Paul McCartney – The Boys of Dungeon Lane Review

Follow Cult Following

Get more of our coverage in Google.

This could be the last we hear from Paul McCartney. That is always a possibility. It loses its meaning a little when you realise that it’s the same for every artist. At some point, whether it’s the distant future or right now, your favourite artist could pack their guitar away one last time. They could shut off and feel they have hit the point of their career where they have offered enough. Paul McCartney has offered several of those moments this century, let alone when you account for his work with The Beatles and Wings. The Boys of Dungeon Lane had a few warning lights flashing as it began the last stages of travel before a wider release. A Ringo Starr-featuring single, Home to Us, felt like a box-checking legends exercise which lost its shine thanks to similar circumstances on Now and Then just three years before. But this is not the sole feature of the album. The Boys of Dungeon Lane boasts fourteen reflective pieces from McCartney. It’s easy to call it his best in twenty years, because it is. 

Lead single Days We Left Behind is a contemplative best from McCartney. In isolation from the rest of The Boys of Dungeon Lane, it works as a wonderful ode to Liverpool. All of these songs do. But pair it with the context given by the opening song, As You Lie There, and those early years flood back not just for McCartney, but into the minds of listeners likely not born during the times he sings about. For those brushed up on their Beatles history, the likes of Jane Asher will spring to mind as McCartney muses on silhouettes of former flames and whether he remains in their memories or as an active part of their thought process. Some people have that impact on you, those people you think of every day. McCartney makes one thing clear with The Boys of Dungeon Lane – he’s just like us. Despite the fame and acclaim, the adaptations and autobiographies, he is just a lad from Liverpool. He proves as much with an outstanding selection of songs.  

Those expecting this to be a soft and tender piece of work will be thoroughly surprised by McCartney here. As You Lie There has some of his best rock and roll-oriented sound since Fuh You he was told to strip his sound back by Nigel Godrich on Chaos and Creation in the Backyard. His borderline spoken-word style on As You Lie There pairs with those cries of “yeah” and the electrifying instrumental purpose. Outstanding, upbeat material from McCartney to balance out the sentimentality present across The Boys of Dungeon Lane. McCartney snaps himself, and by extension his audience, out of that reflective process on a welcome follow-up, Lost Horizon. It does us no good to look back on what we cannot change. There is a healthy way to reflect, as heard on Days We Left Behind, and accepting the past is unchangeable is crucial.  

That’s the driving force of The Boys of Dungeon Lane. For all the looking back, it’s just that. McCartney is powerless to change any of it and, despite all that success, there are moments where his voice slightly breaks, where the sentimental feeling verges on teary, and you get the feeling he would change parts of this if he could. McCartney has rarely laid himself this bare to an audience, often diving into themes of domesticity and romance to hide his true feelings. He has let his guard down for the first time this century. Those tones make it through anyway, but McCartney has mastered the art of making a simple song sound sincere. Part of it is meaning it, part of it is writing it in such a disarming manner as to connect with everyone all at once. He does that with Ripples on a Pond, a song that questions the love between two clearly intertwined people. What love is enough?  

These are huge questions McCartney is asking, and true to form, the answer is simple. He doesn’t know. You can’t answer what is effectively a feeling, a nuance. Instrumentally evocative and often enjoyable material is what The Boys of Dungeon Lane is made up of, particularly a song like Mountain Top. McCartney is keen to subvert expectations not on subject matter but with the instrumental direction. It’s a bit like the bridge between Admiral Halsey / Uncle Albert, but with a volatility that has Back in the U.S.S.R. lingering in the back of your mind. It’s always the highlight when it comes up, easily replacing the simple but charming reflections on his first time travelling with his Beatles bandmates. Down South explores that nicely enough, the empty seats and topics of conversation that never grow old are indicators of what McCartney has always offered. Sentimentality reigns, but is handled well by the veteran songwriter.  

Irrespective of the interest there is in McCartney’s personal life, writing it up with no aim to engage what audiences don’t know they want would be a massive failing. Recounting but not admitting to Down South being a trip with The Beatles is a bit of a misfire but an enjoyable listen, nonetheless. It’s bolstered that much better by We Two, a song that could be about anyone from John Lennon to Linda McCartney. Come Inside invites people, and critics particularly, to take a look into his life. It’s not an actual invitation. McCartney takes a swipe at those who believe his music is not enough to detail who he is, what he does, and how he maintains a relationship with an audience. It’s enough. It also sounds brilliant and continues this softer flourish from McCartney, whose vocal range remains steady and solid. He accepts the limits of his voice. Every artist has to do that at some point, but McCartney uses it as an advantage.  

Changing vocal styles means McCartney can lean into this sub-genre or that instrumental a little more. Never Know is another romantic ditty from McCartney but, once more, he uses a song as a contrast to the track preceding it. The Boys of Dungeon Lane is as close as we may ever get to a tell-all from McCartney. Heartbreak, hopefulness, and a heavy dose of sincerity is what he offers. But hasn’t he always offered that? You can trace it back all the way to The Beatles hits, to Wings deep cuts like Arrow Through Me, and to contemporary efforts like Memory Almost Full and the latter stages of Egypt Station. McCartney has a knack for exploring his experiences without ever admitting they’re as closely tied to him as audiences may perceive.  

But The Boys of Dungeon Lane is a welcome change of pace from McCartney, who stops at nothing to find peace and closure with moments that still seem to affect him. The latter stages of The Boys of Dungeon Lane are filled with such an honesty and sweetness, it’s hard to put the tears off any longer. Much of what works about this McCartney latest is the fact that so many listening in will have those anecdotal connections with his music. This album is not tailor-made to make more of those experiences; no artist can write with the intent of connecting with a listener, not truthfully. But there’ll be no trouble in connecting with Life Can Be Hard or As You Lie There. These are outstanding pieces of work from McCartney, who shows that having nothing to prove is, in of itself, a challenge worth contemplating.  

Emotive, open, and some of McCartney’s best writing this century can be found on The Boys of Dungeon Lane. A few highlights, plenty of quality in-between those moments, and a feeling of closure that has lingered on all of his projects since Memory Almost Full. Last album or not, it’s irrelevant to the beautiful complexities and that fine line he walks between revisiting his memories and his musical styles. Pairing the two together but expanding on them in a contemporary context is difficult, but McCartney is in excellent form here. It sounds as though McCartney wants to stock up on ballads and acoustic pieces, but can’t help himself from rocking out in all the right moments. A perfect blend of the past and present. The Boys of Dungeon Lane is a real history lesson for those whose interest in McCartney may start and stop with periods of his work. Whatever the case, his experiences form a wonderful context for songs that prove McCartney is still, and always will be, one of the best writers around.