Paul McCartney - The Boys Of Dungeon Lane (Album Review)
Thursday, 18 June 2026
Written by Jeremy Blackmore
Photo: Mary McCartney
It’s impossible to experience a new Paul McCartney album in a vacuum, such is the weight of his legacy both with The Beatles and after the Fabs’ disbandment. “I go back so far, I’m in front of me,” he once sang, and indeed ‘The Boys Of Dungeon Lane’ is quintessentially McCartney — an album shot through with melody, hope, whimsy and optimism in the face of adversity.
It’s easy to find moments that recall McCartney’s previous work: from the psychedelic experimentation of The Beatles, replete with tape loops and melodic, bouncing basslines, to the mid-70s pomp of Wings. There are traces of the impressive modern run of post-Beatles ‘Anthology’ solo albums, too, from folky, acoustic reminiscences to driving rockers.
For a man who's lived a thousand lives, the album is threaded with melancholy and an unashamed nostalgia, both for loved ones now departed and a past that can never be reclaimed, while also celebrating joy in his ninth decade with his wife Nancy.
In the evocative album highlight The Days We Left Behind, which leans into his older voice, he sings of writing “a secret code, never to be spoken” with John Lennon during early songwriting sessions at the McCartney family home. Folk-story Down South, meanwhile, recounts hitchhiking adventures with a teenage George Harrison, “talking about guitars and rock and roll”, complete with Beatlesy “oh yeahs”.
Ringo Starr joins him on a rousing sing-a-long Home To Me as they remember growing up in the poorer areas of post-war Liverpool. It’s undeniably cheesy, but a whole lot of fun. The two Beatles are clearly having a blast. Equally, the jazzy, big band arrangement on Life Can Be Hard might once have been derided by Lennon as “Paul’s Granny music” but, written during Covid, it’s genuinely affecting.
McCartney refuses to rest on his laurels, experimenting throughout the album, whether through the opening chord on As You Lie There, subtle electronic textures, or the overlapping time signatures of Salesman Saint, a tribute to his parents' resilience during World War II.
As he did with the Rolling Stones, producer Andrew Watt does a fine job in creating a contemporary sounding McCartney album that captures all the varying styles and voices of this genuine musical icon. It may not match the heights of classics such as ‘Ram’ or ‘Band On The Run’ but, at 84, the man whose art has served as the backdrop to so many lives is still doing that thing he does best, and making people happy. We’re lucky to have him.
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