Do We Still Need Him?

If you want to scare a music critic, whisper these four words in his ear: new Paul McCartney album. In the 35 years since the Beatles broke up, McCartney has made 19 albums. Some have been good. Many have not. McCartney admits that he writes and records with varying degrees of seriousness, and the throngs who will pay any price to watch Sir Paul beep-beep his way through Drive My Car (he was the top-grossing live act in the world as recently as 2002) wouldn't think of holding that against him--nor would they think of declaring any of his recent work his best.

Luckily, the 20th Paul McCartney album, Chaos and Creation in the Backyard, out Sept. 13, makes matters easy. It took two years to record, in part because McCartney plays almost all the instruments on it (including drums, harmonium and flugelhorn) and in part because he actually cared. Chaos and Creation is adventurous, melodic and emotionally complicated--the first album in his post-Fab Four catalog that really matters. If it is not as dark or as brilliant as Time Out of Mind, Bob Dylan's "Hey, I can still do this!" album, it belongs on a shelf nearby. "Since the Beatles, I've approached making records every which way," says McCartney. "A lot of times it's a real casual thing. Do a few tracks a day, have a bit of fun. Normally I kind of say, 'I'd like to make a good album.' This time there was motivation, determination. 'I'm going to make a good album. I'm going to, and that's that.'"

The urgency behind McCartney's renewed ambition is not hard to figure out. Sitting in the Manhattan town house that serves as his office, he praises an "old black drummer," then stops mid-sentence. "I say 'old black drummer,' and it's terrifying, actually. He's about my age [James Gadson, 64]. Excuse me. I'm still coming to grips with the fact that I'm an old white cat." McCartney is 63. With his hair dyed forest-floor brown, he looks younger, "but numbers don't lie, man." He has already buried a wife of almost 30 years and a songwriting partner, and George Harrison's 2001 death from cancer shook him again. "George and I met as kids on the school bus," says McCartney. "It's surprising when one of your friends who you've known that long just ups and goes--'No, no, we hadn't said it all yet. I need more time.' It's a very weird feeling, and it spills over to all aspects of your life. You want to get moving, to say things that haven't been said."