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 Reviewer:
Shawn Perry. Following on the heels of his spontaneous oldies tribute Run Devil Run, Paul McCartney's latest opus,
Driving Rain continues the trend -- venturing into quick and unexplored territory with an added pinch of the
ex-Beatle's proclivity for sprite melodies and turnabout arrangements. Even as a few of the 15 songs occasionally slip into that rarefied form of Macca goofiness that sends herds of hardcore Fabs streaming into the streets, bristling with venom -- as a whole, McCartney has probably spun together his most cohesive collection since Tug Of War. Three years after losing Linda, his wife of 30 years, it would seem that McCartney has had a revelation of sorts. With renewed urgency and confidence, he has asserted himself to make a decent record. And in the process, he probably ended up learning a thing or two about
himself. One of the strengths behind Driving Rain is that McCartney lets down his guard and takes us through some very personal terrain. The romantic themes running throughout the record are, of course, due to McCartney's own very public love life -- three decades with Linda, and now with
fiancée Heather Mills. On "Lonely Road (Nu
Nu)," a mild and steady rocker, McCartney bares his soul to his late wife by declaring, "I tried to get over you, I tried to find something new..." In his frustration, he then poses a rhetorical question during the refrain of "From A Lover To A Friend," mournfully pleading, "let me love again..." McCartney's relationship with Mills emerges in the lightness of "I Do" and "Magic." But it's the country bounce of "Your Way" and dynamic simplicity of "Heather" that ground the singer's commitment to the new love of his life. McCartney's boldness is underscored by the vigorous group of musicians he recruited to help chisel out a deeper cut between the grooves. Guitarist Rusty Anderson, drummer Abe
Laboriel, Jr., keyboardist Gabe Dixon, and producer David Kahne -- all of whom have made the rounds with everyone from the Bangles to Hanson -- take part in the fresh, impulsive approach that McCartney has adopted. Nowhere is this more apparent than on the album's final two tracks. The Eastern touches of "Riding Into
Jaipur" are elegant enough to send shivers through any of the previous dabblings of George Harrison. And the 10-minute "Rinse The Raindrops" finds McCartney and company against the ropes in a full-on jam session, harkening back to the days of his on-the-spot exercises with the Beatles. For its first run (and perhaps its second and third)
Driving Rain also includes the bonus track "Freedom," a last minute entry that McCartney penned for The Concert For New York. Despite the song's somewhat mundane melody, it shows that Paul McCartney's disposition is still as bright and optimistic as ever, no matter what the climate.
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