Paul McCartney: Kisses on the Bottom

★★

Modesty becomes Paul McCartney, said Jamie Cullum in the London Guardian. In his first attempt at putting his own vocal stamp on the Great American Songbook, the 69-year-old ex-Beatle “shows immense respect” for the music he heard in childhood by focusing on tone, intonation, and timing, and letting his able backing combo do the rest. As McCartney affects a whispery croon, pianist Diana Krall and her band lay down a spare, “unwaveringly tasteful” backdrop. Of course, “it takes about 10 seconds”—and a glance at the “goofy” title—to realize this “is not going to rank among the major recorded works” of McCartney’s catalog, said Stephen Thompson in NPR.org. Even with the album’s two original songs and cameos by Eric Clapton and Stevie Wonder, the project is too “awash in the trappings of light vocal jazz” to be considered anything more than a “good-natured trifle.” Perhaps it’s best to hope that this is just “a well-intentioned look back” from an artist who soon will once again “turn his gaze forward.”