Disco de Paul McCartney: “Amoeba's Secret”

Amoeba's Secret is a wonderful recording of Paul McCartney's recent "gig" at a Los Angeles music store; and although we only get four tracks this is an instant classic from the start! The quality of the sound is excellent and the artwork is very nicely done. It's great to know that despite the passage of time McCartney never stops and he sounds as powerful today as ever!

"Only Mama Knows" is, of course, a live track that genuinely rocks hard--and Paul sings this out with all his might! Paul's excellent diction enhances his performance and those guitars help the number even further. This is McCartney still at his best; and the melody is quite catchy. McCartney aces this effortlessly--but of course we know it really wasn't that easy. Paul's talents always carry him through to success!

"C Moon" is definitely a number that the crowd loves; and I remember this from a while back--but Paul delivers this rendition with so much enthusiasm it sounds all new and fresh. "C Moon" gets more of a rock and roll arrangement here but it all works very well. Indeed, "C Moon" is easily a major highlight of this album. There's also "That Was Me;" I believe this comes from Paul's more recent CD entitled Memory Almost Full; Paul does this flawlessly and again the electric guitars make this such a great number! Paul sings this quite well and I think "That Was Me" is amazing to say the least!

The four track CD ends with an older Beatles tune entitled `I Saw Her Standing There." This was always one of my very favorite Beatles' songs and McCartney doesn't disappoint when he performs this one. The guitars are emphasized more than they were for the original version of this song but Paul and the others perform this rock ballad so well it still makes me smile--it's a cute little love story!

Overall, Amazon is right--this is a "must-have" for McCartney's fans; and people who enjoy classic rock in general will also want this CD in their collections. Amoeba's Secret gives us classic rock by Paul McCartney who is clearly still at the top of his form.

The greatness of Sir Paul McCartney cannot be summed-up in a word, a sentence, a paragraph...maybe not even in a single book. His career, as a Beatle and even much longer after that as a solo-artist, is the stuff of legend -- which, he most certainly is.

One aspect of his musical greatness has been his never-ending willingness to share it with the general public, in the form of live performance. While the monetary rewards for staging world tour after world tour are sizeable, it's been a long time since Paul McCartney has had to do anything for money.

As the last of the 'Fab Four' to see that touring with that band made no sense whatsoever (they couldn't be heard and the limitations of the technology on stage made it impossible to transfer the band's ground-breaking sonic experiments from the studio to the stadium), Mr. McCartney, nevertheless, has always had a yearning to "keep music live"...but, in a music store? At the tender age of 65?

Fortunately for us, yes, and yes! This four-song snippet (from the full 12-song concert), held at the Amoeba Record Store in Hollywood, California demonstrates, once again, that with Paul and his band (comprised of Paul Wickens, Rusty Anderson, Brian Ray and Abe Laboriel, Jr.), it is, in fact, "getting better all the time."

(NOTE: If at all possible, try to get your hands on the full, 12-song, CD. It was recently given away in Sunday editions of The Mail, in the U.K.)

Paul McCartney's four-song sampler of his "surprise" performance at Ameoba Music in Hollywood makes you wish he would issue the entire 2007 show. Worth having for a rollicking "C Moon" and the Grammy-nominated "That Was Me." Regardless of its brevity, "Ameoba's Secret" is high-spirited fun.

My first exposure to Paul and the Beatles was in 1965 at age of five when I saw "Help" and "Bambi" in a double feature with my mother. So you could say I've been a fan of Macca all my life. I own every Beatles album, on CD and most on either LP or even prerecorded cassette. As for Paul's stuff I have most of it. His best live collection is the "Concerts for Kampuchea," (unfortunately out of print) followed by "Wings Over America." The problem with his most recent efforts has been the fact that Paul's pipes are aging and in the long form concert it can be heard. Paul Simon and Roger Daltrey have the same issue.

However, this micro collection (only four songs) doesn't have that problem. Paul is in fine voice, the arrangements are tight, fast and fun. The disc dispenses with any onstage chatter and most of the crowd noise. I understand the concert itself was somewhat longer, I wish a few more could have been included, but the four here are worth a listen.

The packaging looks like a bootleg, including the pixilated cover picture and the "pasted on" labels on the disc. I wish they had included some liner notes, at least the names of the other musicians and the date of the performance.

Overall, a fun, but not really essential McCartney disc.

One caveat, shop around the price of this CD is all over the place. Why pay more than you need to?

How does he keep doing it? Sir Paul brings down the house with classics new and old. Even "C Moon," which he clearly harbors a fancy for but I can do without, gets a nice reggae reworking. "That Was Me" is a killer. The voice isn't as strong after all these years, what do you expect? But Macca continues to amaze.