RUN DEVIL RUN

Mac looks back: Paul McCartneyThe classic American music that inspired Paul McCartney and John Lennon in late '50's Liverpool helped fuel a transatlantic rock revolution, with the Beatles and British bands "bringing it all back home", as America's Bob Dylan wryly observed. Linda McCartney's death last year prompted the former Beatle to take stock and record an album of the kind of music his wife had loved: good time rock 'n' roll. Songs by or associated with Elvis, Carl Perkins, Larry Williams, Gene Vincent and Fats Domino figure prominantly among the 15 tracks here, with McCartney contributing three '50's style originals including a title number that borrows heavily from Chuck Berry. McCartney said he wanted to record the way the early Beatles had, spontaneously and with few overdubs - just singing and playing all in one take. Last May, he spent a week at Abbey Road studios with a dream band headed by Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour, alongside veteran Mick Green (ex-Johnny Kidd & the Pirates), Pete Wingfield and Geraint Watkins on keyboards, anchored by drummers Ian Paice and Dave Mattacks. Run Devil Run "is not a cerebral record", McCartney says, "it's back to your roots". At millenium's end, why not? It's a sobering thought that 43 years have flown since Elvis (Paul's all time idol) had his first global hit with "Heartbreak Hotel" and changed pop music irrevocably. The Presley debt is paid in part by a floor thumping "All Shook Up" and accelerated versions of "I Got Stung" and "Let's Have A Party", while Carl Perkins' "Blue Jean Bop" also dates from the 'Sun' era. Also included is "No Other Baby", a tremolo-heavy ballad from a 1958 single by a London skiffle group, the Vipers.

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