Press to Play (Remastered)

iTunes Review

As the consummate professional, Paul McCartney can play anything. But McCartney’s ability to make it sound easy doesn’t mean it ever is. The ‘80s offered the experienced performer a few intriguing challenges as productions leaned towards the slicker, mechanical ways of drum machines and processed backing tracks that often blurred the sonic picture until a song’s simple beauty was lost in a mix of keyboards, horns and hyperactive vocals. McCartney works to keep the balance. “Stranglehold” begins things on the upbeat and uses the extremely busy production to layer a nicely kept pop tune. “Good Times Coming/Feel the Sun” squares up a Caribbean, new wave groove. “Only Love Remains” is a standard McCartney piano ballad that sounds so immediately familiar it seems to have always existed. “Press” immerses itself in the joys of synthesizer technology and McCartney’s never failing pop instincts to keep things catchy and fun using modern production techniques to his advantage.