McCartney Archive Collection - Venus & Mars and Speed of Sound "Coming Soon"

Band On The Run was a pretty tough act to follow, but never the less I do enjoy V & M and will be buying it in some format. SOS, for my money, is an example of democracy not working. I have to see what the extras are before I decide to part with my cash.

 

They warrant DVDs but most included DVDs so far have been disappointing. One thing they could do is remaster the albums and make the music available immediately for download (iTunes, Paul's site, HDTracks) and then follow their own sweet schedule for the physical releases (that take more time and effort). Issue a unique code for each album download purchased from their website and allow it to be redeemed for a credit on the deluxe edition purchases ( so that people don't have to double dip).

 

That was great! Ah hell, where is the rarities box?

Talking of rarities, IMO chuck the big box approach and instead go for the Dylan style bootleg series release program.

1) Vol 1 - 1966 to 1970 (include any solo material demos from the Beatle days, gifted song demos like Goodbye/Step Inside Love, McCartney session outtakes)
2) Vol 2 - The RAM demos and outtakes (can easily fill up a disc)
3) Vol 3 - Birth of Wings

And so on........this could create a longer term cash flow program for MPL wrt to the vault material. For fans, we don,t have to worry about what material will have to edited out to fit a long career into a say 4 disc set. Plus we get to look forward to a new rarities release every 6-8 months or so.

 

Yep.

 

Here's a nice little documentary from 1976. Wings in New Orleans. Ron

 

THAT'S a cool version!

 

The original releaseplan as posted by etcetera long ago showed that there is or was a plan to release a special 1974 McGear, The Country Hams kind of release. This leads me to think that we won't get those tracks with VaM and Sos.
I imagine the discs like this:

Venus and Mars bonusdisc
1) Letting Go (45 mix)
2) Lunchbox/Odd Socks
3) My Carnival
4) Venus and Mars/Rockshow (live from Cow Palace)
5) Listen To What The Man Said (live from Cow Palace)
6) Call Me Back Again (live from Cow Palace)
7) You Gave Me The Answer (live from Cow Palace)
8) Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer

i'd love to see Crawl of the Wind and take 1 of Love In Song as well, but they will probably be held back for a future rarities box.

WIngs At The Speed Of Sound bonusdisc
1) Soily (studio version)
2) Silly Love Songs (live from Cow Palace)
3) Cook Of The House (live from Glasgow 1979)
4) Let Em In (live from Cow Palace)
5) Beware My Love (live from Cow Palace)
6) Time To Hide (live from Cow Palace)
7) Must Do Something About It (Paul guide vocal)
8) She's My Baby (early version)

 

I seriously want these two.

 

I would also love to get the 1979 Cold Cuts mix of that song. It sounds more like a band. The drums just sound better, and I love that. The versions of "Blue Sway" and "A Love For You" that we have received in the Archive Collection are 1986 mixes. The actual released version of "My Carnival" has the same general mid-'80s flavor to it as these other two songs. I'd like to go back and get us a younger and, in my opinion, better mix.

 

Cool! Thanks for mentioning it. Even though I had to find it on my own , I was happy to hear it - that was new to me!

 

Yes, it could go on V&M, and I probably should have included it, though it would exceed Paul's seeming desire to keep the bonus discs at 8 tracks. He could cut the V&M/Rockshow edit, or he could hold over the Country Hams stuff since Speed of Sound will be lacking in available already-released bonus tracks. But it also COULD go on either the Broadstreet or Press to Play reissues since it was released in '85 (along with the 12-inch mix). But if Lunch Box and Rudolph don't make the cut with Venus and Mars, it seems unlikely they would show up anywhere else.

 

Underwhelming yes (except for the single mix of "Letting Go", which is an exciting proposition), but essential if we're to see every officially released song show up on cd.

 

That was awesome. Thanks for sharing.

 

Although McCartney II, Ram, and Wings Over America each contained 8 bonus songs, McCartney had 7 bonus tracks, and Band On The Run had 9 bonus cuts, so they don't always adhere to 8. But I do think My Carnival should be a Venus & Mars bonus track because it is so typical of New Orleans, where much of Venus and Mars was recorded. I'd cut the Rock Show edit though if it had to be only 8. Arnie

P.S. The book version of McCartney II also had a second bonus CD with some more unedited versions of songs.

 

Why is the single mix of Letting Go exciting? Genuine question.

 

1. Better, more exciting mix (in the opinion of most)
2. Never before available on cd
3. I freaking love that song!

 

Yeah, that's good.

 

Don't forget Medicine Jar (live from Cow Palace) and Wino Junko. What's Crawl of the Wind?

 

It was a Venus & Mars outtake with Dave Mason on guitar. I can't remember but Dave Mason may have co-written it with Paul. Maybe someone else can add some more info. Arnie

Edit: It also may really be titled Crawl Of The Wild (not Wind).

 

Crawl Of The Wind is an unreleased song from the Venus and Mars sessions featuring Dave Mason, who also played on Listen To What The Man Said.
There's no way Paul is gonna put out Medicine Jar or Wino Junko. He keeps the albums intact including songs contributed by others, but I think he will only release bonustracks that he wrote and/or sung himself at this stage of his career. It's the Paul McCartney Archive Collection and it's very Paul-centric. I even doubt if Time To Hide on my list would make the record, but there's a bigger change of him putting out a Laine bonustrack than any other bandmember.

 

There's something of a precedent already in this regard. "No Words" from Glasgow '79 didn't make the cut for "BOTR".

 

It did for some online orders from PM.com. They gave out that song and "Band on the Run" from Glasgow as well.

 

I wasn't aware of that, thanks for the info.

Another artist (like The Stones or The Dead) might have just done something crazy and put out Glasgow '79 as a free-standing (and inexpensive) archival release. I'd much rather have it scattered on 6 or 7 different releases. Surprised "Let It Be" from Glasgow didn't appear on "Let It Be: Naked".

 

This is actually a really good suggestion. I mean, it'll never happen in a million years, but it's a good solution to the problem they've created for themselves.

 

You may have a point. We'll see if "Send Me the Heart" or "I Would Only Smile" appear as bonus tracks to V&M and/or RRS.