Paul McCartney – A Garden Full Of McCartney Roses (Misterclaudel mccd-168/169)

A Garden Full Of McCartney Roses (Misterclaudel mccd-168/169)

Disc 1 (56:41):  Another Day, Hi Hi Hi (original acetates), Live And Let Die (October 1972 working session), Soily (1974 Abbey Road studio version “On Hand Clapping” alternate take), Junior’s Farm (Ernie Winfrey mix with count-in), Letting Go (promo edit), Mull Of Kintyre (1977 rough take with count-in), Goodnight Tonight (Wings demo 1978), Cage (instrumental at Abbey Road, Oct. 1978), Daytime Nighttime Suffering (1979 early version), Daytime Nighttime Suffering (rough mix), Getting Closer (backing track), Rockestra – So Glad To See You Here Again (instrumental), Reception (1979 long version)

Disc 2 (67:08):  Take It Away (Paul teaching the song to members), No Values (Wings version at Pugins Hall – Nov. 7, 1980), Moma’s Little Girl – Average Person (rehearsals), Fabulous – Teddy Bear (rehearsals), Did We Meet Somewhere Before, A Love For You, Waterspout, New Rack (instrumental monitor mix), Take It Away (monitor mix rough take complete), What’s That You’re Doing (rough take monitor mix), Denny’s Song (Tug Of War sessions, Montserrat 1981), Runaway.  CHOBA B CCCP SESSIONS Choba B CCCPpromotional medley:  Midnight Special,  Kansas City / Hey Hey Hey Hey, I Gonna Be A Wheel Someday / Lawdy Miss Clawdy, Cut Across Shorty, Twenty Flight Rock, Lucille, Don’t Get Around Much Anymore, It’s Now Or Never, Crackin’ Up, Thant’s Alright Mama, Bring It On Home To Me, Summer Time,  I’m In Love Again, Just Because, No Other Baby, Poor Boy, I Gonna Be A Wheel Someday, Take This Hammer, Lend Me Your Comb, Ain’t That A Shame

It is comforting to know that the original ideal of bootlegging still exists.  The first title to surface in the late sixties were issued as a protest against the record companies and artists for unreleased material.  A Garden Full Of McCartney is Misterclaudel’s silver pressing of some of the tracks posted online several months ago.

The nearly four hours of music are from high generation cassette dubs from someone who purchased them from Wings’ original roadie Trevor Jones.  The material were from five cassettes of rehearsals and alternate takes and other tapes, which he hasn’t posted, are of concert recordings.

One rumor had a disgruntled member of the project’s team sending out the tracks in protest of the box being put on the back burner by the new Concord deal.  The collection of tracks that hit last week were indeed culls from what had been listened to and rejected from the boxed set that has been worked on for almost three years.  Much of this material is very revealing and collectors are much better off for having this leaked (and booted).

The first two songs are “Another Day,” McCartney’s first single as a solo artist, and “Hi Hi Hi” from acetate.  Both are rather noisy with surface noise and sound identical to the released versions.

The “Live And Let Die” rehearsal is brand new and a fascinating track.  It was recorded at Abbey Road in October 1972 for the film, the tape is a runthrough of the brand new song.  The first two sections of the song are present, up to the “what does it matter to yah” bridge.  Paul is heard on the tape working out that section of the song with the rest of the band.  It’s a great track to hear of a song that transcend its programmatic roots and is one of the sterling examples of McCartney’s brand of early seventies progressive rock. 

This is followed by the “One Hand Clapping” recording of “Soily,” the Ernie Winfrey (the Nashville producer who worked with Paul in 1974) mix of “Junior’s Farm,” and the promo edit of “Letting Go.”  “Mull Of Kintyre” sounds very polished for being a demo.  The basic melody and arrangement is present including the bagpipes. 

“Goodnight Tonight” and “Cage” are two demos from the Back To The Egg sessions in 1978.  The latter was polished and included in the last two versions of Cold Cuts.  Two versions of “Daytime Nighttime Suffering” follow.  This is the excellent B-side to “Goodnight Tonight” and is one of McCartney’s best songs.  The performance is the same as used for the single, but each is mixed differently.  Forty-nine attempts at mixing the song were made.  On the final version, as on these two, Paul’s son James can be heard about two minutes into the song crying.  The final track is the original long version of “Reception.”  This was edited down to only one minute for the album, this is more than twice that length.

The second disc starts off with rehearsals of varying degrees of interest.  “Take It Away” is an interesting run through of the Tug Of War track in which Paul is instructing the other musicians on the chords and notes.  “No Values” is a version by Wings of a song used several years later forGive My Regards To Broadstreet.

Three songs from the 1980 incarnation of Cold Cuts is included:  “Did We Meet Somewhere Before,” “A Love For You” and “Waterspout.”  Several more interesting Tug Of War tracks follow including monitor mixes for “Take It Away” and the “New Rack” instrumental.  The disc ends with the promotion medley fro the 1987 release Choba B CCCP.  For Beatle and McCartney collectors this is absolutely essential stuff and Misterclaudel do a great job in presenting the material.