In the aftermath of The Beatles' earth-shattering 1970 breakup, each member of the Fab 4 started solo careers in their own lane. John Lennon chose self-reflective, stripped-down songs about vulnerability and his love for Yoko Ono. George Harrison released the epic triple album All Things Must Pass, steeped in spirituality and warnings against the dark forces in life. Ringo Starr leveraged his affable personality by recording pop standards and country songs to surprising success.

Much was expected of Paul McCartney as a solo artist, but his early work, drawn heavily from his new life in the Scottish countryside with his wife, Linda, was often dismissed as superficial compared with that of his former bandmates, Lennon and Harrison. It also didn't help that, after the breakup, McCartney bore the brunt of the criticism for the band's demise because he was the first to go public with the news.

In 1973, he was given a TV special that aired in the U.S. and the UK, allowing him to showcase his full range of talents as an entertainer. The special featured a Busby Berkeley–style musical number, a segment introducing his new band, Wings, and a performance of "Mary Had a Little Lamb" in a bucolic country setting.

Unfortunately, McCartney's special did little to change critics' minds. "McCartney has always had an eye and ear for full-blown romanticism, and nothing wrong with that, but here he too often lets it get out of hand, and it becomes over-blown and silly," Melody Maker wrote.

Nestled within the spectacle was a quiet acoustic performance in which McCartney played four songs from his Beatles and solo careers: "Blackbird," "Bluebird," "Michelle," and "Heart of the Country," showcasing his angelic voice and remarkable fingerpicking. He is also joined by his wife, Linda (a famous photographer), who sings a lovely harmony with him while she takes photos. The simple medley is a wonderful example of McCartney's musical skill, blending his past and present. It's also worth noting that in most of The Beatles' public performances, McCartney played bass guitar or piano. Here, he shows that he was a virtuoso on the acoustic guitar as well.

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History would prove McCartney's early critics wrong. Later that year, he released "Live and Let Die," the theme for the James Bond film of the same name, which became an international hit. By the end of the year, Wings released their third album, Band on the Run, which became McCartney's biggest-selling post-Beatles album and featured massive hits such as the title track, "Jet," and "Let Me Roll It."

McCartney and Wings would go on to have tremendous success throughout the decade, both on the charts and with audiences, including a 1975-76 tour that played 66 shows worldwide.

Over the years, critics would reevaluate McCartney's early releases, especially McCartney (1970) and Ram (1971).

"What's interesting to me is that Ram has now come to be heralded as a masterpiece, with younger generations recognizing its loose performances and off-handed charm as its own form of brilliance," Pop Matters notes.

James Paul McCartney was never released on home video, but was issued on DVD as part of the Red Rose Speedway super deluxe boxed set in 2018.

You can watch the entire special below:

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Ribal Zebian, a student from the city of London in Ontario, Canada, already made headlines last year when he built an electric car out of wood and earned a $120,000 scholarship from it. Now, he's in the news again for something a little different. Concerned with homelessness in his hometown, Zebian got to work creating a different kind of affordable housing made from fiberglass material. In fact, he’s so confident in his idea that the 18-year-old plans on living in it for a year to test it out himself.

Currently an engineering student at Western University, Zebian was concerned by both the rising population of the unhoused in his community and the rising cost of housing overall. With that in mind, he conjured up a blueprint for a modular home that would help address both problems.

Zebian’s version of a modular home would be made of fiberglass panels and thermoplastic polyethylene terephthalate (PET) foam. He chose those materials because he believes they can make a sturdy dwelling in a short amount of time—specifically in just a single day.

“With fiberglass you can make extravagant molds, and you can replicate those,” Zebian told CTV News. “It can be duplicated. And for our roofing system, we’re not using the traditional truss method. We’re using actually an insulated core PET foam that supports the structure and structural integrity of the roof.”

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Zebian also believes these homes don’t have to be purely utilitarian—they can also offer attractive design and customizable features to make them personal and appealing.

“Essentially, what I’m trying to do is bring a home to the public that could be built in one day, is affordable, and still carries some architecturally striking features,” he said to the London Free Press. “We don’t want to be bringing a house to Canadians that is just boxy and that not much thought was put into it.”

Beginning in May 2026, Zebian is putting his modular home prototype to the test by living inside of a unit for a full year with the hope of working out any and all kinks before approaching manufacturers.

“We want to see if we can make it through all four seasons- summer, winter, spring, and fall,” said Zebian. “But that’s not the only thing. When you live in something that long and use it, you can notice every single mistake and error, and you can optimize for the best experience.”

While Zebian knows that his modular homes aren't a long-term solution to either the homeless or housing crisis, he believes they could provide an inexpensive option to help people get the shelter they need until certain policies are reformed so the unhoused can........

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