What do you think of the cover?

Here are the comments we've received so far. New comments can be added using the comment button.
(5/3/07)

First from Rick Lindholdtz:

Pretty much a yawner. Nothing of interest or suggestive of any creative, artistic, avant garde or any such thinking. People ARE going to think it looks like the chair of retirement. True enough, if the music is good enough people won’t care about the cover. But I haven’t bought new Paul recordings since Flaming Pie. I LOVED the cover of Chaos, but found the content lacking and after listening to a friend’s copy, decided not to buy. Ditto Driving Rain, although I didn’t think the cover was interesting. I guess it comes down to: an interesting cover (as in the case of Chaos) might make me WANT to listen to and like the CD; a disinteresting cover (Driving, Memory almost full) makes me rather disinclined to consider the content.

Patrick McDonald:

If you remember the questionable cover for 'Driving
Rain' (Paul taking a digital watch picture of himself,
as the anecdote goes, while at an urinal), EMI
reissued it with a wraparound sleeve that depicted a
colorful, youthful looking, retouched Paul in a promo
picture for that year's tour. Is this a candidate for a similar wraparound? Also in
regards to the title 'Memory Almost Full,' I read
where Paul was inspired by the same digital watch (it
would warn "memory almost full" when the picture
capacity was almost used up). This is clearly a man
who loves his watch.
Regardless, Macca-man, keep plugging. Your creativity
has no age and all purpose.

(5/1/07)

We also asked for your comments about the cover. Here are some of them:

Jon Woolsey:

In a word: Dreadful!! I can just hear the critics now saying how it should be a rocking chair. They will use the album cover in their critiques of the music inside to be sure. If his music on the new album is dynamic, experimental and rocks out as we have been told, the cover art should reflect that.

Jeff Reed:

To me , the album cover is showing the proverbial retirement chair. Paul is not in it...... he is not ready for it.
But McCartney always has dropped the ball when it came to album covers. Hopefully content will transcend cover art.

Phil McCree:

Regarding the cover of Paul's new cd, we have to keep in mind that covers aren't given as much attention as they were when we had lp's. Most covers for various artists' work have become somewhat diminished in their importance. Covers really seem more important on releases of work that were once on lp and were then converted to cd-i.e. the Beatles Catalog, the Stones(Satanic Majesties Request), the Beach Boys, Cream(Wheels of Fire). However, new release covers require so much squinting, that most of them are ignored-after all, it is the music that's important, as are the liner notes-which I'm interested in-I want to see who is playing bass or lead guitar on certain tracks. Given that status to which the "album" cover has been relegated, we have to give a look when THE major artist of our time chooses to put a chair on the cover.
This could have been on a dare-someone might have said to Sir Paul, "the younger generation will take a look at you and say-'he's an old dude(4 yrs older than me) so the music must suck,"-and PM might've responded, "I could put a chair on the cover of my cd and outsell most artists!!" The people who are going to buy the new Paul cd are going to buy it irrespective of its appearance. And unlike full sized record albums, cd's-although hung on the wall as new releases-really aren't in the attract mode like video games. People glance at the names, not the covers-unless the artist's face is plastered on the cover-or if the artist is actually plastered on the cover!!
So, that leaves us with the chair. Looking at the pic on my laptop, it is not what it first appears to be. I thought it was your standard chair for a grandmother's house-that probably smelled like grandma too. And it's not the kind of chair-patternwise-that people who have bucks might pick up to fill a space in their pretentious homes-"Oh, Chaz, I must have that darling chair-it would look just right in the spot where Great Grandfather had his stroke-and it matches the color of his skin at the time!" To me it looks like it has some kind of hieroglyphics on it. So, perhaps, like the anagram title "For My Soulmate LLM"(Memory almost full), perhaps Dr. Tom has left another clue for us all. If nothing else, it's arousing curiosity, which is never a bad thing. One note though...Before or during or after the Traveling Wilburies, Jeff Lynne already did the chair thing in Armchair Theater, but he was sitting in the chair. Jeff Lynne is great-that cd was a disappointment-but maybe I should go back and give it another listen.
Perhaps as Paul was leaving a pub-having one too many beers(I don't even know if he drinks), the bartender said, "Cheers, Sir Paul," and Paul misunderstood what was said.

Frank C. Branchini:

You've got to be kidding! What is truly sad is that you know some one was paid big bucks to come up with this.

Dave Healey:

A bit similar to Peter Perrett's Woke Up Sticky but not quite as imaginative!

Norman Maslov, co-author of "The Beatles England":

So you want comments on Paul’s cover? Just as interesting as a decaf 2% venti mocha latte!

Joe Garbarino:

The title is an anagram for Linda...now a "wing"backed chair ? What's
next: a free ticket to Lagos in carefully selected Lattes ?

Ken Petty:

My opinion is that the cover lacks any originality. What is this conveying?

Tim Kwiat:

Thanks for the great site and giving us all a place to gather. With regard to McCartney's new album cover, I can only hope it is a prank and is being put out there to fool the public prior to the official release. Part of the "album" experience for old-school music fans is the artwork that accompanies the music. The artwork gives the music a visual concept and an additional vibe. The music clips I have heard thus far are very promising and indicate that this could be one of Paul's best studio pieces since Flaming Pie. With the exception of Back In The US (which was a live document), Paul's album artwork since the graphically excellent Flaming Pie has been very disappointing. I love everything the guy does, so please don't take this the wrong way, but I think MPL needs a new art department. The packaging for Run Devil Run had a vibe, but seemed cheap, cumbersome, and too cartoonlike. The artwork for Driving Rain was simply horrible, and I found nothing interesting about the Chaos and Creation graphics (line art???? - Why????). Where is the effort that was put into the covers for RAM, Red Rose Speedway, and Band On The Run? For MAF, I would even be happy if they simply removed the chair and left the text.

Michael Barr:

I don't really care what the cover looks like, as long as there is no nudity or anything gross. All I want is a great album.