Hear St. Vincent, Josh Homme, Phoebe Bridgers, Khruangbin radically rework Paul McCartney tracks

McCartney III Imagined, the all-star collaborative remix of Paul McCartney’s recent McCartney III album, is released today via Capitol Records – and it’s an absolute treat for guitarists.

Alongside previously released tracks from Radiohead’s Ed O’Brien, Dominic Fike and Beck, today’s release showcases remixes from St. Vincent, Queens of the Stone Age’s Josh Homme, Phoebe Bridgers and Khruangbin for the first time.

St. Vincent tackles Women and Wives, transforming it from a piano ballad into a Portishead-esque trip-hop masterpiece, complete with a bluesy pentatonic solo – a rarity for Annie Clark.

There are similar six-string thrills from Josh Homme’s distinctly QOTSA take on Lavatory Lil, which is awash with his grinding guitar and bass tones, wailing overdubs and a lead that echoes George Harrison.

Bridgers, meanwhile, takes Seize the Day far from its Hello, Goodbye-style origins, with an orchestral epic that foregrounds psychedelic Leslie’d electrics and ethereal synths.

And Khruangbin manage to completely transform Pretty Boys into, well, a Khruangbin song, which moulds Mark Speer’s masterful modulation and delay lines into a trippy counterpoint to McCartney’s familiar vocal.

Other artists featured on McCartney III Imagined include Blood Orange, Damon Albarn, Anderson .Paak and 3D RDN.

Released in December 2020, the original McCartney III album is the third in Macca’s series of home-made and self-titled records, and was written, recorded and produced in isolation by the Beatles legend.

McCartney III Imagined is available to stream and buy now.