McCartney's Hits: Which Wings Wins?

Sorry for the "w" alliteration there....

ALL THE BEST? WINGSPAN? WINGS GREATEST? Setting the track listings aside, is there one particular CD pressing of any of the 3 of these that stands out, sound-quality-wise?

I know Wingspan is easily the most thorough, but Peter Mew was involved, so those results could be a little scary....

Thanks in advance for any thoughts!

 

Never thought Wings Greatest sounded any good.

 

Wingspan Remastering

I dissected the remastering on Wingspan when it was released. You can check out at:

http://www.8-arms.com/Sample link page.htm

Scroll down the page and click on the Wingspan logo.

Chip Madinger

 

Chip,
You have a great ear for detail. One question though, why did you prefer the 25th Anniversay Band on the Run CD to the DCC?
I much prefer the DCC title of Band on the Run. Other than that I might make my own CDR copy of Wingspan with help from your recommendations. Only problem will be the variable volume from track to track.
I agree that the Japanese Wings Greatest CD sounds good.


Joe

 

It's been a year since I went through this, and hopefully Steve could shed some light on this, but I believe that the 25th Anniversary Edition used a different / lower generation tape than the DCC edition. I'm basing this on the fact that the 25th AE did not have the hot-potting at the intro of 1985, which is evident on every BOTR CD except for the original Columbia (prepped from the LP master), the 25th AE and 1993 Mew remaster. When I interviewed Mew about it, he claimed that *he* fixed it, but I think he used a different source tape. I know I A/B'd the two at the time I prepared the review, but I can't think of any other particular reason why I picked the 25AE over the DCC.

Chip

 

I never read any of the links, but as one who owns all three, here is my take on them:

Greatest Hits: not the best sound, but probably a straight transfer of the compilation master.

All The Best: better tapes, smoother sound, sounds no noised in spots

Wingspan: it could've been great, but the treble was spiked! At least it was NOT no noised!

 

Are you sure? I don't have it handy, but Peter Mew did do the mastering, after all.

 

Yes, i'm sure! I have it. It has tape hiss. It makes my ears hurt.

 

Gee, for some reason, I kinda favor the DCC gold versions myself.

 

Well, just because there's tape hiss doesn't mean NR wasn't used. Even the *worst* engineers tend to leave at least some hiss in when using NR.

 

Uh, I know the difference in leaving *some* hiss and a track having not been no-noised. The CD was not no-noised. As I said before, it was EQ'd to shrillness.

Maybe Paul told him not to use NR.

 

The entire collection was not subjected to no-noise, but selections from several of the early LPs: McCartney, Ram, and especially Band On The Run were undoubtedly treated. Specifics can be found at the link posted a few messages above.

However, there seems to be no rhyme or reason to which songs required no-noise. For example, while most of the BOTR tracks got the treatment, 'Bluebird' didn't, and sounds fantastic. My guess is that EMI/MPL had done a little house-cleaning since the 1993 remastering and discovered some new tapes to use for the Wingspan set.

Chip Madinger
www.8-arms.com

 

UK - All the Best

I've got the UK verson of "All the Best" with the different track listing. Does anyone know how this compares with the US verson in terms of sound quality?

 

That's the version that I have, and I really like it because it has the track Once Upon a Long Ago which I think is one of the most Beatles-like tracks that Paul ever did. I can't understand why Capitol chose to ignore this tune, while it released a lot of other Macca singles that had little or no substance to them. I can understand it not being on a "hits" CD for the US, but they should have at least issued a US CD Single or something.

Anyone know the story of why this track was ignored???

This one is a great tune, and if you have never heard it, you should seek this one out just for this tune...

Of course, just MHO...

:-jon (Beatles fan since '64)

 

Maybe Paul didn't want it on there?

 

It's Paul's solo compilation CD. Maybe Paul wanted to be just Paul and with "Once Upon A Long Ago" he slipped back to the ol' Beatles style. I believe they tried hard to have their own identities forcing themselves to write in a different style. I sure don't hear any Lennon in Paul's solo stuff!

 

Yes I agree and so it must have been so frustrating for them to have their solo albums critically judged on how close they got to a "Beatles sound".

...........let me roll it to you............

 

Hey, They're a hard act to follow!

 

My memory is way cloudy on this. It seems I read an article in Billboard about the time the CD came out. Paul did want that track on there. The promo edit of With A Little Luck would have allowed room for the song. If I remember correctly, the US record company said "no."

As I said, If I remember correctly.

Brian

 

I found this bit on a web-site about the "Once Upon A Long Ago" UK Single:

An odd release, in that it was lifted from the "Greatest Hits" album, All The Best, and yet of course, had at the time of the album's release two weeks earlier, NOT been issued.
"Once Upon A Long Ago", a McCartney composition, was produced by Phil Ramone and mixed by George Martin, and features violin by Nigel Kennedy. The B-side was written by Paul with Elvis Costello, who's name appears in the credits under his real name of "McManus".

Bottom line:

Did Paul wanted this song only in the UK release of "All the Best" (even before it was released as a single).

or

Did the US Capitol say NO to OUALA?

I tend to agree that Capitol said NO.


BC

 

Brian, the track that was cut from the final tracklist of "Wingspan" was "Give Ireland Back To The Irish". EMI and Paul finally decided that the controversal song should not be included on the hits package. More than likely it will turn up on the McCartney box set that's supposed to be in the works. "Once Upon A Long Ago" was only issued as a single outside the US prior to it's being included on the foreign pressings of "All The Best".