I bought the Wings 71. - 73 box so had to buy via Udiscover. If all else fails trying to get this sorted i’ll Go the Amazon route, but i’m Not giving up yet!
Sorry to hear you’re having trouble. This is why I hate downloads. There’s no reason whatsoever not to include the hi-res audio on a Blu Ray in these sets.
Should anyone need a phone number for UDiscover UK customer service, it’s 0330 58 76630. However, I tried calling a few times on Friday and I just got hold music, before eventually being cut off due to “high call volumes”.
WELL...... I'VE certainly heard "Mary Had A Little Lamb" more TODAY, than I have my ENTIRE LIFE!!!! ...a lesser man would give ALL his government secrets away!
Needless to say, I agree with you completely on this. At a bare minimum the McCartney Store should have offered customers a choice of shipping options on the items rather than using Media Mail, with all of the problems that it has, by default for such otherwise carefully prepared and handled materials. It is like investing thousands of dollars in a state-of-the-art stereo system and then, at the end, buying a lousy pair of low-fidelity speakers to listen to the music. I suspect that most to all of us, given a choice, would have selected Priority Mail (or the version thereof that exists in other nations), even if it costs extra, to ensure timely delivery and reasonably good handling of the boxes, especially when, in the case in the big box, it essentially is irreplaceable if it is a limited edition and sold out. If Paul McCartney truly believes in providing value for money, as he often has said, then he and his team should stand behind it all the way -- including at the end of the process, not just at the beginning. If some customers want to pay less for Media Mail and take their chances, that's fine. But I would not willingly choose to entrust U.S. Postal with what essentially is a work of fine art and say, "Hey, as little as it can cost us; do what you want with it after that." Essentially that is how MPL and Udiscover have chosen to prioritize the transaction after it leaves their hands. Based on everything I've read and seen here, that is utterly wrong. My box, your box, anybody's box of these gems should not be sitting underneath or behind piles of junk mail and unwanted magazines in the pecking order of delivery. I will make my voice heard to each entity accordingly and encourage others similarly dissatisfied to make contact as well. They will not handle it differently next time unless enough people tell them not to do so. And next time maybe it will be your box sitting in the queue, given the "when we get around to it" treatment. What then?
No, I completely feel you. Even though it's technically only been 9 days since it was released, it seemed like an eternity. For the price one had to pay for this, they should have operated like all other site that have free priority shipping for orders over a certain amount. And I think $400+ certainly qualifies. There is no excuse why we shouldn't have gotten this on the release date. I got my Petty "American Treasure" box on the day of release and that was bought off of his website as well.
I've never been a big "Loup" fan either, so I see your point. But, to give credit where it is due, it does have that funky bass part going for it, and I do enjoy that when it comes on. So I'll keep it around for that and the reminder of how skillful and versatile of a player McCartney always has been.
Plus a it has a little ode to The Beach Boys "Here Today" bass line in that one part that's trippy before the jazz-feel part.
One thing that makes no sense about the Red Rose Box is the book,they devote pages To Mary How a little Lamb and it’s video,Yet there are no devoted notes on the tracks Like Tragedy how we suppose to know it’s a cover
Given all the issues with the HD downloads, I better hold off on doing it myself until all is confirmed working and there's no problem with downloading anything/everything.
When the Wind was Browing? It sounds like those old Japan pressings where they would transcribe lyrics. I kept an old Creedence album just for the hilarious lyrics - like Down on the Corner: “you don’t need a pinhead, just to hang around”
I listened to the vinyl double album. I found it to be remarkably warm and pleasant, and I would say it’s the “definitive” version for me. I still think it was the right decision not to release it in 73. It would have been critically slaughtered - it certainly doesnt compare to the great double albums of the era like Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Exile, Eat a Peach, Quadrophenia, etc. But, without the pressure of the era’s competition, listened to today, it’s a very nice album.
My big 1971-1973 set came yesterday! What a beauty! Love the outer box design. Have only had a chance to listen to WILD LIFE remastered album and disc 2 in that set, the rough mixes. Fantastic! Never has sounded better, and the roughs are great especially"Tomorrow" which has always been one of the great under-heralded Paul tunes and Wings tracks for me. But the sped up vocal did always sound a little odd, and unless I was mistaken (it was quite late last night and I'd had a bit to drink), the rough mix is at normal speed. A little jarring at first but after listening back a second time last night I found I preferred it that way. WILD LIFE isn't one of Paul's masterpieces for me, but it is a damn fine record, far better than it has been given credit for over the years. I guess the looseness and "basic-ness" (and I mean that positively) of the approach just were and still are a bit jarring to people used to his usual approach. But a song like "Bip Bop" is just plain fun, irresistibly catchy, and so is the wonderfully groovy "Love is Strange" cover. Lots of other groups have had stuff just that simple and basic get lauded to the heavens. And like RAM it is one of those albums that I think actually sounds much more contemporary and up to date than some of his others. There are a number of albums in his catalog I'd say are objectively "better" than WILD LIFE but many also sound a little more time-bound. That loose, un-labored, "let's just get together and bounce ideas off" aesthetic never really goes out, especially when it's done by musicians of this caliber. Then there's the lovely and more subdued and serious side 2, where Paul was processing some heavy duty existential stuff. Also there is plenty of Linda's presence and for me that was always a good thing. Love the quality of her voice and how it adds to the picture and blends with Paul's. And they both clearly had a real deep thing for reggae and I love how the feel and sensibility of that music permeated his own material and approach around this time. Objectively the album could probably have benefited from more time for percolation, especially ostensibly more ambitious and conceptual pieces like the title track which never quite gets to where it could and should have gone - but that wasn't what Paul was after during that period, and it more than stands on its own as a delightful, wholly organic transition from the difficult post-Beatles breakup period to what for me was the start of a several year purple patch with RED ROSE SPEEDWAY. Can't wait to hear the rest of the WILD LIFE box discs, CD and DVD (the fab book and accompanying materials I pretty much devoured in one sitting!), and then the WINGS OVER EUROPE and RRS material after that. Good time to be a Paul fan!
NO!!! ALL THE DRAWINGS IN THE PACKET FOR "THE BRUCE MCMOUSE SHOW" HAVE A CREASE IN ONE OF THE CORNERS. I CAN'T DEAL. *throws entire Wings 1971 - 73 box into the trash*
It's not the first time, though. The 1980 single for "Coming Up (Live At Glasgow)" has chanting at the end that was cut from the 1987 All The Best! appearance in the US. Neither the Wingspan and Archive edition of McCartney II restored it either — and now we have it introducing "No Words (Live At Glasgow)" in the Archive series instead. Bootlegs show that "Coming Up" had it all along. Unplugged (The Official Bootleg) also has a number of tweaks from the original performance as to where the dialogue goes — but nothing could be worse than the fact that the version of "We Can Work It Out" on the McCartney album is different in its introduction from the one on the Unplugged collection.
I may have missed this in an earlier post, but what are the odds the big box 1971-1973 will reissued?
Wow! All the great comments about Wings Over Europe! Seems they really blundered not making it a stand alone release that all could purchase, makes you wonder what were they thinking? I mean you'd think they'd anticipate that something so officially rare would be a hot item? Hope they don't make the same mistake in the future. Oh and I can't wait to get my hands on WOE! I can imagine it blasting on my Bose system now!
I don't agree. I think people would have really dug the larger canvas and the 2-LP would have boosted Macca's profile far more than the original 1-LP release.
I never really thought about it before but listening to these archive editions, Paul was very fond of dual lead guitar parts in this era. (One guitar playing a lead line and another guitar playing a harmony part.)
