Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Dance Tonight
2. Ever Present Past
3. See Your Sunshine
4. Only Mama Knows
5. You Tell Me
6. Mr. Bellamy
7. Gratitude
8. Vintage Clothes
9. That Was Me
10. Feet In The Clouds
11. House Of Wax
12. The End of the End
13. Nod Your Head
14. In Private
15. Why So Blue
16. 222

Disc 2:

1. Drive My Car
2. Only Mama Knows
3. Dance Tonight
4. House Of Wax
5. Nod Your Head
6. Dance Tonight
7. Ever Present Past

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #60419 in Music
• Released on: 2007-11-08
• Number of discs: 2
• Format: CD+DVD
• Running time: 75 minutes

Customer Reviews

When It's Good, It's Very, Very Good, When It's Bad, It's Horrid
With Chaos & Creation In The Backyard so fresh in many fans' memories, I think that many people were surprised when Paul announced that a new album was on the way, especially considering Paul's rather public split with Heather Mills. When the pre-album publicity machine started moving, we had a statement telling us that this album was going to be produced by David Kahne (Driving Rain) and that it consisted of new tracks and also song which weren't included on both Driving Rain and Chaos & Creation. So, basically, it sounded like a mish-mash of tracks which didn't make the grade all cobbled together by a producer who was responsible for the least popular Macca album in recent history. I think it's fair to say that I wasn't exactly salivating at the prospect and, if anything, was concerned about Paul damaging his legacy - further. Oh, come on - Give My Regards To Broad Street and The Frog Chorus, anyone? We may like (even love) them, but there's no doubt that they both did Paul a lot of artistic damage.

After those low expectations, what an absolute joy it was to hear Memory Almost Full. It starts very strongly with the mandolin-driven singalong, Dance Tonight, and continues with the fantastic Ever Present Past, possibly the best straight forward commercial pop song he has written since My Brave Face, if not Coming Up. See Your Sunshine isn't quite as successful as the opening duo and the production almost hides what could be a very good track. We get back to McCartney's best with Only Mama Knows, the rocker that many people have been waiting for him to write for years and, in truth, it's one of the best rock songs Paul has written since the 1970's as well as being a great fictitious 'story' song.

You Tell Me is nice enough, but the falsetto Paul adopts isn't completely convincing and the fact that it is almost musically identical to a Gary Moore track doesn't allow me to fully connect to it as a unique piece of work. Mr. Bellamy, on the other hand, is a very innovative song about a man sitting on top of a tall building while the world below him panics, complete with a very jittery, jumping piano line. Quite simply, it's genius. The following song, Gratitude is a real come down after the heights of Mr. Bellamy and it took me a long time not to actually hate this song. What I will say is that I absolutely hate the production, arrangement and delivery of the track, but a decent song lies beneath all of that if you have the patience to look for it. Paul's vocals are so over-wrought, so very over the top, that it's very difficult to take it seriously - it's almost a parody of a soul/gospel style.

Vintage Clothes is a little better and is a good song without ever striving for greatness. The subject matter is a little opportunistic given the current (or certainly last summer's) fashion trend for 'vintage' (i.e. old) clothes and, while it sounds deep, doesn't actually really say anything. Conversely, That Was Me, a growly rocker with an unbelievably good bassline and acoustic guitar riff in which Paul reminisces about his amazing life is a real highlight of the album. A lack of quality control rears its ugly head on the next track. What starts out as an extremely promising, gentle, dreamy song soon gets bogged down in a sea of 'very's. The dated ending is just painful and a more discerning producer would have probably vetoed it, but it was allowed to remain and it nearly ruins the song which is a real shame, because Feet in The Clouds could have been a true great.

House Of Wax also nearly achieves greatness and only fails because of a slight lack of invention and the constant repetition of one musical idea. It also bears a remarkable resemblance to Dear Friend from 1971's Wild Life. It's certainly a powerful, atmospheric, imagery-soaked track though and boasts a couple of excellent guitar solos. What comes after House Of Wax, though, is a real show-stopper. During the very touching The End Of The End, Paul talks about his death and how he'd like to be remembered. Although a little melodically challenged, it's a wonderful song, as is the album's climax, the brilliantly silly and raucous Nod Your Head.

To surmise, Memory Almost Full is a typical above-average McCartney album. More than a handful of exceptional songs, with a smattering of tracks which probably needed more work, perhaps re-arranging, re-thinking or maybe even dropping completely. A little more quality control could have made this album a consistently excellent work, but - as it is - it fluctuates between the good and the great with some moments of pure genius and other moments which make you wince in near-pain. It's a worthy follow up to Chaos & Creation and, while it probably wouldn't make my Top 5 McCartney albums of all time, it'd most definitely be not far behind.

Just a note about this particular re-issue. Although I'm not impressed with the fact that there are three different versions of this album and have to agree that this is a blatant attempt to fleece the fans of yet more hard-earned cash, I don't think this should influence the rating of the product, which is quality. The album is full of great songs and the seven track DVD has also got some great material on it - just a shame it wasn't a full show to make this purchase a worthwhile one. If you don't own a copy of this album yet, make it this version. Otherwise, this is for McCartney completists only.

THE DIFINITIVE VERSION OF 'MEMORY ALMOST FULL'
In response to Van S Schagen's posting below. To be fare to Macca he probably has some say over future releases of his albums but Starbucks label probably decree it as marketing for the album somewhere in the small print.
If you haven't bought this album yet (WHY NOT???) it's absolutely fantastic and this version is the best one to get. The only place to own the videos for the 2 singles 'Dance Tonight' & 'Ever Present Past' these tie in very nicely with the McCartney Years DVD released by EMI around the same time. The concert footage is fantastic too.
I bought the album when it came out and bought this version as well the day it came out. I was a little annoyed at it being released twice but I could have refused to get it so more fool me. I must be exactly who record companies love and, unfortunatly, I know and they know I'm not alone

Why Extras now
I agree with S.Van, Im a huge McCartney fan and always buy on the day of release, so its painful when these extra discs come out. Im not going to purchase again just to get the extra bits but would have paid an extra 3 or 4 quid had it been available on day one. The original album is top class, great songs, great melodies , he is the main man for a catchy little tune. Keep going Paul