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   CLUB SANDWICH 66

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NEW FOR OLD

Paul's album catalogue takes on a whole new shape from this summer.
Mark Lewisohn finds out how and why

            How many Paul McCartney recordings do you think will be issued this year? Twenty perhaps, twenty-five maybe, considering the new album, some bonus tracks on singles and the odd oddity here and there? Well, whatever is the final count from that angle, one must now add 228 to make the final total.
            There are 228 more because, commencing summer 1993 in Europe (with other territories following suit over the next few months), 16 of Paul's albums from the past are being reissued on CD and cassette, each sporting improved artwork, improved sound quality and, in most cases, bonus tracks. Oh, and improved value, too, since (in most territories, at least) they're being put out in the mid-price range. In the UK this will reduce the price of a Paul McCartney CD to something like £8.99. If the OED is ever looking for a new definition of the word "snip"...
            Inevitably, such a move raises questions, and Tony Wadsworth, Marketing Director at Parlophone in London, is the man to whom I addressed them. Specifically, predictably even, I asked him why this is happening. "It's because the CD, as a format, has penetrated at a massive rate since Paul's catalogue CDs were initially released," he explains. "Quite simply, there are a lot of people out there now with CD players who didn't have them five years ago, and we're trying to reach that audience. Also, the technology to re-master and to make older recordings sound fresher has developed, and so we're taking the opportunity to use that modern technology to get the best sound possible out of the existing master tapes.
            "At the same time," Tony continues, "we're also giving people the opportunity - both the media and the public, that is - to reappraise Paul's post-Beatles catalogue. His body of work with the Beatles is so legendary that people tend to overlook the excellence and the success of his solo work, and we're trying to put that right.
            "So it's two things, really - it's renovation and it's reappraisal. Plus, we're happy that we've managed to freshen up the visual side of the CDs by retaining as much as possible - if not all - of each album's original vinyl packaging. In this way we've added many elements to the CD packaging not previously available with the format."
            Club Sandwich
readers handy -with an abacus may have considered by now that Paul, prodigious chap that he is, has issued more than 16 albums since 1969. So why is Parlophone's Mr Wadsworth just talking about 16? The answer is that the live double-CDs Wings Over America and Tripping The Live Fantastic, plus Tripping-Highlights!, CHOBA B CCCP, All The Best! and Off The Ground, stand outside of the new campaign - that is, they remain unaltered, with the same artwork, sonics and pricing as before. They WILL continue to be available, however - the only Paul McCartney album no longer obtainable is Unplugged which, as was stated right from the outset, was strictly a limited quantity release, and was long ago fully subscribed.
            Tony Wadsworth explains further about this decision to include only 16 of Paul's 21 past albums in the new campaign: "What we've done, essentially, is to re-master and make mid-price all of Paul's studio albums, his conventional studio albums, although the new one, Off. The Ground, must obviously fall outside such a past-catalogue campaign. What we haven't included are the live albums, the spontaneous in-studio jam session album (CHOBA) and the definitive greatest hits compilation All The Best! But these will remain available - they're not being deleted."
            Happily, the inclusion of bonus tracks on 13 of the 16 CDs and cassettes means that Paul's back-catalogue now has a much more consistent, streamlined look to it. Previously, only seven of them boasted bonus tracks, nine didn't; some CDs were at mid-price, others at full; some had fulsome booklets, others did not.
            And it also means that a good many McCartney masters, undeservedly overlooked in recent years, can entertain anew. Tracks like 'Mama's Little Girl' and 'Give Ireland Back To The Irish', T Lie Around', 'Country Dreamer', 'Daytime Nightime Suffering', 'Spies Like Us' and 'Loveliest Thing'. The CD/cassette Pipes Of Peace may prove the most popular reissue of them all, boasting the decidedly rare 'Twice In A Lifetime', Paul's theme for a Gene Hackman film never before heard outside of the cinema or a video machine, the longer version of 'We All Stand Together' previously available only on All The Best! and 'Simple As That', issued in 1986 on a little-heard charity album.
            Just three of the 16 albums are being reissued without additional tracks. One is Wings Greatest, another is McCartney (for the simple reason that there are no bonus tracks to add - Paul's first single was 'Another Day' in 1971 and that has been added, and quite rightly too, to Ram, along with its B-side 'Oh Woman, Oh Why') and the third is Tug Of War. Over to you, Tony Wadsworth - "Paul had the final decision about which bonus tracks went on these new/ CDs and cassettes and I think he felt that Tug Of War should stand as it was, without the additional tracks that we suggested, because the effect might be diluted by adding something out of context."
            So there you have it: Paul's back catalogue is about to undergo a seismic shift - and all for the best. Test pressings of the newly remastered discs were arriving shortly before our presstime, and they sounded dynamic. You certainly won't need a spectrograph to detect the sonic improvements made to the early 1970s albums in particular. To misquote Harold Macmillan (another famous Mac, indeed another famous PM) "They've never sounded so good".


Club Sandwich 66

            To promote The Paul McCartney Collection in stores and in the media, EMI has pressed up a limited quantity of special "sampler" CDs.
            With a 75 minute running time, 18 tracks are crammed into the shiny reflective disc all the way to that clear bit of plastic in the middle, with one track from each of the 16 albums featured, and - to provide even greater value for no-money (samplers are given out free) - a second track from two of them. Like this, in other words...
            EVERY NIGHT from McCartney, MAYBE I'M AMAZED from McCartney, TOO MANY PEOPLE from Ram; TOMORROW from Wings Wild Life; C MOON from Red Rose Speedway, LET ME ROLL IT from Band On The Run; TREAT HER GENTLY - LONELY OLD PEOPLE from Venus And Mars; BEWARE MY LOVE from Wings At The Speed Of Sound; GIRLFRIEND from London Town; ANOTHER DAY from Wings Greatest; LIVE AND LET DIE from Wings Greatest; DAYTIME NIGHTIME SUFFERING from Back To The Egg; WATERFALLS from McCartney II; BALLROOM DANCING from Tug Of War; THE MAN from Pipes Of Peace; NO MORE LONELY NIGHTS from Give My Regards To Broad Street; FOOTPRINTS from Press To Play; YOU WANT HER TOO from Flowers \n The Dirt
            Three members of the Fun Club can be lucky enough to win this exclusive sampler CD - it's not for sale in the shops, remember - simply by sending a postcard (or sealed-down envelope) bearing their name, address and club membership number to: Sampler Draw, The Paul McCartney Fun Club, PO Box 110, Westcliff, Essex, SSO 8NW, England.
            We'll draw the winning entries from the proverbial top-hat on 1 September. Please do not use an entry to convey any other Club request or correspondence.