Review: Paul McCartney, Perry Farrell

Review: Paul McCartney, Perry Farrell

Paul McCartney 'Memory Almost Full': Aidin Vaziri | Paul McCartney is at his best when things are at their worst. Just look at all the pop majesty produced by the metaphorical punch-ups with John and Yoko -- then take a moment to consider the dreadful bile that came once he got his old rival out of his hair and contentment crept in: "Tug of War," "Pipes of Peace" and -- shield your ears! -- "Give My Regards to Broad Street." After two decades of creative floundering, his wife Linda passed away, former Beatles bandmate George Harrison became terminally ill and McCartney once again produced a minor masterpiece in 2001's dark and brooding "Driving Rain." But then he found temporary true love in model Heather Mills and got all cutesy again with 2005's "Chaos and Creation in the Backyard." So every horrible story that has appeared in the tabloids since their relationship went kaput last year has been cause for guilt-ridden celebration. Poor Paul! Hooray us! The payoff is in "Memory Almost Full," a vividly tuneful throwback to the peak of Wings, when McCartney had just discovered his personal freedom and exacted revenge on the world with enormous rainbow-colored melodies. The best songs here are (in no particular order): "Dance Tonight," "Ever Present Past," "See Your Sunshine," "Only Mama Knows," "You Tell Me," "Mr. Bellamy," "Gratitude," "Vintage Clothes," "That Was Me," "Feet in the Clouds," "House of Wax," "The End of the End" and "Nod Your Head." That's right, all of them. Because 40 years since the release of the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," McCartney has finally made another album that is listenable from beginning to end (give or take an "Abbey Road"), only now it's not "When I'm 64" but the dramatic song cycle that climaxes with the mournful "The End of the End," in which he anticipates "a journey to a much better place." The rest of the album, including the single "Ever Present Past" already sees him there, sitting in the clouds, surveying the good old days in dreamy, lovingly constructed tunes like "That Was Me" and "You Tell Me." And surely it's no coincidence that if you scramble the letters in the album title you come up with the dedication, "For My Soul Mate LLM, " which would be the initials of none other than Linda Louise McCartney. Does it get any worse -- or better -- than that?

Perry Farrell's Satellite Party 'Ultra Payloaded': Aidin Vaziri | Perry Farrell has spent the past two decades trying to recapture the cheap glitter and hard-luck glamour that swept through the first two albums by his old band Jane's Addiction. But with every new release it seems that rock's beloved kook only falls further away from his original vision. With Satellite Party, the group he formed with Extreme's Nuno Bettencourt on guitar after the latest Jane's reunion floundered three years ago, he makes another run at hammering together heavy metal riffs with belly dance beats and quasi-mystical lyrics. The results border on parody, but when the guest list that could only be on loan from some horrible Hollywood nightclub shows up -- Fergie, Flea, a long-deceased Jim Morrison -- the whole thing turns into a painful "Saturday Night Live" skit.