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

Hmm ... I guess I like my remasters to be "present" then! But seriously, I prefer the 2010+ remasters to the 1993s in every case so far. I don't have any of the DCCs, so I there were no crises of conscience for me. But the Archive remasters just sound fuller, more detailed, more ALIVE to me than the 1993 CDs -- so yeah, I'd spend $10 to have a remastered Red Rose Speedway NOW, even if the deluxe edition might be released within the next few years. I'm actually much more interested in the remastering of the 1970-1989 albums than I am in the later ones. I don't think there are going to be any sonic miracles performed on the post-1990 albums (unless they de-master Memory Almost Full) -- I'll want those mostly for the bonus tracks.

I didn't jump on the CD bandwagon right away; I pretty stubbornly remained a vinyl guy until about 1990. Once I started to get around to solo Macca, I wanted the versions with the most bonus tracks -- and also, back then I automatically assumed that "remastered" automatically meant "better." I don't particularly think the 1993s are as horrible as their reputation either, but they do sound thin and weak to me. Or, as you might put it, "less forward, more muted and relaxed"! Different strokes....

 

This... is really a fantastic post. Nicely said.

 

I up you one to nine. Granted, condition is (?) but I love em...

 

Some of the '93 remasters sound better than the '87s... London Town springs immediately to mind. Some of them sound worse than the '87s... Ram is abysmal on the '93. So it's really pick-n-choose. I've had all the '87 CDs since day one, and picked up the '93s mainly for the bonus tracks, getting the DCCs as they came out as well. It'd be interesting to run down Macca's catalog through '89 to pick the best sounding versions. So interesting, in fact, that I think I'll do that right now! These are MY picks, mind you...

McCartney - Archive
Ram - Archive
Wild Life - Three to choose from: a) '87, b) '93, c) unreleased DCC mix. I've been listening to c) as my go-to, and while I get the complaints that it's a little treble-heavy, I like the balance and detail overall.
Red Rose Speedway - DCC
Band On The Run - Archive
Venus And Mars - Archive
Speed Of Sound - Archive
Wings Over America - Original Columbia CD. It really bothers me how the Archive set isn't faithful to the original LPs and so I turn to the only CD that is, the Columbia CD from over 30 years ago.
London Town - '93
Back To The Egg - '87 sounds better, but has noise between tracks (present on the original LP master, I presume)
McCartney II - Archive
Tug Of War - Columbia CD
Pipes Of Peace - Columbia CD or '93
Broad Street - Columbia CD
Press To Play - '93 (I guess)
Flowers In The Dirt - '93 (I guess)

Those are all the albums that were released on CDs with at least two different masterings. Any dissenting views would be most welcome...

 

we are around the same age (you must have 2 years on me). I was already a fan when C&C came out, but still a few months away from starting to buy solo albums. I wound up getting it over 3 years after it came out.

I understand the whole connection with somehow having a deeper connection to music you got when you were younger. For instance, I got a bunch of Wings/solo albums (out-of-print Capitol editions) over one summer into autumn when I was 15. But the one that I most notably did NOT get was Back To The Egg (I didn't get Speed Of Sound either, but somehow wasn't quite as concerned). When I finally did get Back To The Egg, it was 3 years later.

I think part of the whole thing is that when you are young, you've only heard so much music. And we you start buying albums, in the beginning your collection is small, and you tend to listen over and over to the same few albums. Hell, my first year of high school, I would listen to Let It Be almost every Sunday night! But as your collection grows, you are less likely to be so immersed in any one album. It's part of growing up. But that's not to say that I am incapable of still appreciating music that I'm introduced to as an adult.

 

Good list, and I agree it's actually as simple as: 'Archive Releases', if none available yet DCC, if none available original 80's release. But I really can't agree on 'London Town' being superior as 1993 remaster. The 1989 CDP 7 48198 2 Fame CD is soft and hissy, but nothing what a bit of home-sweetening can't fix. The 1993 CD for 'London Town' is indeed not far as disastrous as for example 'Ram' or many single cuts, but for me it still has the tail-signs of what every single track on the collection seemed to have become victim of: noise reduction and boomy sub bass and in some cases harsh EQ-ing to possibly cover up the damage of the noise reduction. 'I've Had Enough' is a good example to compare, intro without ambience and then the boomy bass kicks in. The intro of 'London Town' isn't that bad, but 'Girls School' has got all the life sucked out of it again in comparison with the 80's versions. Also, most of the songs are still almost as quiet as the 1989 CD.

 

You're welcome.

 

Except that he forgot how to sing on Driving Rain...

 

Haha, speaking of harsh . I kinda feel bad for him. I mean, besides having orders from the client, didn't he have to do the whole catalogue in a pretty short time? That's just no way to do it, and it sucks that for 20-30 (optimistic, lol) years the general crowd was stuck with them.

 

--and write.

 

Yes, I agree completely. I'll never understand the dislike for Driving Rain, (which for ME continues Paul's hot streak starting with Flaming Pie) and although the production of Press To Play is a little annoying, it's a much more interesting listen than the Wonder Bread blandness of Pipes Of Poop.

 

What do you mean? These lyrics are genius!
"12345 Let's go for a drive
678910 Let's go there and back again"

 

I like a more polished Paul sound such as Tug Of War, Pipes Of Peace, and Speedway over the half-baked albums like Wild Life or McCartney. But then that just makes sense as I don't like demos either.

 

The Mewtilator strikes again. Bwahahahahaa!

 

On Universal's site for stores, etc., only the digital versions of POP and TOW are listed (both deluxe and regular). No mention just yet of any book deluxe versions or vinyl, although surely there will be a release for those also. Oct. 2 is mentioned for both releases. Surely a press release is imminent. No further mention as to what's a demo, etc., like Amazon had listed on their site.

Here's what listed for POP:

1 Pipes Of Peace 03:56
2 Say Say Say 03:56
3 The Other Me 03:58
4 Keep Under Cover 03:06
5 So Bad 03:22
6 The Man 03:55
7 Sweetest Little Show 02:52
8 Average Person 04:34
9 Hey Hey 02:54
10 Tug Of Peace 02:55
11 Through Our Love 03:27
12 Average Person 04:05
13 Keep Under Cover 03:43
14 Sweetest Little Show 03:01
15 It's Not On 02:53
16 Simple As That 03:14
17 Say Say Say 06:56
18 Ode To A Koala Bear 03:44
19 Twice In A Lifetime 03:00
20 Christian Bop 02:01

TOW (which we already saw from the Amazon listing)

1 Tug Of War 04:22
2 Take It Away 04:16
3 Somebody Who Cares 03:19
4 What's That You're Doing? 06:22
5 Here Today 02:28
6 Ballroom Dancing 04:07
7 The Pound Is Sinking 02:56
8 Wanderlust 03:49
9 Get It 02:28
10 Be What You See (Link) 00:33
11 Dress Me Up As A Robber 02:41
12 Ebony And Ivory 03:44
13 Stop, You Don't Know Where She Came From 01:41
14 Wanderlust 01:44
15 Ballroom Dancing 02:02
16 Take It Away 05:34
17 The Pound Is Sinking 02:31
18 Something That Didn't Happen 02:14
19 Ebony And Ivory 01:43
20 Dress Me Up As a Robber / Robber Riff 03:40
21 Ebony And Ivory 03:47
22 Rainclouds 03:10
23 I'll Give You A Ring 03:07

 

It's Not On?? And, judging by the length, I'd guess that Simple As That could be a demo as well, being that it's a minute shorter than the released track. I guess we're not getting the extended version of "The Man" any time soon though...

 

Check post 1197. ASCAP copyrights may have held early clues for us ... but where is "I Can't Write Another Song"?

Good catch on Simple As That length. Maybe there is a demo for it? It always sounded much more like his 86 sound to me, even though my vinyl lists only him as the producer (no Padgham)...

EDIT: ahh, checking Luca's book, I see "Simple" was recorded after Press To Play! And he does mention a 1980 demo of it, too! I really need to spend more time with this book...

 

Not only "I can't write another song", but where is "Give us a chord Roy", "Unbelievable Exoerience", "Seems Like Old times", etc.?

 

I know everyone has a wish list for these things... I'm really disappointed we don't get the early version of No Values that was supposed to have been recorded or Blackpool which was planned to be the B-Side of an abandoned "The Man" single. I was hoping for those two in particular...
Love the Rude Studio Demos as a curiosity, feel like we've got them in good enough quality elsewhere.

Out of this we potentially get a demo of Simple as That and "It's Not On" (whatever that is) we didn't have before. Bummer! And Christian Bop?!?!? It's adding insult to injury!

(But I'll still buy them ...because I'm sick... someone help me?)

 

...and of course, while pointing out (apparent) omissions: only ONE "Ode to a Koala Bear" and (far more bizarrely) only one alternate "Say Say Say".

 

....and the demo for "On the Wings of a Nightingale"??

 

Guess there's no way to dress up Pipes of Peace. I wasn't planning on buying it again anyway, so not a big deal.

 

But the difference I was pointing out was upthread: just like w/Venus & Mars, tracks were copyrighted in the months preceding the rerelease, and then they appeared. "Can't Write" showed up on ASCAP's site recently with "Koala", "It's Not On", "Something That Didn't Happen", etc. The three latter songs you mention still don't show on ASCAP's site...

 

I agree...the only thing that would have sold me on it were some quality bonus material...it's not there.

 

Again, assuming that POP tracklisting accurately covers the audio portion of what we're getting, the instrumental Say Say Say is included but the extended remix from the 12" is not. Bad news, precedence-wise, for fans of "Press to Play" and "Flowers in the Dirt"!