Cover star Paul McCartney was a Beatle. The Beatles are probably the number one band at Fruit Tree Records and they almost certainly always will be. Their adventure in songwriting and music progression, with particular emphasis on melody and lush major/minor chord progressions are at the very heart of what this blog and my journey in music collecting are all about. And yet, of late, I have come to feel that my appreciation of Paul McCartney has been lacking. Could it be I have taken for granted a touch his contributions to, well pretty much everything that is exciting about music and songwriting. All too easily overshadowed by the more aggresive Lennon or more laconic spirituality of Harrison, yet all the while McCartney has just gone about the business of being amazing at composing music and songs. Of course none of this is news, but I just wanted to make a little note as to why he’s this months cover star and why a couple of his tunes feature at the front end of this playlist. He’s been on my mind this month and I’ve been beginning to make amends by going a little deeper into his solo catalogue, it turns out even something like ‘Red Rose Speedway’, which I’d previously avoided on the grounds that Lennon was dismissive towards it and I thought the cover looked a bit naff, is actually a pretty good album. Don’t be surprised if you hear a bit more about this McCartney chap in the coming months playlists…