Paul McCartney | DRIVING RAIN | CD

Includes special bonus track "Freedom," as performed at The Madison Square Garden Concert in New York City in tribute to those who died in the WTC disaster.
Personnel includes: Paul McCartney (vocals, guitar, piano, bass); James McCartney (guitar, percussion); Rusty Anderson (guitar, background vocals); Ralph Morrison (violin); Gabe Dixon (keyboards, background vocals); Abe Laboriel, Jr. (drums, percussion, background vocals); David Kahne (programming).
Recorded at Henson Recording Studio, Los Angeles, California.
Personnel: Paul McCartney (vocals, guitar, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, Spanish guitar, piano, Fender Rhodes piano, drums, tambourine); Rusty Anderson (guitar, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, electric 12-string guitar, 12-string guitar, percussion, background vocals); David Kahne (guitar, electric guitar, Wurlitzer organ, synthesizer, programming, sampler); Ralph Morrison III, Joel Derouin (violin); David Campbell , Matthew Funes (viola); Larry Corbett (cello); Abe Laboriel, Jr. (accordion, drums, tambourine, percussion, electronic percussion, background vocals); Gabe Dixon (piano, Fender Rhodes piano, Wurlitzer organ, keyboards, percussion, background vocals); James McCartney (percussion).
Audio Mixers: David Kahne; David Leonard ; Mark Dearnley.
Recording information: Henson Recording Studio, Los Angeles, CA (02/16/2001-03/02/2001).
Photographer: Paul McCartney.
Who would have guessed that more than three decades after the Beatles breakup, Paul McCartney--often typecast as the least daring of the group--would be turning out some of the most aggressive, forthright music of any of his peers. DRIVING RAIN's predecessor RUN DEVIL RUN was an energetic romp through '50s rockabilly tunes, and here McCartney takes the vital spirit engendered on that album and applies to a batch on new compositions. The opening track "Lonely Road" is a hard-hitting blues-rocker driven by gritty guitar and soulful vocals. The graceful ballads "From a Lover to a Friend" and "I Do" make fine use of McCartney's Beatles-era harmonic vocabulary. The sensual insinuations of the R&B groove on "Tiny Bubble" suggest vintage Al Green updated with hip-hop influenced rhythms.
"About You" and the closing cut "Rinse the Raindrops" are driven by the kind of cutting guitar and fevered keyboards that will be most familiar to fans of "She's a Woman" and "I'm Down" from Macca's golden age. This is the first batch of new songs McCartney released after the death of his wife Linda, and one can hear him going through the whole cycle of coping, from grief to anger, through understanding, and finally acceptance. Those moods color the songs here with very visceral emotions and infectious humanity.

• Format: CD
• Genre: Rock and Pop
• Genre: Rock
• Released: 11/13/2001