… or the sound of a barrel being scraped?
This SDE release is sub-titled “Underdubbed” and consists of the US version of the original album (the vinyl version is a half-speed master), paired with a second disc which is the initial tough mix prepared by Geoff Emerick before Tony Visconti added the orchestral overdubs.
At least they are honest in their advertising
“These so-called ‘Underdubbed Mixes’ are not newly created in the studio in 2023, rather they were prepared by engineer Geoff Emerick on 14 October 1973, less than two months before the release of the album.”
The 50th Anniversary of this album I think deserves a bit more … especially if it’s going to cost £50+
(although it does read like a Giles Martin Dolby Atmos job might be coming later)
I like the orchestral overdubs. Visconti did a great job.
It’s not an SDE it is a presumably relatively reasonably priced addendum to the SDE (or “Archive Collection”) that came out more than 10 years ago. Pretty inessential I think
https://www.the-paulmccartney-project.com/album/band-on-the-run-2010/
I’m up for this, if the price is right, as (a) Abbey Road Half-Speed Master Alert! and (b) my early-80s copy is fairly battered.
Has Helen Wheels on it though which is of course totally wrong. Nice enough track but it really doesn’t fit.
Agreed. Never really understood Macca’s penchant for this (by his standards) distinctively average tune.
In the sixties, American companies made their albums shorter than UK equivalent. In the seventies, they kept adding stand alone singles to them!
US record buyers used to get really gypped. No wonder they were always protesting. Elvis’s King Creole lasts about 17 minutes!
I’m up for this more than I would be for a box full of outtakes and live tracks. I hope the underdubbed version of 1985 doesn’t have the reprise of Band On The Run interrupting it.
Nope, not having it. I love the way 1985 starts out as a daft little nothing and suddenly gets outrageous ideas above its station.
I love the track and am looking for a clean edit for inclusion on The Beatles 1973 album release that never actually existed!
Oh, so there’s an entirely rational reason. There are probably demos and outtakes from Ringo that would do for that, too.
Without orchestra?
If you’re doing a Beatles album you can’t have Visconti on it. Visconti is unmistakably from the 70s. I bet he’s never watched black and white television or used town gas in his life.
It really doesn’t matter at all.
I’ll probably get the CD edition, I don’t collect Macca vinyl except when he’s with that band from Merseyside
Better still with the Liverpudlian singer songwriter who relocated to London and now lives in British Columbia.
Contributed to Macca’s best solo album. That needs the SDE treatment more than this.
No way Off The Ground is Macca’s best solo album
Flowers in the Dirt? Already happened (and Declan isn’t from Liverpool)
https://superdeluxeedition.com/news/paul-mccartney-flowers-in-the-dirt-four-disc-deluxe-edition/
…a right Martha’s breakfast as I recall. Some extra tracks on a cassette or something.
The original album was a bit of a dog’s breakfast with about 7 different producers. Still pretty good though. The archive set contains one disc of McCartney/Costello demos which is great. The decision to make the B sides disc available as a download only was baffling and inconsistent. Lovely books though, by the time I had picked it up the download content had expired
I can – cough – “help” with that, Dai…
Thanks. Need to check but I think I already helped myself
@dai I know he wasn’t born there but both his parents were and he lived there for a while. I always get the impression he considers himself more Liverpudlian than a Londoner.
Anyway I have the 2 cd version already, it is the download I want but not as a download. It was a botched release as far as I cam concerned.
I have it as a bootleg but would welcome an official physical release.
Seems I quite liked it. I’d forgotten that. If I was to find an old vinyl copy somewhere I’d definitely pick it up. Half speed underdubs don’t really appeal….
Really? Again? Paul seems to revisit this one about 10% as much as Townshend revisits Tommy or Quadrophenia… and that is a considerable number of times.
5th CD release I think:
Mid 80s Original
Early 90s “Paul McCartney Collection” version with bonus tracks
1999 2 disc 25th anniversary edition
2011 Archive Collection (4 discs) plus other variations with less discs
That’s about ten less than the first Crimso album
It’s probably about average for artists of his stature. How many releases have there been of Bowie’s catalogue?
Anyway the only “SDEs” missing from the 70s are London Town and Back to the Egg. They could be interesting, but not much lately
So Far:
2010 Band On the Run
2011 McCartney I and II
2012 Ram
2013 Wings over America
2014 Venus and Mars and Wings At the Speed of Sound
2015 Tug of War and Pipes of Peace
2017 Flowers in the Dirt
2018 Wildlife and Red Rose Speedway
2020 Flaming Pie
Gone from 1 (or 2) a year to one in the last 5 years.
The Hipgnosis documentary has some amazing footage of the album cover photoshoot.
I saw some of that footage in the rather naff Dermot O’Leary docco on the album which I’m guessing was in 2013. I wonder who was filming it? Probably for some random TV show like Nationwide.
Just read that the shot was difficult to get – a few of them couldn’t stay still because they were stoned. This problem of drugs in prison is a menace I tell you.
The photo shoot at Osterley Park was filmed because McCartney sensed it was worth preserving (he hired and payed the film crew himself). A bit of it was used as a back projection in later Wings shows (where the album cover »backdrop« suddenly started moving…), and the whole film is among the extra stuff on the »Band On The Run« Archive Edition.
Thanks FX – informative as ever.
Nice overview of Band on the Run from Mr Parlogram