McCartney plans new album, signs with Capitol

Touted as a historic deal, Capitol Records announced Wednesday that it had signed a contract with the 74-year-old Paul McCartney.

The deal incorporates all of McCartney's work since The Beatles disbanded in 1970 - from his 1970 "McCartney" album to his decade with the band Wings, as well as his numerous solo and collaborative projects since then.

"This is genuinely exciting for me," McCartney said in a statement. "Not only was Capitol my first US record label, but the first record I ever bought was Gene Vincent's 'Be-Bop-A-Lula' on the Capitol label."

Los Angeles-based Capitol Records, part of the Universal Music group, said it would be developing a plan to catalogue McCartney's oeuvre. That means it would be moving it from Concord, the musician's previous label partner.

"Paul McCartney's association with Capitol has long defined so much of our historic legacy, and all of us here are extremely proud and honored that he has chosen to come back home," said Capitol Music Group's CEO Steve Barnett.

New album on the way

Capitol also indicated that McCartney is working on a new studio album, without providing any further details. While he told "Rolling Stone" magazine last week that he may need to slow down in the future, that doesn't appear to be happening any time soon.

McCartney has a few concert dates lined up in the US in October and is performing Wednesday and Thursday in Cleveland, where he held a private meeting with Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. She stopped by Cleveland's Quicken Loans Arena ahead of the concert to chat with the star.

kbm/cmk (AFP, AP)