Advance CD | Beatles Blog

Just back from a holiday in Europe where we picked up some Beatle and Beatle-related treasure along the way. This is the next instalment about what we found in France…

Last time we were in Paris (in 2012) we visited a great second-hand vinyl store in the Sorbonne area called Crocodisc (they’re at 42 Rue des Ecoles, Paris 5e) where we picked up some nice Beatle vinyl.

What we found this time though was a collectable Paul McCartney and Wings CD.

It’s the limited edition Advance Release of Venus and Mars. This came out in 2014 to promote the then latest instalment in the Paul McCartney Archive Collection series:

You can’t tell from the front cover that it is in any way different to the two CD Standard Edition of Venus and Mars (for which we have the Best Buy version, and which came with a limited edition vinyl single – and a different catalogue number).

However when you flip over the cover of the Advance Release there’s reference to a third disc in this set called “Bonus Film”:

Also, on the CD cover spine there are the words “Advance Release”:

The Advance Release also has a different catalogue number: HRM-35652ADV.

When you open out the triple gatefold cover this is what you see. On the first fold out on the left are the album credits, and on the right an advertisement for the three different, official versions (Deluxe CD, Standard CD and vinyl):

Then when you flip that open this is the inside of the set, fully open:

It contains three discs. Two CD’s and one DVD, each carrying the words “For promotional use only. Not for sale”:

The two CDs are exactly the same in content as the Standard Edition, while the DVD contains four short films: Recording My Carnival; Bon Voyageur; Wings at Elstree; and the Venus and Mars TV Ad. These are the same as those featured on the DVD which comes in the Deluxe version of Venus and Mars.

By way of providing a side-by-side comparison here’s the packaging for the Standard Edition CD: