The Paul McCartney Archive Collection: Ɍꬲɗ Ɍοƽꬲ ꝸρꬲꬲɗⱳɑỿ [Deluxe 2CD, Remastered 2018] - European Edition

I have owned this album since it was released during my senior year in high school. The Beatles were part of the soundtrack of my adolescence. ABBEY ROAD had been out for seven months and LET IT BE wouldn't be released for another month. I eagerly snatched up this album and played it from beginning to end. My opinion of the album hasn't changed much in the intervening forty-four years. There are some terrific songs. "Maybe I'm Amazed" is, well, amazing! In Rolling Stone's collectors edition of Paul McCartney, they named this song as his best solo song. "Junk" came in at No. 7 and "Every Night" came in at No. 13. "Teddy Boy" is another keeper. (Note: Paul recorded a demo of "Junk" as part of the Esher sessions, and the Beatles made several attempts at "Teddy Boy" in 1969--both of these songs appear on THE BEATLES ANTHOLOGY 3.) "That Would Be Something" is another terrific song. Even tracks like "Man We Was Lonely" and "Oo You" bear repeated listens.There are, however, some mediocre songs. Virtually all of the instrumentals --with the exception of "Singalong Junk"--sound like studio noodling, Worth a listen or two, but nothing really memorable.The bonus disc is a bit of a mixed bag as well. Anyone hoping for unreleased gems from the vaults will be disappointed. The piano/vocal out-take "Suicide" is of marginal interest. Just like the piano/vocal demo "Women Kind," the songs have an unfinished and unfocused feel. The semi-comic approach to "Women Kind" with its raspberries and less-than-serious vocal make it clear that McCartney wasn't sure what to do with these songs. The fact that they stayed in the can for forty years should be a pretty good indicator of what he thought of them. The only other song from 1970 is "Don't Cry Baby," which is actually an instrumental version of "Oo You." The keepers on the bonus disc are the three live tracks from a 1979 Glasgow concert. "Every Night" is nearly doubled in length in this live version, partly because the song is slowed down, but there's also a great guitar break. The instrumental "Hot As Sun" has an almost calypso feel to it. And then, of course, there's the show stopper "Maybe I'm Amazed." That song actually appears twice on the bonus disc. Not only as a concert recording, but a more subdued Abbey Road Studios recording taken from One Hand Clapping.The CD digipak includes a 24-page booklet (glued to the inside front cover) that includes all of the original photos (and many that weren't) all taken by Paul or his wife Linda as well as lyrics to all of the original songs.I saw McCartney in concert for the first time this summer and it renewed my interest in his back catalog. When I put this in the CD player and listened to the original album for the first time in nearly four decades, I was surprised how good some of the songs really were. While not his best album, there are more hits than misses. RECOMMENDED [Disc 1 - 35:01; Disc 2 - 25:15]

Review:McCartney. 2 CD Special Edition 2011PACKAGING: *****Nice digipack, all recyclable cardboard sleeve. The front and back of the package is very close to the original album, great job. The photo montage from the original inner gatefold sleeve is now spread out over several pages. The photos look great, pristine. The disc sleeves can tear but the trick is simply pushing up on the hole in the center of the discLABEL: *No Apple label, just plain black, plain.MUSIC:*****Listening to this album is like meeting an old friend by the fireplace on a Fall morning. I found myself singing and humming along to many of these songs. It's rough, almost demo quality at times but that is part of its charm as a piece. It has 2 classic compositions, Maybe I'm Amazed and Singalong Junk. An several other gems like Every Night and Man We Was Lonely.The second CD contains 7 bonus tracks. Suicide is a ditty that was briefly mixed into Hot As Sun/Glasses. And Don't Cry Baby is a demo of Oo You. As far as a second bonus disc I would only give this 1 star. This whole package could have been one disc, really wasteful to do the 2 discs but maybe these are limited editions. The CD age is coming to a close.MASTERING: ****I have the old Capitol CD, not the Holland remaster from 1993. This new CD sounds marginally better that the older version. That old CD sounds pretty darn good. But the mastering is first rate on this new discwith some numbers like Lovely Linda jumping out with improved bass and low end clarity.

I own the 1993 British CD of McCartney (1) and compared the sound quality between this release and the newly mastered edition. Unfortunately I don't hear a vast improvement in the sound, however if you consider this album dates back from 1969/1970 and recorded at home, then you can't really expect anything spectacular. The music however is superb and timeless. This 1970 album, though recorded at home, sounds a lot better than the 1980 followup "McCartney II", which is the other album I bought at the same time as this one. The mastering sounds very much like -if not the same as - the 2003 Wingspan edition: In other words, "Every Night", Man We Was Lonely" etc, sound exactly the same. Therefore if you must own this album, get either Wingspan, or the heavily discounted 1993 British releases instead of this one unless the price falls significantly. The digipak booklet contains the lyrics and some additional photos of Paul and the family that Linda took in color and B&W. The bonus tracks (7) have not been previously released and are for the most part, live versions of the album tracks or demos of tracks that rightly never saw the light of day, so you are not really missing anything. Given the fact that the newly remastered McCartney albums are not significantly better sounding than the previous releases, this is the last Sir Paul album I will buy. Considering that, for the past (roughly) 20 years his quality of material has suffered significantly, his albums from the 1970s and 1980's yield more acceptance (and profit) than stuff released after 1990. At least the CDs (alone) are priced reasonably affordable, rather than demanding $20-$25+ like Madness, New Order and George Michael. Call me morbid, but I believe that the passing away of Neil Aspinall greatly benefitted Beatles fans all over. More on this on another CD review.

although i have said on one of my previous review (see; ramming on with Paul review) that i think that this was an experimental project by Paul, it is really very good album, Paul"s first attempt at a solo album must have been so very stressful after being one quarter of the greatest bands in the world , but it really works , ok maybe the musical production was a little less than perfect with all the background noises being heard on this album ...with the squeaky door and all but that adds to the beauty of it.it is an honest down to earth homemade album with some great tracks that may have been overlooked ,tracks like - THE LOVELY LINDA ,MAN WE WAS LONELY, EVERY NIGHT and of course the classic MAYBE I"M AMAZED in it"s bare bones vocals and musical first attempt ,this remaster has made it much more enjoyable , bringing out Paul"s vocal more clearly , the album was made in jan.1970 and released on April 17th 1970 much to the dissatisfaction of the other three Beatles as it was going to clash with the BEATLES LET IT BE album and Paul was asked to delay the release of his McCartney album by the rest of the band but Paul was stubborn and went ahead with the release and LET IT BE was re-scheduled to Nov. 1970.and the McCartney went to the number 2 slot in the charts and enjoyed a total of 32 weeks overall , Paul had a hit album and a very good album it is indeed, i am glad to have purchased this album and you shall be to ...go on treat yourself to the raw power of McCartney and enjoy.

This re-released edition of the 1970 album MCCARTNEY is certainly worth purchasing to hear what I think is an enjoyable album and sounds like it's just come from the "Let It Be" Beatle Sessions.The instrumentals might not be that special, but tracks like "Man We Was Lonely" and "That Would Be Something" are catchy tunes. The highlights of the album though are "Every Night" and the wonderful "Maybe I'm Amazed".This edition also features a 2nd CD with material from some live performances and unreleased songs in the studio.Overall I find this a must buy for any Beatle/McCartney fan and I hope you find like me that it is a good album, and possibly one of Macca's best post-Beatle ones too!

Like the other Beatles Paul mccartneys solo output has been very varied.I would have to say this is probably my personal favourite album by him.A very simple album really no big production but loads of catchy tunes.I like this and ram but apart from that don't care for the rest of the stuff he's released but this worth it nice little package booklet full of great photos.

McCartney's first solo album. Very good extras spread over several discs and a sumptuous photo album included. A must for fans but this series is not cheap.

Macca's first solo album with imho the best track of his solo career, Maybe I'm Amazed.