Album: Paul McCartney, Kisses on the Bottom (Mercury/Hear Music)

Why, Paul, why? The flinch-inducing title, lifted from Fats Waller's "I'm Going to Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter", suggests that McCartney lacks anyone to tell him when he's had a terrible idea.

That song is the opener of a set of 12 covers and two originals. No expense has been spared in giving them an authentically vintage feel: to paraphrase Dolly, it costs a lot of money to sound this cheap. He used to be in The Beatles so if we don't like it, we can kiss his bottom.