Current Paul McCartney news thread (interviews, articles, miscellaneous)

Capitol Music Exec on Grammy Bumps and Why More Artists Don’t Sing About Politics: "Too Dangerous”

" [...] During your tenure, Paul McCartney landed his first No. 1 album debut as a solo artist in 2018. What's it like working with a Beatle?

He takes nothing for granted. He's a good guy and he thanks everyone. And he's humble. He was open to ideas, [though] he was certainly resistant to doing "Carpool Karaoke" at first. He said, "How can I be better than Adele and Stevie Wonder?" Then Steve Barnett had the idea of doing it in Liverpool. That, in partnership with James Corden, pushed Paul to do it. [The episode earned 4.3 million viewers and an Emmy. [...]"

 

"It's always been a pleasure and a privilege to work with this great company and I love to think that from the very first record that I ever bought as a kid right up to the present day, Capitol has been an important part of my life...."

... except for, like 1979 through 1985, when I dabbled with Columbia...

 

Or 2007 through 2016 when he abandoned Capitol again, but still popped in to borrow their famous studio.

 

I wonder if Ms. Jubelirer provided repeated warnings to Mr. McCartney that singing about politics is too dangerous.

 

So was Egypt Station his first new album for Capital since returning to their fold? If so, I wonder if that is why he could go crazy with the concertina packaging or if Paul could do that with any company as he is Paul McCartney. He should have got a grammy for that fun crazy packaging idea.

 

Mentioned by Paul in his letter:
What was the first record (released on Capitol) that Paul bought as a kid? Anyone know?

 

It was. And his first album for Capitol to be on the Capitol label worldwide. (I guess Parlophone went by the wayside while he was at Hear Music.)

Agreed on the packaging. It was excellent!

 

I’ve heard him say Be-Bop-A-Lula by Gene Vincent

 

Thanks! It is funny though that Paul does not mention the title of the record. I wonder if anyone at Capitol knew which record that Paul was talking about.

It probably was this UK copy:

 

And what was the first record Paul nicked as a kid? Was it on Capitol as well?

 

The Parlophone label still exists, but under different ownership than Capitol. Parlophone is now under the Warner Music Group umbrella, while Capitol is with Universal.

 

Ahh, I see.
Thanks!

 

And Beatle Fan Paul Weller has been using the old-style labels on his last couple albums, too...

 

That's pretty cool.

 

Now you have me thinking... I wonder if this is why they have released so many singles and variations of the album. Capitol trying extra hard to indulge/show support to Paul. Or whether it is just so much easier now to label a song or songs as a digital single without the time and expense of old when all singles needed to be on physical media like vinyl or cd single and such. I would think now, it would be much easier for a label and artist to release 4 or 5 singles off an album session, since the cost is negligible and the return can be good for the artist and label. In the past you would only do that with a Michael Jackson level artist and Thriller type product. I mean hasn't Paul released like 7 singles off this project in one fashion or another? Can anyone name them all? Bonus points for release order!

 

1: I Don't Know / Come On To Me
2: Fuh Yu
3: Who Cares
4: Get Enough
*5: In A Hurry / Home Tonight

What do I win, Alex?

 

Also the Nothing For Free (DJ Chris Holmes Remix).

 

Yes, but was that ever released [officially]?

 

Yes. And unlike "Who Cares", "Caesar Rock", and "Back In Brazil" - all of which were supposedly singles (but I never saw seperate listings for them on iTunes) - it actually received official artwork:



https://www.amazon.com/Nothing-Free...+mccartney&link_code=qs&qid=1579813221&sr=8-1

 

I stand corrected.

1: I Don't Know / Come On To Me
2: Fuh Yuh
3: Who Cares
4: Get Enough
5: Nothing For Free (remix)
*6: In A Hurry / Home Tonight

 

I also see no evidence to count Caesar Rock or Who Cares.
No physical release, no promo for radio play, no separate listing of any kind for downloads. There was that little online ad that wanted to push it but these days once an album is released you can download any of the tracks really so if you're going to push a single afterwards there's usually a separate listing and/or artwork or else just call the whole album singles.
1. I Don't Know
2. Come On To Me
3. Fuh You
4. Get Enough
5. Nothing For Free (Remix)
6. Home Tonight
7. In A Hurry

 

Wow, then as far as songs go, that is 8 songs as singles! Seems to me that as far as digital singles go the difference between an A and B side are very minor, and the two you have listed have two songs each that could be A sides.

 

Yeah I can't justify an ad pushing it after it's release as a single. It's like saying "hey we want this to be a hit so don't download any of the other tracks, just grab this one and it's a single"
If they had backed it up with a separate listing and some artwork or slight remix or something but I saw nothing like that.

 

I'd count it this way:
1) I Don't Know c/w Come On To Me
2) Fuh You
3) Get Enough
4) Nothing For Free [remix]
5) Home Tonight c/w In a Hurry

"Who Cares" (and those others I mentioned in my last post) are as much of a single as, say, "I Can Bet" or "Hand In Hand".

 

But Caesar Rock actually charted on AAA airplay for awhile - it was definitely "pushed" as a radio single and it did better than #s 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 & 7 above.