The Boys of Dungeon Lane Review

Dungeon Lane runs from Speke, where McCartney spent part of his childhood, down to the Mersey shore, and his twentieth solo album walks it: postwar family life, the boys he knocked about with before any of the fame, and a long look at how quickly it all went. Andrew Watt, co-producing, keeps the arrangements warm and loose, with a lightness of touch that recalls Ram and the best of Wings. The voice is eighty three years old and sounds it, and he uses the frailty rather than hiding it, so Days We Left Behind and the gentler songs land harder for it.

Home to Us puts Ringo Starr beside him, which is exactly as touching as it sounds. It runs a few songs long, and the love songs and midtempo rockers are more familiar than revealing, which is why the writing sits a notch below the sound. A few critics found it pleasant rather than essential. Taken whole, it is focused, generous and far better than a late record from someone with nothing left to prove needed to be.