Times' Reviewer Loves 'Chaos and Creation in the Backyard'

I was interested to learn what New York Times reviewer John Pareles had to say about the latest release from Paul McCartney, an LP due out today. You get a feel for his sentiments from the opening paragraph:

There's a struggle on Paul McCartney's new album, "Chaos and Creation in the Backyard," and it's one that pays off. On one side is Sir Paul's gift for easy, bubbly melody - tunes that are so shapely that in the past he has often settled for finishing them as harmless little ditties. On the other side is his urge to experiment with sounds and structures and to recognize some darker thoughts - a smaller, but still significant part of his song catalog. For this album, on Capitol, Sir Paul chose a producer who favored the experimental side: Nigel Godrich, who has worked with Radiohead and Beck. Sir Paul also lined up his best backup band since the Beatles: himself.

Intriguing. And Pareles' rundown of several songs contains judgments consistent with the impressions I've formed from listening to a few cuts online. This, it seems, is a Macca effort which finds his legendary gift of melody in tact, but combines it with lyrical maturity and haunting forays into minor keys. The whole project feels more organic than anything McCartney has done in a long time.

Anyway, here is Pareles' review..