Paul McCartney Memory Almost Full : B

Forty-five seconds into Memory Almost Full's opening song, "Dance Tonight," Paul McCartney reminds us why we still love him at 64. He croons, "We can do anything we want to do" and turns the last "do" into three syllables, making me giddy as my mind flooded with images of the head-bobbing, charming, mop-top Paul who co-fronted my favorite band of all time.\nThe album peaks at the rhythmic second song, "Ever Present Past," which explores Paul's post-middle-aged mind, looking back on his childhood and questioning his current state. It's touching to hear Paul reminiscing about his childhood, but it is hard to believe über-stud McCartney when he claims in the song that he "don't have no time to be a decent lover." It's much more believable to hear him talking about his life later in the track, saying "It went by, it flew by in a flash." \nAt the classic Beatle age of 64, McCartney is often retrospective on the album, and by the middle of Memory, I was missing the first two tracks. The quality dips down with "See Your Sunshine," which sounds like standard, cheesy '80s McCartney, and "Gratitude," which is just painfully repetitive and sounds like it's addressed to his recent ex-wife. \nAs the album inches toward its end, it becomes underwhelming, except for the rocking, guitar-heavy "Only Mama Knows" and the menacing guitar solo halfway through the long-winded "House of Wax." \nMcCartney spouts off touching life lessons during the album's poignant second-to-last track, "End of the End," in which he adopts the perspective of a dying man giving his last words. He asks that his friends have "jokes to be told and stories of old" and that no one cry, because he's going to a better place. It features one of two whistle solos on the album, which would've both been far improved by a guitar or even a piano solo. McCartney ends with "Nod Your Head," the album's equivalent of "Dirt Off Your Shoulder." \nMemory is a sideways step from Chaos and Creation, which is logical, since a number of the songs are leftovers from those sessions.\nThe album falls short of classics like McCartney, Ram and some of the work Paul did with Wings, but it cracks his top 10 albums and is definitely worth a few listens.