The Fireman: Electric Arguments

Paul McCartney and producer Youth have been

collaborating on experimental side projects as The Fireman off and on since

1993. That may explain why what once seemed like a weird marriage between a

classic-era godfather and the go-to guy for tasteful studio sheen sounds so

lived-in on Electric Arguments, a casually compelling collection that finds

McCartney cutting loose against a dense backdrop. It's weird mainly for how

unexpectedly traditional most of the tracks sound. The layers of instruments

surrounding "Light From Your Lighthouse," for instance, don't disguise the

traditional gospel song at its heart.

That mostly works in the album's favor. With last

year's Memory Almost Full, McCartney proved he still had the knack for

creating studied pop songs. This plays like a B-side to that album, adding

polish to casually conceived melodies until they start to take on a studio life

of their own. Youth's production—blankets of U2 ambience with the

occasional chiming guitar to match—provides a nice complement to McCartney's

voice, though it all starts to blend together after the mid-point. The album

sounds filled with first instincts; both participants sound as if they were

trying not to overthink their music, fearing if they tried too hard, it might

not have worked as well. But that casualness can be frustrating as well as

pleasing. The promise of tracks like the intensely bluesy "Nothing Too Much

Just Out Of Sight" and the soaring pop of "Sing The Changes" suggests that with

just a little more care, they might have created something truly eye-opening

instead of the "hey, that's not bad" collection they ended up with.