The release this past Tuesday of Paul McCartney's 21st solo album, Memory Almost Full, couldn't have come at a worse time.  The week before, the music world was filled with tributes to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. 

As it is, everything McCartney puts his name on will, fairly or unfairly, always be compared to his work with The Beatles, and putting out a disc now only serves to remind the public of the number of times fans have rushed out to buy the latest McCartney disc, only to have it gather dust while we once again reach for Rubber Soul, Abbey Road, or that Wings compilation that we got for Christmas that year.

That's unfortunate because, since 1997's Flaming Pie, McCartney has been pretty consistent. Memory Almost Full continues that trend.  He sounds engaged and full of life throughout, with some very simple delights to be found and little filler.  The first single, "Ever Present Past," is reminiscent of "My Brave Face," his 1989 collaboration with Elvis Costello, and bounces along with the ease of a vintage McCartney hit.  It would sound great in concert alongside, say, "Can't Buy Me Love."

"See Your Sunshine" is a silly love song – in a good way – and features a fantastic bass line, while "Gratitude," despite the mannered background vocals, sounds tailor-made for the ending of an episode of ER or Grey's Anatomy.  

The second half of the CD contains a five-song medley which finds McCartney, who turns 65 on June 18, looking back on his life.  Introspection is not something typically associated with Paul McCartney. So, while there's nothing here on the order of John Lennon's "In My Life," there are a few inspired moments — notably "That Was Me," a fun little rocker, and "Feet In The Clouds," in which he pays musical tribute to The Beach Boys' classic Pet Sounds. 

Most moving is "The End Of The End," which closes the suite, and finds him confronting his mortality in a way we would expect, to be looking forward to old age with his trademark optimism, and hoping to be remembered fondly upon his passing as simply a person who tried to bring people together.

There are a few moments where McCartney lapses into one of his classic traps, where he fails to fully develop a lyrical idea and tries to cover it up with some experimentation.  But here the arrangements are more interesting than on previous albums (witness the staccato piano melody in the verse on "Mr. Bellamy"), even if the songs don't fully measure up.   

Still, McCartney, who played nearly all of the instruments on most of Memory Almost Full, is in fine voice. The songs sound better through headphones where the subtle hooks and intricacies sink in better than when played in the background.  Again, this shouldn't be compared with McCartney's seminal work, but that doesn't mean it's not a rewarding listen.