2.5 out of 5, saying: "McCartney is dabbling in each of his strengths, just to see what works. It doesn't wind up as one of his stronger albums, but it's more interesting than some of his more consistent ones, and those aforementioned cuts demonstrate that he could still cut effective pop records when he put his mind to it." In a review for the Chicago Tribune, critic Lynn Van Matre wrote of the album: "No doubt about it, this is McCartney's most rocking album in ages. Much of it's catchy, most of it's fun, and it's superior to McCartney's efforts of recent years." In the Los Angeles Times, Terry Atkinson praised "Press" as "a sprightly, sunny delight – one of the most playful, positive pop songs ever written about the joy of sex and its link with love", but opined that overall "the album finds McCartney as lost as usual and Stewart of little help". Atkinson concluded: "'Press to Play,' though it shows some signs of recovery, is basically just another in a long line (over 12 years!) of post-'Band on the Run' letdowns by a once almost unimaginably creative artist." More recently, Kit O'Toole of Blogcritics has contended that much of the album belongs among McCartney's "most ambitious work" and that the adventurousness of the project is unfairly overlooked. O'Toole adds: "Press to Play, along with McCartney II, arguably laid the foundation for his future musical experiments under the name The Fireman (particularly the first two albums, Strawberries Oceans Ships Forest and Rushes)." Track listing Personnel Musicians Paul McCartney – lead vocals, backing vocals, acoustic piano, keyboards, synthesizers, acoustic and electric guitars, bass guitar Nick Glennie-Smith – keyboards Eddie Rayner – keyboards Eric Stewart – keyboards, acoustic guitar, electric guitars, harmony vocals Simon Chamberlain – acoustic piano, electric grand piano Carlos Alomar – acoustic guitar, electric guitars Pete Townshend – electric guitars (9) Jerry Marotta – drums, percussion Graham Ward – drums, percussion Phil Collins – drums and percussion (9) Ray Cooper – percussion Dick Morrissey – tenor saxophone Lenny Pickett – alto saxophone, tenor saxophone Gary Barnacle – saxophone John Bradbury – violin Gavyn Wright – violin Nigel Kennedy – violin solo (15) Tony Visconti – orchestral arrangements (5) Anne Dudley – orchestral arrangements (10) Kate Robbins – harmony vocals Ruby James – harmony vocals Linda McCartney – harmony vocals, spoken word (3) James McCartney – spoken word