Paul McCartney must have carried out hundreds of interviews over his professional career and I believe I've seen, heard or read quite a lot of them, being a big Beatles / McCartney fan myself. I must admit that I know very little about Rick Rubin other than that he first came out producing rap and hip hop music, before much later producing critically acclaimed and commercially successful albums very late in their careers by the likes of Johnny Cash and Neil Diamond to name but two. I wouldn't automatically have had him sharing much in common musically with McCartney, but clearly he knows and loves Paul's work especially the Beatles years. Coupling this with his obvious knowledge of studio technology, we here get a very detailed and in-depth analysis of McCartney's music as this extended interview is carried out with just the two of them standing in front of a production console in a darkened studio. You could argue it's a metaphorical duplication of his production work with Cash in particular, i.e. Honest, stripped back and black and white, but whatever it is, it works, making for one of the best, most revealing interviews ever with the ex-Beatle, in fact it's almost poignant given his obviously advancing years.
Of course as I said, McCartney has been doing this for a very long time and yes, one or two of his old anecdotes do get repeated that we've heard before, but on the whole I found this a fascinating and insightful conversation between two very obviously experienced music men.
I particularly appreciated McCartney giving kudos not just to Lennon as is to be expected but also to Harrison, Starr and indeed George Martin for their contributions to the Beatles, and with the latter, his solo years too.
So what we get is Rubin I presume selecting certain songs and then isolating instruments and vocals in an attempt to analyze the magic that went into so many Beatles recordings. I counted just three songs from McCartney solo years and none of them past the year of 1980 while the remainder were all from the Beatles songbook. Even so, some of the Beatles songs chosen were a little off the beaten track such as "Another Girl" from "Help" and "And Your Bird Can Sing" from "Revolver", although the usual biggies such as "Yesterday" "Hey Jude" and "Eleanor Rigby" naturally get a look-in too.
Combined with some rare, never-seen before vintage photographs and video clips, this whole three-hour interview was compulsive viewing for this particular Beatlemaniac. The only slight downside was that whenever he tried to sing along to his old records, it's very obvious, as it has been for some years, that Paul's once golden voice just isn't there anymore. That and his slightly rude habit of chewing gum throughout the interview.
Otherwise I was only curious as to how many other songs that were selected for dissection in this way perhaps ended up on the cutting-room floor, although I suppose this leaves a small hope for an extended version with more conversation and discussion if a subsequent DVD release ever comes out.
I have to admit that I watched this after viewing Peter Jackson's marathon production / reduction job on the massive "Get Back" / "Let It Be" sessions released late last year, but I do think this entertaining and informative interview goes with it very well and I would recommend all Beatles or McCartney fans to set aside about half a day to watch both these fascinating projects.
You'll not be disappointed.
