What’s the latest from the living legends?

McCartney III by Paul McCartney. Everybody loved the Beatles. Many still do. But the most lovable of them all is Paul McCartney. Well, he was the best looking. Nearly 60 years later, he is now 77 years old and still comes across as princely. Not just that. He seems to have a cheery disposition and a presence that brightens his surroundings. So does his music.

Youthful is the way I would describe the sounds he came up with for his latest, McCartney III. He has released two albums also titled McCartney previously, hence the III in the title. All of them are solo efforts but this third one is the most solo of them all. Made up of music written while he was in lockdown, he did everything all by himself. That means write and perform, arrange and play every instrument.

The results can use some revisions but McCartney sounds like classic Paul and that means wonderful to listen to. The moods vary. I love the bluesy opener Long Tailed Winter Bird and the acoustic Kiss of Venus is truly a gem. The lengthy Deep, Deep Feeling has a haunting charm and Seize the Day is inventive and fun. I can do without the forced humor of Lavatory Lil and trance as in Slidin’ is not something I associate with the Macca.

Letter to You by Bruce Springsteen with the E Street Band. Youthful, too, is the sound of this new album, his 20th in the studio, by Springsteen. I mean just the sound, which The Boss and the band recorded live all together in the studio. He is doubtless one of the greatest rock artists in the world and the music in this one is as fresh as those he did during his Born to Run days. But get into the lyrics and you are in a philosophy and music class. This guy is an incredible thinker with the writing chops to go with it.

For subjects, the 71-year-old Springsteen has chosen aging and death. He contemplates both from stand points of past and present and in relation to rock music. How does one grow old with rock? That is deep. His poetry as we know it is of America, its working class heroes, the socially-disadvantaged or the regular guy next door quietly trying to survive. For this one though, he has taken on the rocker discovering immortality through the music, vibrant and forever young. Thinking like this in this time of pandemic can be both unsettling and liberating but I guess that is just what Springsteen intended in Letter to You.

Listen and think. I have a feeling there is a Nobel or a Pulitzer in Springsteen’s future with Letter to You. Cuts are One Minute You’re Here, Letter to You, Burnin’ Train, Janey Needs a Shooter, Last Man Standing, The Power of Prayer, House of a Thousand Guitars, Rainmaker, If I was the Priest, Ghosts, Song or Orphans and I’ll See You In My Dreams.

Classic Diamonds by Neil Diamond with the London Symphony Orchestra. Diamonds indeed are the contents of this album. Beautiful Noise, Hello Again, I Am…I Said, I’m a Believer, Song Sung Blue, September Morn, America, Holly Holy, You Don’t Bring Me Flowers, Play Me, Love on the Rocks, Heartlight and I’ve Been This Way Before.

I am sure that like me, you all remember hearing these tunes lots and lots of times over the years. Diamond is one of the biggest hitmakers of all time. Note though that Diamonds is not the usual greatest hits collection. Diamond recorded all of these songs anew with the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO).

The LSO famous for classical recordings and motion picture soundtracks like Star Wars would from time to time do pop music with major artists. They have done the music of Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison Rod Stewart and others. The usual practice was to take the original vocals and marry these with the new accompaniment by the LSO.

The process worked. But not for Diamond. Now 80 years old and battling Parkinson’s Disease, he chose instead to rerecord every song. The result, well-loved favorites rendered doubly involving with his majestic vocals.