CLUB SANDWICH 82

SUE’S LETTER

            This special early summer Sandwich hardly requires any introduction from me, as it is devoted solely to Paul's eagerly awaited fine new album Flaming Pie. There is hardly anything you would wish to know about what went into the album's making which you won't learn from the content of this issue. We look in depth at questions any listener might pose, in the methodical, almost archival fashion typical of our editor Mark Lewisohn. Mark's thoroughness and attention to detail is stamped over this issue, article after article. It is sure to make this Sandwich a real collector's item-Starting with DIGGING AROUND THE BACK, Paul guides us through the album track by track, discussing the ideas which gave rise to each of the 14 songs and the settings where they were composed, thus personalising each track for the listener and enhancing the musical experience. In THE SONGS Mark fleshes out the interview session with Paul, expanding his information with historical insights. WHY is like an introductory piece, explaining how the album's concept evolved so close to the release of the Anthology, to which it owes a few debts. The feel of Flaming Pie is reminiscent of the frequently spontaneous style of the Fab Four - it says a lot for "going back to basics". WHO PLAYS THAT THING? sets out all the information which nowadays is so irritatingly reduced to tiny point in CD booklets or missing altogether: who played what on which song, the type of stuff scrutinised by aficionados and musicians when listening to an album. (In the case of Flaming Pie, the musicians are fully credited on the album, but there was no further room for instrument details.) THE FLAMING PIE TIMELINE is something of a graphical departure for Club Sandwich, condensing the making of the album into an at-a-glance form.
            A BEAUTIFUL DAY'S NIGHT takes our editor into the famous Studio One at Abbey Road to witness the final session for Flaming Pie, the overdub of 'Beautiful Night', orchestrated by Sir George Martin. The session had historical overtones too, as it took place 30 years to the week after the recording of'A Day In The Life'. Last but by no means least, in I CAN SEE the world tonight Geoff Baker gives us the lowdown on one particularly eventful day of Geoff Wonfor's filming for the album's TV special and a promo video, which we hope most of you will have seen by now. We also hope our North American readers - and those elsewhere, for we understand that it was also being screened in Britain and Germany - will have seen McCartney's Town Hall Meeting, a fascinating VH1 special beamed live from London on 17 May.
            Our regular features also have the Flaming Pie treatment. INSPIRATION reproduces the 1961 Mersey Beat article which relates John Lennon's fanciful explanation for the spelling of the Beatles: "in a vision a man appeared on a flaming pie...", the prose that has provided the title of what will undoubtedly rank as one of Paul McCartney's greatest solo albums. Look out too for Bert Danher's regular puzzle, not a crossword this time but an anagram teaser based upon some song titles.
            Two Flaming Pie songs are featured in the new Warner Bros comedy movie Father's Day, starring Robin Williams and Billy Crystal. 'Young Boy' (the first single in the UK, to be the second single in America) plays over the opening titles, 'The World Tonight' (the first single in America, to be the second single in the UK) is played over the closing credits.
            On an entirely separate note, I wonder how many of you in England applauded the decision to reinstate a chef's social security benefits after he left his job because he refused to cook fish or meat. Our hats go off to Simon Beavis, aged 26, who lost his job because of his vegetarian beliefs. Backed by The Vegetarian Society, Simon's stance was vindicated by an independent tribunal in Truro, Cornwall. Perhaps others will, in future, be able to stand up for their ethics without fear of losing their jobs.
            And finally, following the item in the last issue, which detailed Paul's involvement with the poet Allen Ginsberg's CD, we're sorry to record Allen's sudden death this spring. He will be sadly missed.

'til next time
Sue