By John Blaney

The Discography format can provide a rich vein of information for Beatles fans and collectors, though there is a danger that it can appear too “dry” to the reader if not supported either by a historical narrative giving context or by providing an interesting viewpoint of the releases presented.

Here John Blaney presents Volume 5 of his McCartney retrospective coving the years 2010 to 2019, which the author acknowledges is not the most prolific period in Paul’s career as he approached his eighth decade, yet still fascinating in terms of the output that was released and more specifically the choices Paul has made. What comes to the fore is that Paul, in relation to new material that he released, made choices that drew from the pool of current and high flying producer options. This appears to be a deliberate attempt to draw interest from the younger generation. How this played out in comparison to having chosen a producer from among his own contemporaries, that may have had a more sympathetic view to the material, we will never know. Blaney also highlights the choices Paul made in terms of the Archive releases which began in this decade. His forensic knowledge of available material on bootleg releases shows that there is a large discrepancy in terms of what could be considered definitive, with many Archive releases having notable omissions. The author also rightly questions the merits of some releases including the Egypt Station Travellers Edition for its cost and value and the Wonderful Christmastime 2017 collaboration with Jimmy Fallon and the Roots for its lack of involvement by Paul. These are fair and indicative critiques of many of Paul’s releases during the decade.

Blaney comments on each new song that is released, and while you may not agree with all his viewpoints [I didn’t] I did appreciate the honesty in which options were delivered and also the humour employed to convey the message too.

At its core though, this is a discography, and the information presented on each release includes comprehensive UK and US data on release dates, label, catalogue numbers, chart positions, track contributors and producers. What more could you ask for when wanting to retrospectively refresh your understanding?

Another important factor for any discography wanting to avoid falling into the “dry” data trap is to present supporting images and this book does not disappoint, with every cover, disc and label variation available and, as we know, there are a plethora of variations that Paul has released.

Blaney, who has written previous volumes on the career releases of John and George continues his good work here and with Paul having released McCartney III / Imagined in multiple variations and his 7″ Box Set at least another couple of chapters awaits in volume 6. I look forward to that.

By Gwyn Jenkins.