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I’m still amazed that Paul McCartney’s little one-off ditty “Wonderful Christmastime” from 1979 continues to get substantial airplay each and every year around the holidays. I mean, it couldn’t have taken Sir Paul more than a couple minutes to come up with the whole song. Just take a look at the lyrics and it’s pretty obvious.

The mood is right, the spirits up
We’re here tonight and that’s enough
Simply having a wonderful christmastime
Simply having a wonderful christmastime

The party’s on the spirits up
We’re here tonight and that’s enough…

Sir Paul seems to recognize the “won’t ever go away” aspect of the song and even included it in his live set in Cologne (16Dec09). Fans will most likely get to hear it again in Dublin (20Dec09) and in London (22Dec09).

Check out the live footage from Cologne on youtube:

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I’ve been listening to some old Paul McCartney boots these last few days just to wash the bad aftertaste left from this whole autotune debacle. I’d rather listen to a pure, un-altered performance of a Macca show than some artificially pitch-corrected mess that’s on Good Evening New York City.

So for today’s Friday Free for All I thought I’d share a few tracks off of the Hey Tokyo! bootleg. It’s a great sounding live recording from 1993 with absolutely no auto-tuning to speak of.

enjoy.

PaperBack Writer

the Long and Winding Road

Good Rockin’ Tonight

Let Me Roll It

Lady Madonna

The live band: Paul McCartney, Linda McCartney, Hamish Stuart, Robbie McIntosh, Wix and Blair Cunningham.
from the November 14th and 15th 1993 gigs at the Tokyo Dome

Have a great weekend!

I’ve been listening to the newly released two-disc audio CDs of Paul McCartney’s Good Evening New York City this week and I have to say that I’m pretty disappointed by the blatant use of auto-tune (pitch correction software) on Paul’s vocals. yes, I understand that auto-tune is pretty much standard practice nowadays in the pop music industry but for an iconic voice as Paul’s, the tell-tale signs of auto-tune just ruins for me. I personally would have preferred bum-notes and all for this live document of McCartney’s July 2009 gigs at Citi Field in NYC. We all know McCartney is 67 and his voice isn’t what it used to be so we don’t expect his vocals to be perfect. So why try to artificially make it so in post-production? I can accept Sir Paul going back into the studio to overdub vocal parts because that’s the nature of the beast (and he’s done that with past releases like Wings over America and Tripping the Live Fantastic) but to utilize auto-tune (or Melodyne, another pitch correction tool) and make Paul sound like a cyborg, is a big mistake if you ask me. The tell-tale signs vary throughout the performance with some songs being more heavily treated than others. Listen for it on songs like “Got to Get You Into My Life”, “Let it Be”, “I’ve Got a Feeling” and “Paperback Writer”. Again, some folks may not know what to listen for so this may not be a bother to some ears but it sure does bother mine. I’m personally going to seek out the audio of the pay-per-view broadcast of Paul’s show in Halifax (11Jul09). From what I’ve heard, McCartney and band sounded great that night and the BIG PLUS is the fact that it’s a more TRUTHFUL document of his show with NO auto-tune to mar the experience!

But if you can get past the artificial quality of Paul’s vocals, there are some positives. The band sounds tight and it’s great to hear songs like “Mrs. Vandebilt”, “I’m Down”, “Calico Skies” and “Only Mama Knows”. And the “Sgt. Peppers/The End” combo is always a great way to end the show. You can’t go wrong there. Another positive is the fact that the CD isn’t mastered “loud”. No signs of brickwalling here, thank goodness.

Before I end this, I DO have to mention one more thing which has to do with Wix’s synth patches. Wix has been with Paul since the 1989 tour and from the sound of it, he hasn’t updated his keyboard sounds since that time. I assume that sampling technology has progressed during the time since then but his “horn” samples in songs like “Got to Get You Into My Life” and his “sax synth” solo during “Lady Madonna” sound just like it did on the first tour. In other words, the synths sound dated now. ..and a bit cheesy. Weird, since I’m sure Wix can afford all the newest gear. so what gives?

I haven’t had a chance to view the DVD portion of this release in any detail but I suspect the visual aspect will help take the focus off the auto-tuned vocals. Well, at least I hope so, anyway.

RetroGrade: C (for the audio CD)

Good Evening New York City
Released: November 17, 2009 (U.S.)
label: Hear Music/Concord Music Group

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To celebrate next week’s CD/DVD release of Paul McCartney’s Good Evening New York City, I thought I’d share some tracks from his 1990 tour. It was his first tour in nearly a decade and he basically traveled the world over to support his superb Flower in the Dirt album.

The following are from McCartney’s April 21st, 1990 gig in Rio, Brazil. A record breaking 184,000 people attended the show.

My Brave Face
Ever since you went away I’ve had this sentimental
inclination not to change a single thing.
as I pull the sheets back on the bed I want to go bury my head
In your pillow.
We Got Married
It’s not just a loving machine, it doesn’t work out
if you don’t work at it.
This One
What opportunities did we allow to flow by
Feeling like the timing wasn’t quite right?
What kind of magic might have worked if we had stayed calm,
Couldn’t I have given you a better life?
Put it There
I don’t care if it weighs a ton,
as long as you and I are here, put it there.
P.S. Love Me Do
Someone to love, somebody new
Someone to love, someone like you
Let ‘em In
Someone’s knockin’ at the door
Somebody’s ringin’ the bell
Do me a favor, open the door and let ‘em in

The live band featured: Paul, Linda McCartney (on keyboards), Wix Wickens (keyboards), Hamish Stuart (bass, guitar), Robbie McIntosh (lead guitar), Chris Whitten (drums).

enjoy!! happy friday!!

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It’s time once again for Retroblog.net’s Friday Free for All. For today’s edition, I thought we should explore the vast underworld of bootlegs a bit. thanks to the almighty internets, the sharing of rare and interesting boots exploded these last few years. here’s just a random sampling of some that I have on hand at the moment.

Enjoy the tracks. and feel free to post a list of some of your favorite boots.

please note the sound quality will vary here due to these being “bootlegs” obviously.

GTR – Away (No One is to Blame) from the unreleased NeroTrend album (1987). This features Max Bacon on lead vocals and Steve Howe on guitar. Steve Hackett left the group at this point and Robert Berry was his replacement.

Paul McCartney and Elvis Costello – So Like Candy demo from the Flowers In the Dirt Sessions boot (1988). This is a great version that features both McCartney and Costello singing lead.

Todd Rundgren – Slut from the Vancouver August 25, 2006 boot. a great audience recording. It’s a rough and loose rendition with Tony Levin on bass and Jerry Marotta on drums.

Lindsey Buckingham – Go Insane from the Coach House December 10, 1992 boot. an awesome solo performance of his early eighties hit. definitely an improvement over the original recording which sounds a bit dated now due to the heavy use of the Fairlight sampler.

Susanna Hoffs – Darling One from her unreleased columbia album (1994). This is from the album that Columbia Records rejected. Hoffs ended up re-recording this song (along with some others) for her 1996 album “Susanna Hoffs”. This particular version is more upbeat than the officially released one.

Yes – Cinema/City of Love from the June 19, 1994 Canandaigua, NY boot. There are a ton of boots from this tour since the band did a simulcast of each show via “ConcertSonics”. Even though the “Talk” album isn’t one of my favorites, I thought some of the performances on this tour were pretty strong. I definitely miss Trevor Rabin, though. It’s definitely way overdue for Rabin to get back on stage!!

Journey – Send Her My Love from the Detroit Raised On Radio simulcast in 1986. It’s not the greatest sounding live recording but the “Raised on Radio” tour is fascinating to me for a multitude of reasons – one of which is the presence of Randy Jackson (of American Idol) on bass for this tour. listening to these old live recordings of Journey make me miss Steve “the voice” Perry even more!

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Happy Friday, everyone!

Paul McCartney’s management has posted an official announcement concerning the DVD of Macca’s New York City gigs. The DVD/CD set will be released in the U.S. on November 17th by Hear Music/Concord Music Group (Starbucks). There will apparently be two editions. The standard edition will have the 2-disc audio compilation of the three-night event plus a DVD. The deluxe version will include an extra DVD featuring the July 15th performance on top of the Ed Sullivan Theater marquee.

A DVD release of a McCartney show is pretty much a given nowadays since every tour of his has been filmed and released in some form or another. What I’m personally hoping for this time around is video of the FULL concert without any unnecessary “cut-ins” of interviews or old archival footage of the Beatles. Past concert DVDs have been marred in this way with stylized video edits and performances cut short by talking heads going on and on about the importance of the music and the history behind it all. I don’t want to be told what to feel. Just show me the concert “as-is” with no interruptions or awkward shots of middle-aged fans weeping uncontrollably. These video directors need to show some restraint and stop trying to show off the latest in video editing techniques!

So cross your fingers and hope for the best!

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Paul McCartney performed at the new Citi Field in New York City friday night to a sold out crowd of 42,000. It was rainy and hot but the crowd didn’t mind so much as it enjoyed a 2 hour and 40 minute set which included a special appearance by Billy Joel for “I Saw Her Standing There”.

McCartney’s set is Beatles heavy and is pretty much the standard fare that he’s been playing for the last few years. Nice additions include “Highway” and “Sing the Changes” from his 2008 release, Electric Arguments. I guess in a stadium setting Sir Macca has to go with the crowd-pleasers so I understand the fact that he doesn’t include a lot of his past solo/Wings material. But before he “retires” I really hope he finds a way to perform some of his much neglected back catalog of post-Beatles songs including personal favorites like “Wanderlust”, “Pipes of Peace”, “Take it Away”, “Keep Under Cover” and “Listen to What the Man Said”.

I DO have to mention that his live band (which he’s used since 2001) is absolutely on fire and sounds SO much tighter than it did back in the early 2002 shows.

Sir Macca continues on with the following U.S. dates -
FedEx Field, Landover, Md., Aug. 1
Fenway Park, Boston, Aug. 5-6
Piedmont Park, Atlanta, Aug. 15
BOK Center, Tulsa, Aug. 17
Dallas Cowboys Stadium, Dallas, Aug. 19

Here’s Paul McCartney performing I Saw Her Standing There with Billy Joel

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holy crap. I nearly forgot… legendary rocker Sir Paul McCartney is 67 years old today! Happy Birthday Sir Paul! To celebrate, I thought I’d post a track of his from my vast archives.

Here’s the remixed version of a rare B-side – Good Sign. It was a collaboration with Hamish Stuart and recorded in the fall of 1988.

That’s a good, that’s a good sign…

That’s a good sign, see the meter’s movin’
That’s a good sign, let us keep improvin’
That’s a good sign, see the meter’s movin’
That’s a good sign, don’t you know?
-Good Sign written by Paul McCartney and Hamish Stuart

Download Good Sign (7:34, 128kbps, 6.94MB) [for a limited time via mediafire]
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For years, Paul McCartney fans have been clamoring for an official collection of outtakes and unreleased material. With someone so prolific as McCartney, one can imagine that the man would have hundreds, even thousands of unreleased songs hidden away in his vaults somewhere. And back in the early 80’s, McCartney was close to releasing a collection of rarities titled “Cold Cuts” but for some reason the project got shelved. Whenever asked about revisiting his archives, McCartney would often dismiss it and say that he’s got too much NEW material to release. But now there’s word that a new collection of rarities has been put together and is currently being prepped for release sometime in 2010. There’s no solid release date as of yet but here’s the proposed tracklist.

Disc 1: 1969-1972
1. Goodbye
2. Maybe I’m Amazed – 1st original mix by Chris Thomas
3. Every Night – take 1
4. Rode All Night – edit
5. A Love For You
6. Little Lamb Dragonfly – without strings
7. Get On The Right Thing – take 1
8. Monkberry Moon Delight – alternate vocal take
9. Sunshine Sometime
10. Big Barn Bed – complete Ram ukulele version
11. Dear Friend – w/o strings and horns
12. Some People Never Know – oboe version
13. Breakfast Blues – instrumental edit
14. Mary Had A Little Lamb – long version
15. Give Ireland Back To The Irish – slow version take 2
16. Tragedy
17. Thank You Darling
18. Soily -1972 studio version
19. Best Friend – studio version
20. The Mess – studio version
21. C Moon Jam – with John Bonham
22. Lazy Dynamite – long version
23. Night Out – instrumental
24. Hi Hi Hi – slow verson
25. Only One More Kiss – take 1
Bonus Track: Radio spot with untitled instrumental for Hi Hi Hi / C Moon recorded at Abbey Road

Disc 2 – 1973-1978
1. Gotta Sing Gotta Dance
2. Why am I crying
3. I Lie Around
4. Six o’Clock
5. Bluebird
6. Let’s Love (April 1974 Version)
7. Send Me The Heart (Take 1)
8. Blackpool
9. One Hand Clapping Theme
1O. Live & Let Die (74 Version)
11. Soily (74 Version)
12. Love In Song (Take 1)
13. Rockshow (74 Version)
14. Wild Cat
15. Baby Face
16. The Note You Never Wrote (Take 1, Paul & Denny Everly’s Version)
17. Silly Love Songs (Fun Version)
18. Must Do Something About It (Paul on vocal)
19. She’s My Baby (Rock Version)
20. Waterspout
21. One Woman
22. Girlfriend (First Version)
23. Twelve Of The Clock
24. Did We Meet Somewhere Before
25. Goodnight Tonight (Original 1978 Version)
Bonus track : Wings 1974 Audio Ad for the Bread Company

Disc 3 – 1979-1986
1. Love awake (Ranachan Version)
2. Rockestra Theme (Wings Version)
3. Cage
4. Robber’s Ball
5. Blue Sway
6. Attention (Paul’s guide vocal)
7. Ode to a koala bear (Take 1)
8. Rainclouds + George Martin & Paul moving impromptu dialogue about John
9. Blackpool (1981 version)
10. All the Love is There (With Stewart Copeland on Drums)
11. I’ll Give You a Ring
12. No Values (1981 Montserrat Version)
13. Tug Of War (1st string arrangement version)
14. Stop You Don’t Know Where She Came From (With great Brass section)
15. Long & Winding Road / Ebony & Ivory Strawberry jam medley (With Stevie Wonder)
16. Tug Of War acoustic reprise
17. The Fool On The Hill
18. Martha My Dear / Gloriana Medieval Guitar Piece Medley
19. Your School
20. Lindiana
21. Yvonne
22. Goodtimes Coming / Feel The Sun (Long Version)
23. Angry long jam version (with Pete Townsend & Phil Collins)
24. Hey Diddle (Paul & Linda duet, Chris Thomas 1986 version)
25. Linda
Bonus track : The Juggler music 1981 Theme
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Paul McCartney got back together with Ringo Starr on stage this past weekend to benefit The David Lynch Foundation’s
drive to bring Transcendental Meditation to our troubled schools. The April 4th concert was held at New York’s Radio City Music Hall and the event was hosted by Mr. David Lynch himself.
the highlight was of course reuniting Starr and McCartney on stage. The former Beatles performed separate sets during the evening and then got together for three songs that concluded the event: With a Little Help from My Friends, Cosmically Conscious and I Saw Her Standing There.

Other artists that performed at the show included: Eddie Vedder, Ben Harper, Moby, Donovan and Sheryl Crow.
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