"Band On The Run" - which one's the master?

UK or US....


Haven't heard/Can't afford Steve's version.....


Did he use US/UK.... with/without "Helen Wheels"?




Cheers,



Nobby.

 

Fairly sure he used the US master tape, and yes, that had Helen Wheels.

 

But only one can be "the master"?

 

That one IS. A lot of the titles released on Apple, the US master tape was "the one". Many of the facilities used were in the US, mastering took place right after, here in the US.

There are exceptions.

 

So us Brits got a crappy dub with one song cut out!!!



Gee, thanks, Paul

 

Actually, It's very possible, for the sake of time savings, to create TWO master tapes at the same time. You merely do the mixdown to two 2-track quarter-inch simultaniusly. Sometimes this can be done easilly if the mix is straight forward. "Helen Wheels" isn't.

There's guitar parts to "Helen Wheels" that were faded/punched out. You can only create that once, so either you dub it over, or create it into two machines.

Don't be analitical about it too much. A second-generation for mastering, done flat, is going to be very good. Steve would know if they did it NAB (doubt it?) or if they used Dolby (again-doubt it).

I don't know the whole story, but I believe the record was "done" for the UK, and the song was left to come out as a single, and the US had it too, much later, as a single.

The Cds' for the whole world were cloned off the same master, the one in the US. A production safety and might have used no-noise.

 

No, you Brits got the version Paul intended to release. Capitol forced him to add "Helen Wheels" in America.

McCartney was releasing many non-LP A-sides at this time -- "Another Day," "Give Ireland Back to the Irish," "Mary Had a Little Lamb," "Hi Hi Hi," "Live and Let Die" (except on the soundtrack LP, on which the only Macca performance was the title song). "Helen Wheels" was the sixth of his eight US singles to that point that was NOT scheduled to appear on one of his albums! It wouldn't surprise me, therefore, if Capitol insisted that the US Band on the Run contained "Helen Wheels" because it was the then-current hit single. By the end of 1973, it had become an exception in the US for a single to stand alone; they almost always had an accompanying album.

 

Hey, WE got all the crappy Capitol Beatle albums!!!!!!!!

 

Amazingly, Capitol was nervous over the commercial prospects of BOTR, probably partially due to the collapse of Wings prior to recording, so they made Paul include Helen Wheels, as if the punching in of a completely non-fitting minor hit, would put the LP over the top. The fact that it is the best solo project he ever delivered (or would deliver) apparently escaped them.

 

Maybe, but I doubt that Paulie was 'forced' to do anything. The more likely explanation is that there were some concerns about BOTR commercially, but that Capitol simply asked him if they could add the song to the US Lp. Obviously, he agreed, and just as likely, told them where in the sequencing to put it. And if you bought the US album first, it doesn't sound out of place at all.

It should also be noted the album seems to have been mixed at EMI in London and portions recorded there, while the basic tracks were recorded at EMI's studios in Lagos, Nigeria. What Paul, Linda and Denny were doing in Lagos I don't remember now, but losing a few band members would hardly have fazed a musician of Paulie's caliber, as he had pretty much done the one-man band thing on McCARTNEY and RAM. Any guy who can play all guitars, keyboards and drums can take care of himself.

Interestingly, the slipcase for the DCC BOTR is unique: not diecut as the others are, it's a full repro of the front cover, and includes the Lp sleeve insert photos by Linda.

ED

 

I think he wanted to be as far away as possible from the normal cofines of the normal studios. He called up EMI and asked where other studios in the world are, and when he heard "Lagos", it sparked his interest.

Unfortunately, there were no isolation glass walls or even decent recording equipment. Even the cutter was somewhere crumpled up. When he asked Wings to come by, Denny was the only one interested in going. I'm working off memory from the BOTR 2CD Anniv. set. I think it was Geoff Emerick was DRAGGED to Lagos to help engineer the album.

True too, Paul knew how to take care of himself just like he did with Ram & McCartney....

 

lol......

Fair point.

I know which I'd rather have!!!!

 

I found this in the archives:

Originally posted by Steve Hoffman

Chip,

I'll try and remember....

I used a tape from Abbey Road. It was on British Scotch 201 (or so sez my notes). "Helen Wheels" was not on the reel. That was from another tape.

That clipped intro was on the tape. A piece had fallen off or a splice point had broken loose. Since fixed with a digital workstation I have no doubt.

Glad you liked my version. I spent a lot of time getting to sound as good as possible...

Oh, I had Capitol's tape copy as well, and it sounded the same tonally as the British tape, but a bit hissier. So, even though the British version was in much worse shape, I used it....

Great album, not so great mix...

Hope this helps.

 

Thanks. Forgot about all this. Makes sense!

 

Thanks - that's what I was looking for!

Tried to search for "band on the run" and ""band" and "run"" last night but got weighed down by threads...



Titling is clearly important as the recent thread explains!


edit....


D'oh.... didn't think to look in the archives section!!!!

 

Gracious! I am so naive - I just can't believe how major record companies can let things like that happen to major albums. What, they can't afford to have someone put the splice back together??

 

Much later? The single came out October 26 in the UK and November 12 in the US.

 

I thought I remember it being a month apart. Well, not a WHOLE month.

 

Thanks Steve!

Now if only I could get my hands on your version!

 

I have both the UK & US pressing & the UK pressing is definitely the better sounding one.

 

Hey, I got my DCC with slipcover for $20 about a year ago; they're out there, you'll track one down!

 

This may not be the right time to say this, but it has always bugged me that on the intro to the BOTR anniversary issue LP, Paul says welcome to the anniversary cee dee!!!

Mark P.

 

But he only said that on the "story of" 2nd CD. Not on the main BOTR disc.

 

Hey - I picked up a used DCC with alla the goodies including slipcover for $20 about a year ago - be patient and one will turn up... Now, if only I could say the same about Ringo on DCC!