The full Amoeba

Amoeba Gig, soon to come from Paul McCartney.

Amoeba Gig is the first full length commercial release of Paul’s surprise free concert at Hollywood’s Amoeba Music on June 27, 2007. It will see an official release on July 12, 2019 on coloured as well as black 180 gram vinyl, CD and digital/streaming.

Original 4-track 12″ vinyl EP, released 13 November 2007.

Previously, four of the songs saw wide release as the Amoeba’s Secret EP, two of which were nominated for Grammy Awards in 2008: “That Was Me” for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance and “I Saw Her Standing There” for Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance. The other two songs on the EP were “Only Mama Knows” and “C Moon”. The EP sleeve was designed by Paul himself, so the pixilated front cover photo was no mistake.

Some additional songs from the concert appeared on different editions of the Ever Present Past single, as follows:

CD Single

1. Ever Present Past

2. Only Mama Knows (Live from Amoeba)

3. Dance Tonight (Live from Amoeba)

7″ Vinyl

Side A Ever Present Past

Side B House Of Wax (Live from Amoeba)

Digital Bundle (ie iTunes download package)

1. Ever Present Past

2. Only Mama Knows (Live From Amoeba)

3. That Was Me (Live From Amoeba)

So that made six tracks available to the general public. But more tracks were aired on the radio. The Santa Monica public radio station KCRW featured 10 songs as well as an interview with McCartney on their show, “Morning Becomes Eclectic” September 5th, 2007.

Even more songs from this concert, 14 in all, incorporating the ten tracks from KCRW, made their debut in better quality on the Norwegian NRK radio station P1 on the 9th of November, 2007. There they were broadcast one song after another without interruptions. And the radio station also published a web page in English to enable the whole world to listen to the 14 songs. The web page is still there, but the music’s no longer available. The songs played were:

1. Drive My Car

2. Only Mama Knows

3. Dance Tonight

4. C Moon

5. That Was Me

6. Blackbird

7. Here Today

8. Back In The USSR

9. Nod Your Head

10. House of Wax

11. Get Back

12. Hey Jude

13. Lady Madonna

14. I Saw Her Standing There

In January 2009, the original 4-track EP “Amoeba’s Secret” was released in the CD format.

A CD version of the original 4-track EP was released in January 2009.

The CD disc was made to look like a vinyl LP with stickers on the surface.

Then, in January 2010, a 12-track CD from the concert was available for free with the U.K. newspaper Mail on Sunday, titled “Live in Los Angeles – The Extended Set”. All the songs included had previously been aired on the Nrk radio show in 2007.

12-track CD released in 2010 and was a freebie with Mail on Sunday in the U.K.

In Ireland, the CD came free with the Irish Mail On Sunday.

Back of “Mail on Sunday” version.

A couple of years later, in November 2012, the contents of the free Mail on Sunday CD was also made available as mp3 downloads to PaulMcCartney.com premium members  for a limited period of time. Premium membership no longer exists.

But now, come July 12, 2019, the full 21-song recording documenting possibly the most intimate L.A. show Paul has ever played will be made available to the public for the first time. The millions of people not among the luckier than lucky few hundred rubbing elbows with the likes of Ringo Starr, Jeff Lynne, Alanis Morrisette and Woody Harrelson during that once in a lifetime in-store set will be able to get hold of the previously unavailable songs from this concert, like “The Long And Winding Road,” “I’ll Follow The Sun,” “I’ve Got A Feeling,” “Calico Skies,” “Matchbox,” “Baby Face” and additionally, the LP will include an exclusive soundcheck recording of “Coming Up.”

Amoeba Gig has been newly remixed by Paul’s engineer Steve Orchard and will be available in configurations including CD, 2 x 180g black vinyl, and limited edition color vinyl (LP1 – clear, LP2 – hazy amber transparent).

Incidentally, this may be Paul’s only concert since 1989 not to feature Paul “Wix” Wickens. He was busy organising a tribute concert for the late Princess Diana back in London, and was replaced in Paul’s band on this concert by David Arch on keyboards.

Amoeba Gig (CD)

1. Drive My Car

2. Only Mama Knows

3. Dance Tonight

4. C Moon

5. The Long And Winding Road

6. I’ll Follow The Sun

7. Calico Skies

8. That Was Me

9. Blackbird

10. Here Today

11. Back In The USSR

12. Nod Your Head

13. House Of Wax

14. I’ve Got A Feeling

15. Matchbox

16. Get Back

17. Baby Face

18. Hey Jude

19. Let It Be

20. Lady Madonna

21. I Saw Her Standing There

Amoeba Gig (LP)

Side A:

1. Drive My Car

2. Only Mama Knows

3. Dance Tonight

4. C Moon

5. The Long And Winding Road

6. I’ll Follow The Sun

Side B:

1. Calico Skies

2. That Was Me

3. Blackbird

4. Here Today

5. Back In The USSR

6. Nod Your Head

Side C:

1. House Of Wax

2. I’ve Got A Feeling

3. Matchbox

4. Get Back

Side D:

1. Baby Face

2. Hey Jude

3. Let It Be

4. Lady Madonna

5. I Saw Her Standing There

6. Coming Up [Soundcheck]

The Amoeba Gig release is only one of four releases from Paul on July 12, but the other three are re-releases of previously available albums, although “CHOBA B CCCP” and “Paul Is Live” have been remastered at Abbey Road Studios. Strangely, it seems to be the original 11-track version of “CHOBA” which sees re-release, even though this was replaced with a 13 track version in both the Soviet Union in 1988 and in the rest of the world in 1991… Full details are available from Paul’s website.