Colourmania with McCartney III
Red vinyl – with black and white art print
The marketing people have all gone bananas regarding the various colour vinyl editions of the upcoming “McCartney III” LP. Every record chain store have to have their own exclusive colour, seems to have been the motto. Here is a list of variations we have found:
1. Standard LP black vinyl, unlimited
2. Coke bottle colour LP (Spotify) 1.500 copies SOLD OUT (at least in the USA, may still be available in other countries)
3. Green LP (Target in USA) 1.500 copies SOLD OUT
4. Blue LP (HMV in the UK, Fnac in France, JPC in German speaking countries, JB HiFi in Australia, other countries may be getting this variation, too) 1.500 copies (UK)
5. Yellow LP with black dots (Third Man Records) 333 copies SOLD OUT
6. Pink LP (Newbury Comics USA) 1.500 copies
7. Red LP (Third Man Records, also sold through McCartney’s official store) 3000 copies SOLD OUT
8. White LP, numbered with poster (Independent stores, RSD) 4000 copies in USA, 3000 in UK, unknown quantities elsewhere in the world
9. Standard CD, unlimited
10. Target CD USA/JB HiFi Australia (Green die on the cover)
CD edition with green die on the cover, exclusively for Target (USA) and JB HiFi (Australia) and who knows where else.
Some of these numbers may be for the ones sold in the USA, as that has been the policy of Record Store Day for years; just mentioning the copies allocated for the U.S. market, whereas the numbers sold in international markets have been shrouded in secrecy.
The LP comes in a foldout cover with lots of photos, just like the “McCartney” album, but there’s a twist: There are also different photos in the foldout on various editions of the new album. Photos by Mary McCartney, Sonny McCartney and Paul McCartney.
The green vinyl edition from Target, note the different foldout cover compared to the red one above.
The rarest edition, yellow with black dots from Third Man Records are all made of vinyl recycled from the “McCartney” and “McCartney II” vinyl editions. Where did THAT idea come from? Ridiculous prices on ebay for that one at the moment.
Paul plays all the instruments
For the launch, Paul has given an exclusive interview to Loud and Quiet.
Coke bottle colour (Spotify) – note different photos in the foldout, compared to the two shown above.
A track from the album will debut today on BBC Radio 6, and it’s our guess that it will be available as a single for streaming after that. Looking at photos of the label, five song titles have been revealed on side 1 and two on side 2.
Side A
Long Tailed Winter Bird
Find My Way
Pretty Boys
Women and Wives
Lavatory Lil’
Slidin’
Side B
Deep Deep Feeling
When Winter Comes
Seize The Day
Black vinyl, regular edition
¿Ocho canciones? ¡Se ha herniado!
There are more than 8, but these are the titles we know about so far.
I eagerly await the announcement of “McCartney III – Gambler’s Edition” several months from now.
Will only buy the standard black vinyl. It seems that will be the best option for the real cool dudes. I mean music is for the ears.
Way too many versions. And what will the cost be for most of them?
Are all vinyl editions gatefold or foldout with photos inside? (Even the ones with a poster?)
This is very hard to determine, since everything so far are mock-ups for marketing purposes and no product has been made in the physical world yet.
C’est fabuleux, trop hate d’entendre
Some bright spark is listing the yellow one on Ebay for £3333.33. Now I see someone has topped with a price of £4000.
there will be probably more editions see the light of the day when time goes by. maybe after a month or so a home office edition, followed by a social distancing edition and finally with the release of a vaccine for cov19 a vaccination deluxe box. can´t wait.
I am a bit surprised there are not more different color CD covers than just the Target green although that must not be as hot as colored vinyl. It appears non-vinyl buyers will have a hard time to get all the photos with just a standard CD and the Target CD (sold out at the moment).
Going by the poster shown with the yellow 333 edition, there appear to be three inner gatefold sleeve variations. The images from the red Third Man edition make up the top 1/3 of the poster. The images from the green Target editions make up the middle 1/3, and the images from the blue/Spotify “Coke bottle”/standard release mockups fill the bottom 1/3 of the poster. I don’t think there are complete mockups online for the pink Newbury release, leaving that one, assuming it’s a gatefold, a mystery. I’m also assuming the 333 edition is not a gatefold. The 12 x 18 poster included with some editions seems to be the image featuring a black and white photo (Paul playing electric guitar) modeled after the McCartney II inner sleeve.
Now, I can’t wait to hear the album, coming as it does after a long series of excellent McCartney releases. We’re amazingly lucky to still get new music from this guy. Who would have thought 2020 would end on a high note?
P.S. I also have yet to see a gatefold mockup for the white Indie stores edition. With luck, “the poster” promised with this one will be the complete full-color piece described above.
Did anyone else receive a set of 3 dice in the mail? Presume it was for putting in a record order
(order was with JB HiFi here in Australia but the dice came from the US!)
I received one a few days before the album’s official confirmation. My dice arrived by overnight delivery, with a Capitol PR return address. I’m impressed they mailed these to Australia.
I ordered the spotify coke bottle colour from Australia. I’m hoping I get the dice.
There are 10 album tracks, according to McCartney’s web site. It looks like “Winter Bird” is missing from the vinyl track list shown above.
https://www.the-paulmccartney-project.com/album/mccartney-iii/
Scratch that.
It wasn’t the official Macca site. And the song appears to be a duplicate of “Long Tailed Winter Bird.”
A warning to purchasers of the green Target edition. A month after ordering this, I received an email alerting me that the release date had been pushed back a week. No action required. We thank you for ordering from Target. Today, I checked to see when it would ship, only to learn the order had been canceled without notification a few days after that last email. This was confirmed when I chatted online with a rep who didn’t understand why I had not been notified. These multiple issues are a punishment for collectors and fans.
Standard black edition is the best.