Further notice. Please stay on topic. We received many complaints, which for us is just Another Day. Thank you.
I am not usually one to question the gorts, but... It appears to me that the last couple pages, at least, have all been pretty much on topic. [Wild Life and Red Rose Speedway Archives and related issues] Unless offending posts have been removed, I am not understanding what the complaints would have been about. The only reason I ask is that I would like to make sure I am not among the guilty, but I am not sure how to police myself if I don't know where the lines are drawn... [how's that for a mixed metaphor?] ???
Glad to see this is back open......yeah lets stick to the "Big Barn Box" so this does not get shut down again...…………..
The more I listen to the expanded double album version of RRS, the more I love it. I think because McCartney generally gets such high praise for individual songs ("Yesterday", "Live and Let Die", etc. etc.), it is less mentioned how, in the days when albums where a thing (and they still are to many, like me of course), McCartney seemed very careful about the overall impression of an album, how it flows from track to track, from start to finish. I think a lot of his early 70's albums were all about "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts." This is why I think he has so many short little bits in between songs and odd little instrumentals on these albums. On their own, they aren't much, but in the context of a full album's listen-through, they can really work well in terms of diversity, interest, and pacing. I guess I'm just easily affected by the presentation of something, the context and overall form. Put "Mama's Little Girl" as a b-side somewhere, it gets ignored because it feels like its been thrown away. Put it right at the top of side four of a double album, and now it feels like a real gem. Follow it up with Laine's "I Would Only Smile" and now the album feels like a real classic to me. I don't know maybe it's already become cliche to say this around here, but I count me among anyone else who thinks that if the double album could have been released back then, it would have been far more highly praised than the single LP version was.
Can someone please confirm if the 2-disc CD version of Red Rose Speedway has the opening comments on "The Mess?" I am trying to splice it back onto the double LP version, but buying the single song on iTunes' 2-disc collection is just the double LP version.
There's no spoken intro om the 2-CD version either. You need to hunt down one of the older CD reissues or an original "My Love" vinyl single to hear it.
Thank you. I have the 1993 remaster. That'll do fine for me. Unhappy with the sound of this Red Rose Speedway remastering, I made some small EQ adjustments and finally have it all sounding consistent with prior Archive remasterings.
I have the double LP and the mastering is all over the place. Big volume swings between new included songs vs the original RRS tracks. I am not sure anyone did any critical listening before the stampers were cut? It's like an old mixtape where someone didn't adjust the levels for each song. It's really annoying.
I wasn't even addressing the volume shifts. I was talking about the actual EQ. But yes, the volume across the songs is a bit mismatched.
I was thinking the other day that had RRS started with Hi Hi Hi, My Love and Live and Let Die, it could have been as big as BOTR.
That's a very good point! I can see why Paul liked the 'value for money for fans' aspect of keeping singles off of albums often, but I don't think he should have risked damaging his commercial fortunes for it. Had 'RRS' included those songs, it would have been a perennial seller that many people would have purchased simply for those hits through the decades.
Good point. I happen to think the double LP was a huge missed opportunity. He had the songs. The ones left off are all good. Ah well. At least we fans finally have it.
I kind of wonder if it at some point in the early '70's John had a epiphany regarding stand-alone singles where he said to himself, "oh, I don't have enough songs to go around anymore."
Imagine this LP starting with "Hi, Hi, Hi." What an album opener that would have been. I think "Big Barn Bed" works, too, but not as well as "Hi, Hi, Hi."
I like Big Barn Bed being placed in the middle of Side 1 (as it is in the 2LP version) — this way it serves the same purpose as Mrs Vanderbilt does on Band On The Run, bringing unexpected fun and a certain change in mood.
Red Pepper Speedway - Paul McCartney, a playlist by Dr. Pepper on Spotify Side One 1 Night Out - Wings 2 Get On The Right Thing - 2018 Remaster - Wings 3 Mama's Little Girl - Wings 4 I Would Only Smile - Wings 5 One More Kiss - 2018 Remaster - Wings 6 1882 - Live In Berlin/1972 - Wings Side two 7 My Love - 2018 Remaster - Wings 8 Little Woman Love - 2018 Remaster - Wings 9 Hi, Hi, Hi - 2018 Remaster - Wings 10 C Moon - - 2018 Remaster - Wings 11 Seaside Woman - Wings 12 The Mess - Live At The Hague/1972 - Wings Side Three 13 When The Night - 2018 Remaster - Wings 14 Tragedy - Wings 15 Big Barn Bed - 2018 Remaster - Wings 16 Jazz Street - Wings 17 Single Pigeon - 2018 Remaster - Wings 18 Best Friend - Live In Antwerp/1972 - Wings Side four 19 Live And Let Die - 2018 Remaster - Wings 20 I Lie Around - 2018 Remaster - Wings 21 Country Dreamer - 2018 Remaster - Wings 22 Medley: Hold Me Tight/Lazy Dynamite/Hands Of Love/Power Cut - 2018 Remaster - Wings 23 Mary Had A Little Lamb - 2018 Remaster - Wings 24 Little Lamb Dragonfly - 2018 Remaster - Wings 25 Thank You Darling - Wings
Very true; it would have helped fight against the idea that Wings were lightweight or lacking in substance, whilst proving they could 'rock'. Then following up that double album version with 'BOTR' would have surely won them over with sections of people who had previously ignored them after 'Wild Life'.
I think the album gravely needs a rocker or two. The closest we have is "Big Barn Bed," which is more of a cooker than a rocker. Add "The Mess (Live)" and "Hi, Hi, Hi," and that already radically reshapes the sound and feel of the LP. I say this as someone who genuinely loves each and every song on the main album (even "Loup"). It's funny, but when I think of the songs on the main album, I think of how good they all are. Then, while listening to it, you get kinda, for lack of a better word, bored by the end. I don't know why. It works better in my head than in real life. Of course, the Double LP completely resuscitates Red Rose Speedway and brings it to the album it always should have been. Is it the "intended" final track order? Not sure. Does it work? Yes.
That is literally exactly how I feel; individually the songs on the released album are all good/great and work really well in playlists, but when listened to all together they are arguably too mellow as a collective. Like you say, add the other available rocking songs from the double album and it completely takes care of that issue. It's similar to how most would feel if songs like 'Jet' and 'Let Me Roll' it were removed from 'BOTR' to be replaced by songs like 'Country Dreamer'.
Right with you. The album has always been one of Paul's better albums, imo, but the double album version takes it to a whole new level and it becomes one of Paul's absolute best and maybe even his very best album. I'm sure someone had the idea that they didn't want to mix live and studio tracks, but by eliminating the live tracks they eliminated most of the hardest rocking pieces on the album. I swear the executives wanted Paul to be David Cassidy, and that was just short sighted.
