Macca on the Run: McCartney sprints across the stage in Tokyo on his 2017 One on One Tour. Photo by MJ Kim, courtesy MPL Communications Ltd. Toppermost photo of Macca with vinyl in hand by Mary McCartney.
BY MIKE METTLER – MAY 24, 2019
Macca live is back on wax – yeah, yeah yeah . . .
Paul McCartney has set the release date for four albums capturing performances spanning from his 1975-76 return to U.S. arenas with Wings to his intimate 2007 set at Amoeba Music in Los Angeles. This quartet of albums — Amoeba Gig, Paul Is Live, Choba B CCCP, Wings Over America — will all be released via MPL/Capitol/UMe on both black and limited-edition color vinyl, CD, and through digital outlets on July 12, 2019.
Here’s how each release breaks down:
Amoeba Gig is the first full length commercial release of Paul’s surprise free concert at Hollywood’s Amoeba Music on June 27, 2007. To date, only four songs have seen wide release as November 2007’s Amoeba’s Secret EP, two of which were nominated for Grammy Awards in 2008: “That Was Me” for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, and “I Saw Her Standing There” for Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance. A few years later in November 2012, an extended 12-song excerpt of the Amoeba show titled Live in Los Angeles – The Extended Set was made available free to PaulMcCartney.com premium members for a limited period.
Come July 12, 2019, a 21-song recording documenting possibly the most intimate L.A. show Sir Paul has ever played will be made available to the public for the first time. The millions of people not among the luckier-than-lucky few hundred rubbing elbows with the likes of Ringo Starr and Woody Harrelson during that infamous in-store set will be able to experience those performances of Beatles classics “The Long And Winding Road,” “I’ll Follow The Sun,” and “I’ve Got A Feeling,” in addition to Flaming Pie’s “Calico Skies” plus Carl Perkins’ “Matchbox,” Jan Garber’s “Baby Face,” and an emotional rendition of his own “Here Today.” Additionally, the LP version will include an exclusive soundcheck recording of “Coming Up.”
Amoeba Gig has been newly remixed by Paul’s engineer Steve Orchard and will be available in multiple configurations, including CD, double 180-gram black vinyl, and limited-edition double color vinyl (LP1 – clear, LP2 – hazy amber transparent).
Recorded during the U.S. and Australian swings of the tour in support of February 1993’s Off the Ground, November 1993’s Paul Is Live is Sir Paul’s fifth live album. Originally released that same year, the album is known for the multiple meanings and clues embedded in its title and cover art, all of which play on the 1969 “Paul Is Dead” conspiracy/hoax.
In addition to a wealth of Wings and Beatles classics and covers of Roy Brown’s “Good Rockin’ Tonight” and Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller’s “Kansas City,” Paul Is Live also offers a peek behind the curtain by way of three songs improvised on the spot and exclusive to this album, all recorded during rehearsals in various locations over the course of the tour.
Paul Is Live has been newly remastered at Abbey Road Studios and will be available in multiple configurations, including CD, double 180g black vinyl, and limited-edition double color vinyl (LP1 – opaque baby blue, LP2 – plush peach white opaque).
The live-in-studio Choba B CCCP (Russian for, of course, “Back in the USSR”) was released in the Soviet Union in October 1988, making Sir Paul the first Western artist to issue an album exclusively for that market. In a conscious decision to get back to his roots, Paul spontaneously spent two days covering his favorite hits from the 1950s. The sessions produced 22 songs in total, with one of the outtakes being a version of The Beatles’ “I Saw Her Standing There.”
Choba B CCCP was a deeply personal album for McCartney, and a way to acknowledge fans who had supported him and The Beatles since the start. “When I was very young, I asked my dad if people wanted peace,” Paul explained at the time. “He said to me, ‘Yes, people everywhere want peace – it’s usually politicians that cause trouble.’ It always seemed to me that the way The Beatles’ music was admired in the USSR tended to prove his point, that people the world over have a great deal in common. In releasing this record exclusively in the Soviet Union, I extend the hand of peace and friendship to the people of Russia.” Choba B CCCP was released in the rest of the world following the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.
Choba B CCCP has been newly remastered at Abbey Road Studios and will be reissued as the original 11-track Russian release. It will be available in in multiple configurations, including CD, 180g black vinyl, and limited-edition opaque yellow vinyl.
The No. 1-charting triple live album Wings Over America is a document of one the most sophisticated and dazzling rock shows of the 1970s. Sir Paul and the band would eventually perform to more than 600,000 people at 31 shows in the U.S. and Canada, ending with three historic nights at The Forum in Los Angeles. It’s no exaggeration to say that the excitement that greeted Paul McCartney & Wings (Linda McCartney, Joe English, Denny Laine, and Jimmy McCulloch) in the spring of 1976 as they embarked on what would become their one and only North American tour was overwhelming.
Having released four consecutive chart topping albums — April 1973’s Red Rose Speedway, December 1973’s Band on the Run, May 1975’s Venus and Mars, and March 1976’s At The Speed Of Sound – not to mention June 1973’s Academy Award-winning James Bond theme, “Live and Let Die” – Wings’ career was in full flight, and as Paul’s first U.S. tour since his days in The Beatles, the sheer joy of both the band and their fans were off the charts throughout the 90 hours of recordings distilled into this triple album. December 1976’s Wings Over America was last reissued in May 2013 as part of the Paul McCartney Archive Collection series, winning the Grammy Award for Boxed or Special Limited-Edition Package.
Wings Over America will be available in multiple configurations, including double CD, 180g triple vinyl, and limited-edition triple color vinyl (LP1 – transparent red, LP2 – transparent green, LP3 – transparent blue) both come with original souvenir poster.
Track listings for each album/each format follow underneath the photo below.
Paul Is (SPOILER ALERT) Live. Photo by MJ Kim, courtesy MPL Communications Ltd.
TRACK LISTINGS FOR EACH ALBUM (CD AND LP CONFIGURATIONS)
Amoeba Gig (CD)
1. Drive My Car
2. Only Mama Knows
3. Dance Tonight
4. C Moon
5. The Long And Winding Road
6. I’ll Follow The Sun
7. Calico Skies
8. That Was Me
9. Blackbird
10. Here Today
11. Back In The USSR
12. Nod Your Head
13. House Of Wax
14. I’ve Got A Feeling
15. Matchbox
16. Get Back
17. Baby Face
18. Hey Jude
19. Let It Be
20. Lady Madonna
21. I Saw Her Standing There
Amoeba Gig (LP)
Side A:
1. Drive My Car
2. Only Mama Knows
3. Dance Tonight
4. C Moon
5. The Long And Winding Road
6. I’ll Follow The Sun
Side B:
1. Calico Skies
2. That Was Me
3. Blackbird
4. Here Today
5. Back In The USSR
6. Nod Your Head
Side C:
1. House Of Wax
2. I’ve Got A Feeling
3. Matchbox
4. Get Back
Side D:
1. Baby Face
2. Hey Jude
3. Let It Be
4. Lady Madonna
5. I Saw Her Standing There
6. Coming Up [Soundcheck]
Paul Is Live (CD)
1. Drive My Car
2. Let Me Roll It
3. Looking For Changes
4. Peace In The Neighbourhood
5. All My Loving
6. Robbie’s Bit (Thanks Chet)
7. Good Rockin’ Tonight
8. We Can Work It Out
9. Hope Of Deliverance
10. Michelle
11. Biker Like An Icon
12. Here, There And Everywhere
13. My Love
14. Magical Mystery Tour
15. C’mon People
16. Lady Madonna
17. Paperback Writer
18. Penny Lane
19. Live And Let Die
20. Kansas City
21. Welcome To Soundcheck (link)
22. Hotel In Benidorm (soundcheck)
23. I Wanna Be Your Man (soundcheck)
24. A Fine Day (soundcheck)
Paul Is Live (LP)
Side 1:
1. Drive My Car
2. Let Me Roll It
3. Looking For Changes
4. Peace In The Neighbourhood
5. All My Loving
6. Robbie’s Bit (Thanks Chet)
Side 2:
7. Good Rockin’ Tonight
8. We Can Work It Out
9. Hope Of Deliverance
10. Michelle
11. Biker Like An Icon
12. Here, There And Everywhere
13. My Love
Side 3:
1. Magical Mystery Tour
2. C’mon People
3. Lady Madonna
4. Paperback Writer
5. Penny Lane
6. Live And Let Die
Side 4:
7. Kansas City
8. Welcome To Soundcheck (link)
9. Hotel In Benidorm (soundcheck)
10. I Wanna Be Your Man (soundcheck)
11. A Fine Day (soundcheck)
CHOBA B CCCP (CD)
1. Kansas City
2. Twenty Flight Rock
3. Lawdy, Miss Clawdy
4. Bring It On Home To Me
5. Lucille
6. Don’t Get Around Much Anymore
7. That’s All Right (Mama)
8. Ain’t That A Shame
9. Crackin’ Up
10. Just Because
11. Midnight Special
CHOBA B CCCP (LP)
Side 1:
1. Kansas City
2. Twenty Flight Rock
3. Lawdy, Miss Clawdy
4. Bring It On Home To Me
5. Lucille
6. Don’t Get Around Much Anymore
Side 2:
7. That’s All Right (Mama)
8. Ain’t That A Shame
9. Crackin’ Up
10. Just Because
11. Midnight Special
Wings Over America (CD)
CD1:
1. Venus And Mars / Rock Show / Jet
2. Let Me Roll It
3. Spirits Of Ancient Egypt
4. Medicine Jar
5. Maybe I’m Amazed
6. Call Me Back Again
7. Lady Madonna
8. The Long And Winding Road
9. Live And Let Die
10. Picasso’s Last Words
11. Richard Cory
12. Bluebird
13. I’ve Just Seen A Face
14. Blackbird
15. Yesterday
CD2:
1. You Gave Me The Answer
2. Magneto And Titanium Man
3. Go Now
4. My Love
5. Listen To What The Man Said
6. Let ’Em In
7. Time To Hide
8. Silly Love Songs
9. Beware My Love
10. Letting Go
11. Band On The Run
12. Hi, Hi, Hi
13. Soily
Wings Over America (LP)
Side 1:
1. Venus And Mars / Rock Show / Jet
2. Let Me Roll It
3. Spirits Of Ancient Egypt
4. Medicine Jar
Side 2:
1. Maybe I’m Amazed
2. Call Me Back Again
3. Lady Madonna
4. The Long And Winding Road
5. Live And Let Die
Side 3:
1. Picasso’s Last Words
2. Richard Cory
3. Bluebird
4. I’ve Just Seen A Face
5. Blackbird
6. Yesterday
Side 4:
1. You Gave Me The Answer
2. Magneto And Titanium Man
3. Go Now
4. My Love
5. Listen To What The Man Said
Side 5:
1. Let ’Em In
2. Time To Hide
3. Silly Love Songs
4. Beware My Love
Side 6:
1. Letting Go
2. Band On The Run
3. Hi, Hi, Hi
4. Soily
