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Variety Music·May 23, 2026·via Variety Music

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May 22, 2026 5:25pm PT

Paul McCartney Explores His Ever-Present Past in ‘The Boys of Dungeon Lane,’ a Delightful Return to Wings-Era Form: Album Review

The legend acts his age and defies it, too, in an album that's pleased to rock out a little while recollecting a life well spent. It arrives May 29.

By Chris Willman

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Chris Willman

Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic

ChrisWillman

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Paul McCartney is a master of the fake-out. The first feint around his new album, “The Boys of Dungeon Lane,” came when he released “Days We Left Behind” as the first single, an exceedingly gentle and wistful ballad that allowed for the possibility that the whole LP might be a collection of acoustic memory songs. The second bluff comes when you have the record in hand and put it on — to find that the opening track, “As You Lie There,” is very much in that soft, nostalgic, fingerpicking vein … for the first 55 seconds. At that point, a loud drum fill announces itself, snarling electric guitars kick in and McCartney’s trademark howls of old arrive in time for a fairly kick-ass chorus.