Paul McCartney – Press to Play Review 

Popular he may have been in the 1980s, Paul McCartney presided over some of his worst work to date. It was his first time without a group. The Beatles dominated his discography in the 1960s, and while his experimental projects in the post-Beatles, pre-Wings life are phenomenal, it wouldn’t be until after Back to the Egg that listeners received a true dollop of solo McCartney. It would never reach the lofty heights of Band on the Run or Ram, but it would often be enough for returning listeners. His collaborations with everyone from Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder to a rekindling of George Martin in the studio rarely, if ever, provide his best work. They are pop offerings which put McCartney at the top of the charts but bottom of “which Beatle is offering the best work.” Poor form from McCartney, whose efforts on Press to Play could hardly keep up with George Harrison‘s Cloud Nine, let alone the pilfering of John Lennon‘s archival tapes.

Press to Play is horrendous, but it’s a rock bottom McCartney needed to hit so his future studio efforts had a chance. Like Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, and Neil Young, McCartney struggled commercially and critically. These struggles were self-imposed. His writing was simply not up to scratch on Press to Play. It makes the Give My Regards to Broad Street soundtrack look like Abbey Road. Sluggish saxophone additions to Stranglehold highlight just how lost McCartney had become. Placid pop structures for every song and a soft-spoken vocal offering which had the man behind Helter Skelter and Maybe I’m Amazed closer to easy listening than anything else. Good Times Coming / Feel the Sun, even with its sudden electric guitar solo, sounds washed out, the fatigue of featuring those same few domesticity angles had run its course. McCartney’s failure here is not in pursuing a familiar topic, but in failing to innovate.  

In place still are the segues and tempo changes McCartney had mastered a decade before. Asking an artist to innovate on every release is not fair, but to hear them recede into the stagnation of pop music is shameful. It’s a messy, borderline lazy offering from McCartney. Press to Play is a miserable, middle-of-the-road offering from McCartney, who at this point in his career was completely adrift. He came dangerously close to resting on the remarkable quality of his hits. Talk to Talk is songwriting for the sake of it. Empty, hollow pieces of work which sound as though McCartney is chasing hits of the time. He caught a Pet Shop Boys show and thought every song needed an undercurrent of electronic fury, no matter the tone or message. Pitiful stuff, but it was a lull before some excellent Elvis Costello collaborations in the years to follow.  

Press to Play has a sole standout, Only Love Remains. It’s one of many loved-up tracks McCartney writes so well. His sincerity is never in doubt, just the instrumental choices and writing quality. Messy material like Press could have anyone as lead vocalist, let alone a man who once wrote all-time greats like Smile Away and Jet. McCartney is not just off the mark with Press to Play but is wholly committed to an idea which just won’t work. It’s hard to drag McCartney through the mud after pressing play on this one. It may be a stain on his discography but at least the effort within, despite its lack of charm and constant retread of old topics, is sincere. That cannot be said for other artists of the time who were struggling to crack the pop sound. Their issue is often just not needing to add that to their studio sound. McCartney would continually push for it and never came through with any songs of note when doing so. Just listen to the B-side of Press to Play for examples of that throwaway, wasteful sound from this period.