CLUB SANDWICH 73

OOBU JOOBU

To quote a British wartime radio catchphrase, it's time to ''pin back your lug-holes" and listen to something fresh, new and very exciting from Paul McCartney. A RADIO series... with a difference, coming your way soon. Eddy Pumer, the producer of the series, hints at what's to come

            Summer 1981. There I was, in my office at Capital Radio in London, sitting and chatting to one of the record industry's top promotions men Joe Reddington, thinking that he had developed a speech impediment. I had to ask him to repeat himself again and again. "Oobujoobu, Oobujoobu," he kept saying.
            Joe was Paul McCartney's promotions man at the time, and I assumed that he'd come to see me about a new McCartney record that was coming out. This was normally why he'd visit: to push into my hand an advance pressing of Paul's next single or album, so that we could bring it to our listeners as early as possible.
            Not this time, though. Joe had come along to explain that Paul had an idea for a radio show, and that Oobu Joobu was its title. Paul was looking for someone to help produce it and I was flattered to hear that my name had been put into the frame.
            A meeting - Joe, me and Paul's then manager, Stephen Shrimpton - was arranged. Just as well: I was dying to know what on earth Oobu Joobu was about. When we met, though, I discovered that Oobu Joobu was something of a mystery to them too.
            A couple of weeks later I received a note with a list of one-line titles - reggae hi-lite, world music, live spot, record collection, studio rehearsal and many more. Today, almost 14 years on, with the radio series ready to be unveiled, these elements remain vital to Oobu Joobu.
            With this list in hand I took down all of the much-played Paul McCartney albums from my shelf and started listening to them again - this time, so to speak, with new ears. What I heard made me realise as never before just how wide are Paul's musical tastes. There were subtleties I'd never appreciated before.
            Several new McCartney albums and a world tour or two later I was introduced to Paul at his studio. He had with him a huge collection of records, including some fabulous examples of reggae music. We started to go through his collection, Paul telling me a great story about a shop in Jamaica called Tony's Record Store. Apparently, Tony is about as wide as he is tall - seven foot - and he told Paul