McCartney III Imagined (2021)
McCartney III Imagined is a wildly fun, unique installment in the Macca catalog. I had trouble with M3 (McCartney III), but M3I (McCartney III Imagined) draws out the hidden quality in the original. Paul wanted to remix and reinterpret all the songs from M3 with contemporary artists he admires. There’s more meat on this record, something M3 was lacking, and it just further proves that musically, lyrically, and in a general songwriting sense, McCartney has still got it. The foundation and bones of these songs are top-tier, and it all comes down to the arrangement to make or break them.
The new remix of Find My Way, featuring the immensely talented Beck, brings a new element of funk to the track. Beck is an artist who wasn’t all that impressive to me until the later years of his career. Albums of his like Morning Phase and Colors are fantastic. Truly upper-echelon records. Beck’s most recent album, Hyperspace, is unique in the sense that it sounds like nothing he, or really anyone, has done before. On this remix, Beck channels that Hyperspace sound and combines it with the pop rock of McCartney to create a pretty cool track. The music video is a joyride too. Using de-aging technology and deepfakes, we get to see a young Paul McCartney get down! It is fun as hell.
The Kiss of Venus, taken over by the young Dominic Fike, is the highlight track of M3I. The original, beautiful as it is, lacked a lot of range. From the first note, it didn’t really go anywhere. Fike’s rendition is dynamic and vocally impressive, the prime example of a talented artist from today adapting a McCartney song to the current climate. It’s artsy and it works. The music video even gives us a cheeky smirk from Paul right at the end, after some tuneful whistling. Those final seconds solidify McCartney as arguably the greatest whistler in music history. Come at me, I dare you!
Some songs like Pretty Boys and Women and Wives were totally agreeable on M3, but not very standout-ish. Khruangbin’s modern, psychedelic, extended dreamy rhythms and tone carry Pretty Boys to new heights. Now it’s a dreamy alternative song the current generation can get behind, sounding like something from Men I Trust, Khruangbin, or even Japanese Breakfast. And the backing vocals, guitar, and horns St. Vincent adds to Women and Wives lift the original to places it needed to go. It’s so much more dynamic, so much more interesting.
I do enjoy Phoebe Bridgers, though I also understand the criticism that her sound and style don’t vary much. She stays in that sad-girl dreamy pop genre and rides it into the sunset. She brings that exact style to McCartney’s Seize the Day. The original sounded like it could’ve been an early Wings track, but this new version improves on it. It could’ve gotten lost in the big ocean of Wings-like songs, but Phoebe’s attempt is one of a kind. Its uniqueness makes it memorable, and it’s quite gorgeous to listen to.
There are some rearrangements that don’t totally work, but I can’t fault Paul and company for trying to make something new and just playing around and having fun. Deep Deep Feeling, Lavatory Lil, and Long Tailed Winter Bird are all examples of songs that were good on M3 and weren’t taken anywhere that different on M3I. That said, I’m glad they exist, and I’m glad Paul had fun collaborating with some great artists of today’s age.
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Highlight Songs:
The Kiss of Venus
Find My Way
Women and Wives
Seize the Day
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Own it, Stream it, Forget about it?
You could get away with just streaming this one. I’d own it before I owned the original McCartney III, but you may find yourself wanting to listen to certain standout tracks rather than the album as a whole, like I do.
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Overall Rating:
3.5 Stars
