Off the Ground

Paul McCartney's 1990s was an era like no other, perhaps even the most significant decade of his entire career after the 1960s. Following a shakier 1980s, the decade would see McCartney re-emerge with greater energy, momentum, and self-belief. J. R. Moores' sympathetic but not uncritical new book explores McCartney's 90s, with its impressive studio and live albums, colossal tours, unexpected side projects, and imaginative collaborations, forays into classical composition, some new Beatles numbers and a whole lot more besides.

Moores reveals how McCartney's reputation began to be perceived more generously by the public, and argues that Macca's output and activities in the 90s were to uncover more about the person behind them than any other decade.

Moores has the keys to understanding McCartney—he conveys with ease his music's joy, spontaneity, willingness to mess about, and that special melodic knack that no one else in the world has access to. Off the Ground is a wonderful, engrossing book, full of entertaining digressions, that carefully puts McCartney's '90s work in context with Britpop (and the Dadrock that followed) as well as his own legacy. The best, and most enjoyable, book on McCartney I've ever read.' - Bob Stanley, musician, journalist, and author of Let's Do It: The Birth of Pop and Bee Gees: Children of the World

'Moores contaminates you with obsession. He is a quite brilliant fascinator, and whatever he has been obsessed with will soon obsess you too. I had barely listened to McCartney's work of the '90s until I picked this book up—now I can't leave it alone.' - Robin Ince, comedian, writer, and broadcaster

'Moores is one of my very favourite writers plying this tawdry trade today. Every time he publishes something—a review, a column, a four-word tweet—I race to read it. This whole book on Paul McCartney's 1990s (though, of course, it is about so much more) is a treat beyond treats. Very funny, clever, intrepid, audacious and many more adjectives besides. A joy to read, as his work always is.' - Jude Rogers, journalist, broadcaster, and author of The Sound of Being Human: How Music Shapes Our Lives