"McCartney" (1970): The Album Story [HiD]

McCartney (1970) is the debut solo album by Paul McCartney. Apart from
Linda McCartney's vocal contributions, McCartney performed (and
recorded) the entire album solo. Featuring loosely arranged (and in some
cases, unfinished) home recordings, McCartney further explored the
"back-to-basics" style which had been intended for The Beatles' Let It
Be. The album was reissued on 13 June 2011 as part of the Paul McCartney
Archive Collection.

The development of McCartney was undertaken
as The Beatles were growing apart. Recordings were made from late 1969
to March 1970 in London at his home, at Morgan Studios, and at Abbey
Road Studios (under the pseudonym "Billy Martin"). McCartney had brought
his instruments with him, as well as a Studer four-track tape recorder.
He recorded the ad-libbed "The Lovely Linda" to test the equipment
before the year was out. Enjoying the experience, he continued,
composing and improvising new material and overdubbing his singing. In
March 1970, as Phil Spector was concurrently mixing the Let It Be album,
McCartney was completed.

The other Beatles realised that
McCartney could conflict with the impending release of the Let It Be
album and film. Ringo Starr, whose own first album was almost ready for
release, was sent to ask McCartney to delay his solo debut. McCartney
later commented, "They eventually sent Ringo round to my house at
Cavendish [Avenue] with a message: 'We want you to put your release date
back, it's for the good of the group', and all of this sort of shit. He
was giving me the party line; they just made him come round, so I did
something I'd never done before or since: I told him to get out. I had
to do something like that in order to assert myself because I was just
sinking. I was getting pummeled about the head, in my mind anyway."

On
10 April, McCartney publicly announced his departure from The Beatles
in the form of a Q & A package included in advance copies of the
album sent to the press, containing questions McCartney could − and
probably would − have been asked about The Beatles' break-up and their
future. He stated that he did not know whether the group's break-up
would be temporary or permanent (the complete questionnaire, as well as
McCartney's own song-by-song commentary, is included in Richard
DiLello's book, The Longest Cocktail Party, as an appendix).

The
most notable song on the album is "Maybe I'm Amazed", one of
McCartney's many love songs for his first wife, a live version of which
went on to reach number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 when released as a
single from the album Wings over America in 1977. McCartney has
subsequently revealed that Linda was instrumental in bolstering his
spirits and confidence during the making of the album, helping him out
of depression following his estrangement from the other Beatles.

On
13 June 2011, McCartney and McCartney II was re-issued at the same
time, in the UK, while they were released on 14 June in the US, by Hear
Music/Concord Music Group as part of The Paul McCartney Archive
Collection.

The album was released in three different versions: a
two-disc special edition with the second disc containing bonus audio
tracks, a two-disc 180-gram remastered vinyl, and a deluxe two-CD and
one-DVD version that contains a 128-page hardcover book with
never-before-published photos and all-new liner notes.