Next Paul McCartney Archive: London Town, Back to the Egg or something else?*

Oh, I definitely want London Egg before "PtP". Been looking forward to the 1978-79 albums for a long time - would've preferred them before "WL"/"RRS" and any of the post-"McCartney II" albums.

But "PtP" is the pick over anything else post-"Macca II"!

 

"London Town" was also the first Macca studio album I got when new - or at all, actually. "WOA" was my 1st Macca album period, and "Silly Love Songs" was my 1st 45, but I didn't own any Macca studio albums period until I got "LT" in spring 1978.

I didn't actually own a copy of "BttE" for years - I taped it off the radio in spring 1979 and made do!

 

Spin it on..don't stop

 

Really?

'Cause it seemed like Wild Life and McCartney II [and to some extent Red Rose Speedway] polished up real nice...

 

Press to Play needs a disc of remixes, since "Spies Like Us," "My Carnival," "Seaside Woman," "B-Side to Seaside," "Press," "It's Not True," "Pretty Little Head," "Angry," "Only Love Remains," "Talk More Talk," "Tough On A Tightrope" and "Once Upon A Long Ago" have at least one alternate mix on singles… and that's not including promotional edits either.

Press to Play is the last of the studio LPs where we can reasonably predict a 4-5 CD, 1-2 DVD set. Off the Ground is a stretch. After that, the series snaps back to 2-3 CD / 1 DVD if that.

 

You mean like this one..?

Spoiler

[\spoiler]

 

Off The Ground should have been done with FITD. Not sure why they didn't do those as a double release. The Costello tunes are the common thread along with most of the band. Perhaps a missed opportunity to really sell the era. They could have also done a Tripping The Live Fantastic LP release WITH Paul Is Live. Really could have been a neat moment for the band of that 89-93 era.

 

Honestly, I look forward to BTTE more than LT, but I love both albums, so no deal!

 

Well, if we're just expressing our preferences, I would much rather see LT/BTTE next.

PTP can come out after. I have no problem with that.

I just like London Town and Back To The Egg better. Yup. I said it...

 

Well... they could make smaller and smaller numbers of them, call them exclusive and jack up the price.. oh, wait...

 

Well that’s the rub, as the numbers made...shrink the prices of those available....rise. There is usually a minimum number to secure the manufacturing, who knows what that number is?

 

none of those were big sellers so why not a reissue of even the box he did back in the day. in the end he will put out what he puts outs, its Paul McCartney he doesn't do things now for sales its more about his legacy. Even wildlife got a box that was hardly a great or hit lp either. I still hope there are a few surprises, more live releases like ameba , cold cuts finally 79 last wings Glasgow show on vinyl in full. that kind of thing excites me more. I also think unplugged has huge possibilities as a stand alone reissue( not a box) in time it will happen . Hopefully!!

 

Agree. I wonder if this is a hint that they don't plan to do "OtG" at all!

 

Off the Ground was not part of the original plan – and, according to someone in these forums, had not been started yet, which is why they went with Flowers alone.
Never forget that Paul chose to do virtual discs with Flowers in the Dirt as a way of controlling costs: Off the Ground would have had to go a similar route as well.
Off the Ground can easily be the remaster, the b-sides, the demos/alternate mixes/live cuts/etc., Strawberries Oceans Ships Forest, a DVD with Movin' On and the promo films, and a DVD of Up Close if MPL can get the footage cheaply.
It was better to float one and not sink both as two expensive sets.

As for the live albums, Paul Is Live with Unplugged. Same band, and the former actually supported the latter with a mini-set of four.

Raise the prices if the quantities go down.
What I mean by that is, if you drop the quantities from 10k to 7k, that's 3k less to spread the costs around – so a 10k item that's $70 to make costs at 7k costs $100.
And that's assuming equivalent construction: it's very likely that some of those releases don't need large reproductions.

Some, like Broad Street, may end up closer to the Pipes Of Peace model while the covers albums could be more like McCartney and McCartney II.
Less added material lowers the production costs. (In the case of CHOBA b CCCP and Paul Is Live, the recent vinyl releases also remastered the core LP, so all it needs is a tweak and you're good to go.)
By this I mean you can reduce the cost by $10 of the 10k run and it equivalents to a $15 savings on each 7k printing.

It's still a diehard portion of fans who will buy them… even the grumblers here who say "One more and I quit" may be tempted to get them once they see the additional material.
Right now, I'm more interested in the fact that some distributors underestimated demand/can't get stock, since it raises the possibility insufficient numbers for Flaming Pie were made in the first place. If so, 10k on a set may be too low… raising the minimum for core albums and that, in turn, looks better for some of the supporting albums too.
(You can bet they also looked at the recent live vinyl as a gauge of how many would want each type of release – remastered re-release and expanded re-release.)

 

I need an order of Back To The Egg. Sunny side up AND over easy please!

 

i really hope Back to the Egg or Off The Ground are next !

 

As has been posted numerous times, all indications are that both London Town and Back to the Egg are next.
They were supposed to be ahead of Flaming Pie but there were legal complications that may or may not have been worked out by now.

Off the Ground has reportedly not been started, nor has Press to Play or Give My Regards to Broad Street, all potential – yet likely – candidates for what may be following in the series.

If the interview dates with Paul are any indication, it takes close to a year to get an Archive assembled — and keep in mind that Paul is working on his next LP already, and there are still plans to return to touring.
So I would expect that whatever follows the next pair likely won't be arriving until early 2022 at the least.

 

If I were a betting man, I'd say the whole Archive Collection series will likely end with London Town and Back To The Egg. I remain hopeful that Press To Play gets the treatment however.

 

PTP would seem to be the next best logical choice after LT/BTTE.

[Not that MPL always uses the same logic as the rest of us.... ]

 

I'll go along with saying London/Egg is next, only because they're apparently done already. Beyond that, who knows, but I would hope the series continues. As much as some people want the classical, The Fireman, and live albums to be part of this, I don't see it happening. One, because I don't see the demand being high enough, especially for the classical. Two, if they were going to include more live albums, they probably wouldn't have done those straight reissues last year. Realistically, I see them only doing the studio pop/rock albums released under the McCartney/Wings name, Electric Arguments being the only other one possibly in because it's more mainstream.

So, my best guess is after London/Egg, they could possibly go in a more or less chronological order to fill in the gaps up to FP. So that means PtP and OTG. I'm not entirely sure we'll get Broad Street, since I see it more as a rerecording of older material with a few new songs mixed in. Choba just got a reissue, so I don't see that being included for now. I know OTG got a straight reissue, but I'm assuming that, at the time, it wasn't going to be part of the archive series. For all I know, the plan was just the highlights of his post-Beatles career.

Now we're at post-FP. This is where it gets fuzzy for me. It could be said that these albums are too recent to be included in an archive series. But, I would argue that those albums are now or will be at least 15-20 years old by the time we would reach them. RDR is the only one I see as less likely to be included since it's a cover album with what, 2 new songs? Then we're also getting to albums that have already had deluxe editions. How do you get people to buy the same thing again? Some unreleased songs from that era?

Look, I want the series to keep on going, as I think everyone here does. And it will, as long as there's money to be made. Anyway, those are my thoughts on the subject.

 

I can definitely see him doing the live albums. He already did over America and I know people like to give that one a pass as something extra. But let's be honest, the live albums are all under his name and a lot of them are classic Beatles and Wings songs. They will sell. And some of them can be made into very nice sets.
Unplugged for example has left over tracks from the Promo/B Sides. The full show can be included. Finally a DVD. I really don't see him passing on these things if the sets are still selling.
The classical stuff I think will be straight reissues though.

 

Exactly. Driving Rain is now 19, going on 20.

Flaming Pie is only 23 years ago, so who's to say DR would not be eligible in another 4-5 years..? Chaos is only 4 years younger... why, it's almost old enough to vote..

By the time we get LT/BTTE and PTP and maybe OTG, are all released we can expect it will be at least another 3-5 years from now, so.... why not?

 

If you're going to go with live albums as being okay, and the covers — all of which have enough material for a bonus disc – then I would posit that Liverpool Oratorio could definitely receive the larger treatment as well. The book can go into detail about the hiring of Paul for the Oratorio, his selection of the vocalists, the inspirations he built it from, his anticipation for/reaction to the premier, and the reaction by the classical music world. The classical albums have never been remastered, so it may get some tweaking as well.

Standing Stone, Ecce Cor Meum and Ocean's Kingdom could definitely be smaller releases, with a 48-72 page book in hardcover at the Archive size, going into detail about the intentions, the recording/release, the collaborators and artwork of each. (Standing Stone would be the largest, since its artwork uses Linda's photos, and they can reproduce the poetry nicely). [Ocean's Kingdom and Ecce Cor Meum would also be really near the end.]

Working Classical would be 96-120 pages because of the bonus material that could be added on top — such as "A Leaf" (solo piano version), "Appaloosa Suite" (three movements), "Celebration" (single edit), "Nova" and maybe some of the Royal Performance pieces and/or other solo material rearranged for strings by the Lorimar Quartet. That one would definitely be one of the last, as it fills in all the small holes between every release.

 

I'm not saying there isn't the material for the classical albums and infact I really hope they happen. I love those albums and would buy big sets of them in a heartbeat.
I'm just worried that being classical rather than his core catalogue he will choose to go the route of straight remastered album only. And first time vinyl for some of them.
I can see him backing his live albums for archive treatment well well before the classical as they will have a bigger audience than the classical.
But by all means i'd be first in the queue to pre order deluxe archive classical McCartney if it happens.

 

The thing with the classical LPs is that they are not going for the same audience — and they've not been revisited while many classical LPs are.
Classical is constantly tweaking the sound to match the best technologies out there.
My guess is that MPL is waiting for the time to do a proper remaster of them, and will wait until the pop LPs are done first.

If you look at the previous re-releases, that's how it goes: in both 1993 and 2007, the core studio LPs were wave one (with some live albums in the 2007 offering), followed by the other LPs.
By 2007 standards, we're still waiting for London Town, Back to the Egg, Give My Regards To Broad Street, Press To Play, CHOBA b CCCP (The Russian Album), Off the Ground, Run Devil Run, Driving Rain, Chaos And Creation in The Backyard, Memory Almost Full, New and Egypt Station before we move into tier II releases.