McCartney Archive Series Wish list
Amongst the plethora of new Beatles and solo-Beatles releases, the McCartney releases are being given a facelift, courtesy of his new Concorde label, and they have selected Band on The Run
The album will be made available in four physical formats, as a single CD with no bonus tracks (even omitting “Helen Wheels“, which was on the original american album back in 1973 and ever after on the US re-releases), as a 2CD+1DVD, as a Deluxe edition with 3CD’s, one DVD and a hardcover book and as a double vinyl album.
Word is, the “One Hand Clapping” film is complete, apart from the omission of the song “Suicide”. The picture quality is good, but the audio is a bit murky. I guess “Suicide” has been snipped out and held over for inclusion on the “McCartney” volume of the series. But we should be happy to get so much of the “One Hand Clapping” film, because Concorde originally thought that they should just include the “Band on the Run”-songs from the film. Had it not been for one McCartney fan who was involved in the project, that’s what would have happened.
WogBlog is sincerely hoping that the “Band On The Run” release will set the standard for the series, we are hoping that all the upcoming new McCartney remasters will follow the same pattern. If they do, what should we expect? Here’s our wish list for bonus material on a few of the upcoming albums in the series:
– McCartney (1970): the DVD should include a new documentary, “The Making of McCartney”, featuring clips of “Suicide” from the One Hand Clapping film (1974), as well as the “Maybe I’m Amazed” original promo clip (1970), “Every Night” and “Hot As Sun” from the Kampuchea concert (1979), “That Would Be Something” and “Junk” from MTV Unplugged (1991) and “Teddy Boy” from Let It Be (1969). Bonus tracks on CD 2should include “Indeed I Do”, “Rode All Night”, “Sunshine, Sometime”, “When The Wind Is Blowing”, “Every Night (take 1)” and others.
– Ram (1971): The DVD should have a new “the making of Ram” documentary, featuring the promo films for “3 Legs” and “Heart of the Country”, “Eat At Home” and “Smile Away” live clips from the Wings 1972 concerts, “Too Many People” from The Space Within US DVD and “Ram On” from the current tour. Among the bonus tracks: the full “Brung To Ewe By” EP, “Another Day” and “Oh Woman Oh Why”. A second CD should hold the Ram mono mix.
– Wings Wild Life (1971) The bonus DVD should have the ICA rehearsals film as well as concert footage from the 1972 “Wings Over Europe” tour (as seen in the “Paul McCartney Special” VHS film, mis-labeled as 1973 footage). The hardcover book should reprint the 1972 tour programme and add studio session photos, alternate photos from the photo session for the front cover as well as photos from the “Wings Over Europe” tour. A nice touch would be to include the yellow “Wings Over Europe” poster, which accompanied some copies of the LP sold during the tour.
– Red Rose Speedway (1973) should be the double album it was originally planned to be, the bonus DVD should contain both the “James Paul McCartney” TV special as well as the unreleased “Bruce McMouse Show“.
– Venus and Mars (1975) should be accompanied by a DVD with the new “Making of” documentary, featuring footage from New Orleans as well as the promo clips for “Letting Go” and “Venus and Mars/Rockshow”, the pool table album promo plus songs from the Melbourne concert that was televised in Japan at the time.
– At the Speed of Sound (1976) should have the “Wings Over The World” TV documentary on DVD.
– Wings Over America (1976) Bonus DVD: the complete theatrical version of “Rockshow” in a new transfer. ‘Nuff said!
– London Town (1977) Bonus DVD with whatever home video footage from the recording sessions McCartney can muster, the promos for “London Town”, “With A Little Luck” and “I’ve Had Enough“, video for “Mull of Kintyre” and footage from the studio (as seen in the “South Bank Show“).
– Back To The Egg (1979) with bonus DVD: the “Back To The Egg” TV special, the unreleased full length “Rockestra” film and the full length Wings and Rockestra parts of the “Rock For Kampuchea” concert film.
Yes, we’re dreaming. Feel free to add to these and expand your dreams to the rest of the McCartney catalogue if you like, in the comments section.
With all this released, I wouldn't even bother with the rest of McCartney's catalog! 🙂
For me the best thing is to find real outtake from every Mccartney album, especially for albums like "Mccartney" and "Ram" because there are few tracks bootlegged about it.
I would like to here a take 1 of "Dear boy" of "Man we was lonely" etc!
I'd change the added material a bit.
McCartney would have home movie footage from the farm (clip seen in Wingspan), plus the marriage news, breakup of The Beatles, etc. on the DVD, with the added CD containing some earlier takes and home demos prior to Ram sessions starting.
Ram would be the stereo mix on CD1, the mono mix with the "How Do You Like The Lyrics?" bit on CD2, a third disc with "Rode All Night," "A Love For You," "Hey Diddle," the two Rupert cuts, the two Red Rose Speedway cuts held for the next album, the instrumental mix of "Back Seat Of My Car," and both regular and promo mixes of the "Another Day" single. The DVD would have promos and clips, along with the home movie from which the "Bip Bop" medley on Wingspan comes from.
Wild Life would be the album on CD1, the first two 1972 singles on disc 2 along with the alternate mix of "Mary Had A Little Lamb," "Great Cock And Seagull" (which was played on radio but not released) and some rehearsal takes, with CD3 being Wings Over Europe cuts that didn't make studio recordings. The DVD would have the tour rehearsal for sure.
Red Rose Speedway would be huge: CD1 is the album, CD2 is the intended second album cuts plus the "Live And Let Die" single, CD3 would be Newcastle 1973 complete, and the DVD would be James Paul McCartney.
Venus And Mars would be CD1, CD2 would be selected cuts from the piano tape, Paris sessions (full "Wide Prairie", "Proud Mum"), and Nashville sessions (including the two singles). CD3 would be the two live cuts from the 75 tour which didn't make 76, and the complete Backyard. The DVD would have New Orleans footage, the promos — AND the complete Backyard film.
Speed Of Sound would be CD1. CD2 would be alternate takes like those floating around the 'net, and soundchecks. CD3 would be the tour rehearsals. DVD would be Linda's two animated shorts, clips announcing the tour, and rehearsal footage.
Wings Over America would be the same CD1 and CD2. CD3 would be interviews from the tour. DVD1 would be Rockshow, since that is the 76 tour! DVD2 would have Wings Over The World.
London Town is CD1. CD2 is "Waterspout," "Mull Of Kintyre" with "Girls' School," "Did We Meet Somewhere Before?" and some of the outtakes from the Jamaican Bay sessions. CD3 would be the Rupert album from 1978 which never got released. The DVD is the promos and home movies from the time.
Back To The Egg is CD1. CD2 is "Cage," the Denny Laine-led "Getting Closer," both versions of "Goodnight Tonight" and its B-side, "Wonderful Christmastime," and some of the sessions outtakes. CD3 would be rehearsals for the next leg ("Ballroom Dancing," "Rainclouds," "Robber's Ball," "Eleanor Rigby," "Hey Jude") and the Kampuchea tracks. The DVD would be the video film, and some tour footage.
And then there's the solo years… 😉
So much for my 'vow of poverty'…This info is new to me and, ALTHOUGH HELPFUL, I can't help but thinking that Paul is still 'competing' with John (Signature Box). Is this an official signal to throw the whole "Paul McCartney Collection" (last reissued catalog) in the trash. I think somebody is going to ruin their own credibility when taken in context of the 'value of a U.S. dollar'! I hope not!
Oh well, I have two weeks to get ready. Hey, everybody, watch me pull a wallet out of this rabbit!!!
…like the beginning of TooManyPeople – "Piece Of Cake"…
We will see!!!
I pretty much agree with having any pertinent material from each album's era being added. I don't see any point to having a later live version of something alongside the original album.
CCRider, I must agree that the seventies stuff is what I'd most like to add to – I have a feeling the leftovers from later years may be weaker.
Good selection, Brian!
Kwai, maybe BOTR is the only album to get the "deluxe" treatment… anyway I'm just getting the 3 disc set, which isn't going to ruin me.
wardo, precedense has been set by the BOTR 25th anniversary disc 2 (which magically reappears as disc 4 on the deluxe upcoming remaster).
Kwai: Paul's not competing with John, he's competing with Bruce and David. Check out EMI's handling of Bowie's Station To Station or Columbia's handling of Darkness On The Edge Of Town (from relatively the same period) and you'll also see multiple disc versions of a single album.
That John's catalogue is being remastered has more to do — in my mind, anyway — with Yoko wanting to tie the Beatles legacy to John, putting his box set between theirs and their discoveries (the Apple set) on his birthday.
And yes, this will finally replace the 1993 masters which were poorly done from the start, but it will be done slowly.
Concord was told to start with McCartney and they went with the better known Band On The Run first. But they know there's a lot more in the McCartney vaults that fans want, since their handling of Paul from 2007 onwards saw the release of the DVD set The McCartney Years and the deluxe editions of his last three albums with as much as they could stick on with it — as well as the automatic digital download while you're waiting for the physical copy to arrive.
Hi Brian, excellent wishlist and set up for "the Paul McCartney Archive Collection", while I'm not the biggest Macca/Wings fan, but from doing research of other Macca bootlegs and recording information along with the fact that they should "Get it right", if they can, I have some suggestions for the lists of bonus material for the albums…
For "McCartney", I know that Demo Paul did for Badfinger "Come and Get It" was done during late Summer 1969 and I know there was an unreleased mix of it that has appeared on some Beatles bootlegs, can it (if it's really different or actual) be included WITH McCartney???
For "RAM", can "LITTLE WOMAN LOVE" be included THERE, NOT "WILD LIFE" I found out through an article that it was actually recorded DURING the "Ram" sessions and NOT Late 1971/Early 1972, I know it's a bit nit-picky, but it's a suggestion..
For "WILD LIFE" can it include the instrumental version of "Give Ireland…" for the bonus tracks, please?
For "RRS" can Linda's song "Seaside Woman" (I know it's a Linda song, but a really good one!) be included? Also despite the fact that "Country Dreamer" was included with BOTR releases, can it still be included along with "Mama's Little Girl", I know it's very nit-picky, but they WERE INTENDED for the Double Album Version of "RRS" and it would feel good to complete the album the way it was meant to be.
For "Venus and Mars", can it PLEASE include The "Party" mix of "My Carnival", "Junior's Farm (The FULL Single Version), Sally G, Walking in the Park with Eloise, Bridge on the River Suite…??
I know the last the four weren't recorded in the same "genre" as "V&M", but it feel good to put it on a album where it was recorded during the original sessions in 1974/1975 AND NOT ON "Wings at the Speed of Sound", since it was a 1976! Album, and I'm sorry again if I'm being even more nitpicky, but the 1993 Collection series blew it for me!
For "Wings at the Speed of Sound" Bonus Tracks on the Audio Disc, can the Promo Remixes of "Silly Love Songs" and "Let 'Em In" be included (the ones done for the 2001 Wingspan Promo Disc)
and "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reggae" (Yes it WAS recorded in 1976, not during the 1979 McCartney II Sessions, from what I've heard)
For "Back to the Egg", can it please include the rare McCartney film song "Same Time Next Year" which I heard was recorded in the early stages of "BTTE", I really wanna hear it remastered!
Also can you include the alternate versions of "Getting Closer", one with Denny Laine singing and
include a High Quality Stereo Recording of over an hour (!) of Back to the Egg Album Rehearsals on Disc 2 and Disc 3 be the Special/Concerts
Also about "Wild Life", "Wings at the Speed..", "McCartney II", since those albums we're ehh OK to most users, I don't really want them to have too many bonuses other than extra songs and one DVD, (I'm basing this on the usual ratings the albums get from the PEOPLE, not critics, from rateyourmusic.com which I used as a resource")
I'd rather have the Wings Concert from 1972 be released separate OR with RRS with the TV Special, intended Double Album tracks, also I feel the 1979/1991 renditions of "McCartney" songs shouldn't be include for the DVD of that album, since they weren't recorded during that "period", but be with other DVDs or whatever, but those are just MY thoughts, feel free to criticize my decisions.
These are my suggestions, Brian, and I hope they get put into consideration, if any, and thanks for looking it if you can.
Hello again, Brian Fried. Thank you for all of the excellent info. It was very helpful. Do you have any info about the sequence the titles will be released in? Also, how slow is slow?
Keep in mind that the concert footage from the 1972 "Wings Over Europe" tour (as seen in the "Paul McCartney Special" VHS film) is taken from the unreleased film The Bruce McMouse Show. So they are both from the same source.
Paul was wanting to release a 'new' Wings single to promote the boxset when that was still the plan so I wonder if they'll try something like that for certain albums.
Kwai —
I don't know the exact release dates. However, I found it very interesting that Band On The Run mentions McCartney, Ram and McCartney II next, since they were the next three released by Columbia back in the day.
Entwistle: according to the book Eight Arms, "Rudolf The Red-Nosed Reggae" dates back to 72, as does "Seaside Woman" and "Bridge Over The River Suite." With regards to "Little Woman Love," though, keep in mind that Wild Life was recorded in a week with any songs Paul had completed, and a few new songs — "Soily" and "The Mess" — were done after the singles. For me, I'd keep the Christmas single together, keep "Country Dreamer" where it is only because of the need for Band On The Run material, and say that "Little Woman Love" should be with the Wild Life re-release because that should have the two follow up singles as they were PLUS the material written for the tour.
cb70: weren't you one of the people involved in the potential Wings box set? If so, do you think that we'll ever see these come to light?
I'm wondering what stopped them from using Bruce MacMouse footage in the Wingspan documentary? Instead, they went out amomg fans and asked them to send in amateur footage from the same tour…