Like collectors across the globe, we’ve bemoaned the fact that there will be a whole CD’s worth of demos only available as digital downloads if you buy Paul McCartney’s forthcoming Flowers In The Dirt Deluxe Edition box set.
However, there will still be some good things in a physical form on CD and vinyl. One example has just gone up on McCartney’sYouTube page. He’s posted a preview of a previously unreleased song called ‘Twenty Fine Fingers (Original Demo)’, featuring Elvis Costello, that will be included with the 4-disc box set. It’s also to be included on the 2-disc “Special” edition, and on the re-issued double LP.
With the release of the Paul McCartney Archive Series versions of Tug of War and Pipes of Peace just over one week away now there doesn’t appear to be much in the way of any “added extra” special releases associated with either re-issue.
McCartney has in the past stitched up deals with big retailers like Target or Best Buy (in the US) to include extra discs or bonus materials exclusive to those stores – for the Archive Series and also some of his more recent solo efforts. A quick look around the web today reveals that (so far) it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen this time around.
Only Best Buy is advertising a free “collectable” tote bag with the purchase of either title….
The next two instalments in the long-running Paul McCartney Archive Series, personally supervised my Paul McCartney himself, will be the albums Tug of War and Pipes of Peace.
As for past releases in the series these will both be issued as Special Edition double CDs, in a Deluxe edition with DVDs, books and inserts, and also as double LP vinyl sets:
The big change this time around will be the addition (just for Tug of War) of a Super Deluxe Edition, with the same content as the Tug of War Deluxe set but with a limited edition red acrylic outer cover and five hand numbered Linda McCartney photo prints included. This will be limited to 1000 copies worldwide:
There’ll also be a variety of digital downloads in high and low res – some with the bonus content and some without.
All are due for release on October 2. Here are two promo videos showing what’s inside:
It’s taken a while to feature these latest Paul McCartney and Wings items because of the convoluted process involved in securing copies for the collection.
These are the Best Buy limited editions of the latest Paul McCartney Archive series of CDs. The CD’s themselves are the standard US triple gatefold two-disc sets consisting of the remastered album on one CD, plus a Bonus Audio CD of rare tracks. Here’s Venus and Mars:
And here’s Wings at the Speed of Sound:
But as you can see by the stickers on the front of each – these were sold with a voucher inside to receive a bonus, limited edition 7″ 45 single – one from each album. The difficult (and time consuming part) for collectors living outside the USA was that these singles (reportedly limited to 5,000 copies each) were only available to customers of the Best Buy chain who were US residents. The process is that you mail back the voucher with a small postage and handling fee included, and Best Buy then mails you a picture cover replica of an original vinyl single from either album. Residents outside the States had to find an accomodating Ebay seller who would do this – and then post the whole lot to you…..hence the delay in being able to show these items on this blog…..ours have finally arrived.
For Venus and Mars the vinyl single is ‘Letting Go’/’You Gave Me the Answer’ (not ‘Venus and Mars/’Rock Show’ as original advertised by Best Buy back in October last year):And from Wings at the Speed of Sound its ‘Let ‘Em In’/’Beware My Love’:
Both these vinyl singles have front covers which are replicas of the originals, but the rear covers are dedicated to promoting the 2014 reissues of the Archive Collection CDs. And as you can see in the photos (if you look closely) there’s a sticker on the rear of each saying “Made in Germany”. It appears that subsequent to the Best Buy deal these singles were also made available in limited numbers to some independent record stores in Europe and the UK.
As with previous releases in this series, inside both CDs is a small paper insert advertising what could be the next two releases in the Archive Series Tug of War and Pipes of Peace:
The other thing to note is that both the Venus and Mars and the Wings at the Speed of Sound Best Buy CDs have stickers pasted over the originals with different barcode/UPC numbers to the usual releases. These are 88072 36382 3 and 88072 36383 0 respectively. The non-Best Buy discs are 88072 35650 4 and 888072 35671 9.
For a video of how Venus and Mars and Wings At the Speed of Sound are packaged, the booklets, etc. have look at these YouTube clips prepared by Jose Miguel Grey:
The long-expected official announcement of the next two instalments in the Paul McCartney Archive Collection has just been made.
Paul McCartney and Wings’ Venus and Mars (1975) and At The Speed of Sound (1976) will both be issued on 22 September in the UK and 23 September in the US, slotting into an already crowded Beatles and related release schedule for September:
Both albums will be available in a variety of physical and digital formats:
The Standard Editions will be a 2 CD set featuring the original albums remastered, plus a second CD of bonus material including demos and previously un-released tracks.
The Deluxe Editions will each contain 2 CDs plus a DVD, housed in a numbered hardback book featuring new articles, interviews, photographs, facsimile archive inserts and expanded track-by-track information. The DVD will feature material filmed at the time of each album’s release, some of which is previously unseen.
Both albums will be issued on vinyl in special gatefold covers. Digital downloads will be available for both Standard and Deluxe, and in a variety of formats including hi-res versions.
The detailed contents of each (including full track-lists) can be found at the Paul McCartney official page, and there’s more info in these two new YouTube clips which have just gone public:
Wogblog is one Beatles blogsite you can trust when it comes to accurate news and information about planned future releases. I don’t know where Roger Stormo (who is based in Norway) gets his information from, but it is usually correct well out from any officially released news. In his latest post Wogblog is saying that the next two confirmed releases in The Paul McCartney Archive Collection series will be Paul’s first solo album “McCartney”, and the album that came out ten years later (and was recorded in a similar fashion at home studios), “McCartney II”.
“McCartney” (1970) will be available in two forms: as a 2 CD set, and as a 2 CD plus 1 DVD deluxe set with a 100 page book.
“McCartney II” (1980) will also be available in two forms: as a 2 CD set, and as a 3 CD plus 1 DVD deluxe set with a 100 page book.
I’m guessing the books will be just like the book format used for the recent deluxe packaging of “Band on the Run” (2010). There is no talk of vinyl pressings yet – hopefully they will be announced soon. No release dates are yet available for both collections.
Wogblog had the inside running on all the details for that “Band on the Run” set very early. It was the first release in the Archive series, so there’s reason to believe he could be onto something here too.
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