Tag Archives: Paul McCartney

A Little More Info on the Recording of ‘Egypt Station’

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“I love that he’s pushing the boundaries in his songwriting harmonically and   lyrically. … I would see him bringing in new chord progressions that I still haven’t heard.”

So says producer extraordinaire, Greg Kurstin, who worked with Paul McCartney for over two years on Egypt Station, the maestro’s new album due out in September.

Kurstin has opened up at length in Rolling Stone for an interesting interview with Andy Greene about the new record, and just what it’s like to work with one of the icons of the music industry. The question everyone wonders about did come up: what’s it like telling a Beatle how to improve a song?

It is strange, but I know that’s what he really wants from me. I just have to take a breath and say it. Sometimes it might not go over very well, but he was always really cool. I remember a couple of times where I might have suggested something that might have been challenging. I can’t remember specifically, but I remember him just sort of carrying on and I’m wondering, “Did he hear me?” Then maybe half an hour would go by and I’d say, “Hey, Paul, what about that idea I mentioned a little while ago?” He said, “Oh, I heard you. I was just pretending to ignore you.” If he challenged me and wasn’t into the idea, I would realize, you know, that this is coming from a Beatle. He’s tried everything at this point. He’s done experimental albums. He’s done pop albums. Anything I could possibly ever want to do in the studio, he’s been there and tried it.

We also get to learn more about the contents and making of Egypt Station, a record that despite two songs being released as “singles” there’s been precious little detail about so far. Just one example:

I see that the album begins with “Station I” and ends with “Station II.” What can you tell me about those tracks?
That started with a choir piece that Paul had worked out on the keyboard. Then we brought in David Campbell to help arrange the choir. We went into a cathedral to record that, which was really cool. It started with us in the studio. Paul had worked out some chords that he wanted the voices to do. Then we started creating different ambient noises, some of which came from tape loops. He had a little portable reel-to-reel player, the one they used on Revolver for “Tomorrow Never Knows.” That was done on this little Brenell tape machine. We created some of the sounds on that, like slowing down guitars.

Great stuff that really makes you want to hear this album…..

There’s also picture by MJ Kim (courtesy of McCartney’s MPL Communications Ltd) showing the pair in the studio. The interesting thing is the copyright date – 2016:

A Little More Info on the ‘Egypt Station’ Super Deluxe Box Set?

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There’s been some further bits of information trickling out about what might be in Paul McCartney’s mystery super deluxe box set of the forthcoming Egypt Station album.

The usually reliable Daily Beatle blog says that it is due for release in October, will contain 26 tracks (ten more than the 16 tracks announced so far), and will come with “various ephemera” included.

We don’t know if the image below is real or mocked up by a fan, but it kind of looks official and shows what could be some of the mystery super deluxe contents. It comes from the Macca-News blog Facebook page:

Now, we don’t know where the Macca-News blog sourced this. All they say is a cryptic “Well, well, well, look at this…”, but it appears to be an additional vinyl LP, housed in a sleeve with the same artwork McCartney’s official US store uses to link through to a super deluxe edition sign-up page. When you click through on that page you can sign up to be notified about the box set and when it will become available.

It’s also an image that formed part of the social media teaser campaign in the lead-up to the new album’s official announcement. The Egypt Station wording was intentionally washed out at the time to add to the mystique:In the image we can also see four pin buttons, plus four postcards – also with images that were part of the extensive social media lead-up campaign. Could these be the “ephemera” that The Daily Beatle refers to?As we say, its all speculation and could be a wild goose chase…..If you’d like to chip in your two cents worth, or you have any other clues, please get in touch!

McCartney Confirms 50th Anniversary Edition of The White Album

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While speaking with DIY Magazine (to publicise his new solo project Egypt Station, due out in September), Paul McCartney confirmed that there will in fact be a 50th Anniversary Edition of the The Beatles (a.k.a. The White Album):

Have you finished preparing the 50th anniversary package of that one yet?

It’s all in place, I’ve just got a couple of essays [to approve]. It’s all lined up and it’s really good.

Are there any moments you’d forgotten about when you were trawling back through the archives?

Something sparks another memory, but it’s really nice because we were a great little band – I think we can agree on that. So for me to be a part of that and to be remembering it is great; all these little things remind me of it and I do learn things.

The album itself [‘The White Album’] is very cool and it sounds like you’re in the room; that’s the great thing about doing remasters. But we’ve also got some demos of the songs, so you get things stripped right back to just John’s voice and a guitar. You just think, how fucking good was John?! Amazing. We were just doing it; it was amazing. We were having a good time.

Exact details are scarce, but it looks like on November 22 this year we will definitely see something similar to the 50th Anniversary Edition box set Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band from last year – which was beautifully done.

A new mix remastered by Giles Martin and Sam Okell? Definitely some demos and studio outakes, from what Sir Paul said. The mono version of the album included? And maybe some bonus materials, including a new stereo mix of the ‘Hey Jude’/’Revolution’ single (like they did with ‘Strawberry Fields’/’Penny Lane’ for Pepper)?

Egypt Station – New McCartney Album Officially Announced

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After the distraction yesterday that there would be a double A-side “single” released on June 20 (still no info on any physical vinyl or CD as yet), the official and bigger announcement of the new Paul McCartney album quickly followed.

Egypt Station will hit stores on September 7, but there’s not a lot of other detail to hand.

What we do know though is that there will be a bewildering array of options, and slightly different exclusives offered on McCartney’s official store websites in different countries. We’ll try to summarise these for you below:

At present there’s no detail on what differentiates a “standard” or “deluxe” version, but from what we can deduce from the various websites it is all about the packaging.

“Standard” double LPs (black vinyl and coloured vinyl) will most probably come in a regular gatefold cover. “Deluxe” double LPs (black vinyl and coloured vinyl) will come in what is described on the Australian McCartney store website as a limited edition, tri-gatefold “concertina” jacket, with a six panel canvas concertina folder. The exclusive vinyl colour is yet to be announced, but they will be 180 gram vinyl.

Also interesting is that the UK McCartney store site says that Egypt Station will be on the Virgin EMI label. We’d presume that in the USA it will be on Capitol?

For more check out the UK McCartney store, the US McCartney store, and the Australian McCartney store.

Paul McCartney appeared on BBC Radio 2 and talked about Egypt Station here.

Paul McCartney – Teaser Campaign For Latest Solo Album?

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Paul McCartney’s social media sites have seen some mysterious images appear.

On Instagram in the last 12 hours we first had this – posted twice (what looks to be just a blank white page):

Many people were speculating it was something to do with an impending announcement about a release for the upcoming 50th anniversary of the The Beatles White Album. However, that post was soon followed with this black and white freehand drawing:

On Facebook it was a similar story. First the blank page was posted as his new cover photo:

Then cam this, with a notification it was his new profile picture:

The story was similar on the official Paul McCartney Twitter account – only this time no blank page, just the same freehand drawing (and notice that McCartney’s avatar image has also been changed to the same drawing):

And at the McCartney Google+ site too: 

So……what can it all mean?

One person on Reddit reckons it looks a bit like the new Apple Airplay2 logo!

We’d take an eductaed guess that it’s very likely McCartney’s rumoured new studio album. He played a track from it live in Liverpool only the other day. Just that rough smart phone recording exists, but it sounds like a pretty good song!

Also, both he and The Beatles have used extensive teaser campaigns in the past.

Remember The Beatles 1 DVD/BluRay? The recent Sgt Pepper 50th Anniversary box coloured images? And Paul McCartney’s own NEW LP and CD from 2013, plus his Pure compilation from 2016 – to name just a few. Each had multiple teasers in the lead-up to their release…..

More McCartney Coloured Vinyl To Be Issued

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Capitol Records is following up last year’s coloured vinyl Paul McCartney releases with four more titles. These will be available on May 18 (fingers crossed, given the delays experienced last time!) and they are the albums NEW; Thrillington; Wings Greatest; and Chaos and Creation in the Backyard: 

As you can see, NEW is to be on pink vinyl, Thrillington on what looks to be a marbled red/black, Wings Greatest is on blue, and Chaos will be on gold coloured vinyl.

As they were last time each title will also be issued on black vinyl, and as single CD’s in the digipak format. Every release is supervised by Paul himself, who oversees all aspects of each and every title. See the official McCartney site for more details.

McCartney’s ‘Pipes of Peace’ – Original Labels

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Looking at the recently released Capitol Records coloured (and black) vinyl reissue of the Paul McCartney Pipes of Peace LP, we got thinking about the labels used for the original release back in 1983.

This is the label style used on both sides of the 2017 version:

As you can see, the custom designed labels are similar thematically (but not exactly the same) as those used for Side 2 of the 1983 vinyl release:

The chrome-plated chair image is larger and positioned differently, plus it has a different musical instrument on it.

But it’s the labels used for Side 1 in 1983 that fascinate.

For some reason Side 1 in each of the major markets around the world featured vintage depictions of either Parlophone or Odeon record labels (for those territories outside the US), or Columbia Records for the United States (because that was the label McCartney was signed to there at the time).

Here, for example, is the Side 1 label used in the UK – a vintage Parlophone in deep maroon:

And here’s the label used in the US, which was done in the style of an old-fashioned Columbia release:

In Australia it was a vintage Parlophone – done in a dark brown and gold:

For Europe, where the Odeon label was used to release EMI titles, they used a vintage version too. Here’s the one for Germany:

And Spain of course:And here’s the label used in France for Side 1. Unusually, it’s a vintage Parlophone – which is strange because you’d think it would more likely be on Odeon too:

It was definitely vintage Odeon for Japan: And in New Zealand it was a Parlophone: 

These next few are from smaller territories where we’re pretty sure that on both sides of the disc the  labels used were both the same. If you happen to have any further info on these please get in touch using the “Leave a Reply” section below. First up, India:

We can confirm that The Philippines definitely used a vintage black and yellow Parlophone for both sides of the disc:

Malaysia:

And to some South American countries now – Argentina:

Uruguay:

Bolivia:

And lastly, Columbia, which interestingly seems to be serviced by both Parlophone and Columbia/CBS records:

If you’d like to see these labels in more detail, click on the images to bring up larger versions.

And if anyone knows just why Paul McCartney wanted to use vintage labels for Side 1 only of Pipes of Peace, please let us know by commenting below.

McCartney – Eight Coloured Vinyls Arrive

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Like a lot of collectors around the world, we have been waiting patiently for Universal Music to sort out the delays and confusion around the supply and delivery of the recent Paul McCartney vinyl re-issues on coloured vinyl.

We ordered ours last year, weeks before the advertised shipping date – but it is only in the new year that they have finally arrived, and in two separate shipments. Ram clearly was in very short supply and it is pretty obvious that a pressing of more copies had to be hurriedly arranged. That LP came in a separate package a few following the main batch.

Having said all that, these look absolutely fantastic. Here are some images of the collection – the front “hype” stickers and record labels: 

(As usual, click on the images to see larger versions)

Paul McCartney – ‘Music of the Spheres’

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On Christmas Day, two keen music fans leaked their version of the as-yet unreleased original symphonic music composed for the the video game, Destiny.

There is of course a Beatle connection here in the form of Sir Paul McCartney who contributed to the soundtrack for the game, most notably the end-credits song ‘Hope for the Future‘.

The Destiny: Music of the Spheres suite is the work of Martin O’Donnell and Michael Salvatori, but it took the fan duo of Tlohtzin Espinosa and Owen Spence to bring it to the public. They spent more than a year pulling together all the elements they could get their hands on to compile what is essentially a complete soundtrack album of Destiny:

You can hear it on Soundcloud, and on YouTube. Download links are out there on the World Wide Web too if you are interested.

There’s more background on how all this came to be in an article on the Ars Technica site, plus you should also see this Reddit post by the two fans who took the risk of putting it out there in the first place.  

McCartney Musical Memory for endthesilence.com

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“When a baby in an orphanage cries nobody comes to comfort them. As a result, they learn not to cry; internalising their pain, causing lifelong mental and physical damage. Deprived of love, deprived of life. Left to grow up without laughter, without music, without hope. Left there, children will never experience the love and protection only a family can offer. Together we can End the Silence.”

So begins the explanation of what the charity End the Silence is about. It is asking everyone to share a musical memory, and to donate, so that 8 million children confined to orphanages around the world might have their silence ended.

Lots of music personalities have got behind the push to raise money by sharing their own musical memories, including Paul McCartney:

Get cracking. Every pound donated to the End the Silence campaign before the 27th December will be doubled by the UK Government. Every child should grow up surrounded by love, family and music.