McCartney II (1980) 


 


  1. Coming Up
  2. Temprary Secretary
  3. On the Way
  4. Waterfalls
  5. Nobody Knows
  6. Front Parlour
  7. Summer's Day Song
  8. Frozen Jap
  9. Bogey Music
  10.Darkroom
  11.One of These Days
  12.Check My Machine *
  13.Secret Friend *
  14.Goodnight Tonight *
  
  * CD Bonus Track

 

The title alone suggests continuity. McCartney II, released in 1980, was framed as a sequel to the 1970 solo debut that marked Paul’s escape from The Beatles—another homegrown effort recorded largely in isolation, with McCartney playing nearly every instrument. But where the original McCartney album was ramshackle in the most charming sense—pastoral, intimate, and quietly experimental—its successor veers headlong into icy, synth-drenched terrain that feels more like a one-man science project than a proper pop album.

The most immediate impression is just how thoroughly McCartney had embraced the synthesizer. It’s everywhere. Unlike the rustic warmth of his earlier lo-fi work, McCartney II now sounds unmistakably of its time—and not in a flattering way. What may have felt bold in 1980 now plays, more often than not, as brittle and dated.

What’s most frustrating is that many of the tracks show real promise. Waterfalls, for instance, contains a beautifully fragile chorus that could have been something exquisite had it been granted the care and structure of a fully realized song. But that’s the problem across the board: McCartney II is an album of ideas, not songs. The melodies are often there. The follow-through isn’t.

The album’s lone bona fide hit, Coming Up, had the hooks and the twitchy rhythm of a left-field success—but even this comes with a twist. The version most listeners came to know and love wasn’t the album cut at all, but a live version that quietly replaced the original on radio airwaves mid-cycle. It’s a telling moment: McCartney writes a strong single, but the production proves so divisive that the public essentially voted for the alternate take.

Curiously, it’s the instrumentals—Frozen Jap, Front Parlour—that fare best. Despite their heavy reliance on keyboards, they possess a sense of texture and intention lacking in the vocal tracks. One suspects they were the pieces McCartney tinkered with most, free of lyrical constraints and pop expectations.

But for every promising moment, there’s a track that derails the whole affair. Temporary Secretary is a prime offender—shrill, mechanical, and borderline unlistenable. Bogey Music offers a bizarre stab at faux-Elvis crooning, which manages to be both confusing and embarrassing. These aren’t just missteps—they’re musical banana skins.

The bonus disc tacked onto later editions only adds to the confusion. Goodnight Tonight is pleasant enough in its disco-tinged way, but the inclusion of Check My Machine and the sprawling, nearly unendurable Secret Friend (ten minutes of ambient noodling masquerading as music) only confirms that McCartney’s quality control had left the building.

To his credit, McCartney II is fearless in its oddity. It’s the sound of a man locked in a room with a rack of keyboards and no rules. There are moments of real invention here, but they’re buried beneath layers of indulgence, whimsy, and misjudged production. And when it’s bad, it’s really bad. Almost heroically so.

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