It's pretty remarkable that we're coming up to the 50th anniversary of Paul McCartney's debut album as a solo performer.

That's not counting the years he spent with The Beatles; all in all, he's been a recording artist for 57 years.

McCartney was 28 when he released 'McCartney' in 1970 and now he's planning on marking the milestone with a new album.

'McCartney III', his 18th solo record, will be released on December 11th and was self-produced and self-recorded, while he also plays every instrument on the album.

A press release stated that he hadn't 'planned to release an album in 2020', but lockdown - or as he put it, 'rockdown' - proved creatively fruitful for him.

“I was living lockdown life on my farm with my family and I would go to my studio every day,” he explained. 'I had to do a little bit of work on some film music and that turned into the opening track and then when it was done I thought what will I do next? I had some stuff I’d worked on over the years but sometimes time would run out and it would be left half-finished so I started thinking about what I had.

"Each day I’d start recording with the instrument I wrote the song on and then gradually layer it all up, it was a lot of fun. It was about making music for yourself rather than making music that has to do a job. So, I just did stuff I fancied doing. I had no idea this would end up as an album.”

Watch the trailer for 'McCartney III' below: