Allan Kozinn and Adrian Sinclair explain that The McCartney Legacy: Volume 1: 1969-73 began as a sessionography of Paul McCartney's music after the Beatles, but they ended up creating a biography "by mistake." Some mistake! This 720-page book covers just five years in McCartney's life: his period of rebirth and reinvention between 1969 and 1973. During this time, the Beatles broke up and, in 1971, McCartney formed Wings. In five years, he released five albums. This fascinating, deeply detailed and comprehensive look at McCartney's post-Beatles work and his struggles to create it also examines the alcohol-fueled depression he suffered after the Beatles broke up, exacerbated by "a year of business disputes that had been a live third rail within the band's dynamic." Newly wed to Linda Eastman, McCartney kept writing and recording at her encouragement. The love song "Maybe I'm Amazed" was written for her and was the first single released from his debut solo album, McCartney.
McCartney wasn't interviewed for this bio, but Kozinn interviewed him numerous times over the years, and the two authors use thousands of radio and TV q&as and tens of thousands of print interviews. They also talked to hundreds of people in the music business who worked closely with McCartney. Though countless books have been written about the Beatles and their individual members, most focus on the group's decade-long life span rather than the productive five decades that followed the break-up.
The McCartney Legacy is a great achievement, extensively researched to correct errors that have become legend, and paints a fascinating portrait of an artist re-creating himself. --Kevin Howell, independent reviewer and marketing consultant