Turk Thrust:

Sorry if this thread is elsewhere... What would be the best 2 or 3 books that people would recommend about Paul? There have been so many published, that it is tough to know where to start. Thanks.

Sorry for self-promoting... Paul McCartney: Recording Sessions (1969-2013) by Luca Perasi if you'd like to know the stories of all of his compositions after The Beatles. Includes 70 interviews with producers, musicians, engineers, arrangers. Not aimed at the technical side, I think it's a book for everyone. Others I recommend: Paul Gambaccini's In His Own Words is really fascinating, based on a number of interviews conducted by him with Macca himself. Barry Miles' Many Years From Now, it also covers The Beatles' years (for the most part). Gary McGee's Band on the Run is a good one. Ian Peel's The Unknow Paul McCartney deserves to be read. More recently, I think Paul Du Noyer's [i_]Conversations with McCartney_ is worth having.

WixRocks!:

Wow! Thanks for the clarifications! Is there a link to this magnificent compendium from our very own Luca? It should definitely be in my collection right up there with Mark Lewhison's works!

I'm not supposed to do any direct marketing here, but just search on Amazon everywhere, "Paul McCartney: Recording Sessions (1969-2013)". The book offers 70 exclusive interviews with Paul's collaborators over the years and the stories behind all of his compositions after the Beatles and until NEW!

favoritething:

Thanks, Luca. And it's a fantastic book! I just read the rest of the booklet in the Archive set, and a couple of times it's mentioned that the band demos for the Paul/Elvis songs involved Mitchell Froom, but he's not mentioned in the credits for those tracks, although he is mentioned as playing keyboards on the finished album tracks for those songs (the four that were used). So maybe he played keyboards on the band demos too?? It's also mentioned that the band demos were recorded basically live in the studio.

Thanks for enjoying the book!! Mitchell Froom was called in later in the game, during autumn for the sessions were they basically re-recorded the McCartney-Costello tracks. They only kept some instruments and/or vocals from the original sessions (e.g. Elvis's keyboards on the intro of YOU WANT HER TOO, Paul's vocals for the same song) and they re-taped the rest live in the studio with Paul, Hamish, Whitten and Froom himself on keyboards. Not sure about McIntosh playing at the same time with them or only recording overdubs.

favoritething:

Kestrel:

WixRocks!:

I'm either hallucinating OR getting confused with "Off The Ground"...but I know I could have sworn Wix played on everything in that late 80's/early 90's period. I'm shocked!

Wix's first studio session was for overdubs for the single version of Figure of Eight. I believe that was his only involvement with the 'FITD' sessions even though his contribution wasn't used for the actual album.

I have the McCartney "Recording Sessions" book, and the first time it mentions Wix on any track is April 1989 for the track "Party Party," although he would be on that single version of "Figure Of Eight" as well as the alternate version of "Rough Ride" from the "Put It There" special. He then appears on the soundcheck tunes "Together" and "Inner City Madness" from the 1989-90 tour that appear on Tripping The Live Fantastic. And then of course Unplugged in early '91. The first full-blown studio album track he participates in is "Biker Like An Icon," recorded at the end of 1991. Very strange things about keyboard credits in this era. As I noted earlier, the band demos of the Paul/Elvis collaborations clearly have keyboards, but no musician credit is listed for them (maybe it's Paul?). The "Recording Sessions" book says that the keyboardist David Clayton of Simply Red spent a few days recording with Paul, and Club Sandwich mentioned him playing on "Motor Of Love" at the time, but in the end, his name appears nowhere in the credits of any track (there is supposedly an earlier, unreleased version of "Motor Of Love," so he must be on that one, I guess).

Hi, I'm Luca the author of the "Paul McCartney Recording Sessions" book that you mention. Right, to my knowledge, Wix was not involved on Flowers and Robbie joined in only later in the game for overdubbing. The Figure of Eight remake is from September 1989. The keyboards on the 1988 band demos are strangely not credited, it could be Paul himself, and possibly Nicky Hopkins on That Day Is Done.

Kestrel:

I still find it quite ironic that Paul's best sounding album is still Band On The Run, recorded 43 years ago in a tin shack on borrowed equipment in Africa. I'm not sure if I should be or ?

Well, it has its unique sound like everything Paul ever did, but it's far from perfection. If you listen carefully it features some distortion on guitars (Band on the Run, No Words) probably due to the oxidation encountered by the tapes and some technical imperfections but I love this craftsmanship!

Denny Seiwell's participation to RAM is well documented. Furthermore, I interviewed him for my book Paul McCartney: Recording Sessions (1969-2103) and he vividly remembers about it. Clem Cattini plays drums on Thrillington.

Kestrel:

The orchestral overdub was recorded on the 11th July this year at Angel studios in London. Does anyone have any information on when and where Paul recorded his part of the song?

Interesting Kestrel, where did you have the info? So it seems impossible that Paul was in the studio, since on July 10th and July 12th he held two concerts in the US. About Paul's part, it seems to have been recorded at Hog Hill Mill. I should say early July, 'cause Paul was free from live perfomances between June 28th and July 9th.

Visto che siamo italiani...Vi segnalo una mia pubblicazione: Titolo: I BEATLES DOPO I BEATLES. Le carriere soliste di John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison e Ringo Starr (1970-1980). Autore: Luca Perasi Editore: L.I.L.Y. Publishing Pagine: 548 Foto e immagini: 66 Si trova su Amazon, IBS e Hoepli. E' stato recensito (bene) da Rockol.it, e altre recensioni usciranno a breve sulle riviste musicali. Ciao Luca

- Somebody Who Cares has John's references, as Paul said in an interview in 1982. - Some People Never Know: he denied definitely when he was asked back i 1971.

darrel:

Listening to the 4 CD version. Great stuff Paul has been long overdue a best of collection. Ok there are a few glaring omissions my brave face and hope of deliverance being an example. Some nice photos in the booklet but I would like to have had more information about the songs the story behind them for example. We know the story behind every Beatles song but Paul's solo career is poorly documented.

Unless you have my book...