Regardless of your budget, Paul McCartney seems determined to stuff himself in your stocking one way or another this holiday season, either by way of The Beatles: Rock Band (which will set you back about $50), Fab Four reissues (running about $18 each) or Good Evening New York City, a two-CD/one-DVD set averaging $15.
Showcasing McCartney's opening shows at New York's Citi Field, Good Evening is pretty much what you'd expect; a lengthy greatest-hits retrospective chock-full of a whole lot o' Beatles (more than half of the entire set and the entire second disc). The whole affair is billed as historic, what with the Beatles' epic '60s Shea Stadium performance, and there's certainly merriment here to mark the occasion, but one has to wonder how much this varies from any other McCartney show - does he not put out nearly three hours of classics at any other show?
In spite of its virtues, it's by no means a perfect set, in part because McCartney's voice isn't near what it used to be and has a strained quality for much of the recording. Some Beatles tracks - in particular, showstoppers like "Hey Jude" and "Get Back" come off strong, whereas many songs suffer from overly beefed-up arrangements. Just because of the way four decades wear on and tear at vocal chords, much of the more recent material comes across better, almost to the point where it'd be nice to get more Wings and recent solo material. Ironically, the records he's ostensibly promoting - 2005's Chaos and Creation in the Backyard and 2007's weaker Memory Almost Full - get little more than a cursory glance. Then again, who goes to a McCartney show to hear new songs?
In addition to three fully-loaded discs, the package also comes with notes by veteran music scribe Michael Azerrad (Our Band Could Be Your Life). All told, it's a solid set and certainly a value, considering the low asking price. And if you can't afford to give McCartney concert tickets - and, in this economy, who can? - then this is at least a decent substitute.
(Originally posted to Spectrum Culture 12/14/09)
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