"Memory Almost Full" by Paul McCartney – ****

First released: 2007

Paul McCartney’s first release for the Starbucks Coffee Hear Music label. If it would have been a continuation of the drivel he started on his "Chaos and Creation in the Back Yard" album, he should have just hung it up. I’m happy to say he finally released a good album. His first good studio album since 1997's "Flaming Pie". After duff albums like "Run Devil Run", "Driving Rain" and "Chaos and Creation in the Backyard", he's finally come back with something that's worthy of his Beatles status.

I was EXTREMELY hesitant in purchasing this album since Ringo's albums have been so much better in recent years and even George's and John's posthumous releases. I felt that McCartney should either hang it up or just release older unreleased material when he knew how to compose a tune. I bought the deluxe edition with the extra tracks, but unless you are a completist (like I am), save your money and just buy the single disc version. Even though this is touted as Starbucks Coffee's debut release and they acted like you could only find it there, Best Buy actually had it as a best buy at $9.99, whereas Starbucks had it at $15.99. Will McCartney have a hit single with this? Probably not, but that's not due to the quality of the tunes, but rather the climate of music sales where there's no such thing as a single market anymore and people tend to download for free what they previously paid for. There is also a two-disc version that has three bonus tracks and an interview with McCartney about the album.