Lunch of Champions

Nigel Godrich made me like you.

Nigel Godrich is the super producer that worked his magic on the last 5 out of 7 Radiohead albums as well as Thom York’s first solo outing. Not to mention Pavements’ masterpiece and final record Terror Twilight, the Beck albums Mutations, Sea Change and the most recent record The Information, the groundbreaking U.K album The Man Who by Travis, and the deeply personal record Chaos and Creation in the backyard by Paul McCartney. He’s mixed records by my personal favorite The Beta Band and R.E.M.

This is why I was so surprised when I picked up a copy of Paul McCartney’s latest, Memory Almost Full, and found that the songwriting from Paul had not only stopped being lazy, but had actually gotten experimental. The only problem was that Nigel hadn’t produced it.

I had read that during the recording of Chaos and Creation, Nigel had pushed Paul to write better material, to actually get inside his songs and melodies and really develop the good points and bring them to the surface. He felt that some of the material was boring or just not a good enough effort for a Beatle. I can’t imagine the terrible (but necessary) emotions that must have been in the room during those days. The result was brilliant. It just wasn’t as good as his next album.

I can’t help but think that the boot in the butt that Nigel delivered to Paul jump started his brain and helped him to remember me. Yes, I wrote it, me. Me as in you as in me sitting in our rooms at 11 at night in seventh grade and getting teary eyes listening to You Have to Admit it’s Getting Better.

Memory Almost Full plays out like a great Wings album. Or, a great Paul McCartney record. Maybe it’s just a great record that my hero Nigel Godrich didn’t have a hand in. It showcases strings, unexpected chords noodling, tangling, and colliding into each other, harmonies, keyboards, loud guitars and Paul’s voice older, wiser, and finally honest. I can’t stop tapping my foot. These hooks! Who thinks this stuff up? Right, he’s a Beatle, but it’s about time he proved it again.

I thought I might start my first post at Lunch of Champions saluting my love for British music. If you read my posts in the future you will find that I am terribly addicted to almost any form of Brit-pop/Scot-pop, I use too many commas and I Capitalize words too often. May your love for music be personal, critical, and offensive.