Tom's Best of 2005: #4

Paul McCartney - Chaos and Creation in the Backyard - If there's any justice at all in this world, the first thing Paul McCartney does every morning is thank God for everything. He was blessed with a gift for melodicism equaled by few in all of music history, was in the biggest and best band of the century, was set for life monetarily by his mid-20s, found a loving wife, found another loving wife when his first one died, and has made it all the way to the age of 63 (64 comes on June 18, 2006, for you irony-mongers waiting with a copy of Sgt. Pepper in your hand) without a single assassination attempt, fatal car wreck, drug overdose, or terminal illness. And on top of all that, his singing voice remains perfectly preserved, with almost exactly the same range and timbre he had 40 years ago. Paul McCartney is one lucky dude.

Add to that list of amazing fortunes the fact that Paul just released what may be the best solo album of his career, decades after most people thought he had any kind of relevance. Chaos and Creation in the Backyard is a set of songs that show off his freakishly great melodic skills as well as anything he's done since the Beatles broke up, and show a depth and introspective nature that I can't remember ever showing up in any of his work, Beatles or otherwise. Even more, there's not a single gimmicky song, stupid cutesy singalong, or lyric about butter pies or anything. It's simply one great pop song after another.

Chaos and Creation exudes a confidence that hasn't really been apparent in any of Paul's work since Ram, or maybe even Abbey Road. There are no self-conscious attempts at keeping up with trends, and there's no forced bombast or pomp. The songs are allowed to breathe and speak for themselves, backed up by Paul's one-man-band approach that gives them a sense of tightness and unity. "This Never Happened Before" and "Promise to You Girl" are classic solo McCartney melodies, "English Tea" and "A Certain Softness" would fit in perfectly on any Beatle records, and "Jenny Wren" and "How Kind of You" are haunting and emotional tunes that prove that Paul McCartney is an actual human being (which was sort of in question for awhile, to be honest). It's a little weird to think that his love songs are no longer written for the Lovely Linda, but it's great to know that one of the legends of rock music still has talent to spare.