This year has seen the passing of quite a few rock greats - David Bowie, Prince, Lemmy - but why wait until a loved musician passes away before we celebrate their work? And who better for recognition than Paul McCartney who has written some of the most loved songs on the planet and is still releasing new material - including: the track, 'Cut Me Some Slack,' that he penned with the remaining members of Nirvana and which won a Grammy in 2014 (available on the Sound City soundtrack); and the hit song he wrote released with Rihanna and Kanye West (his second collab with the latter).

I find that there's always some fun to be had in unearthing some usually overlooked tracks by a well-loved artist, so let's take the opportunity to dig for some gold in Paul McCartney's solo career. Hopefully this will provide some further listening for all of you who've listened to all those Beatles tracks far too many times.

Fortunately, a new compilation - Pure McCartney - has just been released which re-examines McCartney's solo career with the intention of digging out a few different tracks that were missed on previous "Best Of" compilations (such as Wingspan). The standout track for me is 'Coming Up', which is one of Macca's solo efforts that John Lennon also admitted having some admiration for (some have even suggested that hearing it might've spurred him out of retirement).

The song originally featured on McCartney II (1980), which is a slightly patchy album, but does have a few other fun tracks like the weirdly synth-heavy, 'Temporary Secretary' (which shows how McCartney sounds when he's trying to embrace new wave!).

It also happens to have a wonderful video, in which McCartney and his wife/bandmate Linda dress up as other musicals stereotypes. Seeing Paul in 1980 portraying himself as a young Beatle is particularly entertaining.


The next album worth checking out, once you've got past the greatest hits is Band on the Run (1973). By this stage, McCartney had his own band - Wings - with Linda and Denny Laine. This album was a serious hit at the time and featured a number of his best solo tracks including 'Band On The Run,' 'Jet,' and 'Let Me Roll It.'

However, let's dig up one of the tracks that didn't make the hits compilation and yet which showcases some great piano and bluesy singing from Macca. Here's Paul playing it all on his lonesome back in 1974.

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