Great Beatle still shines today

It would be easy with all the commercialism and Beatle propaganda spewed by the media throughout my life to dismiss a new album of live material as nothing more than an attempt by Paul McCartney to feel important again. After all, the idea of the Beatles is so large that it almost dehumanizes as much as it deifies them, even the one who was responsible for Wings (not a horrible band, but in comparison to the Beatles...).\nBack in the U. S. isn't just McCartney reminding us that he was one of the most important rockers and songwriters of all time as much as the fact that he still is that important. It's a two-disc set that spans his entire career by including a number of his and John Lennon's Beatles songs, a handful from Wings and much of his solo career. The disc flows seamlessly from one song to the next, thanks to McCartney's performances. The band is prime and never comes off as a cover band or carbon copy. Even for late-blooming Beatle/McCartney fans who came around about 25 years after the fact, there is a sense of nostalgia due to the energy of these performances and an outstanding set list. If saying this about his music seems too obvious to anyone, then I suspect they've been fans longer than I've been alive or haven't ever listened to much else.\nMcCartney's vocals leave no question about why he's still singing, especially on favorites like "Hey Jude," "Sgt. Pepper's" and the transcendent "Maybe I'm Amazed." The performances are pristine, but they have a more resonant quality than even some of the better takes on the albums (OK, not "Sgt. Pepper," but is that possible?). Not so surprisingly, many of the lesser songs like "Band on the Run" and "Here, There and Everywhere" end up sounding better live. \nThe selections and sequencing are near perfect. The album never becomes too heavy for its own good and never falls flat. Even the songs that shouldn't work, do. Somehow it escapes the shadow of the Beatles' towering records while paying homage to them and showing why they reached so many. Listening to Back in the U.S., it's clear McCartney made this one because we needed it as much as he did.