Press to Play

As a consummate professional, Paul McCartney can play anything. But his ability to make it sound easy doesn’t mean it actually is. The '80s offered the experienced performer a few intriguing challenges, as many productions leaned toward the slicker, mechanical ways of drum machines and processed backing tracks that often blurred the sonic picture until a song’s simple beauty was lost in a mix of keyboards, horns, and hyperactive vocals. Here, McCartney works to keep a balance. “Stranglehold” starts things on an upbeat note and uses the extremely busy production to layer a nicely kept pop tune. “Good Times Coming/Feel the Sun” squares up a Caribbean new wave groove. “Only Love Remains” is a standard McCartney piano ballad that sounds so immediately familiar it seems to have always existed. “Press” immerses itself in the joys of synthesizer technology and McCartney’s never-failing pop instincts to keep things catchy and fun, using modern production techniques to his advantage.