Six days after the news mistakenly slipped out, Paul McCartney has officially announced the release of audio from the 1974 live studio performance called One Hand Clapping.
Pre-orders are now available for the LP and CD plus a range of associated merch and bundles.
And we get a look at pack shots of what’s included (but no video announcement of same….).
Here’s the 2LP plus 7″ vinyl, which is exclusive to Paul’s official stores at the moment. Note that the content of that 7″ (six songs in all) are not available on the 2 CD set:
There’ll also be a stand-alone 2LP set available:
And the aforementioned 2CD:
Pre-orders will be shipped on June 14.
And check out this teaser of never-before heard audio from One Hand Clapping. It’s a clip of ‘Junior’s Farm – One Hand Clapping’:
Seems someone at Universal Music Canada hit the “Publish” button a little early on a press release about a hitherto unknown June release from Paul McCartney. It reads:
The wait is over: With the June 14 release of One Hand Clapping, one of the most bootlegged live albums in musical history will finally receive a proper release. In August 1974, when Band on the Run was enjoying a seven-week consecutive #1 stint at the top of the UK album charts, Paul McCartney and Wings headed to Abbey Road Studios for the filming of a video documentary and possible live studio album – One Hand Clapping. Despite overwhelming demand for newly recorded material from the biggest band in the world at that time, One Hand Clapping was never officially released.
Filmed and recorded over four days and directed by David Litchfield, the release of One Hand Clapping is a historic moment for Paul McCartney fans. Over the years, various parts of One Hand Clapping have been bootlegged with varying degrees of success. Some of the material has also appeared on official McCartney releases. However, the June 14 release, which features the original artwork designed for the project, including a TV sales brochure for the unreleased film at the time, is the first time the audio for the film—plus several additional songs recorded off-camera–have been officially issued.
One Hand Clapping will be released in multiple formats on June 14, including an online-only 2LP + 7” package that will include a vinyl single of previously unreleased solo performances recorded on the final day of the sessions in the backyard of Abbey Road studios. These include the unreleased track “Blackpool,” a cover of The Beatles’ “Blackbird,” a Wings B-side “Country Dreamer,” and cover versions of Eddie Cochran’s “Twenty Flight Rock” (the first song Paul played to John Lennon when they met in 1957) and Buddy Holly’s “Peggy Sue” and “I’m Gonna Love You Too.”
ONE HAND CLAPPING FORMATS
2LP + 7”
Disc 1
SIDE ONE
One Hand Clapping* 02:15
Jet* 03:59
Soily* 03:55
C Moon/Little Woman Love* 03:19
Maybe I’m Amazed* 04:52
My Love* 04:15
SIDE TWO
Bluebird* 03:27
Let’s Love* 01:09
All of You* 02:04
I’ll Give You a Ring* 02:03
Band on the Run* 05:20
Live and Let Die* 03:26
Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five* 05:50
Baby Face* 01:56
Disc 2
SIDE ONE
Let Me Roll It** 04:28
Blue Moon of Kentucky 03:05
Power Cut 01:33
Love My Baby 01:13
Let It Be 01:02
The Long and Winding Road/Lady Madonna 02:10
SIDE TWO
Junior’s Farm 04:17
Sally G 03:28
Tomorrow 02:12
Go Now 03:35
Wild Life 04:30
Hi, Hi, Hi 03:57
Disc 3 (7”)
SIDE ONE
Blackpool 01:43
Blackbird 02:27
Country Dreamer** 02:17
SIDE TWO
Twenty Flight Rock 02:08
Peggy Sue 01:24
I’m Gonna Love You Too 01:10
2CD
Disc 1
One Hand Clapping* 02:15
Jet* 03:59
Soily* 03:55
C Moon/Little Woman Love* 03:19
Maybe I’m Amazed* 04:52
My Love* 04:15
Bluebird* 03:27
Let’s Love* 01:09
All of You* 02:04
I’ll Give You a Ring* 02:03
Band on the Run* 05:20
Live and Let Die* 03:26
Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five* 05:50
Baby Face* 01:56
Disc 2
Let Me Roll It** 04:28
Blue Moon of Kentucky 03:05
Power Cut 01:33
Love My Baby 01:13
Let It Be 01:02
The Long and Winding Road/Lady Madonna 02:10
Junior’s Farm 04:17
Sally G 03:28
Tomorrow 02:12
Go Now 03:35
Wild Life 04:30
Hi, Hi, Hi 03:57
* Previously released 2010 Band on the Run Archive Collection DVD
** Previously released as bonus audio on Archive Collection releases
One Hand Clapping will also be available to stream in Dolby Atmos with a mix by Giles Martin and Steve Orchard.
Last post we looked at how to go about identifying an unusual Australian pressing of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. This type of id task comes up all the time when collecting Beatle and solo discs. Exactly which pressing do I have, and what are the key things to look out for?
One of the big collectables with a range of variations is original pressings of Paul McCartney’sCHOBA B CCCP. So it was great to have sent to us this week a handy article describing the basics of identifying the key differences to look out for with this LP. It is penned by our mate, Andrey Lukanin:
As we know, the 1st and 2nd editions of the album СНОВА В СССР have the same catalogue and main matrix numbers. This led to Soviet Melodiya pressing plant employees getting confused about these editions. So a good deal of so-called “hybrid” albums went on sale – with the records having different covers/labels/vinyl.
Due to this same confusion with catalogue/matrix numbers, various plants released a number of mispressed editions too. These came with with 12 tracks (instead of 11 or 13) and such records are a great rarity. Their sleeves and labels could look the same as any other pressing, but the number of tracks on the actual disc is different. That’s why it is very important to always check the number of tracks on each side of the vinyl itself. If they add up to 12 tracks it is very rare and collectable.
Aside from the rare 12 track version, the most common variations out there are the 11 track and 13 track variations.
To purchase a truly complete 1st pressing (11 tracks) or truly complete 2nd pressing (13 tracks), you need to check these three main components of the album: 1) the sleeve, 2) the labels, and 3) the number of tracks on the vinyl itself.
How to do this quickly and accurately: 1) Sleeve, front side (without looking at the back side: which could be yellow or white): 1st edition – MPL logo is in the upper right corner 2nd edition – MPL logo is in the lower right corner
2) Labels (without reading/counting song titles): 1st edition – tracklist is in Russian 2nd edition – tracklist is in English
3) Number of tracks: 1st edition – the total number of tracks on both sides of the vinyl should be 11 2nd edition – the total number of tracks on both sides of the vinyl should be 13
There is another way as well – and that’s to examine the endings of the full matrix numbers on the vinyl, but this is not very convenient.
So, those who already own this Soviet-made album in their collection have a reason to check their copy.
Interestingly, in 2014 the Melodiya company celebrated its 50th anniversary. On the company’s website, a poll among music lovers was launched in advance: what records would they like Melodiya to re-release in limited quantities in honor of its anniversary? СНОВА В СССР appeared in the list of winners. But for some reason, like many other records from the list, the album has never been officially re-issued by Melodiya.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock you are probably aware by now that Paul’s 1961 Höfner 500/1 bass guitar, which was stolen in 1972, has been….
In September last year we reported on a concerted new effort to trace the missing instrument – and it seems that the case has well and truly been solved. In fact, the bass is already back in the hands of its original owner – Paul McCartney.
The instrument is a little worse for wear but, according to an expert from Höfner called in to examine it, it shouldn’t be all that difficult to once again get it going again.
One of the most informative articles about what state it is in and the intriguing back story as to where the bass has been all this time is in the Dutch music magazine, De Bassist. They interviewed Höfner expert Nick Wass about finding The Lost Bass. Their article is well worth a read!
If you don’t believe there are collectors out there intent on having every single variation, then think again:
This is a photograph from the collection of one of our readers and contributors – Guy from the USA. Guy has managed to secure no less than 16 different McCartney III colour variants, and 10 different McCartney III Imagined double LPs.
You can check them off against our two guides to all the known variants below (they include CDs and cassettes – which Guy also has BTW!). Click on the images to enlarge:
It was for Best Music Video for the song ‘I’m Only Sleeping’ – the film clip made to promote last year’s re-issue of the Revolver album.
The award went to Em Cooper, video director, and Jonathan Clyde, Sophie Hilton, Sue Loughlin and Laura Thomas, video producers.
Artist and director Em Cooper explored the space between dreaming and wakefulness, working on an animation rostrum on sheets of celluloid. She painted every frame individually in oil-paint, a labourious process which took many months.
(Interestingly Revolver won an award for Best Album Cover in 1966. That honour went to Klaus Voormann. And the Song of the Year Grammy in 1966 went to John Lennon and Paul McCartney for ‘Michelle’. McCartney also won the Best Contemporary Solo Vocal Performance, Male or Female, for ‘Eleanor Rigby’.)
Also in the hunt for awards recognition is another short animated film with Beatle connections – this time for Sean Ono Lennon and War Is Over!, a film inspired by the music of John and Yoko.
War Is Over! is nominated in the 96th Oscars, to be announced on Sunday, March 10. You can view the trailer here:
Set in an alternate WWI reality where a senseless war rages on, two soldiers on opposite sides of the conflict play a joyful game of chess. A heroic carrier pigeon delivers the soldiers’ chess moves over the battlefield as the fighting escalates. Neither soldier knows his opponent as the game and the war builds to its climatic final move. Whoever wins the game, one thing is for certain: there are no winners in war.
The eleven-minute short animated film is made by the animation company ElectroLeague. Its anti-war story is by Sean Ono Lennon and Dave Mullins, and it features original music composed by Thomas Newman plus the song ‘Happy Xmas (War Is Over)’. The film is directed by Dave Mullins and produced by Brad Booker. It is executive produced by Yoko Ono and Sean Ono Lennon, and is created as a production of Lenono Music, ElectroLeague, WetaFX and Epic Games.
Here’s a longer taste of what to expect:
And check out this filmmakers’ panel discussion about the Oscar-nominated War Is Over!
It features writer/director Dave Mullins, producer Brad Booker, executive producer Sean Ono Lennon, and composer Thomas Newman. They’re in conversation with executive producer Karen Dufilho:
One of our readers (Guy in the USA) prides himself on securing every possible variation and often sends us a tantalising image or two. For ‘Now and Then’ he points out that most collectors only show pictures of the outer covers. Here, he says, are the contents – photographed all together:
For collectors in the west there are no fewer than 9 variations to seek out. If you add in unique Japanese editions that number creeps up to 14.
Because there are enough different pressings we thought we’d create another visual representation to capture them all (we have previously created these for McCartney III and McCartney III Imagined too):
(Click on the image to see a larger version)
The Japanese ‘Now and Then’ vinyl pressings are unique in that they have a rear cover written in Japanese. They also come with a special lyric sheet with the lyrics in English and Japanese:
Additionally, the SHM-CD single comes with an OBI strip (and also the extra lyric insert):
To add to the onslaught on collector wallets there was also Black Friday Record Store Day.
Also released on that day were further coloured vinyl editions (in “Yellow Submarine Yellow”) of Ringo Starr’sOld Wave and Stop and Smell the Roses. Here’s Guy again:
You can see there on the bottom row the little Yoto kids toy card editions of the 2023 Red and Blue albums, plus a unique Paul McCartney card containing a selection of his hits for kids which also contains two hard-to-get instrumentals.
Well, we knew that all the previous marketing for McCartney III (and McCartney III Imagined) has revolved around the number 3.
After all, the first (and very limited) release of McCartney III was made at Jack White’s Third Man Records. Symbolically, 333 copies were pressed. Then came the myriad of coloured vinyl editions, many limited to 3000 copies (again to tie into the 3 theme). There were also the dice sets you could buy from the official McCartney store, which had the number 3 on all sides, etc, etc.
So the marketing gurus thought (no doubt over a long lunch), “Why not celebrate 3 years since McCartney III came out with yet another limited edition? And while we’re at it, let’s not make it just one limited edition, but three limited editions!”
Yes. Three morevariations will be joining the 32 iterations already out there of this title across vinyl, CD, and cassette. That’s right, we said 32 variations (see the table below).
Today the McCartney camp announced that the McCartney III 3×3 Edition will be joining them:
The idea is you place your order for a limited edition coloured vinyl disc. One of the three variations available will then be randomly selected and sent to you. Your LP will come in a newly designed Ed Ruscha cover. It will have a lyric printed inner sleeve plus an Ed Ruscha sketch poster for the cover design of McCartney III included:
Also randomly included will be a smaller replica Paul McCartney handwritten print. From the images released so far this will either be the handwritten lyric to ‘Pretty Boys’, ‘The Kiss of Venus’, or what looks like an early sketch of McCartney’s album logo/cover ideas.
So, to summarise: each customer gets 1 LP, a handwritten replica print and a poster in the newly designed cover, with the record in a lyric/credits inner sleeve. However, the colour of the LP and the print pairing is random. If you purchase more than one copy, the store won’t guarantee you will receive two or three different variants.
If you want to have all three unique colours and all three prints you will have to take your chances. Most stores are limiting pre-sales to 4 copies per customer. However, here in Australia the official store limit was initially set at two copies per customer (though this seems to have been removed entirely now).
At this stage we don’t know how “limited” these sets are.
McCartney III 3×3 Edition ships on December 15, 2023 (but for Australia make that January 12, 2024).
Do we really need another three McCartney III coloured vinyl in the world? No. Here’s our running total of all the variations to date (click on image to see a larger version):
The first YouTube unboxing of McCartney III 3×3? Got to admit, he was quick:
So sad to wake today and read the news that the great Denny Laine had passed away at the age of 79.
His wife, Elizabeth Hines, posted this message on social media:
My darling husband passed away peacefully early this morning. I was at his bedside, holding his hand as I played his favorite Christmas songs for him. He’s been singing Christmas songs the past few weeks and I continued to play Christmas songs while he’s been in ICU on a ventilator this past week.
He and I both believed he would overcome his health setbacks and return to the rehabilitation center and eventually home. Unfortunately, his lung disease, Interstitial Lung Disease (ILD), is unpredictable and aggressive; each infection weakened and damaged his lungs. He fought everyday. He was so strong and brave, never complained. All he wanted was to be home with me and his pet kitty, Charley, playing his gypsy guitar.
Denny was so very thankful to all of you who sent him so much love, support and the many kind words during these past few months of his health crisis-it brought him to tears.
I thank you all for sending both of us love and support. It was my absolute honor and privilege to not only be his wife, but to care for him during his illness and vulnerability.
Thank you to Dennys surgeons, doctors, specialists, physical therapists and nurses at Naples Hospital for working so hard to help him. Thank you for your compassion and support for me during these past several emotional months.
My world will never be the same. Denny was an amazingly wonderful person, so loving and sweet to me. He made my days colorful, fun and full of life-just like him. Thank you sweetie for loving me, for all the laughter, friendship, fun and for asking me to be your wife. I will love you forever ❤️
Please give Denny’s friends and family the time and privacy needed as we grieve our loss.
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