After all these years, Paul McCartney and John Lennon are still rivals. It's odd, but the two most recent CDs I've bought (within a week of each other) have been McCartney's Starbucks fueled "Memory Almost Full" and the Darfur fundraising compilation of Lennon covers "Instant Karma." 
"Memory Almost Full" is a lot better than I expected. His last CD, "Chaos and Creation in the Backyard" got all these accolades but it didn't move me like I'd hoped it would. This one seems more like Paul being back to form and, honestly, thinking about being 65 (his birthday was June 18). My favorite cuts so far are "Dance Tonight," "That Was Me," "Gratitude" and "The End of the End." This is not the end of the end for Paul, of course, but it may be the beginning of the end. And, despite the Starbucks inspired commercial overkill involved, it's still well-done.
For a longer post about almost seeing a Beatles re-union at a 1976 McCartney concert, CLICK HERE.
For Time magazine's take on that same tour (which was McCartney's first live show post-Beatles), CLICK HERE.
To read a tribute to Paul McCartney on his 64th birthday, CLICK HERE.
"Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur" is also getting a lot of play on my iPod. It's a wonderful effort musically and for a good cause. Some great acts have given a shot at some Lennon songs that probably a lot of people haven't heard before. U2 does the "Instant Karma" title track, making it come alive again. I'm particularly fond of Dhani Harrison and Jakob Dylan's version of "Gimme Some Truth." Same with Matisyahu's "Watching the Wheels" and Ben Harper's "Beautiful Boy." The only one that absolutely pales in comparison is "Imagine" which, even if you're Jack Johnson or Avril Lavigne (both do versions), basically just can't compete.
For a longer post about the day John Lennon died and what it meant, CLICK HERE.
For a post about the Beatles coming to America and first playing on the Ed Sullivan Show as reported by Newsweek at the time, CLICK HERE.
For a review of the new Beatle's Las Vegas show "Love," CLICK HERE.
To read about Apple (the computer company) and Apple (the record company) finally coming together, CLICK HERE.
Funny isn't it, 37 years after the Beatles go solo, McCartney is still the "commercial" one and Lennon is still the "political" one. Oh, well...
