Memory Almost Full is the fourteenth solo studio album by English musician Paul McCartney.
[2] In between the 2003 and 2006 sessions, McCartney was working on another studio album, Chaos and Creation in the Backyard (2005), with producer Nigel Godrich.
Nine demos were recorded at Hog Hill Mill studio in September 2003 by Paul McCartney and his touring band.
[5] A month later, in October,[6] album sessions for Memory Almost Full began, and were produced by David Kahne and recorded at Abbey Road Studios.
[nb 1][5] However, the sessions were cut short and put on hiatus when McCartney started another album, Chaos and Creation in the Backyard, with producer Nigel Godrich.
[9] Any songs that were started, but not finished, for Chaos and Creation in the Backyard, McCartney didn't want to re-do for Memory Almost Full.
[11] The songs recorded at those studios were "Nod Your Head", "In Private", "222", "Gratitude", "Mr Bellamy", "See Your Sunshine", and "Ever Present Past".
[11] Of those songs, "Mr Bellamy", "Ever Present Past", "Gratitude", "Nod Your Head", and "In Private" were all recorded on the same day, in March 2006.
[16] "Mr Bellamy", the sixth song on the album, was thought by online fans to be about McCartney's then-recent divorce.
[18] McCartney invited Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke to play piano on the song, but he declined.
[16] Some people mentioned that the album's title, Memory Almost Full, is an anagram of "for my soulmate LLM" (the initials of Linda Louise McCartney).
This was the first time such an artistic intervention occurred within a standard jewel-case, and at first glance had the possibility of being viewed as a mis-manufactured copy.
[6] The lead single for the rest of the world is "Dance Tonight", released on McCartney's 65th birthday in the UK, 18 June as a digital download, with a physical release a month later, on 23 July of a CD single and a 10" shaped picture disc.
[30] The music video features Natalie Portman and Mackenzie Crook, and was directed by Michel Gondry.
[9][25] At ten of the Starbucks stores, fans contributed in a video tribute, that aired on the internet on 18 June 2007.
[35] Other promotions included a limited edition Paul McCartney Starbucks card, similar to what they had done for Ray Charles's Genius Loves Company,[9] the Starbucks-owned satellite radio station XM Channel made a program about McCartney and the album,[35] released one song prior to the album on iTunes, performed at iTunes Festival: London, and playing free shows.
The DVD contained five tracks recorded live at The Electric Ballroom in London, and two music videos.
[49] In the US, Memory Almost Full debuted at number 3 on the Billboard 200 with about 161,000 copies sold within the first week, making it McCartney's highest-charting album there since 1997's Flaming Pie.
[58] The album reportedly sold 105,000 copies in his homeland before the standard version of the CD in a unique slip-case was given away free as part of a promotion with British newspaper The Mail on Sunday (18 May 2008).
[61] Paul McCartney – all instruments except for "Only Mama Knows", "You Tell Me", "Vintage Clothes", "That Was Me", "Feet in the Clouds", and "House of Wax", where he was joined by the following musicians (all from his touring band):
Notes: In the summer and autumn of 2007, Paul embarked on a promotional mini-tour playing concerts to small audiences - including The Olympia, in Paris, when he performed with The Beatles in 1964 - all in support of his album Memory Almost Full.
Amoeba performance track listings On 5 July 2007, Paul and his band played for 350 fans in the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) on The Mall in London as part of the first ever iTunes Festival.
On 25 October 2007 Paul and his band played the Roundhouse in London as part of the BBC Electric Proms 2007.
The seven songs not released from this performance are "C Moon", "The Long and Winding Road", "I'll Follow the Sun", "That Was Me", "Here Today", "House of Wax" and "I've Got a Feeling."