I think Kiss of Venus is a major triumph, yeah and shows this Mr. Fike to be as savvy as a sack of grandaddies when it comes to taking an opportunity and writing himself into the core. His track is surely only artistically 'related' to the original rather than a 'cover version' and in this he's created a debate about the old 90s question of 'If I remix your record, use none of your performances and it sounds completely different, why do you still get the publishing?' which was as taken up by lawyers as 'if I came up with the beat used on 100000 songs, why do I die a pauper?' Definitely getting into the gritty now. And As Stella would say 'About forking time'
First two reviews for III Imagined. Both of them [80]. Paul McCartney - McCartney III Reimagined Paul McCartney Gets by with a Little Help from His Friends on 'McCartney III Imagined' both reviews say Phoebe Bridgers’ cover and St Vincent’s remix are highlights!
For now. When McCartney III was announced, it was a poster & a calendar… until the website announced after the vinyls that there would be special edition CDs with an extra track on them. Given that the physical product is not due until end of July, I have a sneaking suspicion that we'll see some announcements in May around the time Ram's half-speed is released, along with possibly a RSD release for June (maybe a single reissue or original/remix single).
I would definitely love a full performance of you and your brother doing Slidin' - what you did sounded great. Maybe post on Bandcamp. I like what you've done with Wanderlust, which is one of my all-time favorites. Takes a fair amount of courage to do that song. Great job.
To be clear, the songwriting is credited to McCartney/Fike. Because of the extra careful work he put in, he has a stake.
While I am super excited about the album, I'm not sure if those reviewers actually heard the album. Really bereft of specific details. The second article is a bit more specific, but really just sounds like guesswork. I too would suspect the Phoebe Bridgers version of Seize the Day to be hauntingly beautiful, likewise St. Vincent playing a guitar solo seems par for the course. I could be wrong. I'll say this, if reviewers have heard the album, then we are within hours of a leak somewhere. And, if your album is going to be leaked, is a review in Exclaim! and Clash worth it?
There are many things to like in the Clash rewiew of the remix-album . Here s one of those enjoyable quotes. @Paul McCartney’s ongoing creative luminescence is truly exceptional. Whereas peers such as Eric Clapton and Van Morrison find themselves at loggerheads with the world, Macca’s joi de vivre and thumbs up positivity has become the perfect lockdown antidote.”
Looking forward at least to hear Khruangbin's version of Pretty Boys, could hear them on Deep Deep Feeling but not a generic McCartney tune (decent as it is) St Vincent can definitely see doing Woman and Wives justice.
While waiting to hear lovely Phoebe Bridgers song Seize the Day -here s she is doin the late great John Prines last masterpiece Summers End Enjoy
I have a question about this upcoming 'McCartney 3 reimagined' album- I heard the Beck track, and -i think---is that Paul's original vocal in the track? and more importantly, so is this an album of 'cover versions by these artists' or 'remixes of the original tracks with things added'? (or a kind of hybrid of both?)
It is. Beck stripped away all the instruments and did his own, adding some backing vocals into the mix. Mix. Basically, he handed the tracks to select individuals to see what they could do. Some recorded their own versions of the songs, some reworked the elements of Paul's, and some did remixes. But the point of it is that it's McCartney III looked through the lenses of other, for the most part more contemporary artists.
Ed O'Brien (EOB) got interviewed on BBC Radio 6, some days ago - Lauren Laverne - Nemone sits in - BBC Sounds (from 36:28 to 44:20) Here's a transcript of the comments related to McCartney : "Well, I was in the studio, literally just before lockdown, this last lockdown, I was in the studio with Paul Epworth, just playing around, having some fun, trying some stuff out. And my solo project is signed with Capitol, and Capitol Records do all of Paul McCartney's stuff. And they said "would you be interested, no pressure, do whatever you want, if it's not for you, then no worries". And so I listened to it and I checked it out. And I thought this is pretty cool. He played all the instruments. It's this album that he brought up just for Christmas called "McCartney III". Like "McCartney" and "McCartney II", he plays all the instruments. He's... I know I'm speaking the obvious, but he really is an extraordinary musician, to be able to do that. You know, the "McCartney II", which came out in 1980, I bought it as a kid. "Coming up", that amazing single... And he plays everything on this stuff. He's incredible. So I really liked that. And I heard and I thought this is good. This is really good. So I said to Paul Epworth, "would you fancy...", because I didn't have much time, we were just about to go into lockdown. So we literally had just over a day, and I asked Paul, "do you fancy getting stuck into this and trying to do something with it?" And he was really up for it. It was great. You know, it was really... It was a moment of light in the darkness of the winter. We had a lot of fun and, you know, we got into his vocals and pulled things up and added some chaos and that guitar... You know, we just wanted to make it a little bit more.. I guess my reference point was Helter Skelter, that kind of ramping up the intensity. And I think that's what we we've done, I hope so." So what we have with the "Slidin'" remix is the result of one day of work in the studio.
To be a little more accurate, Beck played bass, and guitar and may have added vocals, but he based his entire Find My Way track from this 1970's sample. It is the men who wrote this song for Con Funk Shun who get the cowrite with McCartney, not Beck.
Thank you so much, I really appreciate the kind words! "Wanderlust" is also one of my favorites, just an amazing song all around. I find that Beatles/Solo Beatles songs are difficult to cover, because their versions are so definitive that it's hard to hear those songs any other way, haha. I was speaking with my brother earlier, we're definitely going to try and extend "Slidin" out, so I'll keep you posted on when that's done and up on Bandcamp. On another note, I've recently been delving into St. Vincent's catalogue - really interesting stuff there, I can't wait to hear what she does with "Women and Wives"!
I do like her work. Who I'm most excited to hear on III Imagined is Khruangbin. They are surfy, but with a funk indie quality, loads of Thai and exotic influence as well. Their upcoming show at the Greek will be my first post pandemic concert, though I'm sure something will come up before then. Totally unique band and I can't envision what they will do with Pretty Boys.
Dominic Fike's Kiss of Venus now has more than 4M streams on Spotify. For comparison - nothing on McCartney 3 comes close and only 5 songs from Egypt Station, and just the title track from New have more streams. Beck's Find My Way now has more than 1M streams.
Only 5? Sounds pretty darn good to me! Egypt is a great album. (Really surprised though that the stellar New doesn't have more).
All three are excellent albums. I would think New has so few streams because it had been out for some time before it was added to Spotify - all of the promotion back then went to physical and digital sales. Before that you have to go back to Jenny Wren and (for some reason) This Never Happened Before from Chaos to find more streams that Fike's.
"This Never Happened Before" featured prominently in the Keanu Reeves/Sandra Bullock movie The Lake House.
That's not the only reason, it doesn't hurt that it's an absolutely fantastic song, one of McCartney's best ballads!
Tastes vary of course, but for me it's a forgettable song. And I love Chaos and Creation. I was actually having a conversation about the album a few weeks ago. And I indeed failed to recall This Never Happened Before!
