Paul McCartney Archive Collection - Tug Of War & Pipes Of Peace coming! (Part One)

He uses an array of his voices on Wild Life...Mumbo, Bip Bop and Tomorrow all sound like they could be sung by three different people. Actually, as far as his "Beatle voice" is concerned, it's most evident on Tommorow and Dear Friend; on both he uses that high pitched tone he used for the first time during the Get Back sessions and also on The Ballad Of John And Yoko.

But back to Wildlife as an album, I always liked it very much; the unfinished, rough atmosphere is what makes the whole thing special and different in the first place..like an officially released bootleg as mentioned already. If approached in that mind set, it works quite well for what it is, in my opinion.

 

Dear Friend is the much better record of the two.

 

I like Dear Friend... But I love Through Our Love. And I'm not even that crazy about the POP album.
To each his own...

 

I wish they done the whole 1970s albums before moving on to TOW and POP, but I guess their priority is re-releasing the critically-acclaimed / biggest-selling ones first while at the same time trying to elevate the cultural status (a reassesment of sorts) of others, which certainly has worked with McCartney II and Ram.

 

I was thinking the same thing. Perhaps they are still in search of certain outtakes/alternates that haven't yet sprung up for the other albums? Better sources, perhaps?

 

I can see them not being in a hurry to remaster Wild Life, Red Rose Speedway, London Town, Back To The Egg, Broad Street and Press To Play.
Maybe they're hoping Pipes Of Peace will become as popular as McCartney II and Ram became after being remastered.

 

Ram had been rising steadily in popularity and critical respect for 20 years before its remaster; the 2012 release was just the cherry on top. McCartney II was certainly helped by the Archive Collection treatment, so there's no reason ANY album couldn't be helped by it also. Besides, RRS and London Town were both pleasant albums that sold well and had a hit single, and Wild Life is "ground zero" for Wings and seems to have a devout group of defenders. (I was certainly more receptive to its charms after a decade or so of overly slick McCartney albums.) That leaves only Egg, Broad Street and Press To Play as the "early" solo records that are widely perceived as failures or at least artistic misfires; but all three of them are certainly good enough to warrant a "reassessment" push. To not remaster them at all would be to essentially tell the world that they are absolute garbage, and they certainly aren't that. I still believe that all of Paul's albums will join the Archive Collection eventually -- some may not get "book" deluxe sets, some may get a more limited release as deluxe sets (e.g., available only from his website) ... but all will be remastered and re-issued on CD at some point. imo.

 

I do hope all of his albums will get the deluxe treatment, especially during his lifetime, so that he can contribute directly with each release.

 

Paul's last two big selling albums not to be given the Archive treatment are Tug Of War and Pipes Of Peace so that's probably why he skipped Wild Life, Red Rose Speedway, London Town, or Back To The Egg. It's all about the money. I would guess that those 4 albums from the 70s will eventually get their Archive release via download in about 5 years but I wouldn't expect Macca to go through the cost and effort to put together books and stuff.

 

Its those 4 (Wild Life, etc) that are precisely why you do these remasters -

1) They are rife with REAL bonus material
The Wild Life and RRS era boasts a dozen (if not more) legit tracks that would need to be included on a bonus CD - 1882, Tragedy, Best Friend, Night Out, all sorts of live stuff... Egg, likewise, has stuff like Cage and Robber's Ball that would need to be included (it looks like he's including everything from Cold Cuts on these releases).

2) They are in need of a sonic upgrade
It'll be hard to beat Steve Hoffman's RRS remaster. But WL, LT and Egg have never received proper remastering. WL and LT are, in their original and '93 McCartney collection versions, atrocious and full of awful noise reduction, etc. LT, because its 50+ minutes, was always lighter sounding even on vinyl. I have a theory that one reason fans don't care for I've Had Enough is they have either heard the '93 noise-reduced remaster or the vinyl (where its the last cut on Side 1)... if you listen to a needle drop of the 45, its a lot more powerful and comes across as a much stronger sounding rocker.

3) There is every bit as much to "rediscover" here as on McCartney II.
The sonic upgrade really helped elevate Temporary Secretary, On the Way, etc. And the bonus track inclusions gave a nice context to the entire work. I think the same could especially be said for WL and RRS - I always felt these albums are a misrepresentation of what Paul was doing in 72-73 (yes, I know WL was late 71), kind of how its hard to piece together the post-pepper/pre-white album Beatles accurately (Yellow Submarine/Past Masters).

4) With a Little Luck
Darnit! Paul's most underrated #1 single needs/requires its long version to be remastered and restored - the best version of the long version on CD is the Japanese Wings Greatest - it needs restoration every bit as much as Junior's Farm (listen to an old digital copy and then listen to the remaster). Likewise, I'm curious to hear My Love (though Steve Hoffman's version is darn near perfect).

 

I for one was very underwhelmed by the sound of the Venus And Mars remaster so I'm not holding out hope for any improvement on that front until a complete remix is undertaken...which will never happen. "Give Ireland Back To The Irish" and "Mary Had A Little Lamb" are in desperate need of something sonically so yes, I'd pay for an upgrade if it were truly an upgrade and not just a louder bad mastering like Venus And Mars.

 

I thought the DCC would be impossible to beat but other than Letting Go and Venus & Mars/RS the new remaster sounds amazing, IMO.

 

I was very happy with the sound of the remaster - ATSOS especially, Time To Hide and Wino Junko really come to life - and they really nailed Silly Love Songs (I'm sure they spent the most time on this and it shows).

My few disappointments:
1) Why no single mix of Listen To What the Man Says and VM/RS - I know we got both on Wingspan but would have been nice to have here
2) Sitting at the Piano/All of Me missing - even though they included Let's Love
3) is there a demo of Mine For Me and Giddy floating around somewhere?

 

So, this showed up in my Facebook feed today.

It's a well written re-evaluation of Wings Wildlife. This came from out of nowhere.

I'm jaded enough to wonder if this a trial balloon for an Archive version of Wildlife.

As I say, the article is extremely well written. The points and perspective are very interesting. You might not agree with what the writer says, however, it's clear there is a critical rethink going on (by one writer) about one of Paul's lowest rated albums.

See what you think:

http://www.trunkworthy.com/wild-life-one-mccartney-albums-40-year-journey-from-appalling-to-amazing/

 

Thanks - that's a great review- should be the liner notes for the release.

I think the reviewer is giving Paul more credit than he deserves- this is where his head was at, he made a mistake putting a couple of those tunes on there (i.e. Bip Bop). Self Portrait, similarly, people wink at Dylan and say "great joke man" and Dylan honestly says that's just where he was at at the time and didn't understand what all the fuss was about.

 

I will also note that Extra Texture is darn close to being George's Wild Life and in fact WL is probably a better record.

 

That was an excellent piece to read. As you say, it was a well-thought-out analysis. It's great that people out there are devoting their brains and ears to unheralded albums released over 40 years ago.

Arnie

 

I don't agree with the author's premise (that the album was so far ahead of its time we needed to catch up).

I will agree that if it's revisited entirely on its own, and not in the wake of expectations set up by The Beatles run of music, it is more agreeable. The album isn't entirely without merit. But it's a right turn from the carefully polished music of The Beatles. And even if you accept the production (or lack thereof) on its own terms, some of the melodies are still barely half baked.

It's not a brilliant signpost of things to come, assuredly. But it's not as tragic as it seemed coming off of Abbey Road.

 

'Dark Hoarse' is George's 'Wild Life' as it sounds rushed and could have used some extra attention before releasing it.

 

ATSOS was always Wings's best sounding album. Period! The hires download only made it better. I am underwelmed by V&M sound still.Rock Show, Letting Go, (from the extras disc, as well as the cuts Macca released via MP3 show how much better the cuts could have sounded. They are much less compressed than their album counterparts.

 

Wild Life would have probably never happened if Paul hadn't been so sensitive to what the critics said about RAM. There's an air of defiance about it.

 

Agreed. And the heavily-produced Ram was his response to criticisms of the home-spun, half-finished McCartney. And the polished Red Rose Speedway was his reaction to the critical savaging of Wild Life. I don't think Paul was comfortable in his "solo skin" until "Live And Let Die" and Band On The Run.

 

So then what was the Driving Rain album in response to it? Yeah, we can't blame that one on anything (except Ms. Mills, maybe).

Arnie

 

I agree with that author's premise about Wildlife!

I've never ever understood how people didn't get Paul McCartney?

I exspect anything from the man, his musical taste are limitless. I'm not saying that I like it all (because I don't), but I didn't and don't have the reaction that the world is coming to an end the way many and I do mean many of the critics did back in the day regarding Paul McCartney!

I think Tomorrow and Dear Friend are two of McCartney's greatest songs, they are constantly in my listening rotation of music.

I have absolutely no problem with Love Is Strange, my friends from Jamaica, Cuba and the Bahamas love it, and I think he should open a show with Mumbo. The song Wildlife would be absolutely awesome performed live today.

 

Well, one COULD argue that the "modern" sounds of Driving Rain were in contrast to the "retro" sounds of the preceding disc (RDR), if one just wanted to argue...