Paul McCartney On ‘McCartney III’ Album: ‘The Old Themes Are There’

Paul McCartney shed light on his upcoming one-man-band studio effort — McCartney III — which is set for release on December 11th. McCartney spoke about the project he recorded while in lockdown on his Sussex estate with his daughter Mary, her husband, and four kids. McCartney would travel daily to his nearby studio, The Mill, and work out ideas on his own.

He revealed to Loudandquiet.com, that — like 1980's McCartney II — it wasn't until he was nearly done with the tracks that he realized they were going to be his next project. He was asked about the moment he knew this would be his new album: "Right at the end of it, I’d just been stockpiling tracks, and I thought, 'I don’t know what I’m going to do with all of this — I guess I’ll hang onto it,' and then I thought, 'Wait a minute, this is a McCartney record,' because I’d played everything and done it in the same manner as McCartney I and II. That was a little light bulb going off, and I thought, 'Well, at least that makes a point of explaining what I’ve been doing, unbeknownst to me.'"

McCartney was asked if — like 1970's McCartney album — the theme is still about "Home, Family, Love": "I think it’s similar. It’s to do with freedom and love. There’s a varied lot of feelings on it, but I didn’t set out for it to all be like, 'This is how I feel at this moment.' The old themes are there, of love and optimism. 'Seize the Day' — it’s me. That’s the truth."

Paul McCartney spoke about how over the years, 1980's McCartney II has finally gotten its due as not only a cult favorite but a groundbreaking techno forefather: "That’s a great thing for me, because you do these records and the spirit you do them in is very optimistic. You think, this is great, it’s a record, and you’re pleased with it. And then you get the reception, which is, 'Oh no, bloody hell. What’s he doing?' So it’s disappointing when it doesn’t go down well, and it doesn’t sell well — you just think, nobody likes that. And then a few years ago, someone said to me, 'There’s this DJ in Brighton and he’s playing 'Temporary Secretary.'" I said, 'Get out.' And he said, 'It’s going crazy over there."

"Temporary Secretary" was released as a special 12-inch single from McCartney II. McCartney admits that it was the then-current technology, which gave him the added inspiration for the album: ["McCartney II, the thing about it was that I had some time and I wanted to try something for my own pleasure. So this is right around when synths came out, and for me, more importantly — sequencers. So with sequencers you put — you could make up (imitates synthesizer riff) and you could change it to (imitates synthesizer riff)."] SOUNDCUE (:21 OC: . . . change it to (imitates synthesizer riff))