set as DJ at McCartney's wedding to Nancy Shevell two years before production began. The producer noted that he was preoccupied with his own wedding occurring at about the same time as McCartney's, and had nearly forgotten to call him back to accept the offer. A few months after Ronson served as DJ for another McCartney event in New York, Ronson received a call inviting him into the studio. In total Ronson recorded three tracks: "New", "Alligator" and "Secret Life of a Party Girl", although the third track does not appear on the album.^[8]

Composition

McCartney has said that the album would be "very varied. I worked with four producers and each of them brought something different".^[9] The songs produced by Paul Epworth "weren't written" but improvised.^[9] The title track, "New", is a "love song but it's saying, 'Don't look at me, I haven't got any answers.' It says, 'I don't know what's happening, I don't know how it's all happening, but it's good and I love you.'"^[9]

Other tracks are autobiographical: "On My Way to Work" was written about his pre-fame past alluding to his time working as a driver's mate for Speedy Prompt Delivery in Liverpool.^[10] Similarly on the day McCartney composed "Early Days", he had been reminiscing about his past in Liverpool with John Lennon: "I started to get images of us in the record shop listening to early rock and roll and looking at the posters and the joy that that gave me remembering all those moments."^[11] The refrain of "Queenie Eye" was also taken from a childhood game McCartney had played in Liverpool.^[12]

Regarding contemporary inspirations, McCartney expressed that the album had been influenced by his marriage to Shevell: "This is a happy period in my life, having a new woman — so you get new songs when you get a new woman." He felt that New is generally joyful, but with an undercurrent of "pain getting changed to laughter".^[11] Ronson referred to the song "Alligator" in particular as being "brooding" and "quite tough".^[8] McCartney also revealed that "Alligator" was the oldest song written for the album.^[13] McCartney wrote "Everybody Out There" specifically to "get the audience singing along" and that he was particularly proud of "Early Days" and the hidden track "Scared".^[14]

Promotion

A "drive-in" listening event took place at the Open Road car dealership in Manhattan.

"New" was released as a single to the iTunes Store and SoundCloud on 28 August 2013.^[4] The single came with the announcement that the album would be released on 14 October in the United Kingdom, and a day later in the United States.^[9] A deluxe edition was also announced featuring two bonus tracks.^[4] An official McCartney Instagram account launched at the same time the album was revealed.^[15] McCartney debuted the songs "Save Us" and "Everybody Out There" at the third annual iHeartRadio Music Festival.^[16]

On 23 September 2013, McCartney's news blog unveiled the final artwork for New, replacing the earlier minimal black and white logo used as a placeholder for online retailers. The logo and cover concept was conceived by UK art and design team Rebecca and Mike, with CGI created by Ben Ib. The imagery of fluorescent lights was inspired by the sculptural work of Dan Flavin.^[17][18] The titles of the deluxe edition bonus tracks were also announced: "Turned Out" and "Get Me Out of Here".^[17] Promotion later included a Twitter interview on 4 October, when McCartney answered fan questions related to the album.^[14]

On 6 October, full-album listening events took place in the form of drive-ins: in the Los Angeles area fans brought their vehicles to the Vinland Drive-In, whereas in New York City listeners were taken to the rooftop of an Open Road Volkswagen dealership to sit in new cars belonging to the company.^[19] The drive-in idea came about late into the promotional campaign, when McCartney had been listening to the album in his own car about a week before the event took place.^[20]

On 10 October, McCartney and his band performed a surprise concert in Times Square after posting two short tweets announcing the event about an hour before it occurred.^[21] The brief performance consisted of four tracks off the album ("New," "Save Us," "Everybody Out There," and "Queenie Eye"), lasting about fifteen minutes. The event gathered a large crowd and came a day after another surprise concert to 400 students at Frank Sinatra School for the Arts in Queens, New York. The performance at the school was filmed and was streamed on Yahoo! on 14 October.^[22] McCartney has also performed songs from the album on Jimmy Kimmel Live and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.

Reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	77/100[23]
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[24]
The Daily Telegraph	[25]
Clash	(7/10)[26]
Entertainment Weekly	A−[27]
Rolling Stone	[28]
The Guardian	[29]
Daily Mail	[30]
PopMatters	[31]
Pitchfork Media	(7.8/10)[32]

The first track to be released, "New", was greeted positively by critics and the musical press. As well as being selected as BBC Radio 2's Record of the Week^[9][33] and placed on their A-list,^[34] the track was greeted as the 'Track of the Day' by Mojo which praised its "doe-eyed optimism, irresistible melody" and "orchestrated pop arrangements".^[35] Rolling Stone's Will Hermes, praised its "bouncy harpsichord-laden melody", giving it a four-star rating and drawing comparisons to the Beatles' "Got to Get You into My Life",^[36] a view shared by The Daily Telegraph which described it as a "jaunty, Beatles-esque stomp".^[37] J.C. Maçek III of PopMatters said "New is no Abbey Road, but it is a remarkable album from the 71-year-old version of the man who has brought us decades of great rock ‘n’ roll songs."^[31]

Commercial performance

The album debuted at number three on the Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 67,000 copies in the United States.^[38] The single "New" debuted at number 9 and peaked at number 4 on the Japanese Singles Charts.^[39] The album debuted at number 1 in Norway; number 2 in Denmark, France, and Japan; number 3 in Canada (selling 8,500 copies in its first week),^[40] the UK, and the US; number 4 in Italy; number 5 in Croatia; number 6 in Austria and Germany; and number 9 in the Swedish charts;^[41] this represents McCartney's highest solo career chart placement since 1989's Flowers in the Dirt album. Until the end of 2013, 15,000 copies of New were sold in Brazil.

Track listing

All songs written by Paul McCartney, except "Save Us", "Queenie Eye", and "Road" written by McCartney and Paul Epworth.

Personnel

Adapted from liner notes^[44]

• Paul McCartney – vocals, guitars, lap steel guitar, bass guitar, bouzouki, piano, glockenspiel, harpsichord, Wurlitzer, keyboards, mellotron, percussion, synthesizers, harmonium, celesta, drums, tape loops
• Rusty Anderson – guitars on tracks 2, 3, 5–8, 10, 11, backing vocals, bouzouki on track 6
• Paul Epworth – drums, production on tracks 1, 4, 12, 15
• Ethan Johns - drums, percussion, production on track 5, production on tracks 9, 13
• Abe Laboriel, Jr. – drums on tracks 2, 6–8, backing vocals on tracks 5–7
• Steve McManus – bass guitar on tracks 3, 8
• Toby Pitman – keyboards on track 11, programming on tracks 3, 7, 8, 10, 11
• Richard Pryce – bass guitar on tracks 3, 8
• Brian Ray – guitars on tracks 2, 3, 5–8, dulcimer on track 5, backing vocals on tracks 6, 7
• Paul Wickens – keyboards on track 2, guitar, piano, accordion on track 3, Hammond organ on track 10

Charts

Certifications

Release history

References