During the containment established in the spring in the United Kingdom, and which forced him to cancel his European tour, Paul McCartney was not bored.
The ex-Beatles announced on Wednesday that he was releasing a new solo album, consisting of songs recorded during this period when most activities were put to sleep due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
This new album, "McCartney III", scheduled for December 11, is the third part of a triptych, the first disc of which was released fifty years ago.
It was his very first solo album, soberly titled "McCartney", followed by "McCartney II" ten years later, in 1980.
The ex-bassist of the Fab Four explains in a press release that he had not originally planned to release an album in 2020, but that his confinement had given him the opportunity to rework old songs that had never been released , then the desire to create new ones.
McCartney III.
The new album, out December 11th 🎲
Pre-order: https://t.co/8UPtDg6THZ#McCartneyIII pic.twitter.com/Gxu7sxvIw6
- Paul McCartney (@PaulMcCartney) October 21, 2020
"Over the years I worked on some things, but sometimes I ran out of time and left them half-finished," said Paul McCartney, explaining that the confinement, spent on "his farm with his family", had allowed him to work “every day” in his studio.
At the beginning, “I had to work on a film score, which became the first track on the album and, when it was finished, I started to wonder what I was going to do next”, explains- he still does.
“I was making music for myself rather than making music for my job.
So I did the things I wanted to do ”, rejoices the 78-year-old artist, saying that he has“ no idea that it would end up in an album ”.
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Recorded in Sussex, in the south of England, "McCartney III" makes the listener discover a set of new songs, where the ex-Beatles provides both the piano, the vocals, the guitar, but also bass and drums.
This will be his 18th solo album, after “Egypt Station”, which in 2018 had projected him to the top of the reference chart for album sales in the United States, the Billboard, for the first time in 36 years.