BOOK REVIEW: Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now by Barry
Miles (Henry Holt and Co.)
- Joe Silva
Ever since the Fabs created a stir about themselves again with the Anthology series, our Sir Paul has been on a roll. There was the Knighthood, the Anthology afterglow that lent an unwarranted sheen to his next solo LP, and gobs of attention/sales for his shaky symphonic poem "Standing Stone." But while our Paulie may be creatively a-snooze upon his laurels at the moment, it's that very same period of more or less ten years that remains the stuff of endless scrutiny.
But truthfully, you'd be somewhat hard pressed to find a more compelling musical history or a set of origins more steeped in lore and innovation. And finally Mr. McCartney, via old time pal Barry Miles, weighs in officially on both the minutiae and the big questions. It's sort of the "Anthology-plus", a primer, and a "let's-set-the-record straight-from-my-side-while-I-can-still-remember" account of his magical era all in one. All is told and rehashed in Mr. Miles 512 page narrative, interspersed with lengthy and candid quotes from "The Cute One" himself.
We get to hear about the young Paul being aroused by the site of his mum in her nightgown, his brief dabbling with heroin, the loss of his first fiancee, and how he was chased off a street in Harlem for "lurking" near a playground. For the obsessed and the well-schooled there's enough new or obscure information to warrant the purchase. And for the merely curious, Mr. Miles sets up his subject in a matter-of-fact fashion that remains informative and fairly entertaining.
Since the Anthology showed the world that the Beatles themselves can't always approach a consensus on what occurred in their collective past, this book if nothing else provides a fairly thorough take on what Paul thinks happens. Not as revisionist as it could have been, but certainly not the whole story either, Many Years From Now, is a great insider's look into one of the biggest somethings that took place in this now fading century. Oh yeah, and we finally find out who/what broke up the Beatles as well (didn't it ever occur to those guys just to take a break from one another?!).
