Paul McCartney - Egypt Station (Capitol)

With a new Paul McCartney album being released there is always the thought that there will be songs going to be up there with his previous work. Getting Greg Kurstein who has worked with everyone from Adele to the Foo Fighters to produce the album seems to have pushed the boundaries with McCartney's songwriting.

Recorded in Los Angeles, Sussex and with the finishing touches being cemented at Abbey Road the album is one of the best he has recorded in the last 20 years.

After the opening of a train arriving at the station the album opens proper with the ballad I Don't Know - his voice now has a richness that comes with age and Kurstein has tried not to dissolve that. It is a simple melody that sticks in your head like all the Beatles classics. The lyric mentions his brother which crops up elsewhere on the album.

The first big track though is Come Home To Me - a rock style song that has more hooks than a trawlerman's net. The track builds into a crescendo towards the end and could be the rockier cousin to Lady Madonna.

The rockier style continues on Who Cares whilst on Fuh You the track sounds modern and is it probably why it has been chosen as a single. Commercial and compelling it is one of the best songs on the album.

It would be easy to say that People Want Peace is in the same vein as John Lennon's Give Peace A Chance, but the track does have the same sentiment. Built around a piano riff this ballad does develop into a mass singalong at the end.

Back in Brazil is a tropical cocktail that adds a different element to the album.

Closing with Hunt You Down/Naked/C-Link the album closes with a rock track that initially recalls Back in the USSR. With its subtle key changes the lyric mentions his younger brother again. A fireball of a song that is a fitting end to one of Paul McCartney's best solo albums.