CD Review - Driving Rain - Paul McCartney

 

CD REVIEW

When the Beatles Anthology was completed Paul McCartney contacted George Martin who agreed to produce his next album, the impressive 'Flaming Pie' released in 1997.

It was the first of three different albums he recorded over a four year period.

The following year Paul's life was struck by tragedy when his wife Linda McCartney passed away and he took a year off to mourn her death.

In 1999 Paul returned to the studio and formed a 'supergroup' comprising of David Gilmour (Guitar), Mick Green (Guitar), Ian Plaice (Drums) Pete Wingfield (Keyboards) with Paul on bass guitar. He also returned to his roots to record his second album of rock and roll classics along with three new songs. Paul set the World alight by returning to the Cavern Club, Liverpool to perform live as part of the promotion for the album.

The third album was Driving Rain, with the exception of two songs, it was recorded in February 2001 over a two week period with producer David Kahne .

After returning to his roots for Run Devil Run, Paul chose to record in a more contemporary style suited to 2001. The album contains a few songs for his new wife Heather however there's no My Love here.

Driving Rain makes a strong start with the rocker Lonely Road, From a Lover to a Friend & She's Given Up Talking. Other excellent songs include Magic, Your Way, About You, Back in the Sunshine Again and Your Loving Flame.

The problem with Driving Rain is that with the late inclusion of 'Freedom' we have an album that clocks in at 67 minutes.

​Given that the average running time of an album is 45 minutes you could reasonably remove a full 22 minutes from Driving Rain to create an excellent album. 

​If you have reservations about Driving Rain why not try playing the following tracks, there's a great album in there somewhere...

CD TRACK LISTING

1.Lonely Road 2. From a Lover to a Friend 3. She's Given Up Talking 4. Driving Rain 5. I Do 6. Tiny Bubble 7. Magic 8. Your Way 9. Spinning on an Axis 10. About You 11. Heather 12. Back in the Sunshine Again 13.Your Loving Flame 14. Riding into Jaipur 15. Rinse the Raindrops 16. Freedom" (studio mix)

​DRIVING RAIN PLAYLIST: 43.27

Lonely Road / From a Lover to a Friend / She's Given Up Talking / Driving Rain / Magic / Your Way / About You / Back in the Sunshine Again / Your Loving Flame / Rinse the Raindrops