Egypt Station is the 17th solo album by Paul McCartney, and the follow-up to 2013’s New.
It was released by Capitol Records on 7 September 2018, on compact disc, standard 140g double vinyl, limited edition 180g deluxe double vinyl with deluxe packaging, and as a digital download.
There were also several limited edition coloured vinyl variants: a green vinyl double LP promoted to Spotify listeners, double red vinyl sold by Barnes and Noble in the US, and an orange and blue vinyl edition in a “concertina trifold 6 panel gatefold package”, sold on the McCartney store and affiliated sites.
A limited edition CD set with concertina-style packaging, sold in HMV in the UK and Target in the US, contained two extra tracks: ‘Get Started’ and ‘Nothing For Free’.
Egypt Station charted at number one on the US Billboard 200, becoming McCartney’s first chart-topper since 1982’s Tug of War.
Pre-release publicity
The album title was announced on 18 June 2018, McCartney’s 76th birthday. It followed a series of cryptic messages on McCartney’s social media accounts, beginning on 10 June 2018 with a doodle which appeared to show a pyramid or train track:
— Paul McCartney (@PaulMcCartney) June 10, 2018
There were also six monochrome shots, of musical equipment or McCartney alone in a recording studio, leading to speculation that the new album title might be McCartney III.
On 17 June a train ticket image was posted, establishing the theme for the album’s artwork:
— Paul McCartney (@PaulMcCartney) June 17, 2018
The first key clue to the title was an image of a torn ticket, which appeared to show the letters “…PT” and “…ON” along with some faint heirglyphics:
— Paul McCartney (@PaulMcCartney) June 17, 2018
On the morning of 18 June, McCartney’s birthday, a new image was published which featured pyramids and palm trees, the clearest indication that the new release would have an Egypt theme.
— Paul McCartney (@PaulMcCartney) June 18, 2018
The full title was revealed later in the day:
#PaulMcCartney #EgyptStation pic.twitter.com/40o6Mo81lB
— Paul McCartney (@PaulMcCartney) June 18, 2018
The first songs revealed from the album were ‘I Don’t Know’ and ‘Come On To Me’, released as a double a-side single on 20 June 2018.
The first tastes of Paul’s brand new studio album due out later this year on Capitol Records, the two A-sides are polar opposites: ‘I Don’t Know’ being a plaintive, soul-soothing ballad as only Paul can deliver, and ‘Come On To Me’ a raucous stomper that fans that first spark of chemistry into a rocking blaze.Worldwide speculation about a new Paul McCartney album instantly reached fever pitch as his Instagram account whited out last week—only to ratchet higher as Paul was spotted taking selfies at landmarks in Liverpool the same day. The evening’s climactic event was a surprise gig at the tiny Liverpool Philharmonic Pub, during which ‘Come On To Me’ made its live debut alongside a set of classics spanning Paul’s career.
Paul’s new album is slated for fall 2018 release on Capitol Records. Further details will be announced shortly.
‘Come On To Me’ was the only new song performed at McCartney’s surprise show at Liverpool’s Philharmonic pub on 9 June. He also sang the song with James Corden during an episode of Carpool Karaoke filmed on the same day.
Quite good, really, Egypt Station by Paul McCartney. Not on par with The Beatles, of course, but better than most McCartney and Wings records.
I bet McCartney har stopped smoking cannabis, this could be the reason why Egypt Station is more carefully crafted than most of his other albums. Also, in interviews he seems to be much more at ease, natural and secure of himself.
Cannabis messes up the body´s balance when smoked. Better instead to juice it RAW, that gives a lot of wonderful nutrients but no high.
My favourites on Egypt Station are the verse-refrains in Despite repeated warnings, the middle eight in I don´t know and the singing harmonies in Do it now, they are all three very good, Beatles quality.
Why is it so hard to become interested in more than a few bits and pieces on Paul McCartney´s post-Beatles records? Because the songs are not very good. I hear him making the same mistake over and over again, especially regarding the melodies.
McCartney likes to analyze things, I wonder if he will ever become astute enough to figure out where he repeatedly goes wrong with his songs.
A few days ago Paul McCartney released two residual songs from Egypt station, Home tonight and In a hurry. The latter is the more interesting, but sadly McCartney partly makes the same melodic-harmonic mistake here that he so often does and therefore fails to make a really good song. 25 percent of it could have been a lot better.
As usual the lyrics are quite superficial and never touches your feelings.
Id love to know who is palying on each track. Paul is a good drummer but sometimes he uses Abe Laboriel, etc. The touring band is excellent but are they playing on this album?
Hi Finn. Good point. I’ve added all the musicians to this page, and I’ve done the individual songs’ personnel too.
I agree. F.ex. I would like to know who is playing the electric guitar on the very last (instrumental) track, which has a strongly Cream-like sound
Best Album since Band On the Run. So consistent and so fantastic. Love almost every track, particularly the beatlesque times Despite Repeated Warnings, Confidante and Happy with you. Classic Paul. I really enjoyed the concept and all of the tracks.
Inspite of all the stations , the whole vibe is a true Sgt. Peppers II . Beside it’s powerful cover art referring to ancient Mid-Eastern civilizations , I think he just wanted to emphasize his pre-masterpieces in an innovating modern alerting music package which is adorable in today’s silly love songs!