PAUL McCARTNEY
"RUN DEVIL RUN"
CAPITOL RECORDS
If you don’t think music can be therapeutic, just take a look at pictures of Paul McCartney taken before and after the spring sessions that gave rise to this gem of a record.
Having been grieving the loss of his wife Linda, who succumbed to cancer last year, McCartney, in the few times he ventured into the public eye, looked understandably wan and drawn. However, the return to the studio with some old chums, and the revisitation of these songs, most from his Cavern Club days with the Beatles in the late Fifties and very early Sixties, have given him purpose again.This record, a companion to the so-called "Russian album" he did a few years ago, contains 12 covers and three originals, the latter of which are all written, recorded and performed like outtakes from Buddy Holly records from the Fifties.
McCartney’s choices of covers are superb: Gene Vincent’s "Blue Jean Bop," Elvis’ "All Shook Up," the British skiffle tune "No Other Baby," Ricky Nelson’s "Lonesome Town," Carl Perkins’ "Movie Magg," among the others, all so well done. The support, from David Gilmour, Mick Green, Ian Paice and others, works to perfection. McCartney couldn’t have picked a better way to pick up the pieces.
- Mark T. Gould
****1/2