Egypt Station – the full range

Egypt Station from Paul McCartney is to be released on 7. September. And then some.

Unless you have been hiding under a rock, you will have been informed that the word is out: Paul McCartney’s new album is called “Egypt Station“, and will be out on 7 September on Capitol Records, the company he signed a worldwide deal with in 2016. The two tracks that were released as downloads, streams and YouTube videos on June 20th, the rocking “Come On To Me” and the ballad “I Don’t Know” will be released as a vinyl 45 rpm single late this summer. We have been told that these two tracks will be tracks 2 and 3 on the upcoming album, following the instrumental track, “Station 1”.

So far, a number of variations of the albums have been announced, but there are more to come, and this will probably be the McCartney album available in more editions than any other album of his.

Capitol Records have never shied away from marketing.

Egypt Station has been recorded in studios in Los Angeles, London and Paul’s own studio “The Mill” in Sussex, and is produced by Greg Kurstin (Adele, Beck and Foo Fighters), except for one song, “Fuh You”, produced by Ryan Tedder. Tedder actually produced three songs for Paul, but “Fuh You” is the only one of those who made the album. The instrumentals “Station 1” and “Station 2” bookend the album. Other songs mentioned in the press release: an acoustic “Happy With You”, a slogan anthem “People Want Peace”, and a seven minute long suite along the lines of “A Day In The Life,” “Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey,” “Back Seat of My Car,” or “Band On The Run,” called “Despite Repeated Warnings”. More song titles have not been revealed.

In a new interview, McCartney said that playing in the tiny Philharmonic pub in Liverpool gave him the urge to play more of these kind of concerts in July, after which he will move on to bigger productions, so it’s likely that means another stage of his tour. Be on the lookout for those pub concerts!

The “Target” edition containing two extra tracks.

On Paul McCartney’s YouTube-channel are lyric videos for the two songs that were released as a single.

Okay, so we promised a breakdown of the full array of editions of the album, here goes:

• An album with 16 tracks as download
• 140 gram black double vinyl, single jacket with 16 tracks (14 songs + 2 interludes)
• Same on coloured double vinyl 
• Same from Barnes & Noble on coloured double vinyl, likely a unique colour to this store
• From Spotify and other stream providers 
• 180 gram black deluxe double vinyl unique tri-gatefold packaging with 16 tracks
• Same, on coloured double vinyl
• CD with 16 tracks
• CD with 18 tracks, but only from physical stores
• Target (USA) / HMV (UK) edition with two extra tracks
• Luxury boxed set with 26 tracks and various ephemera (Coming in October)
• And when that one sells out, expect a re-release without the ephemera

Oh, and we guess there’s going to be high resolution files from select download providers and probably shm-cds in Japan. Actually, when it comes to vinyl, we have previously found that the 140 gram British pressings from the sixties of Beatles albums surpass the deluxe 180 gram albums of late, in fidelity and resistance of crackling.

There will be both 140 and 180 gram editions on vinyl, and colour variations of both.

Furthermore, what with all these releases and “White album” from The Beatles in November, we are not expecting to see the archive editions of “Wings Wild Life” and “Red Rose Speedway” this side of Christmas. But then of course, we could be wrong, and hope we are.