Conversations with McCartney

Well, he's an historic figure and a bona fide genius and a folksy one, so his memories and experiences are fascinating.
Paul McCartney is genuinely amiable well beyond P-R requirements, and he's known this Liverpudlian author for decades so the conversation is fluent.
But then again:
McCartney.'s critical faculty always gets nullified between wilful optimism and defensiveness whenever he discusses his back catalogue, and the author colludes in this like an embedded war reporter inevitably compromised by 'our' side. Paul Du Noyer is sometimes a publicist for MPL, too. The age-old dilemma of the price for exclusive long-term access. An outsider can tell the truth but can't get close to it.
So Paul McCartney's comments show no critical faculty - - well, he does see now that synthesised strings was a dud idea.
That's one reason he works best with a hard-bitten partner (no, not Michael Jackson), and why I wish he'd worked more with Elvis Costello, by a long Liverpool mile his best collaborator since Lennon - - and why I wish he'd been probed about his Elvis Costello collaborations more by the author.
I find Paul McCartney's optimism tiresome and unhelpful politically in an age that underestimates the power and truth of negativity and lacks champions for the underclass. Being impressed that Tony Blair has a Fender Stratocaster is not the Sixties legacy some of us are looking for.
He looks to “posterity” to revise yesterday’s criticism of this or that album. That’s not the most dependable arbiter in a culture dumbed down so fast and subzero. He trusts that posterity will judge his work equilaterally without favouring The Beatles period - - but if the future obliges and fails to distinguish The Beatles from Wings and the rest, that’s an undiscerning validation not worth the award. You can bet that objection isn’t put to the man.
His M.O. has been M.O.R. half the time. I regret the blanket strings that turn 'My Love' into a supermarket accompaniment. I regret the synths and multitrack overproduction on many songs. I regret his inability to see 'Silly Love Songs' is trite not necessarily because of the lyrics or melody but the arrangement and production: thin reedy cutesy sax and thin weak vocal support that turn the whole thing to muzak, which I've had enough of. That's what's wrong with that, if you’d like to know. I mourn the loss of Beatles harmonies that by comparison makes Linda McCartney and Denny Laine vocals sound even weaker than they were. Sometimes they pulled it off - 'Bluebird,' say - but otherwise crippled the song.
It’s tough to live up to the expectations of genius even when you are one.
Some of those points are put to him in this book, but no challenging follow-ups - - and it's the follow-up questions that count, any investigative journalist or reporter of press conferences would tell you.
Despite all that, this book is a valuable addition to many Beatles books in and out of print I've read over the years. There is interesting discussion on songwriting, musicianship and touring; he knows how to dragoon an anecdote into a viewpoint; and he reminisces so immediately that he puts you right there.
Paul Du Moyer is a good writer as his book on LIVERPOOL WONDROUS PLACE demonstrates. But this one steps aside to let McCartney speak uninterrupted between hosted transitions from one issue to another. Which is just as well, as the author's musical perception is, well, not perceptive: anyone who finds 'With a Little Luck' a classic is even more optimistic than Paul McCartney.
The book fascinates, catches a solid sense of personality that is balanced so ambiguously between ordinariness and eccentricity that it's the friendliest form of schizophrenia since RD Laing gave up poetry.
A genius, so gifted he exceeds his limitations like they weren’t there. An historic, irreplaceable figure from a Renaissance that seems like a myth since the future let us down. Yet he’s grounded in his working class background, preserving his Liverpool roots and sense of wonder too, which comes across vividly in the book.
After reading this, I'd say the secret of his preserved sense of wonder IS in retaining his working class roots. He can connect to the teenager he once was, sagging off school, or winding electric coils at Massey & Coggins, and marvel at the people he's met and the history he's seen and made ever since: the wonder of it all. No maybe about it: he's amazed.
That's what this book does, it marvels, and there's every chance you will too.

Wonderful book. I love Paul McCartney and the Beatles! The book is made well.

Not a whole lot of new information here for aficionados but it's clear that McCartney is comfortable talking with Du Noyer. Very few hardball questions and it's also clear that Du Noyer likes his subject. The interviews help to flesh out the portrait of a man that is already so well known.

Very enjoyable despite its being a pastiche of interviews conducted at different times. Even the hard-core Beatles fanatic will find new tidbits in here.

Very easy and fun read written by a long time associate of Paul McCartney. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

A continuously surprising, freely expressed set of responses from a man who, for all the success he has, seems to express the views of a grounded Liverpudlian with doses of both humility, self-recognition and and more than a dash of common sense. This was a joy to read from cover to cover and I’m glad I bought a nice hard cover so it can sit proudly in my collection of books on the Beatles.

Never long winded, full of charm, wit and heaps of candor while answering some tricky subjects, a fan of Macca couldn’t hope for a better book. Bravo!

I have been in love love love with Paul for 54 years needless to say I have many many books written about him this book has another appell to it that is captivating I highly recommend it you won't be disappointed!

Love this book! Have always loved Paul McCartney and I love him even more reading this book.

picked this up as a Christmas for a big McCartney fan. He loved it

Excellent. Thoroughly researched. Great quotes on song writing.