The Beatles: 10 Perfect Solo Albums

There would be no reason why Paul McCartney would need to prove anything by the early '00s. For all of the classic songs that he had on his own and with the Beatles, most artists of his caliber would have either retired from music altogether or started coaxing off of nostalgia. Macca was still interested in where his muse would take him though, and Chaos and Creation in the Backyard made be one of the more unique albums that he has ever made.

Going back to the mentality of the homemade albums like his self titled debut, Paul got in touch with Radiohead's producer Nigel Godrich, who really brings his signature touch to this record. While this isn't the kind of thing that you'd find on Kid A, there's a lot more atmosphere in the background of these songs, with a song like How Kind of You being very much in tune with the more rock leaning cuts from the In Rainbows era. Even without the added production though, there's a little something here for every stripe of Paul fan.

Sticking primarily to piano, this album might be one of his strongest set of songs since the '80s, including romps like Fine Line, 'granny' music on English Tea, and some acoustic tunes like Jenny Wren, which hits just as hard as Blackbird did all those years ago. Paul was already miles past his Beatle days, but this might be the closest to what a modern day version of that magic could have sounded like.