Review: “Electric Arguments,” The Fireman

It is certainly no secret or surprise that The Fireman is a collaboration between former Killing Joke bassist Martin Glover (known as Youth) and Sir Paul McCartney, also known to play a little bass back in the day.  Electric Arguments is the third release by this unlikely combo and here’s the biggest surprise: it’s pretty good.   Don’t be put off by any descriptions you may read – Electric Arguments is experimental and goes off into the cosmos at times, but it’s almost always listenable.   McCartney celebrates the 40th anniversary of the White Album with an album so surprising, and so adventurous, that it conjures memories of those long-ago days while being as modern and up-to-date as anything out right now.  

Where the first two albums by The Fireman was avant-garde electronic noodling and lots of beeps and boops, this is a collection of 13 songs (and one hidden track), with McCartney singing and playing pretty much everything.  But what sets it apart from such wankfests as McCartney and McCartney II is that Paul is in more of a White Album state of mind – the songs here are as much on the cutting edge as anything by Radiohead or Portishead and a few of them benefit from McCartney’s impeccable pop and rock sense.   Hands down, this is McCartney’s best album since Band On The Run.

“Nothing Too Much Just Out Of Sight” is a bluesy rocker with Paul singing through his harmonica mic to evoke a loose Led Zeppelin-like jam.  McCartney digs out the blues harp again for “Highway” to similar effect, but on “Lifelong Passion” his harmonica steps aside for a synthesized orchestra.  “Sing The Changes,” with its ringing acoustic guitars and deep echoe-y vocals is a blast of radio-ready McCartney that I wouldn’t mind hearing on the airwaves, if they still played real rock music.  ”Traveling Light” evokes the Abbey Road era of you-know-who, and “Sun Is Shining” might not sound out of place on, uh, Sgt. Pepper’s.  OK, you ask – what have I been smoking?  I’m reading what I just wrote and wondering it myself.  Many people who are used to whatever the mainstream coughs up may still not get it – you may not either, maybe you have to be a certain age and can remember those days, 40 years ago.  The proof is in the listening: this is Paul McCartney finally “getting back,” serving notice that he’s back, with all of the adventurousness he had with those other Liverpool lads – and reminding us that “Lonely Hearts Club Band” stuff was his idea, after all.  

MP3: “Nothing Too Much Just Out Of Sight”

The Fireman official website (Stream the whole album for free here)