As a Beatle, Paul McCartney had a direct hand in pushing rock 'n' roll. Before that, people (including McCartney's father) listened to Irving Berlin and Frank Loesser.

McCartney's done plenty of genres and "Kisses on the Bottom" — a reference to writing Xs and Os from the song "I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter" — is his tribute to jazz standards.

You know the style: Spritely played jazz piano, stand-up bass, string arrangements and a hint of percussion. McCartney doesn't put any kind of spin on them. They're as faithfully rendered as versions of these songs by Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra and Patsy Cline.

Only two songs on the album are by McCartney himself: "Only Our Hearts" and "My Valentine." And this pair of songs aren't brand new pop gems from a former Beatle.

They're good — what else do you expect from McCartney? — but they're more like the other jazz standards on the album.

"My Valentine" has sweet interplaying melodies from acoustic guitar and piano. "Only Our Hearts" starts with swooning strings and a flute melody and is followed by McCartney's love-lamenting lyrics.