Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr – Home to Us Review

Despite decades of working together, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr only just got around to doing a duet at the tail end of their careers. They never needed to up to this point, though reflecting on the past and realising there are only a few people alive to remember it is bound to conjure up feelings that must be projected onto collaboration. Chrissie Hynde is in the background of Home to Us, the second McCartney single ahead of The Boys of Dungeon Lane. Heavy on the memories, this album appears to be. No doubt an emotional experience, the same way Now and Then was for both The Beatles fans and the two bandmates. It’s history in motion, but that doesn’t mean it sounds good. Now and Then did, Home to Us does too. A dangerous game for McCartney to play here, as he pushes on with an album full of reflection and light instrumental stylings. That latter comes into play here, though it has an inevitable charm to it.  

Starr, who recently released one of the best albums of his career with Long Long Road, is in excellent vocal form here. So too is McCartney. There is a sense that the ex-Wings frontman wanted a collaboration more to say he had one with his longtime bandmate. But then that gets blown out of the water when you hear just how solid the pair work with one another, vocally, that is. We know they work well together, but their reflections on Liverpool and the early years of pulling The Beatles together is that fine line of nostalgia and noting the past. There’s no wry lyric to roll your eyes at, no expectation of references to the band Starr and McCartney made a name for themselves in. There’s no need. They’re big enough not to need the callback. A blisteringly short piece of work is what Home to Us is, but in those three minutes is a selection of comfortable instrumentals and charming reflections from two of the best musicians to have ever stepped foot into the studio.  

What listeners must be careful of because of this collaboration is letting the presence of greats overshadow the work itself. Is the work at hand worth a listen because of the merit, or because of the names involved? Both. Home to Us feels like a bit of a risk when you look at Starr’s somewhat cheesy run of albums pre-Look Up, but his voice is in good shape, as is McCartney’s. The Let it Be hitmaker sounded fatigued and vulnerable on Days We Left Behind, and that suits that song. But he sounds delightful here and pairs well with Starr. Heavy are the drums, and heavy is the focus on Starr. Let’s be blunt about it. It’s a great Starr song, a good McCartney song. Had the feature been the other way around, there’d be a bit of a shock to it. It has that same joyous, upbeat tempo as Getting Better, but with a focus on the duo’s hometown.  

Home to Us, while being all about Liverpool and the lovely memories of youth, is somewhat tragic. It’s not as though McCartney or Starr can head back to their hometown and not make a fuss in doing so. They live through the expression of fondness for memories of old because heading back to their hometown is not a possibility. A few “yeah, yeah, yeahs,” from McCartney and a lead vocal spot from Starr as a guitar solo are muddled through towards the end of the song. Sweet is the word for it, but the bar for what we expect from McCartney has been lowered into the ground because a legend can do no wrong. This is a fine bit of work, a chance to hear the first-time duet of McCartney and Starr. But just because it hadn’t happened doesn’t mean it needs to. It’s nice that it did, but it’s not as though Home to Us is a revolutionary experience. It’s as if they’ve worked together before.