Paul McCartney announces first album in 5 years

Paul McCartney will be releasing his first studio album in nearly five years which will include his favourite songs.

London: Sir Paul McCartney will be releasing his first studio album in nearly five years which will include his favourite classic American songs.

The 69-year-old rocker sings duets with fellow legends Eric Clapton and Stevie Wonder on the as-yet untitled record. Jazz star Diana Krall and her band will also be featured in the album. Except for two songs, rest of the tracks on the as-yet-unnamed album, which is to be released in February are cover versions. McCartney said that it contains songs which inspired his early compositions with John Lennon, and was something he has longed to do. “In the end it was ‘look, if I don’t do it now, I’ll never do it’,” the Mirror quoted him as saying. “It was about time the songs me and John based quite a few of our things on were given recognition. The musician previously released a covers album in 1999 with his ‘Run Devil Run’ collection of vintage rock ’n’ roll songs. “When I kind of got into songwriting, I realised how well structured these songs were and I think I took a lot of my lessons from them. “I always thought artists like Fred Astaire were very cool. “Writers like Harold Arlen, Cole Porter, all of those guys - I just thought the songs were magical. “And then, as I got to be a songwriter I thought it’s beautiful, the way they made those songs,” he added. The tracklisting for the album has yet to be released. The new album sees Clapton contributing to new song ‘My Valentine’, and Stevie Wonder performs on the other original track ‘Only Our Hearts’. ANI