Paul McCartney McCartney II (180g Vinyl LP) * * *

McCartney II was Paul McCartney's first solo album since the formation of Wings in 1971. While its highly electronic style was certainly innovative, its cozily domestic origins were reminiscent of 1970's McCartney album. As Paul said at the time, "I made a couple of albums, the normal way you make albums, and I felt like doing it the homemade way again because I quite like recording like that – where I play all the instruments. It's almost like a hobby to do it that way." Recorded in the summer of 1979, when the future of Wings remained uncertain, the album was conceived at home on Paul's farm in Scotland. Work on the album was interrupted to make way for what turned out to be Wings' last tour, but it was finally released in May 1980. Reaching No. 1 in the U.K. and No. 3 in the U.S., the cult classic yielded such catalog gems as "Coming Up," "Waterfalls," and "Temporary Secretary."