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The artists’ names on the dice include Beck, Josh Homme, St Vincent, Anderson. Paak, Damon Albarn, Blood Orange, Ed O’Brien and Phoebe Bridgers. To strengthen the mystery, some of the artists written on the dice also shared a post on their own social media platforms with a similar message with the dice theme, which is also set to be the theme of the new album’s artwork. Further information comes from ‘Beatlefan’, who posted on their Facebook page that the upcoming album will be called ‘IIImagined‘ and also confirms that the project is indeed a covers album from McCartney’s most recent release ‘McCartney III’, with each artists’ name on the individual dice covering a song from the album. Further information about the album will also be leaked through Spotify in due course but no release date has yet been given. 

‘McCartney III’ was released last year and is the singer’s eighteenth solo studio album and was his first Number one album for his solo work since the album ‘Flowers in the Dirt’ released in 1989. As per previous albums, McCartney played all of the instruments recorded and also acted as the producer. The album was recorded in 2020 during the COVID-19 lockdown. The album released one single entitled ‘Find My Way’ which was released in December 2020 and will be covered by Beck as per the post. The post via ‘Beatlefan’ gave fans the list of which songs will be covered by which artist named on the dice.

In other news from McCartney, a book detailing his life is due to be released on November 2nd this year and is sure to be on everyone’s Christmas list. The memoir entitled ‘The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present’ will chart the musician’s career from The Beatles to his time spent in Wings and finally his solo career, the book promises to not just focus on the singer’s career but also will start at his childhood, giving fans a unique peek into the legend’s life.

‘McCartney III,’ the album, totalling of 11 tracks ranging from 3 to 8 minutes long, was recorded entirely by Paul McCartney with the help of a small team at his studio in the rural Sussex countryside has all of the idyllic charm of the area in possession of some of the finest natural beauty in all of England. The album shows an impressive mastery of a whole variety of instruments which include the standard drums, bass and guitar played with a definite folksy edge, especially on the mostly instrumental opening track ‘Long Tailed Winter Bird,’ which sums up the ambient state of limbo that many of us found us in at the beginning of March 2020 as the country was plunged into lockdown.

The success of Sir Paul McCartney’s album at Christmas time is an endorsement of a British hero and a national treasure and surely a message to the government that the British music industry is still one of our strongest exports and rightly a source of pride, fame and success for those involved in it, as well as anyone who lives in this country. If there is something that we should be proud of as a nation it is surely our music, and The Beatles, arguably the most famous musical and successful British musicians of all time, are our finest achievement.

While the vibe of ‘McCartney III,’ is undoubtedly very inspired by folk music and as a result features largely acoustic instrumentation and a low dynamic throughout most of the tracks, there are exceptions to this rule. For example, the raucous ‘Lavatory Lil,’ is a groovy blues rock number which wouldn’t sound out of place on a ZZ Top record, with a catchy guitar riff reminiscent of the band’s hits ‘Cheap Sunglasses,’ or ‘Sharp Dressed Man.’ Tracks like this are solid proof that, despite well over 50 years in the industry, Paul McCartney is still the same soul that sang ‘Love Me Do,’ in 1963.

While the majority of public attention yesterday was focussed on the singles chart, the number 1 slot of which saw an intense battle eventually won by last years incumbents Ladbaby, the public eye was missing a true success for British music, not only an album recorded by one of UK Pops greatest institutions, but one which features himself playing every instrument. It is an album crafted from top to bottom with great care given to every single detail and not a single moment is outsourced.

According to Rolling Stone, McCartney recorded the album while isolated at home in the U.K. during lockdown, stating that ‘Like his first solo album, in 1970, he played nearly all of the instruments himself, resulting in some of his most wildly ambitious songs in a long time.’ McCartney considers himself lucky to have been isolated in the English countryside, with a studio within easy reach and ‘two other guys that could come in and we’d be very careful and distanced and everything: my engineer Steve, and then my equipment guy Keith.’ The album, he claims, was made during this time, with just these three people.

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With fifty years now having passed since the break up of The Beatles, Paul McCartney has shown a real sense of self-sufficiency and a DIY ethos in his approach to the making of this album. In fact he plays almost every instrument recorded for the album at his ‘Rockdown,’ studio in Sussex. Instruments which make their way into McCartney’s hands for this album include a Fender Telecaster from 1954, a five piece Ludwig drum kit featuring a Black Beauty snare, DW piccolo snare and Zildjian cymbols, as well as a ‘Kay M1 upright bass previously owned by Bill Black of Elvis Presley’s original trio.’

Paul McCartney is of course much more fortunate than many musicians for having access to a large studio and a variety of expensive and high quality equipment to create the album which he wanted, whereas those in earlier stages of their career have often found themselves with only their bedroom set ups to work with through a long and difficult lockdown. None-the-less this hasn’t stopped many bands and artists from making the must of their newly found spare time and cracking on with some recording.

Fans may be asking themselves, where can I get hold of the new album as soon as possible when it is released? The answer is simple, the album can either be pre-saved on Spotify or other streaming services, so that it shows up in your library as soon as the release day arrives, or pre-orders can be make with local record stores for a Vinyl or CD copy to be delivered or available to collect when December the 18th finally comes around, just in time for Christmas.

Unfortunately there are currently no gigs planned for Paul McCartney to play in support of his new album at this time, no doubt due at least in part to the ongoing coronavirus crisis in the UK and the fact that McCartney, being a veteran and national treasure of British music is certainly at risk and must be protected.

He said recently on an interview with Uncut Magazine,  “I’m working on one at the moment that was going one way but I didn’t like the lyric. “No, this is not happening, mate. He continued in talking about his working relationship with John saying, “We collaborated for so long, I think, “OK, what would he think of this? What would he say now? We’d both agree that this new song I’m talking about is going nowhere.”

Out this week, the new issue of @uncutmagazine features Paul on the cover talking about #McCartneyIII, with photography by @maryamccartney. Order a copy here for home delivery: https://t.co/N5N5O39UTM pic.twitter.com/S7bJwaYpx9

— Paul McCartney (@PaulMcCartney) November 10, 2020

He continued, “‘So instead of sitting around we should destroy it and remake it. I started that process yesterday in the studio. I took the vocal off it and decided to write a new vocal.” He added to The Daily Mail, “the best collaborator in the world’ and said the anniversary of what would have been his 80th birthday was ‘happy sad’.”

McCartney has just finished writing his third album. The Beatles were the best selling band of all time releasing 11 albums between 1963 and 1970 and his songwriting with  John Lennon is thought to of been one of the most successful partnerships of all time.  On October 9th, it would of been John Lennon’s 80th birthday. McCartney admitted to ‘The Daily Mail‘ that it was a sad day for him as he’s reminded of his friends untimely death at the hands of Mark Chapman, who has been behind bard for his murder since December 8th 1980.

Sir Paul said to ‘The Daily Mail’ that he mentally ‘consulted’ with Lennon during writing sessions. He said, “Yeah, often. We collaborated for so long, I think, “OK, what would he think of this? What would he say now? We’d both agree that this new song I’m talking about is going nowhere. So instead of sitting around we should destroy it and remake it. I started that process yesterday in the studio. I took the vocal off it and decided to write a new vocal.” 

His third albumin his trilogy series ‘McCartney 111′ is due to be released on 11th December 2020 and will be his eighteenth solo album which he recorded during lockdown. This yeah marks the 50th anniversary since Paul McCartney released the first album in the trilogy.

McCartney talked about the making of his new album to ‘The Daily Mail’ by saying, “I’ve always tried to put some kind of positive spin on most things. Then I’ll think, “You know what, that’s enough optimism. Let’s get weary for a change. But I know the effect music has on me and the effect it can have on other people. People come up to me in the street saying, “I had cancer. I’m cured now, but your music really helped me get through it.” 

He continued to say, “I’m so proud that music that we made has had this effect on people – and appears to be still having! C’mon, man! This was supposed to be a little rock’n’roll band that lasted 10 years if that. It’s mind blowing.” 

The album was recorded earlier this year in Sussex and features live takes of the musician on vocals, guitar and piano and an overdubbed bass and piano part. He began writing the album after revisiting an unreleased track, ‘When Winter Comes’ Which he worked on in the 90’s with George Martin.

He told The Guardian, “It was about making music for yourself rather than making music that has to do a job,” he says. “I had some stuff I’d worked on over the years but sometimes time would run out and it would be left half finished so I started thinking about what I had. Each day, I’d start recording with the instrument I wrote the song on and then gradually layer it all up. It was a lot of fun.”

Some of the other instruments he used to record the album included his violin shaped bass guitar, used at Abby road studios by ‘The Beatles’ and a double bass that backed Elvis Presley and The Wings sessions in 1971. Many other musicians have followed suit by recording at home during the pandemic, and it felt the right time for McCartney to complete his trilogy during lockdown.

He talks about the album to Rollingstone.com saying ““Each day I’d start recording with the instrument I wrote the song on and then gradually layer it all up; it was a lot of fun,” he added. “It was about making music for yourself rather than making music that has to do a job. So, I just did stuff I fancied doing. I had no idea this would end up as an album.”

His solo album, ‘McCartney’ released in April 1970 was greeted eagerly from fans as it was his first solo work since ‘The Beatles.’ The album turned out to be heavily criticised by critics for being, ‘shambolic, primitively recorded collection of instrumentals, song fragments, experiments in what would eventually be called world music,’ – The Guardian

‘McCartney 11′ his second solo album was recorded with his 1970’2 band, ‘Wings Collapsed’ and has more of a 70’s synth based sound to it with influences of disco punk. Both of the albums were, in a sense, experimental music and very different from the melodic tunes has written.

When asked about retirement, McCartey replied, “Everything I do is always supposed to be my last. When I was 50 – ‘That’s his last tour.’ And it was like, ‘Oh, is it? I don’t think so.’ It’s the rumour mill, but that’s OK.”

McCartney was due to headline ‘The Glastonbury Festival’ this year for it’s 50th Anniversary edition but due to the coronvirus pandemic, it was cancelled in March. After a 40 year wait for the new solo album, fans are excited to hear his new music, which will complete his trilogy.

Esteemed producers Mark Ronson, Paul Epworth, Ethan Johns and Giles Martin have all been named as collaborators on the upcoming record, which has apparently been in development for over a year.

Discussing the album with Rolling Stone, McCartney stated that it was not a rock or acoustic album as such, but that it would vary in tone – in a similar manner to some of the late stage Beatles masterpieces, such as ‘Abbey Road‘ or ‘The Beatles (aka: the White Album)’, and said, ‘I think you’re gonna like this one’.

Whatever people may say about the quality of McCartney’s post-Beatles career – and there are more than a handful of detractors – it cannot be denied that the man has range, experimenting in classical, rock, pop and electronic genres, among others.

McCartney’s last album, 2012’s, ‘Kisses on the Bottom’ was a traditional pop covers album, including versions of classics such as, ‘Bye, Bye, Blackbird’ and, ‘Its Only A Paper Moon’. The album sold reasonably well, and won the Grammy in 2013 for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album.

The name or release date of the upcoming LP has yet to be confirmed, though rumour has it that it will be out before the end of the year – possibly in time with the Christmas rush.