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 KISSES ON THE BOTTOM
 Paul McCartney
 Universal Music
 2012
 Vinyl - Audiophile

180-gram audiophile 2-LP set.  Includes the complete MP3 download.

While many a musician has often been asked about tunes that have influenced their songwriting, Paul McCartney has never properly answered the question. Until now. The ex-Beatle offer a glimpse into “the songs which inspired the songs” with Kisses On the Bottom, an album of standards he grew up listening to in his childhood plus two brand new McCartney compositions.

With the help of Grammy Award-winning producer Tommy LiPuma and Diana Krall and her band, as well as guest appearances from Eric Clapton and Stevie Wonder, McCartney’s new album is a deeply personal journey through classic American compositions that, in some cases, the performer first heard his father perform on piano at home. As authentic and daring a musical statement as he could make, this is the album McCartney has been thinking about making for more than 20 years and probably the last thing his fans are expecting. “In the end it was ‘Look, if I don’t do it now, I’ll never do it,” he says.

In short, he believes it is about time “the songs me and John based quite a few of our things on” received the recognition they deserve. Moreover, the record also features two new original McCartney compositions in the spirit of those classics. “When I kind of got into songwriting, I realized how well structured these songs were and I think I took a lot of my lessons from them,” he explains. “I always thought artists like Fred Astaire were very cool. Writers like Harold Arlen, Cole Porter, all of those guys, I just thought the songs were magical. And then, as I got to be a songwriter I thought it’s beautiful, the way they made those songs.”

Determined to approach the record in a new and unique manner, McCartney enlisted the help of LiPuma and Krall and her band, which deliver ultra-high quality musicianship and are completely in tune with the headliner's restraint and feel for the music. In the studio, the recording of this album presented a new challenge for McCartney who, for the first time ever, performed exclusively in the vocal booth without any instrument (no guitar, no bass, no piano), leading to vocal performances like none other in his career.

He adds: “It was very spontaneous, kind of organic, which then reminded me of the way we’d work with The Beatles. We’d bring a song in, kick it around, when we found a way to do it we’d say ‘Okay, let's do a take now’ and by the time everyone kind of had an idea of what they were doing, we’d learnt the song. So that’s what we did, we did the take live in the studio.”

The album was recorded at the legendary Capitol Studios in Los Angeles, New York and London throughout 2011. It also features guest musicians Eric Clapton and Stevie Wonder, respectively, on the original compositions "My Valentine" and "Only Our Hearts."

ARTISTS
Paul McCartney (vocals, rhythm arrangements); Diana Krall (piano); John Pizzarelli, Bucky Pizzarelli, Eric Clapton, Anthony Wilson (guitar); Karriem Riggins (drums); Mike Mainieri (vibes); Robert Hurst, John Clayton, Christian McBride (bass); London Symphony Orchestra; Alan Broadbent (orchestra arrangements)TRACKS
I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself A Letter Home (When Shadows Fall) It's Only A Paper Moon More I Cannot Wish You The Glory of Love We Three (My Echo, My Shadow and Me) Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate The Positive My Valentine Always My Very Good Friend the Milkman Bye Bye Blackbird Get Yourself Another Fool The Inch Worm The Only Hearts