Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)Music: 5 stars... Video extras: 4 stars... Historic value: 5 stars... Economic value: 5 stars
I've been a fan of Paul McCartney's post-Beatles output since the early days. I was 13 when this album was released, and it had a HUGE influence on me, and one of the top 5 or 10 albums for me in my lifetime.
This reissue of "Band On the Run" is lavish. CD1 (41 min.) brings the original brilliant 9 tracks of the album and nothing more needs to be said about that. CD2 (9 tracks; 34 min.) kicks off with the "Helen Wheels/Country Dreamer" single, and then brings 7 live tracks from the "One Hand Clapping" movie (more on that later), including a jaw-drapping version of "Nineteen Hundred Eigthy Five", with Paul solo at the piano for the first half of the song, just fantastic. The DVD (85 min.) is a jem, even though it's a bit of a mixed bag. The videos for "Band On the Run" and "Mamunia" are in the Yellow Submarine style, if you follow me. Hadn't seen the video for "Helen Wheels" in forever", a nice addition. But the 15 min. footage of the cover shoot for the album is great. Even better is the 3 min. "Wings in Lagos" bit, bringing home movies from their stay there, and featuring an Eastern-style version of "Band on the Run" I had never heard, completely different but I loved it. Best of all is of course the 50 min. "One Hand Clapping" movie, which I had never seen before. It was shot live in the EMI studios in Fall of 1974 and cover a lot of ground, including (besides the album tracks) such bits as "Soily", "Little Woman Love", "C Moon", "I'll Give You a Ring", etc. The video quality is not always great, but what can you expect from so many years ago? The packaging is well done, with tons of pictures, great liner notes (from Paul Gambaccini, who interviewed Macca back in the day for Rolling Stone), just nice. The edition I bought (at a big box retailer) came with an extra DVD (24 min.), bringing Paul's comments on the reasons for this reissue (which is curiously missing from the 'regular' reissue), and 3 live videos from last year's New York concert DVD, including a great "Mrs. Vanderbilt".
In all, I can't say enough great things about this reissue. I had the good fortune of seeing Sir Paul in concert again in August on the "Up and Coming Tour", and what a show it was. Sir Paul, now 68 if you can believe it, looks and sounds pretty much like 30 years ago, just incredible. In the first half of the show, Sir Paul played mostly Wings/solo stuff, including 5 of the 9 original Band on the Run tracks. I was floored when he played "Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five", I never imagined I'd ever see that song played live. Wow, what a fantastic evening of music that was.
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**DELUXE EDITION: 4 disc (3CD, 1DVD) set adds an extraordinary 120-page hard bound book containing many unseen and unpublished photos by Linda McCartney and Clive Arrowsmith, album and single artwork, downloadable hi-res audio versions of the remastered album and bonus audio tracks, a full history of the album complete with a new interview with Paul and expanded track by track information for all four discs. The deluxe edition also includes a special Band on the Run audio documentary (originally produced for the 25th Anniversary edition.)**MPL and the Concord Music Group are pleased to announce the re-release of Paul McCartney & Wings' iconic Band on the Run on November 2nd, 2010.Heralded as one of the greatest albums of all time, the GRAMMY winning, smash # 1 album - originally released December of 1973 - yielded the immortal title track and world-wide hit "Jet" becoming Wings' most successful and celebrated album ever. Paul McCartney personally supervised all aspects of the Band on the Run reissue. The remastering work was done at Abbey Road using the same team who recently remastered the complete Beatles' catalog. Band on the Run will be available in a variety of formats originating with the single disc digitally remastered, essential 9-track STANDARD EDITION. The 3 disc (2CD, 1 DVD) SPECIAL EDITION features nine bonus audio tracks (including the top 10 smash "Helen Wheels"), rare footage of the McCartneys in Lagos and behind-the-scenes at the famous album cover shoot, original Band on the Run promotional video clips, the One Hand Clapping television special (highlighted by studio performances filmed at Abbey Road in 1974) all with beautifully enhanced packaging.Collectors will be especially thrilled by the 4 disc (3CD, 1 DVD) DELUXE EDITION which adds an extraordinary 120-page hard bound book containing many unseen and unpublished photos by Linda McCartney and Clive Arrowsmith, album and single artwork, downloadable hi-res audio versions of the remastered album and bonus audio tracks, a full history of the album complete with a new interview with Paul and expanded track by track information for all four discs. The deluxe edition also includes a special Band on the Run audio documentary (originally produced for the 25th Anniversary edition.)The original remastered album and bonus audio content will also be issued in a 2 disc 180gm audiophile VINYL EDITION that comes with an MP3 download of all 18 tracks.The musical achievement of Band on the Run is nearly matched by the amazing story behind its creation. Intrigued with recording abroad in the summer of 1973, McCartney searched for a list of studios around the world.Spotting one in the remote location of Lagos, Nigeria, he became enthralled with the idea of recording in Africa. Days before departure, lead guitarist Henry McCullough and drummer Denny Seiwell quit the band leaving the entire project to the three core members, Paul, his wife Linda McCartney and band-member Denny Laine (along with recording engineer Geoff Emerick). Recorded in August and September of 1973 (with further work done at AIR Studios in London in October 1973), they persevered through a tumultuous, yet creatively invigorating 2 month recording process battling difficult studio conditions, oppressive heat and a dangerous mugging at knife point. The thieves made off with the demo tapes (among other valuables), forcing the band to record the entire album from memory.Band on the Run triumphed both critically and commercially.The album topped the US album chart 3 separate times, won a Grammy and went on to sell more than 7 million copies.Upon the release of Band on the Run, then Rolling Stone reviewer Jon Landau famously gushed, "The finest record yet released by any of the four musicians who were once called The Beatles."Paul is currently playing five songs from the album on his `Up and Coming Tour'.Live favorites over the last 8 years of touring have included "Jet", "Band on the Run" and "Let Me Roll It".In 2008 when Paul played a free outdoor show to over 500,000 people in Kiev, a Ukrainian poll listed "Mrs Vandebilt" as their all time favorite Paul McCartney song. It's been included in the set ever since.At the start of this tour Paul added "Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five" to the set.Band on the Run marks the first release from the Paul McCartney Archive Collection, an ambitious reissue program that encompasses 40 years of cherished, classic material from the most successful songwriter and recording artist in music history. It's also the initial physical release of the recently announced agreement between McCartney's MPL and Concord Music Group to globally market and distribute McCartney's venerated solo and Wings catalog.
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